The Backbone of the Laurel Camps…Our Counselors

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The guest blog this week comes from the Laurel camps.  If you’ve ever wondered what fuels a camp, read no further than this article.

Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner says that being a summer camp counselor was the most valuable job he ever had.

What a coincidence! Our counselors may be the most valuable part of the experience at Camp Laurel and Laurel South.

We’re very proud of our facilities and programs. We invest a lot of time, energy and resources into making them the best they can be.

But all that “stuff” means little without great people.

Counselors help create our camp community. They set the loving, caring tone that turns worries into wonder and strangers into life-long friends.

Counselors are parent figures, older siblings and role models, all rolled into one. They are problem-solvers, goal-setters and dream-makers – sometimes all at once.

Their creativity, empathy and passion provide the seeds for each child’s summer of growth.

With our counselors, we can do anything. We could drop them and our campers in a desert, or on a deserted island.

Everyone would have a great time.

Without our counselors, we’d be lost.

The Laurel Camps staff come from across the United States. They bring a broad range of experiences and expectations to Maine. Their diversity is one of their strengths – and ours.

Some are with us for a couple of years. They might move on to grad school, an internship or “real” job. When they do, they carry the very important “people skills” that attracted them to us originally, and that they’ve honed during their time at Laurel and Laurel South.

Other counselors make camping their career. They are “lifers.” They are coaches on the collegiate and high school level. They become educators – in elementary, middle or high school (even universities) – and return every summer. They mentor other counselors, as well as campers. That too is one of our staff’s strengths.

We say with pride that we provide children with a lifetime of skills, confidence, friendships and memories. As Michael Eisner knows, it does all that for counselors too.

We look forward to introducing you to our superb 2013 staff in the coming months.

The preceding blog was originally posted the Camp Laurel blog on March 12, 2013.

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Camp through the Eyes of an Athletic Director

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Hi, I’m the camp Athletic Director!

I love my role at camp because in the course of a day, I come into contact with virtually everyone at camp at some point.  I started out at camp as a sports head.  I loved keeping my individual area organized—working with the campers and my staff and maintaining my facilities—so well that I wanted to be more involved.  So I started helping out with inter and intra-camp leagues as well as leading any evening or special activities that involved not just my program area, but virtually anything that had to with sports.  That’s how I eventually became the one responsible for keeping my camp’s entire sports program running smoothly.

My day begins early—sometimes as early as 6:00 a.m.  I’m responsible for seeing off all of the teams heading out to play inter-camp league games.  I make sure we stay on schedule by insuring all of the coaches and their teams make it onto the bus or to the field on time.   If a team is scheduled to be out of camp during any meals, I run by the kitchen to make sure their breakfasts or lunches are ready and, if they haven’t been already, transported to the bus.  I also double check to make sure teams have all necessary sporting equipment, rosters, and, medical forms.  On those rare days when the weather is less than perfect, I also communicate with other camp Athletic Directors about the status of scheduled matches.  It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes games have to be rescheduled.

During the day, I make my rounds to all of sporting areas. I review lesson plans and make sure instruction is adhering to them. I enjoy watching each and every group for a bit.  It’s fun to see the progress of the campers over time.  While I’m there, I’ll check in with the Area Head and Specialists to see if there are any issues that might be impacting the activity that I haven’t directly observed myself.  It’s also a good time for me to give staff members a pep talk by applauding what I think is working and offering some pointers for improving some things.  I might also take some time to schedule league matches with other camps or oversee intra-league play.  At some point each day, I’ll also check-in with coaches to get scores and report updated records for all of the athletic teams to the directors.  During that time, I’ll also communicate any maintenance and facility issues or equipment needs to directors or program director.

In the evenings, I’ll usually help out in whatever way I can with the camp’s special activities.  While sometimes this actually involves something directly related to athletics, the majority of the time, it does not.  A lot of times, I find myself judging contests or dressed in some crazy costume doing something goofy on stage during one of the camp’s shows.  It’s all part of working at a summer camp, and those are some of my favorite moments.  I’m usually pretty exhausted by the time my head hits the pillow at night, but I can’t wait until the next morning so that I wake up and do it all over again!  That’s why I love working at camp!

Finding Your Way Home to Camp

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This week’s guest blog comes to us from Camp Starlight Directors David and Allison and speaks to feeling of home and belonging that many campers and staff find at summer camp.

The last week of camp seems like it was yesterday.  That feeling of holding on to every moment and hoping that time would just stand still. As the Olympic scores are announced, you rushed the lake cheering, hugging and tears began flooding your eyes. You left your legacy with your bunk plaque this time just a simple phrase, so simple, but says so much. You watched the camp enter the banquet and in awe of the fantasy world you created full of the memories of the summer. The songs from the closing show and the beautiful stroll down to the lake.  The serenade of the alma mater and the candle flickering in the night. The vision of fireworks reflecting on the lake .  The trumpet echoing taps from the mountains.  And of course, that moment when together we all looked up to the sky and David’s words that finally had found a special meaning …”may the stars of Camp Starlight keep you warm throughout the winter and lead you back to us next summer.”

