This Stuff Works
A shy Rough Rider grabs a guitar and performs at a campfire for the first time to a welcoming audience of friends. A newly acknowledged team of Wranglers return to the dining hall after their Wrangler Ride, covered in dirt, to the raucous applause of the assembled community. A counselor pairing beams with pride while watching their camper, deathly afraid of horses just four weeks prior, lope through the barrel pattern at Final Rodeo with friends and family watching. Moments such as these, as frequent as they are at Teton Valley Ranch Camp, cause me to turn to Cora, our Camp Director, and say “this Stuff works!”
The curious mind may ask: “what is this Stuff you speak of, and how can such an arbitrary thing ‘work?’” Stuff is an intangible, yet unmissable, combination of TVRC’s program, culture, history, and people. For TVRC to work for us as intended, all four pillars must support the organization in tandem. As an aside for the users of more creative and colorful vocabularies, you can substitute any word you would like for “Stuff,” so long as the intended definition remains clear in your mind.
I firmly believe that every person who has grown to love TVRC in the past 87 years has connected with a key pillar of Stuff. When asked to describe a defining piece of their TVRC experience, alumni will often speak fondly of a legendary ceremony, a profoundly impactful counselor, a new bunkmate turned best friend, a challenging, yet fulfilling day on the trail, or simply singing “Teton Serenade” and “Peace of the River” as the sun sets behind a breathtaking Wyoming backdrop. No two stories at TVRC are the same, yet they all share themes of belonging, resilience, friendship, and joy. Those who attend TVRC find themselves connected to a community where growing into the most authentic version of yourself is the norm. “I Know a Place,” these people often say.
Kids and adults alike have consistently needed places like TVRC in the 87 years since its founding. While young people face a very different set of challenges today than they did in 1939, they still need a place to gain independence and build resilience. Campers and staff at TVRC expect a summer filled with challenge, failure, growth and acceptance. They expect a community that will welcome and celebrate them as they are. They expect to leave the Ranch with a greater understanding of how they want to live their lives. Unknowingly, the holders of these expectations make them reality. TVRC’s history and traditions provide a framework for each year’s community to find their own magical summer in, year over year. Regardless of the many wonderful people who have come before, “It’s Our Ranch today”, we tell these lucky few.
As each summer ends, those departing are filled with the bittersweet combination of fulfillment and longing derived from a season well spent. Many lament the need to return to the “real world:” school, a career, life at home, and all of the ordinary mundanities these paths bring along with them. A challenging byproduct of TVRC’S Stuff comes from the understanding of what true belonging in a community feels like, and what it does not feel like. Some encounter early difficulties trying to find belonging in new communities to the extent that they felt at TVRC. The journey towards kinship is, however, much more successful when one knows what they are looking for.
For those of us that remain, we have the rare pleasure of watching TVRC’s cycle of growth and fulfillment happen, year over year, season after season. Next summer, as we stand in the dining hall under the panoramic photo of 1942’s staff and campers, watching numerous life changing moments unfold, we will once again have the opportunity to happily declare: “This Stuff STILL works.”
