#25097 Eddie Elliott | Sunday, August 18, 2025

Good morning. My name is Eddie Elliott, I am — or rather, I was — a co-Leader in Linwood Cabin this session, and it is finally starting to hit me that Camp is over. I’m still not sure I fully believe I’m going home soon. For the past fifty-some days, it has been my distinct privilege to work, probably, the best job I will ever work, at one of the best places in the world, with a group of people who are among the best I have ever met. And it has gone by in a blur.

This is it. There’s really just hours left of Camp. In this Chapel Talk, I’m going to ask you to do a bit of reflecting. First, think about something you will take away from this summer. How have you been changed by your experience at Dudley?

For me, this summer was one of firsts. Despite it being my sixth year at Camp, I participated in my first Saturday Night Show, my first Wednesday Night Show skit, my first Choice Time at the Golf Range, and I sailed a Hobie Cat for the first time. I experienced my first “second half” at Camp, and all that that entails — first Mellowest, first Final Council Ring, first Dudley Olympics, and the first August that I have ever spent at Camp.

I hope many of you got the same chance that I did to push your boundaries, because Camp is easily one of the best places to do so. But really, the main takeaway that I have for you is that, in many ways, the quality of your life will be determined by who you surround yourself with. In everything 

I tried for the first time, I was supported by a smiling friend, staff member, or camper. I would never have — could never have — done them otherwise.

This was my sixth summer at Camp, and thanks to my friends, it’s the first one where I am leaving feeling like I haveaccomplished just about everything that I wanted to do.

Next, I would like you to briefly think about the present moment. Look around you. This is the last time that this group of people will be together. You will never be on the same team again. You will never again be with this same cabin. You have only a few hours left on campus, and the saddest part is that some of you may never be back.

Maybe this is as hard for you as it is for me; I hate endings. I have left books unfinished because I can tell a character I am attached to is going to die. I really struggle to tell the important people in my life how much they matter to me, because I struggle to accept that I may never see them again. On the other hand, I often fail to savor things I really like, and rush through them without looking around me until they’re long done, and I’m looking back. Camp, for me, has been a mix of all of these things. Both ways of handling endings are easy, but neither offers much in the way of closure.

I can’t control what you do outside of this talk, but take the next few seconds and look around again. Try to savor this moment. Think about those around you, and treat today like the ending it is. Later today, tell the people who matter to you that they do. Really say goodbye, and make plans to keep in touch. Thank the people who made your summer great. Takea deep breath in, hold it, breathe out.

Finally, try to think about what it will mean to be outside of Camp, and looking back on your time here. Think about what a unique space Camp occupies. It’s the only place you can really get away from the constant pressures of the outside world, especially, and increasingly, the grip that technology holds on us. It’s a true privilege to spend a summer here.

Some eighty or so years ago, Dudley looked very different in the midst of World War II. Many would-be Leaders served in the armed forces, fighting overseas, instead of leading a cabin of boys. The Dudley Archives hold a pamphlet which compiles excerpts from letters written to Camp by those men. I’d like to close with a brief paragraph that is a powerful representation of what Camp means, and it helps to explain why so many of us keep coming back. This letter was writtenby a man who, in the midst of war, turned back to Camp. I think that it could easily have been written about Camp today.

“There is an outlook on life which pierces through the gloom like a shaft of sunlight. It is what I like to call the Dudley outlook, because I can think of no other name. It is the sort of feeling you get during a ballgame on the big diamond,while taking a cool dip in the lake, or running through a rehearsal in Witherbee. It is the joy of doing something with others. This feeling comes partly from good health, partly from companionship, and partly from the fun of activity itself. But chiefly, it springs from a very contagious spirit, which I have found at Dudley and very few other places. It isthe spirit of radiant good cheer, which appears to permeate everyone from Chief down to the minutest Cub. If we can have this in our post-war world, we’ll have a world worth living in. It seems to me that the most vital function Camp Dudley has to perform is to foster this miraculous rare spirit, to nourish it and promote it, to see that it never dies.”

Wherever life takes you, bring the Dudley spirit with you.