Photography by Megan Mumford

This story is part of our annual Capital Region Gives Back initiative that honors 10 locals who are making our community a better place. Read up on all of the 2026 honorees and join us on December 9 for the 8th annual Capital Region Gives Back event at Putnam Place.

When she was what she describes as a “lost millennial with an art degree,” Laura Kriegel did what many before her have done: she embarked on a cross-country road trip, living out of her Honda Civic with her then-partner. However, that’s where the cliches begin and end. The trip quickly evolved into a research project: How do people intentionally create community? This question brought her to 47 states and more than 250 kids’ summer camps.

It was a time in Kriegel’s life that was filled with learning opportunities; she stayed on different types of properties, sharing meals and deep conversations with camp directors, eager to know each camp’s “secret sauce.” 

“People along the way were always like, ‘Are you going to start your own summer camp?’” Kriegel says. “And our answer was always, ‘Hell no!’ We were like, ‘Start our own summer camp? That sounds crazy.’”

And then…Kriegel started a summer camp. She hosted it at an existing camp she’d rented in New Jersey, putting all she’d learned from her travels into practice. She called it a “backyard project”; to the kids, it was magic. Still, owning her own camp felt far away. 

But when the old Boyhaven property in Middle Grove—rescued by John Munter from being developed—came up for sale in 2020, Kriegel knew that the camp she’d built had finally found a forever home.

Today, Kriegel is the director of Camp Stomping Ground, an overnight camp rooted in empowering kids to make decisions, be in community, and, most importantly, play. Its tagline is “radical empathy,” and the camp never turns a child away for financial reasons.

At Camp Stomping Ground, community-mindedness is central. Through play and decision making, kids experience what it’s like to be in a community where land and shared humanity matters. 

“This summer, we grew hundreds of pounds of tomatoes and put them on the salad bar; we’ve got kids harvesting lettuce and peppers and cucumbers,” Kriegel says. “We get a lot of kids from New York City, who have never had the experience of pulling a carrot out of the ground before. They get to do it here.”