For people who live with intention and love to have fun
Picture all the playful energy of Adult Summer Camp, mixed with workshops designed to help you feel more connected to yourself, your life, and the people around you.
Over the course of one long weekend, you will feel seen, heard, and understood as your true, full self, while having more fun than you thought was humanly possible.
We’ve been hosting this retreat every summer since 2016, formerly as Startup Island. Since rebranding to Third Nature in January 2022, our community has continued to grow and the experience gets better and better.
Who it's for
Third Nature Summer Camp has always been about the people. A beautifully diverse group of multi-passionate individuals who come from different backgrounds, and are at different stages of their journey – yet have a shared mindset and outlook on life. It’s not about what they do. It’s about who they are.
These are people who:
- Are kind, curious, thoughtful, and generous.
- Are reflective deep thinkers, lifelong learners, and optimists.
- Think and act outside the box.
- Can’t be described with any one label.
- Believe in the possibility of a better world, and in their own ability to create positive change.
- Take action with intention.
- Enjoy deep conversations, are active listeners, and ask good questions.
- Support and celebrate one another, while energized by each other’s success.
- Love life, and help restore our faith in humanity.
Many of these people have achieved incredible levels of success in their personal and professional lives. Many are on their way. Regardless, we remember that we all have something to learn and something to teach every time we come together.
Sound like the kind of people you want to surround yourself with?
What to expect
Third Nature programs consist of workshops, facilitated discussions, coaching, and mentorship, combined with time to relax, reflect, and refocus. You will form meaningful connections with new friends, collaborators, and mentors to help you create the career and life you want.
In addition, there will be plenty of activities that make camp as magical as it is: swimming, kayaking, and paddle boarding on the lake, team sports, singing & dancing, campfires, s’mores, lakeside BBQ’s and more.
Expect to feel welcomed and at home right from the start + pleasantly surprised and delighted throughout the weekend.
Leave feeling rejuvenated, inspired, and ready to take on the next season of life.
Trip Leaders & Facilitators
A wide array of life experience has made these folks the successful creators, community builders, experience designers, coaches, speakers, thinkers, entrepreneurs, and influencers they are today.
Plus, they are some of the kindest and most genuine people we know.
Below are our trip leaders & facilitators for Summer Camp 2026.
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Carolina Panoff
Workshop:
Movement As Medicine: Remembering Your Aliveness
Keri Lyle
Workshop:
Radical Connection
This experiential workshop will explore what it means to truly meet ourselves and one another. Through a series of guided solo, paired, and group exercises, you will experience the impact of giving and receiving deep human presence — and leave inspired and committed to bring that presence into everyday life.
Corey Wilks
WORKSHOP:
Unlocking Human Creativity In An AI-Obsessed World
It’s becoming increasingly easy to use AI to create for you – but should you? This workshop explores why outsourcing your creativity to AI robs you of your greatest superpower. Using psychological principles you already carry, you’ll learn to rewire how you perceive, absorb, and connect everyday experiences into endless creative fuel. You’ll walk away with the strategies and insights to share ideas that are unmistakably, irreplaceably yours.
Chelsea & Ishaan
Art:
Craft In The Elements
Stop by our art stations any time this weekend to create something inspired by the elements. And no–you don’t have to be an artist! Stations run alongside your camp experience, offering a low-stakes space to reconnect with your creative and playful self through Legos, playdough, popsicle stick, markers, and more. Keep an eye out for our surprise group project—we’ll be hosting a community gallery at the end of camp to showcase everything we’ve built together.
Heather McKendry
Movement:
Let’s Go Saunter & Play In The Woods!
Saunter /ˈsôn(t)ər/ verb: walk in a slow, relaxed manner, without hurry or effort.
Have you ever wanted to dance with a tree…hear the heartbeat of the wind…make art in the woods…laugh with a bird? We will respectfully saunter through the woods: listening deeply, breathing fully, being present, playing, and laughing together. My intention is that we emerge from our time feeling connected, enlivened and grounded.
Rychelle Wilks
Movement:
Roll With It: An Intro to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Ever been curious about jiu-jitsu but had no idea where to start? This session is for you. Corey and Rychelle, who are both instructors at 10th Planet Bastrop, will walk you through the foundational concepts of Brazilian jiu-jitsu — a grappling martial art built on technique and leverage rather than size and strength. You’ll get hands-on with some basic movements and positions in a low-pressure, no-experience-necessary environment. Whether you leave wanting to find a gym back home or just want to say you tried something totally new at camp, this is going to be a fun one.
