Girls Mentorship

One of the smallest things we do at camp ends up having one of the biggest impacts…

They’re called ‘Brag Tags’ and while they may look like simple tags clipped onto a name badge, they represent so much more.

Throughout the week, girls have the opportunity to recognize one another for the qualities and behaviors we teach through our POWER curriculum.

They can acknowledge a friend for sharing their unique perspective, taking ownership of a miscommunication, demonstrating worthiness, making someone feel Empowered, or offering reassurance when it was needed most.

What we love most about Brag Tags isn’t just that girls receive recognition. It’s that they learn how to give it.

Learning to notice the good in other people is a skill.
Learning to celebrate someone else’s success is a skill.
Learning to put words to the impact someone has on you is a skill.

And these girls practice all of it.

The magic happens when a girl hears her name called and realizes someone was paying attention.

Someone noticed the way she included another camper.
Someone saw her courage.
Someone appreciated her kindness.
Someone recognized the way she showed up.

You can literally watch their faces light up.

Because they’re proud.
Because they’re surprised.
Because no one has ever recognized them like that before.

And here’s the part that gets us every year:

The girls keep them.

We’ve had campers come back year after year with Brag Tags from previous summers they’ve attached to their new name badges. Tiny reminders of who they were in this space, how they showed up, and how other people experienced them.

When you think about it, that’s what every girl wants.

To be seen.

To be valued.

To know she matters.

Brag Tags may seem like a small tradition, but they’re helping us create something much bigger: a culture where girls feel safe being fully themselves and where celebrating one another becomes second nature.

And if the collection of well-loved Brag Tags returning each summer tells us anything, it’s that the girls feel it too. 💛

Everyone assumes the best parts of camp are the big moments.

And don’t get us wrong—we love a good breakthrough, a powerful speaker, all of it.

But the moments we talk about at the end of the day?

They look like this.

A girl sits down at a table covered in butcher paper and littered with coloring sheets.

There are no instructions or “right way” to do anything.
Just space.

At first, she keeps it small—
her name, a doodle, something safe.

And then another girl adds something.
They giggle.
Someone else joins in.

And before we know it, the whole table is covered.

Inside jokes.
Nicknames.
Polls.
Questions.
The most random, creative, incredible, hilarious drawings you could imagine.

We’re not kidding when we say we’ve cried laughing at some of these.

And the best part?

They’re not on their phones. They’re not scrolling or comparing, they’re just… in the moment.

Talking. Creating. Being ridiculous. Being themselves.

That’s pure magic right there.

Yes, we teach confidence.
Yes, we talk about friendships and self talk and all the things girls are navigating.

But moments like this is where it actually starts.

Where a girl loosens up.
Finds her voice.
Realizes she can take up space while have fun doing it.

And we are lucky enough to get a front row seat to it every single day.

Literally never gets old.

Sound off 🗣️🗣️

We really have had some impossibly cute themes over the years.

And it’s just become such a fun part of the overall experience too. We have girls DMing us in like March asking what the theme is for the upcoming summer. Parents reply to emails expressing their excitement to see it. When we start to setup, the teachers at Rancho all poke their heads in at some point to see the space be transformed into something new.

We also have corresponding t-shirts, which elevates everything🤌🏼

So we’re curious, which years has been YOUR favorite, or are you saving that spot for this year?!

A few weeks ago, we did something outside our comfort zone.

We bought tickets to an event where we didn’t know a single soul. We had no idea what to expect or if we’d enjoy ourselves.

And almost immediately after clicking ‘purchase’, our self talk stated trying to convince us that our decision was silly.

We asked each other if we should even go more than once 🙈

The day of, we were nervous, unsure & kind of hoping the other would have an excuse not to go.

We even sat in the car in the parking lot like…we could totally just go home right now.

But we didn’t, we walked in despite the nerves like we intended on doing & unsurprisingly it turned into one of those nights, you know the ones, the kind where you meet incredible people, where you’re dancing, laughing, connecting, and thinking, “Oh my gosh… I’m SO glad we didn’t bail.”

On the way home, we couldn’t stop thinking about it because this is EXACTLY what we hear from parents every single year before camp:

“She says she doesn’t want to go…”
“She’s nervous.”
“She doesn’t know what to expect.”

All of which makes total sense, the unknown feels uncomfortable, especially for girls who feel safest in what they already know.

We see it every single year: girls walk into camp unsure, arms crossed, hesitant, heads down & overall, resistant.

They think it’ll be weird or that somehow they’re in trouble & this is their punishment. They think their parents think they’re broken & this is their “therapy.”
Most can’t even put words to it because they tuned their parents out as soon as they were told this is what they were doing.

The cool part through, about halfway through day one, something shifts; They start to settle in & connect with one another They realize this space is built just for them.

And from our experience, the girls who didn’t want come are usually the ones who wind up getting the most out of the experience.

So if you’re unsure because all you’re hearing is hesitation right now…

It’s okay, it’s totally normal and this might be one of those moments where you hold the vision for her, we’ve seen it time & time again over the years, her admitting that you were right & she did in fact, enjoy herself 👀