A description of the Kon-O-Kwee/Deer Valley Teen Adventure Program!

OK…if you’ve never been through this program, you probably don’t have a clue what all the fuss is about. Well I’m gonna try to explain it myself and also I have another nifty form where people that have either been through this program or just have a love for Deer Valley or even Kon-O-Kwee can e-mail me with their input and I will add it to this page!
I went to Camp Kon-O-Kwee in Fawna for three years and the Teen Program for three years as well. No offense to Fawna, but it’s got NOTHING on Teen. Here’s how the teen program works…you spend two very long days at Kon-O-Kwee and Spencer, playing get-to-know-you and teamwork activities, learning climbing and rappelling basics and hearing wonderful things from others about what the time about to be spent at Deer Valley will be like. Then the day arrives; after breakfast on Wednesday everyone piles into two yellow school buses and heads up to DV (with a lunch break at Kooser…tip for anyone that goes there…don’t use the bathrooms there…). Things at DV are a bit different than…well…anywhere. The Wilderness area consists of the following: 8 adorandaks (what appear to be giant shoe-boxes without lids on their sides used for sleeping in), 5 SCOTTY potties, a pavilion with electricity and a fireplace, a sink (see picture below…notice the "NO LOITERING" sign), a covered bridge, a peninsula with a Pitying Stump (a rather comfy old tree in the lake) and a dam (and of course, a lake).

And that’s where you spend a total of 7 days, with very minimal contact from the outside world (a day at the main camp "beach" with no "normal" people and also a trip to the snack bar—that’s it). What makes it so special? I don’t know. It’s unexplainable. I typed up my speech from Vedotional Light which sums up some of the effects, but if you really want to try and understand it, you really have to experience it yourself.

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Here is a form; you can fill it out and send it to me and I will add it to this page (weekly)! (Responses below)

Your Name:

Your E-Mail:

How you are related to DV or Kon-O-Kwee:

What do you wish to share about DV or KOK?

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Steph Koch (pron. COKE not COCK or COUCH)
2nd session DV for past 3 years and KOK for 6 years before that

There is really no use in trying to explain DV to others that haven't shared the wonderful experience...because you really can't put DV into words...but for all of you DV people...Tony is the BEST!!! and.. I have to say that I will really miss DV next year. Oh... VAGGOTS suck... j/k.

James Robison
A very cool camper

DV is one of those places that you go to, and never forget. It changes your life forever, and you make a ton of friends. The "Ptty Party Stump" is known as MY pity party stump by the 1st session campers of '98 because I was usualy found in it. It is comfy. If your hear this song, it may help you get a grasp on the true idea of DV if you haven't been there. It reminds me of my first Vedotional light there. Listen to what Jess says, it is all true, espaecially the '98 quotes.

Steve Rahe
Sena 1985, Vena (Teen)1986-1988, Program Staff CIT (BB Gun Range) 1989

At Kon-O-Kwee, I learned one thing- how to see others as _real_ people, as individuals instead of extensions of your own wants/hopes/fears. Empathy is a small lesson, but an important one. The only one that separates a person from a Ted Bundy, a John Wayne Gacy, a Dylan Klebold & Eric Harris. My only advice is: if you're a camper, also go on the Vagabond hiking/rafting trip (if available). Trust me on this one. Feel joy, contentment, or longing; live during your time. Regret's a [explicit], ten time worse than all teen angst, worry or peer pressure rolled into one.
I'm 26 now. I've quit two jobs, and have been laid off once already. I'm a decade older, and maybe that makes me biased-like I'm making K-O-K sound like a latter-day Eden. I'll deal with it. In 2009 an ex-camper will pull out a Korn/Sugar Ray/Whoever-the-heck-"kids"-listen-to-today album and get nostalgic & sentimental. I'm sure of it.
It seems like there's literally no one around me who could understand. It's not their fault, they simply weren't there: In Peck's Graveyard, I held Sarah's hand and fell in love. When Tara was alone at the swing on the DV Main Beach, I talked to her when no one else felt like they could reach her. I did. Again, I fell in love. And Julie, when she made me a leather bracelet that I still have, and still fits--you get the idea. On one hand, it's comic: teenage hormones & infatuation in a world where you now can't use the word _love_ w/o invisible, ironic question marks around it (credit to David Foster Wallace on that quip). But, ten years later, it's also sincere and true in a way the English language has no perfect word to describe. Likely, the Germans have a word for it, but it's probably thirty letters long and impossible to pronounce.

Mel Adams
I am the best camper

I am the best person to express to everyone that reads this page that DV has brought me so many friends and family yes family i would like to send a shot out to my bro and sis Brad and susan my lover jess and angela and josh peace y'all! any how i loved it there and i will be also a new memeber of the counseler staff soon so see you next year

Melisa Lofgren
My school went there on a field trip for 3 days in 5th grade.

I think that DV is a great place for everyone to go to and experince for themselves!! I too agree that its an unexplainable place to visit. Although I have only been there with my school and all of my friends I truely don't know how DV themselves treat you.

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