An Open Letter to the Parents of Our Staff

Teton Valley Ranch Camp | Summer 2026

Dear Parents and Families,

Here we are again—a new summer just around the corner, and once more we find ourselves doing something a little unconventional: writing directly to the families of our staff. If you’ve read our previous letters, welcome back. If this is your first time hearing from us, we hope this note finds you well and that it feels like what it’s intended to be: one set of parents reaching out to another, in honest partnership. This letter has become something of a tradition. Each year we’re reminded of just how much your role as staff parents matters—not just to your son or daughter, but to us, and ultimately to the campers in our care. We genuinely could not do this work without you, and we mean that.

A Real Job. A Remarkable Place.

For the new families, Teton Valley Ranch Camp has been operating since 1939. We run on 2,600 acres outside Dubois, Wyoming, deep in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem—one of the wildest and most intact landscapes left on the continent. Our program centers on Western Adventure: backpacking, horseback riding, wilderness skills, and a camp culture built around character, community, and grit. It is a beautiful, demanding, and deeply meaningful place to spend a summer.

Your staff member chose to be here. They applied, interviewed, and accepted an offer. And we want to be straightforward with you about what that means: it means they took on a real job, with real responsibilities, and real people (children included) counting on them. We say this not to be heavy-handed, but because we think it’s worth naming clearly. A summer on TVRC staff is not a gap-year placeholder or a loose commitment that bends around other plans. The campers who arrive on Opening Day have been waiting—sometimes for a full year—for this experience. The staff member who shows up rested, and ready to give of themselves (just like you do, as parents) is not just fulfilling a contract. They are part of something the campers and the community will remember for the rest of their lives. Once you’ve been on a Rough Ride, there simply is no going back.

What We’ve Been Noticing

We want to be honest with you about something we’ve been navigating in recent years, and we suspect you’ve noticed it too in other corners of your child’s life.

The relationship young people have with work and commitment has shifted. That’s not a criticism—it’s an observation, and frankly one that social researchers, employers, and educators across the country are grappling with alongside us. The generation now entering the workforce grew up in a world of significant disruption: a pandemic, remote school, fractured routines, and a cultural moment that rightly centered mental health and personal boundaries. These are real and important things. We take them seriously.

One unintended byproduct we’ve observed—gently and without judgment—is that some young people have come to see commitments as more optional than they in fact are. We’ve had staff ask to arrive late (or just fully skip) training. We’ve had staff ask for time off on Opening Day. We’ve had staff treat critical orientation sessions—child protection training, wilderness safety protocols, emergency procedures—as negotiable, the way one might skip a less important college lecture.

They’re not negotiable. And the reason is straightforward: other people’s safety and wellbeing depend on them.

We are not pointing fingers. These are good kids. Your kids, our staff; and they often don’t fully realize the downstream effect their absence or disengagement has on their team, on the campers, and on themselves. Part of our job is helping them see that. Part of yours, in our partnership, is reinforcing it. The lessons embedded in our culture of character, community, and grit extend to our staff. Our hope is they come away from a summer on staff at TVRC with a work ethic that sets them apart from their peers.

What TVRC Culture Actually Looks Like

We often describe ourselves as “Counselors to the Counselors.” The Senior Leadership Team is here not just to run a camp, but to mentor young adults through one of the most formative and often first professional experiences of their lives. We take that seriously. We invest heavily in our staff’s growth—their confidence, their communication, their leadership.

That investment runs in both directions. The staff members who get the most out of a TVRC summer are the ones who show up—fully, consistently, and with something to give. They learn to put the campers first. They learn to show up for their co-workers even on hard days. They learn that a team is only as strong as its least-present member.

This is, candidly, countercultural right now. Loyalty to a job, especially a seasonal one, is not something this generation has seen modeled. We understand that. We’re not asking your child to abandon their generation—we’re asking them to stretch beyond one of its stereotypes. That is the whole point of this place, and has been for 88 summers.

The skills they build here—showing up, following through, putting others first, pushing through hard days—are not just “camp skills.” They are the skills that will distinguish them in every job, relationship, and leadership role they step into for the rest of their lives. Business leaders consistently note that experience as a camp counselor translates directly into strong management and personnel capabilities. We believe that. We’ve seen it; and I’d stake my reputation on it: these life skills are 100% AI-proof.

Here’s Where You Come In

When your staff member calls you frustrated, exhausted, or questioning whether they should leave because of an upcoming challenge, or a conflict with a peer or camper, maybe they think the training session is too hard, or too dumb, a cabin or trip got too difficult, or an early morning responsibility awaits; we’re asking you to listen, empathize, and then gently push back.

Not harshly. Not dismissively. But as a parent who knows that the best growth comes from something that feels hard in the moment.

Encourage them to talk to their supervisors. Encourage them to come to Cora or me directly. We have an open-door policy that we mean sincerely. If something is genuinely wrong—if the environment isn’t right, if there’s a conflict, if they’re struggling in a way that needs real support—we want to know. We want to help. We would far rather have a difficult conversation early than lose a staff member mid-summer because a small problem went unaddressed.

If what they’re feeling is just hard—the normal, valuable, character-building kind of hard that comes with responsibility—we hope you’ll remind them why they came. Because that kind of hard is the whole point. That kind of hard is where growth happens.

We’re In This Together

TVRC is not just a summer job. For many of our staff, it becomes one of the defining chapters of their young adult lives. We’ve watched shy 19-year-olds become confident leaders. We’ve watched young people discover what they’re actually made of—and be genuinely surprised by the answer. We want that for your staffer.

It starts with showing up. It starts with honoring the commitment they made. It starts with treating this like the real, meaningful, demanding job that it is—because that’s exactly what it is.

Thank you for being their support system, and for trusting us with one of the most important people in your world. As always, Cora and I are just a call or email away—for you too, not just for them. We are genuinely honored to have your family as part of the TVRC community this summer.

With gratitude and great anticipation for the summer ahead,

Jim and Cora Ligori

Executive Director and Camp Director Teton Valley Ranch Camp The TVRC Education Foundation