Alex Kvanli

Blogger & Wacky Worm Aficionado

Alex spent 10 summers at Camp and is a frequent contributor to our blog. He is a teacher with a Masters in Experiential Education, an avid world traveler, and enthusiast for all things outdoors. Alex’s favorite activity at Camp is catching bass on wacky worms.

City-Dwellers: Your Creativity May Be At Risk

City-Dwellers: Your Creativity May Be At Risk

By Alex Kvanli
March 27, 2019 (comments)

Could living in a city affect your creativity? Over half of the world’s population is now living in urban areas (UN News Centre, 2014). One result of increased urbanization is that people are spending less time in nature. Furthermore, technology and the ease of access to information may be decreasing our time for contemplative and creative thinking. Research suggests that these implications may have detrimental effects on our health and wellbeing. Unnatural environments’ effect on animals On the surface, some factors that may contribute to the negative health effects of living in a city could be the air pollution, crime...

How Wilderness Adventures Foster Lifelong Success

How Wilderness Adventures Foster Lifelong Success

By Alex Kvanli
March 18, 2019 (comments)

How can we teach children that failure is not the end of the road? Our mindset, or attitude, governs nearly everything in our lives. It determines the way we live, experience the world, and make decisions. Our mindset shapes the way we view ourselves and subsequently what we can accomplish. According to Stanford University psychologists Carol Dweck, there are two types of mindsets: In a fixed mindset students believe their basic abilities, their intelligence, their talents, are just fixed traits. They have a certain amount and that’s that, and then their goal becomes to look smart all the time and...

2019 Trip Options

2019 Trip Options

By Alex Kvanli
January 26, 2019 (comments)

Register for trips by emailing the Camp Voyageur Trip Director, Alex at

The 2nd Annual Youth Woodsmen Competition Begins

The 2nd Annual Youth Woodsmen Competition Begins

By Alex Kvanli
June 14, 2018 (comments)

The 2nd Annual Youth Woodsmen Competition kicked off today and hearts were racin’, muscles were pumpin’, and legs were stretchin’. The Woodsmen is a competition that dates back to the early 1950’s, when President John F. Kennedy said that “physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity.” President Kennedy’s famous words resonated with the whole nation, and as a result many of today’s mainstay fitness competitions emerged from this Golden Era of physical fitness. The Youth Woodsmen is a fitness competition between the...

Youth Woodsmen Mid-Season Update

Youth Woodsmen Mid-Season Update

By Alex Kvanli
July 12, 2017 (comments)

The Youth Woodsmen Competition kicked off a few weeks ago and it’s time for a mid-season update! The Woodsmen measures campers’ fitness levels when they arrive at camp and at the end of camp. Fitness tests included curl-ups, shuttle run, v-sit reach, half-mile run, pull-ups, and push-ups. The results of the first session are remarkable! Over a span of only 24 days, campers improved significantly in nearly every statistical category. Campers’ half-mile run times improved, on average, by over 20 seconds. One camper even improved his half-mile run time by 1 min 35 seconds! By the end of the session,...

CV Enters First Youth Woodsmen Competition

CV Enters First Youth Woodsmen Competition

By Alex Kvanli
June 13, 2017 (comments)

CV entered its very first fitness competition! The 2017 Youth Woodsmen Competition kicked off today and for the first time ever, Camp Voyageur signed up! The Woodsmen is a competition that dates back to the early 1950’s, when President John F. Kennedy said that “physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity.” President Kennedy’s famous words resonated with the whole nation, and as a result many of today’s mainstay fitness competitions emerged from this Golden Era of physical fitness. The Youth Woodsmen is...