Joey Tinghitella
Leadership Team:
Associate Program Manager
As Associate Program Manager, I am here to continuously enhance the camper experience. Every day looks different, as it pertains to the evolving needs of our community. Sometimes I’m focused on setting up for a workshop or activity. Other times I get to have an uplifting conversation, or get more people involved in the action. I also love taking new ideas that emerge during the weekend, and making them happen – whether that be for a pickleball lesson or playing golf on the baseball fields. At the end of the day, I am here to help ensure that everyone who attends Summer Camp feels like it is a place where they are welcome, included, seen, heard, and understood – a sort of home away from home.
Mimi Tran
Movement:
Yoga for Grounding, Confidence, Compassion, and Connection
Mimi will offer 3 classes throughout the weekend:
1. Grounding – Reconnect with stability, security, and your own inner foundation through the root chakra. Perfect for arriving fully in your body and feeling supported as we start camp!
2. Confidence – Tap into your personal power through the solar plexus chakra. Expect to leave feeling radiant, capable, and lit up from within.
3. Compassion/Connection – A quiet return to the heart. We’ll move gently and breathe deeply as we settle into a space that cultivates compassion and connection through the heart chakra with the lake as our backdrop.
Derick Adams
Leadership Team:
Bridge To The Elements
Earth: Take barefoot walks, go forest bathing, identify native plant species, and learn to recognize the simple gifts beneath our feet.
Water: Flow, adapt, rise & fall just as water does. Notice how this element nourishes us, then gather by the lake to celebrate what flows through us.
Fire: Gather for warmth around nightly campfires, and spark the inner flame fueling us all.
Air: Take deep breaths, listen to leaves rustle, feel the breeze in our hair, and let our voices be heard.
Brian Helfman
Leadership Team:
Founder, Chief Experience Officer
From age 8-20, I spent 7 weeks every summer at Camp Scatico. As a kid who never quite fit into the factory model education system, camp was where I got to be creative, express different parts of myself, and engage in purposeless play.
In other words – camp has always been the place where I’ve felt the most me.
Over the last 10 years that we’ve been hosting these camps, I’ve gotten to connect with, learn from, and grow alongside 100’s of the most kind, thoughtful, creative, fun, and supportive people I’ve ever known.
Every year, I leave camp feeling more:
✨ Clear on what I want
✨ Connected to why I want it
✨ Creative in how to get it
✨ Confident in my ability to make it happen
✨ Supported by a community of people who get it
And yes, I’m still a work in progress. Good thing another Third Nature Summer Camp is always on the horizon.
Andrea Maeng
Leadership Team:
Director of Wellthyness
Growing up, I didn’t attend summer camp. Fun and play weren’t valued or “productive” in my upbringing. I was taught that only what I did and achieved mattered, not who I was or how I felt.
For as long as I can remember, I knew that wasn’t the truth for me. Now, my life centers around how I’m being, what I’m learning, and who I’m becoming in the process. My mission is to create spaces where others can explore that for themselves.
My first camp was Memorial Day Weekend 2023; by the following year, I was co-facilitating with Brian. Since then, I’ve stepped into more of my authentic leadership in all areas of my life.
Every year, I leave camp feeling more:
✨ Enlivened by nature and the sense of possibilities
✨ Expanded by perspectives and insights on things I thought I was already set on
✨ Embodied in what truly matters to me and the person I want to be
Camp is a space where I hope you can feel and know that who you are and where on your journey you are is enough, that you’re not alone in it, and it can be fun. I’m on that journey too.
Brian Ardavin
Leadership Team:
Program Manager & Community Connector
I grew up in Miami, surrounded by a rich mix of cultures and community-values that shaped my understanding of life as a proud Cuban-American.
When I joined Third Nature on a retreat in Costa Rica in 2019, I knew I had found something special. A space where people showed up fully and prioritized real connection. I believed in the mission and wanted to get more involved as someone who could help bring these experiences to life.
For the past seven years, I’ve ensured everything runs smoothly behind the scenes at camp. I’ve always thrived in the background – but what I didn’t expect was how much this community would see me, and reflect back the care I put into every experience.
Every year, I leave camp feeling more:
✨Inspired by the diversity of people, perspectives, and stories that come together
✨Grateful for the balance of structure and spontaneity, deep conversation and play
✨Energized to continue shaping spaces where people feel safe to show up as their true, full selves
Camp has reminded me that growth happens in small moments: conversations by the campfire, shared laughter, and quiet reflection.
Our Space
September 4-7, 2026
Camp Scatico, Elizaville, NY
We’re excited to be back at our home away from home, Camp Scatico.
