by Ben Gott
Middle School English & Sixth-Grade Advisor
When I arrived at GFA back in September of 2007, one of my first community activities was to chaperone the sixth-grade trip to Camp Hazen in Chester, CT. At the time, sixth grade was the first year of Middle School at GFA, and we had, proportionally, the largest percentage of new students at GFA next to kindergarten.
During those three days, I marveled at how brave students were as they made new friends, took risks, and pushed themselves to go beyond what they thought they were capable of. I remember coming home from that trip feeling excited and energized for the year ahead and recognizing that the sixth graders had created a sense of community and connection that would enrich not only their school year, but their entire GFA experience.
I was lucky enough to chaperone the Camp Hazen trip through the fall of 2019. When COVID hit, all school trips were discontinued, and we took the tail end of lockdown to discuss, as a Middle School, which trips might need to be reconsidered. When the sixth-grade team sat down, we decided pretty quickly that Camp Hazen was an absolutely essential part of each sixth grader’s experience, so we returned to Camp Hazen in the fall of 2024 with 64 sixth graders in tow.
This September, as another (unexpected) result of COVID, we found ourselves in a situation similar to the one I’d experienced back in 2007: of the 52 students in the Class of 2032, more than 30% were new to GFA. Nearly everything else couldn’t have been more different. In 2007, students didn’t have iPhones; now, they’re ubiquitous. In 2007, most, if not all, of the sixth graders were veterans of summer camps and sleepovers; now, there were a number of students who had never spent the night away from home. In 2007, many students had a real willingness to catapult themselves into the unknown; now, our lives and our experiences over the past five years have made all of us more hesitant to try new things.
So what did Camp Hazen look like in September of 2025? I’ll be honest: I had a feeling that it would be a transformational experience for this class, but I had no idea just how transformational it would be. From their experiences climbing the Alpine Tower, canoeing across Cedar Lake, eating in the dining hall, or hanging out in their cabins, the sixth graders practiced what is quickly becoming the motto of our year: “Today is a beautiful day to do hard things!” They collaborated with members of their advisories to build shelters in the woods, practicing patience, teamwork, and compromise. They cheered each other on as they stepped off the platform and jumped from the Leap of Faith. They listened with rapt attention as their classmates performed during the final campfire. They swam and jumped and ran and played and ate s’mores and got to know each other more over three days than any of them thought would ever have been possible.
I drove back to GFA on Friday afternoon, about an hour before the bus, and I found myself waiting in the courtyard with several parents. I told them a little about what I’d seen at Camp Hazen, and then I said, “I’d be curious if you notice something: when the sixth graders get off the bus, do you think you could tell who’s new to sixth grade and who’s been here since PreK?”
As the bus pulled up and Drew Meyer and I started tossing bags out of its belly, I got a chance to watch groups of sixth graders stream off, sweaty and hoarse and exhausted, not just as classmates, but as friends. They learned that they can do hard things—and that they can do them together as part of this rich, vibrant, supportive, and caring community.
Why Camp Hazen? That’s why.