Last week, 43 girls from across Dane County came together for our very first Camp GOTR, and we are already excited about what this new opportunity could mean for Girls on the Run.

Camp GOTR was created to give girls another way to experience the transformational power of Girls on the Run. While our traditional program takes place after school during the spring and fall, we know that not every girl can participate in that format. Transportation, program availability and scheduling can all create barriers for families.

So we tried something new.

For one week, 43 girls ages 8–10 came together for a half-day camp experience filled with movement, friendship, creativity and opportunities to build confidence. Our 45 available spots were nearly full, and campers represented 24 different elementary and middle schools across Dane County.

We were especially excited to host Camp GOTR at an elementary school where we do not currently offer our regular Girls on the Run program. That meant girls from that school community, along with girls from schools throughout Dane County, could experience Girls on the Run in a new way.

Girls have H.E.A.R.T.

Throughout the week, campers participated in the Girls on the Run Girls Have Heart curriculum, which is intentionally designed around emotions, friendships and positive youth development.

The experience looked a little different from a traditional Girls on the Run season, but the heart of the program was very much the same.

Girls were active. They played games, ran, moved and worked together. They learned and practiced strategies for managing emotions and building healthy friendships. They reflected on their experiences through journaling and conversation. And they had plenty of opportunities to create through hands-on workshops.

One day, for example, girls learned the HEART strategy for making friends:

Head up
Extend yourself
Ask questions
Really listen
Take turns talking

Girls practiced HEART through games and movement challenges, including activities where they had to work together to complete a challenge and movement laps where they partnered with someone new.

One coach, Mikaela Helling, particularly loved the "Connection Laps." Girls were paired with new friends and asked to move around the course while asking each other questions. As Mikaela joined the girls, she discovered unexpected things she had in common with her campers, from a love of slow Saturday mornings to a shared enthusiasm for Noah Kahan.

The campers then had time to reflect in their journals before heading into a creative workshop.
That combination is what made Camp GOTR so special. Girls weren't simply learning about friendship, confidence or healthy habits. They were learning, moving, creating, practicing and reflecting together. And they had fun doing it.

CAMP GOTR meant movement for every girl

Of course, movement was woven throughout the week. But Camp GOTR wasn't about seeing who could run the fastest or farthest.

The girls crawled like lizards, galloped like horses, moved at a "conversation pace" with a friend and twisted like tornadoes toward the next cone. Some activities challenged them to move with a partner, while others encouraged them to choose their own way to move.

That's an important part of the Girls on the Run philosophy. We don't simply tell girls that they should run. We help them discover ways to enjoy movement, try difficult things and develop healthy relationships with their bodies.

And we saw girls challenge themselves. Mikaela noticed girls pushing themselves to complete more laps than they had ever done before.

There was plenty of room for creativity, too

Camp GOTR also gave girls something they don't always have during a traditional Girls on the Run season: extended time to explore their creativity.

During workshops, girls created sculptures representing their friends' best qualities, made collages about their own identities and used storytelling to explore friendship.

After all that activity, girls had time to slow down, too. They reflected in their journals about the friendships they were forming and the new skills they were learning.

And then there was lunch.

No one told the girls where to sit. They simply spread picnic blankets on the ground and spent time together, sharing stories and laughing over their lunches. Those unstructured moments became some of the most memorable parts of the week.

More than a camp

At Girls on the Run, we believe girls deserve opportunities to develop confidence, competence, caring, connection and character while they are growing into who they will become.

Camp GOTR gave us another way to create those opportunities.

For some campers, the week was an introduction to Girls on the Run. For others, it was another chance to experience a program they already knew and loved. For everyone, it was a chance to make new friends and spend a week being active, creative and encouraged by a community of girls and caring adults.

We are especially proud that our first Camp GOTR brought together girls from 24 schools and reached girls from a school community where our traditional program is not currently available.

That's exactly why we wanted to try something new.

We don't know yet exactly what Camp GOTR will look like in the future, but after seeing 43 girls experience it firsthand, we know there is something worth building on.

We're grateful to the families who trusted us with their girls, to the coaches and staff who made the week possible, and to the supporters who helped us create a new pathway into Girls on the Run.

Camp GOTR may have been our first summer camp, but we hope it is just the beginning.