Rekindling Connections: PEAK's Inaugural Alumni Service Weekend at LVC
Next year, PEAK and Lake Valley Camp will celebrate twenty years of serving Milwaukee youth. The impact our programs have had on young people over time has generated a diverse and talented network of alumni. However, keeping alumni engaged once they’ve outgrown our programs can be challenging. “Something that we recognized a couple years ago, at camp and at PEAK in general, was the desire and the need to find more ways to engage with [alumni] and keep them involved,” said Eve Smallwood, Director of Lake Valley Camp.
This realization sparked the idea of creating an annual Alumni Service Weekend. This special weekend is an opportunity for alumni to continue giving back to young people by preparing the campgrounds before summer camp begins. It's also a chance for alumni to be in community and uplift PEAK’s values.
The ideation phase occurred in 2022 and in 2023 the LVC team piloted the program for the first time. By May, PEAK was able to welcome a handful of alumni who traveled to Boscobel to help prepare LVC for incoming young campers. This inaugural group maintained the barn for our horses, created signs to welcome the new staff, and cleaned the cabins. They were also able to fully immerse themselves in the nostalgia of being at camp by participating in archery, swimming, hiking, and making campfires. Eve was thrilled with the outcome, saying, “It just started things on such a magical vibe… I think it set us up for the whole summer, so it’s a really special thing.”
The team was eager to build off the success of the program and increase its impact based on some of the feedback they heard from those who attended. Lucero, both an alumna and our current Assistant Director of Camp Programs at LVC, said, “That’s been one of the most important things to me, making sure alumni know they still have access to this space.” We expect Alumni Service Weekend to be a growing success and the hit destination for program alumni to reconnect with the land, their love for camp and the PEAK community.
