If Anakin Skywalker had gone to Swift Nature Camp, he would not have become Darth Vader.
For a child in pseudo-slavery with a single parent, young Anakin Skywalker was surprisingly well adjusted. His mother had educated him well and clearly raised him in a loving, supportive home. At a young age, he was already displaying the positive qualities all parents hope to see like empathy, kindness, initiative and confidence. Anakin would go on to spend the next ten years being schooled in the Jedi Arts. But had he taken a little time off in the summers to go to camp, he would have built upon the strong fundamentals of his childhood and had the power to resist the dark side.
Imagine an alternate universe where every July, Anakin pilots his spaceship to beautiful northern Wisconsin and spends three weeks at Swift Nature Camp. Here at camp, Anakin would spend his time at activities like boating, archery, or the Lego cabin. He might go to the nature center and adopt an exotic Earth animal like a bunny or tarantula to take care of for the summer. He and his friends would go on over-night canoeing trips filled with campfires, s’mores, and stargazing. His time would fly by and he would count down the days until he could return the following summer.
The activities and adventures would give him memories that last a lifetime, but it’s the work sleepaway camps do underneath the surface that would keep him on the light side of the force. The bonds Anakin would develop with his friends would be so uniquely strong and unlike any relationship in his life. In fact, the overall culture of the cabins and camp itself would have him reevaluating the relationships in his life outside of camp. Not only would he start to recognize and eliminate the negative influences in his life, he would have new value and appreciation for the positive ones. Kids who have experienced the supportive, loving, and culturally rich environment of camp are the kind of kids who overcome the pull to the dark side.
Anakin would also experience a place where failure is ok. At Swift Nature Camp, they know the best life lessons are born out of failure rather than success. The resilience to overcome something and the wisdom to lean from mistakes are more valuable than anything Anakin could learn from immediate success.
The things Anakin would take away from his time at that cozy Wisconsin sleepaway camp would be engrained in him forever. Camp would not prevent the tragedies he would endure or the immense challenges he would face, but it would give him the tools to make proactive decisions for himself and those around him, a lesson even the greatest Jedi masters struggle to teach.
