As a soon-to-be fourth-grader, Vinton native Kelsey Kremer learned to love nature, photography - and most of all, simply being a kid - at Camp Tahigwa, the Girl Scout camp in rural northeast Iowa, not far from the Mississippi River or the Minnesota border.
Now, Kelsey's documentary about her a summer at Camp Tahigwa has earned the Des Moines Register photojournalist an award normally given to those in television: A Regional Emmy.
Kelsey, the daughter of Jon and the late Teri Kremer, received the award, her first, during the 2016 Upper Midwest Regional Emmy ceremony in Minnesota on Saturday. The Midwest Regionincludes Iowa, North and South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Kelsey was one of just threenewspaper employees to receive the Emmy at this ceremony; the rest went to TV personalities. There were 16 other nominated entries, and four Emmys presented, based not on competition but a standard of excellence.
In the documentary, which Kelsey filmed and narrates, she describes how she has gone to Camp Tahigwa every year since she was age 7, first as a camper and in later years, as a camp counselor.
Entitled "One Last Summer at Camp Tahigwa," the documentary begins as Kelsey describes the camp as "The first place I noticed the stars."
Kelsey used her photo and video skills to capture the moments and voices of camp, and the how much the girls enjoy it. She then describes the decision by Girl Scouts of Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois to sell Camp Tahigwa. Scout leaders are pondering the future of many Girl Scout camps, due to lack of use and the cost of maintaining them.
Most of the documentary, however, captures the energy and spirit of the campers who spend several days there each summer, making friends and learning about nature.
Camp Tahigwa, says Kelsey, while narrating, is "wild, free and incredibly safe;" the video includes the sound of girls singing about how there is "magic here for those who seek."
'Summertime escape worth fighting for'
Kelsey says on camera that Camp Tahigwa - an Indian word meaning "at peace" - is a place for young girls to "conquer fears, make new friends," and learn under those stars that "nothing else matters but being there and living in that moment."
When Kelsey says those words, she is not merely reciting some camp flier; she is speaking from her own heart - the heart of a young girl who found at Camp Tahigwa an escape from the difficult life of a child whose mother was facing a terminal illness.
"My mom was sick," says Kelsey. "She had ALS. I spent my younger years helping care for her, feeding her meals, pushing her wheelchair and helping her change clothes. I was being what my family has described as a 'mature young lady.'"
She quickly learned that at Camp Tahigwa, she could leave, for a few days, the grown-up worries and duties behind, and just "be a kid."
"I came to the conclusion that camp was fun," she recalls. "I was never one of the teary-eyed homesick campers. I kept coming back, and as I grew older, my not-so-average childhood turned my summertime escape into something worth fighting for. Camp Tahigwa became the place where I got to be a kid. What was happening at home didn't matter. All that mattered was what tent I would stay in and what time I would get to go swimming in the creek."
Kelsey's mom passed away when she was 12
"Camp was there for me. Long-time camp friends sent sympathy cards, and I still look back on the summer after my mom's death as one of the best in my life." she says. "Tahigwa gave me a care-free childhood and that's the reason I come back every summer " to give the girls of today the same opportunity I had. It's the opportunity to grow up and gain independence and confidence in a place that's safe and welcoming."
Also, says Kelsey: She met many other girls who found Camp Tahigwa a place to simply be a care-free kid, and now those girls are some of her best friends.
"I can look at essentially all of the women I'm friends with now because of camp, and with whom I volunteer regularly at camp, as girls who also left things behind that would have kept them from having a 'normal childhood,'" she says.
Early photography failures
While Kelsey has earned many awards in photojournalism, first at Iowa State University and later at the Register, she clearly recalls her first attempt at photography a failure.
"My first photos at Tahigwa didn't even turn out," Kelsey recalls. "I took a disposable camera my very first summer when I was in third grade and the only photos on the film that turned out were the group photos someone else took on the last day."
Future of Camp Tahigwa still uncertain
Kelsey actually recorded the documentary in the summer of 2015, but the Scout organization delayed their decision for a year, allowing Kelsey to return as a counselor a few months ago. However, it is much too soon to tell whether or not she and the other counselors and campers can return next year.
"The future of camp feels more uncertain than ever," Kelsey says. "There is some hope though: A group of camp alumni are looking in to the possibility of buying the property and keeping it open. If going to summer camp taught me anything, it's to stand up for the things you believe in."
Click
HEREto read Kelsey'scommentary about how Camp Tahigwa helped her through her mother's illness and death, and why she believes the camp's future is worth fighting for.
Below is her award-winning documentary:
[embed]https://vimeo.com/155311369[/embed]
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