Located about 2 hours north of NYC, Scatico is known for its picturesque rolling hills, the beautiful lake that no motor has ever been inside (making it clean AF), the center of campus hangout area where time stands still, and so much more.
For information about getting to camp, check out our handy Traveling to Camp info sheet (will be updated for 2026 soon)
What's included in your trip
During the trip:
- 3 nights of lodging in big, beautiful bunks (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night)
- 9 delicious camp meals + snacks, drinks, and adult beverages (dinner on Friday - lunch on Monday)
- 4 personal development workshops led by master facilitators
- Guided yoga, meditation, and fun wake-up activities available every morning
- Full use of camp facilities, including tennis & pickleball courts, basketball, gaga, arts & crafts, nature trails, weight room, and more
- Full use of the lake, with paddle-boards, kayaks, canoes, our on-water trampoline, and more offered throughout the weekend
- Campfires & s'mores under the stars
- SWAG bag & bonus goodies
- 24/7 support staff and guides on private grounds
Upon returning home:
After the weekend is over, you will receive lots of additional resources to keep the momentum going: things like our shared reading list, photos from the weekend, access to our WhatsApp community, and a contact sheet that makes it easy to stay in touch with the people you met.
Aside from everything we offer, you will leave the trip feeling part of a truly supportive community with meaningful connections to new friends and mentors who want to see you succeed.
And of course, don’t forget about the alumni meetups, dinners, happy hours, group workouts, coworking, and community member-hosted events that occur year round.
All-Inclusive Pricing:
Pre-Summer Rate (available until June 1st): $840
Regular Rate: $940
dates:
Labor Day Weekend:
September 4-7, 2026
Program starts at 2pm ET on Friday, September 4th, and ends at 1pm ET on Monday, September 7th
*Must be at least 21 to participate in this program
Words from our community
Hear it from those who experienced it
Frequently Asked Questions
Summer Camp is just the beginning. Once you travel with us, you become part of our growing community of good humans from all over the world. This community is available as a resource to you for life.
Specific takeaways our travelers experience include:
- Increased self-awareness, clarity, confidence, perspective, and empathy
- Refined goals that are consistent with your core values, and an action plan to achieve those goals
- New business ideas, partnerships, and collaboration opportunities
- Leveling up side-projects
- Energy and stress-management techniques
- Tools to flex the idea muscle and become a creative machine
- A healthier relationship with technology
- Deep, meaningful friendships
Workshops will be led by expert facilitators within the Third Nature network with a unique story and area of expertise. More information about this trip’s facilitators and workshops will be provided in the coming months.
We aim to have everyone arrive at camp by 2pm ET on the Friday that your camp begins. The program ends at 1pm ET on Monday. You’ll be amazed at what we can accomplish and learn together in less than 72 hours!
We do our best to work with all participants to coordinate transportation to camp from the surrounding areas.
If you’re coming from outside of the northeast U.S., we recommend flying into LaGuardia airport (LGA) and arriving before 1pm EST on your trip’s start date. We’ll do our best to help you arrange a carpool or public transportation from there to camp.
For more information about getting to camp, check out our handy Traveling to Camp info sheet (will be updated for 2026 soon)
We send out a packing list one month before each of our trips, to ensure that you have enough time to prepare. In the meantime, think minimalism.
There is WiFi available in certain buildings at our camps, so that you can check in with the outside world during free time if you’d like. The general service at camp is also pretty decent. All that said, we aim to create a space that’s healthily disconnected from technology, where you don’t need or want to use your devices.
You will be sleeping in big, beautiful cabins with 6 – 15 fellow travelers. Everyone will have their own twin bed and cubby space for clothing and personal items. Campers are asked to bring their own bedding, or rent linens for the weekend – if you’d like to rent linens, you can do so via our pre-camp questionnaire, after you register.
All cabins have bathrooms with private stalls, private showers, and running, drinkable, cold & hot water.
Honestly, it’s pretty good! We include a full breakfast, lunch, and dinner everyday, along with snacks, coffee, tea, and other fun beverages provided by our awesome sponsors. We can accommodate any dietary restriction, and will have vegetarian and vegan options, plus a salad bar. If you have any restrictions or allergies, you will have a chance to let us know on your pre-trip questionnaire, which you will receive after you are accepted into the program and your spot is secured.
After you apply, we will be in touch with next steps. If accepted into the program, you will receive a registration form, where you’ll be able to pay for the trip using a credit card. Once you submit payment, you will receive a confirmation email and be added to our official trip roster.
We also offer monthly payment plans, for participants who need more time to submit the full balance. If you’d like to set up a payment plan, please mention so on your application.
Awesome! We’re excited to get to know you. Click here to apply now.