Planting Seeds: 25 Years of 3G Camp
Girls, God and Good Times (3G) Camp is a Catholic Benedictine summer camp for girls in grades 4-11. During each camp, girls explore Benedictine prayer forms, spend time with the sisters and participate in classic camp activities. This year celebrates the 25th anniversary of 3G Camp! Some of our campers return to 3G Camp years later as counselors, forever changed by their experiences at 3G. Enjoy reflections from three of our campers-turned-counselors below.
Liz Hamak
“From a very young age, I knew I was destined to be a Bennie. My childhood consisted of Johnnie football games, walks around Lake Sag, the Maple Syrup Festival and Mass at Sacred Heart Chapel with Sister Katherine Kraft. As a professor and mentor for my parents, and as the homilist at their wedding, our connection with the Sisters of the Order of Saint Benedict was anything but transactional. I remember running around the monastery with my brothers, dreaming about the day I would finally get to call Saint Ben’s ‘home.’
That time came sooner than I expected. As an elementary schooler, my mom told me about 3G Camp, a Catholic Benedictine summer camp run by the sisters for girls. This was music to my ears. A whole week without my brothers and at Saint Ben’s? Sign me up.
Camp became a tradition for me every summer as a young girl, and I eventually returned as a counselor during my undergraduate years at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University (CSB+SJU). When I think back to my time at 3G Camp, I don’t remember every game we played or every activity we did. And if I’m honest, those weren’t my favorite parts. What I remember most is how I felt — and the foundation that was being planted. I felt welcomed, seen and like I belonged — that there was a place for me here. As a young camper, I didn’t have the language to describe it, but looking back now, I realize I was experiencing something deeply Benedictine. The sisters created a space where every person mattered, where faith was woven naturally into each day, and where joy and community went hand in hand.
Years later, when I had the opportunity to return as a counselor, saying ‘Yes’ felt like the natural next step. I wanted to help create the same experience for other campers. I wanted another young girl to know what it feels like to be encouraged, listened to and accepted exactly as they are. I wanted campers to discover that faith does not have to exist in a silo — it can be alive, real and even fun when lived out in community.
Being a counselor quickly became about much more than leading activities. It became an opportunity to practice the same hospitality that had been shown to me. Some of the smallest moments — sharing a meal, sitting with a homesick camper, celebrating a new friendship or praying together before the day began — often became the most meaningful. In those moments, I was not only receiving Benedictine hospitality; I was learning how to give it, too.
These experiences stayed with me long after camp ended. When I began my education at CSB in fall 2020, I started to recognize the same Benedictine values that had quietly shaped me for years: hospitality, community, listening and more.
Transformational experiences like mine don’t happen by accident. They are the result of a community choosing, again and again, to live for the common good. Having the monastic communities at CSB+SJU as a living example of that commitment is a gift I continue to carry with me and cherish.
Looking back now, I can trace many of the other ‘yeses’ in my life to those early experiences. I recently completed my service as volunteer coordinator for Catholic Charities of the Diocese of St. Cloud, am involved with the Central Minnesota Together Encountering Christ retreat program and am currently pursuing my Master of Divinity in the Conversatio program at Saint John’s School of Theology and Seminary. While these opportunities may look very different from a week at summer camp, they share the same foundation: a desire to accompany others, build authentic community and help people encounter God’s unconditional love.
Looking back, I don’t think 3G Camp simply gave me a wonderful week each summer. It gave me a glimpse of the kind of person I wanted to become. It taught me that faith is lived daily, that community is intentionally built and that even the smallest acts of hospitality can change a life. And now, whenever I have the chance to offer that same welcome to someone else, I hope I am planting seeds that will continue to grow in them too.”
Deanna Harper
“My favorite Benedictine value is hospitality. In 2006, when I heard about a summer camp starting with the sisters, I knew I wanted to help campers feel welcomed at Saint Benedict’s Monastery and the College of Saint Benedict (CSB). Little did I know that the connections and memories I made at 3G Camp would continue to impact me 20 years later!
Watching the sisters welcome each camper and share meals, prayer, games, crafts, music and their love of God is so beautiful. In return, seeing the girls ask questions, share their faith and just have fun with the sisters made me understand the true value of hospitality. 3G Camp, for me, was practicing seeing Christ in those we meet every day, whether we know them for the three days they’re at camp with us or we’ve known them for a lifetime.
As a camp counselor, growing together in community with my fellow CSB students was a highlight of camp. Being mentored and loved by the sisters was invaluable. I still carry the Benedictine values I learned at camp into my personal and professional life. I chose to attend CSB because when I visited, it felt like home. I kept coming back to help with 3G even after I graduated because it felt like coming back to visit home. I hope that the 3G campers and counselors continue to feel the love of God through the hospitality, joy and peace they see with the sisters.”
Sabrina Ehrmantraut
“I started attending 3G Camp the summer after fifth grade and looked forward to it every year. However, my love of 3G goes far beyond the campfires, group games and meals at the dining center at the College of Saint Benedict (CSB). It was the first time someone had given a name to the things I loved: community, prayer, awareness of God, and more. As I grew up, the Benedictine values kept returning to me in the clearest ways, guiding me on the path God had for me.
I vividly remember leaving 3G for the last time as a camper, and I started tearing up as my dad and I drove out of the CSB campus. I had just finished ninth grade and expressed how sad I was that, in my own words, I was ‘too old for camp.’ He jokingly replied, ‘You’ll just have to go to college here and be a counselor.’
So I did. 3G helped bring me back to campus in 2016, this time as a student. It certainly wasn’t the only reason I came back, but 3G had laid the foundation of the values that did. I actively sought out Sister Lisa Kittock, the previous 3G Camp director, and basically begged to be a counselor. Thankfully, she took me on. I continued to live out my love of the Benedictine values, passing them on.
When I graduated, I was thrilled that Sister Laura Suhr, current 3G Camp director, wanted me to come back as a lead counselor, even after COVID. The value of community lived on: ‘Once a Bennie, always a Bennie.’ I always said I would be back next year, and it always felt like returning home, not just to campus, but to camp.
When looking for a job after college, I found a little Catholic school in Mound, Minn.: Our Lady of the Lake. In addition to other obvious signs that this was God’s path for me, Matthew 5:16 was already painted on the wall of what would become my classroom: ‘Let your light shine.’ God once again used my foundation in the Benedictine values to guide me where He led. I have 3G to thank for that foundation.
Today, I am proud to say that I have been a part of 15 summers of 3G as either a camper or a counselor. I am overjoyed to keep returning. I look forward to leading more young ladies to the values that have come to define me.
As our camp song says, I sure am ‘glad I’m a triple G.’”
This article was featured on pages 32-34 in the fall 2026 issue of Call.
