Wearing Our Values: Recognizing Character at SLC

At Surprise Lake Camp, our five core values—Community, Compassion, Courage, Gratitude, and Grit—aren’t just words on a plaque. They shape how we treat one another, how we grow, and how we live together as a camp community. One of the most visible and meaningful ways we celebrate these values is through our Values Bead Program.

What Is the Values Bead Program?

Each week, campers and staff are invited to nominate someone—a fellow camper, a counselor, or anyone in the SLC community—who they believe has demonstrated one of our core values/Middot  in a meaningful way. We typically receive  between 5 and 25 nominations per week, each one telling a small story of kindness, resilience, or leadership.

There are five beads, each representing one of our core values:

• The large blue bead represents Community and is given to someone who does something that helps their group, division, or the camp community as a whole.
• The other four values—Compassion, Courage, Gratitude, and Grit—are each represented by a different shade of brown bead.

Each nomination includes a short explanation of what the person did and which value it reflects.

SLC’s Values:

• Community (Areyvut): Community means actively caring about fellow campers, staff members, and our shared environment. It recognizes the roles of friendship and responsibility — that we all play a part in shaping our community. Individual actions make a difference in the whole.
• Compassion (Rachamim): Compassion is a powerful combination of understanding, empathy, and acceptance. Compassion can motivate a person to take action to help another person or living creature — from a small gesture of kindness to actively advocating on a larger issue. At SLC, we teach campers to accept, celebrate and feel empathy for one another.
• Courage (Ometz Lev): Courage is the ability to face and overcome difficult situations. Courage doesn’t mean the absence of fear. It involves acknowledging fear and taking action despite it. Each day, SLC campers are encouraged to (safely) step outside their comfort zone. Counselors and friends are right there beside them to cheer them on and lend a supportive hand.
• Gratitude (Hakarat Ha Tov): Gratitude involves a deep appreciation for the good things in life. It’s not just about saying “thank you”. It’s about actively recognizing and savoring the positive aspects of life, both big and small. At SLC, we help campers take notice of special moments, whether it’s drinking in a beautiful sunset or enjoying a festive Shabbat shared with friends.
• Grit (Netzach): Grit is that combination of passion and perseverance which allows an individual to stick with a long-term goal, even when the going gets tough. It’s about embracing the marathon, not just the sprint. When campers encounter bumps in the road, we teach them to steer around them and continue to move forward toward their goal.

Moments of Recognition

On both Mainside and Teenside, a few of the most powerful nominations each week are selected to be read aloud at a meal, often Shabbat lunch, giving the whole division a chance to celebrate the good happening around them. Other nominees receive their beads more quietly, through camp mail. This blend of public recognition and personal surprise helps create a culture where values are noticed, appreciated, and honored in many different ways.

Wearing the Values

Each person who receives a bead can proudly display it on a string necklace, collecting a visual and personal reminder of how they’ve made a difference this summer. As the summer progresses, their necklace becomes a reflection of their actions, their growth, and the way they embody SLC’s values. And it doesn’t end when summer does. Campers and staff members bring their bead necklaces home, where they serve as year-round reminders of who campers are and the values they carry with them all year—at school, in their families, and in their communities.

Why It Matters

The Values Bead Program helps the SLC community recognize the impact of their actions upon others. It teaches them to recognize and celebrate character, not just achievements. And because campers and staff do the nominating, it builds a culture of mutual respect and shared responsibility—where values aren’t only taught, they’re lived every day. This is part of the beauty of Jewish summer camp.

The Values Bead Program allows the SLC community to honor and uplift one another in simple, powerful ways. And the impact reaches far beyond the summer. Because when a camper wears their bead necklace at home, they’re not just showing what they did at camp—they’re showing who they are becoming. Thoughtful. Brave. Kind. Persistent. Grateful. A part of something bigger than themselves.

At Surprise Lake Camp, values aren’t just something we talk about. They’re something we wear, something we share, and something we carry with us—all year long.