Testimonials from leadership professionals

The Manito-wish Leadership Program has had a tremendous impact on our school. We have been coming to Manito-wish since 1990 and have always had a great experience. Many teachers and students describe the event as a highlight of their high-school careers. We bring our entire senior class and our advisors, and they engage in a series of activities that promote leadership, community, and trust. We always come back charged up for the year and ready to take on new challenges. This event has helped us break down cliques, and has often healed divisions among students, or even between students and teachers. The Manito-wish facilitators are the best around in creating community, raising awareness of others, and building trust among groups. The activities are well paced and fun, and really get at the principles of community building. Rather than discussing the qualities of leadership and what makes a good leader, the facilitators at Manito-wish really get the students into activities that get them to experience leadership firsthand. The facilities at Manito-wish are first class and are a great environment for learning. The Manito-wish Leadership Center is the best facility of its kind I have ever worked with. With large and small group meeting spaces, an indoor climbing wall, and the Northwoods feel, the Manito-wish Leadership Center really becomes the center of our program, and gives us a great chance to come together as a class. Matt Nink Executive Director Global Youth Leadership Institute
Camp director John Stanley first introduced me to Camp Manito-wish YMCA in 1997. John invited me and a few members of the Wisconsin Leadership Institute Board of Directors to spend a weekend at Manito-wish learning first hand about the Manito-wish experience. Since then at least one representative of Manito-wish has served on the WLI board at all times, and the relationship between our two organizations has been extremely productive and rewarding. The WLI is now preparing to publish an extensive curriculum on collaborative leadership. The primary author of this curriculum is Laurie Frank, who wrote the original curriculum for Camp Manito-wish and facilitated that weekend in 1997. My service on the Manito-wish Leadership ProgramÕs board has been one of the highlights of my professional life. As Research Director for the Ethical Leadership Program at Ripon College, I have sent two groups of Ripon students to retreats at Manito-wish and attended one of them myself. Watching the students take on the challenges of the activities has enhanced my own appreciation both for the students and for the work done by the Manito-wish staff and colleagues. My students all gave the retreat experience rave reviews. I keep coming back to Manito-wish partly because of the place itself, partly because of the people in the place, and partly because of the mission to which the people are committed. I never was a camper in my own youth, but I feel like my involvement at Camp Manito-wish has filled in that gap. Dr. Jack Christ Professor and Director of Leadership Studies, Ripon College Executive Director, Wisconsin Leadership Institute Research Director, Ethical Leadership Program, Ripon College

For general questions, contact:

Mark Zanoni
Leadership Program Director
Camp Manito-wish YMCA
PO Box 246
Boulder Junction, WI 54512
715-385-2312