As the buses rolled away that summer and you began the journey back down the camp road, you promised yourself that you would return to Starlight some day.  There are so many things that draw you back: reuniting with friends, sharing your own experience with other campers, taking the role of a coach or teacher, the thrill of being a General or Sing Leader, taking on a leadership role of an ADL, Division Leader or one day a Head Counselor, a chance to get in the ring and wrestle in slushies, shaving your legs for Ms. Starlight, being in the rec hall and singing friends and the alma mater.  It is not hard to imagine at all.

Oh, and then life began to get complicated. Applying to college,  going to college, chosing a major, the pressure of internships and the like. And you start to wonder if that promise you made to yourself will ever come true to go back to Camp again.  But before you let the door close on what has been such an important part of your life, don’t believe that the “real world” doesn’t value the experience of working at a summer camp.  Camp Starlight provides a continuous opportunity to grow, educate yourself and develop a social network that will help you further your relationships both professionally and personally.

And opportunities are abound.  Camp is like a mini city.  The experience of working with children will be to learn about teaching and child care. Athletic learning to teach, coach, organize and scheduling are great skills to help with a career in sports management or teaching.  Our health center staffed with highly skilled nurses and doctors many of whom have worked in ER, Surgery, Pediatrics, provides a great resource for someone considering to go to med school or nursing.  Our active social media site provides is a great place to publish a blog, photograph or learn the ins and outs of building a social media community. A special events department is like no other to learn about event planning.  A complete infrastructure with its own sewage plant, dam, generators that would engineer.  Our theater has been a true starting point  for aspiring actors, writers, stage managers, producers and musicians. Thinking of becoming an aeronautical engineer, well maybe we can’t help you, although you never know what we have in store for the Olympic break. The opportunities are as endless as are the mountains in Pennsylvania.

So if your heart belongs at Starlight this summer, give us a call and let us see if we can help you find your way home.

David and Allison

This blog was originally published to the Camp Starlight blog on February 14, 2013.

Going to Camp with Your Siblings

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They may fight like cats and dogs at home, but attending camp together is special for siblings.  Parents may be surprised to learn that at camp, they don’t accuse each of being the one to lose the television remote.  Instead, they wave and smile when they pass each other on campus.  They don’t fight about taking up each other’s space in the car either.  Instead, they make special meeting places to talk about camp—everything they’ve done, new things they’ve tried, new friends they’ve made, and how their sports teams are doing how they got a bullsyeye in archery or are going to be singing a song in the show.  Siblings don’t taunt each other when they do something silly at camp.  They cheer for them.  And, parents, you may be surprised to learn that siblings don’t pretend that each other has an infectious disease that prevents them from ever touching at camp.  They readily hug.

As you can see, summer camp may as well be Hogwarts for its ability to transform sibling rivalry into a special relationship.  Camp is a distinct set of memories they share apart from their parents.  Those camp experiences will always be just theirs, which creates a bond that helps them grow as brothers and sisters as well as individuals.  It’s an opportunity that many children who do not attend sleepaway camp don’t get to experience until adulthood.  By being able to share a special set of traditions and values, siblings are able to appreciate their relationships at a much earlier age.   The thrill of seeing each other experience camp firsts and pass camp milestones also helps them learn to appreciate each other as individuals.

And, let’s face it, we know that seeing your children smiling together in a camp photo after hitting the refresh button a thousand times each day makes it all worthwhile for you.  Those smiles are why you put them on the bus or plane each year.  They’re why you post the photos to your on Facebook pages and pass them around, accumulating likes.  You  love hearing them asking each if they remember a certain time at camp or singing the same songs and doing the same cheers.  In that respect, being able to send your children to summer camp together is special for you too.

What’s the Weather Like?

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The popularity of summer camp has spread in recent years, now regularly attracting children from all regions of the United States and abroad.  For many of these campers, it’s their first trip to the Northeastern United States.  So, naturally, one of the most common questions we get at America’s Finest Summer Camps is about the weather.  We’re not just saying this because we’re camp people: There couldn’t be a more perfect place to spend a summer than in the Northeast!

The mountain air in the area where are Pennsylvania camps are located is clean and crisp while the coastal breezes keep the air pure at our Maine camps. Many of our campers and staff members frequently comment on how nice it is to be free of the smog of the big cities in which many of them live.  During the day, the temperatures are typical of summer weather.   Because America’s Finest Summer Camps are in the mountains or on the coast, the temperatures tend to be a few degrees cooler than in lower lands or inland.  However, the summer sun still shines very brightly on the vast majority of the days, and it can get a bit warm.  We encourage campers to stay well hydrated, though, and wearing sunscreen is a must!  Shorts and tank tops or tshirts are usually the most appropriate daytime attire.

We think that perhaps the best part of getting to spend our summers at camp, however, are the evenings. Temperatures cool down just enough to make most nights perfect for campfires and outdoor activities.  Most campers take a sweatshirt to their evening activities. They may not always need one, but it’s a nice thing to have around just in case.  Our favorite thing about nights at camp, though, is the sky.  Because our camps are in rural areas, there is very little light pollution, so you can actually see the stars!

It rains very seldom at camp, and it’s seldom wet for long—just long enough to make things a little bit greener.  While most of the country struggles with being not too hot or not too cold during the summer months, the weather at summer camp in the Northeast is just right!

Everthing I Need to Know in Life…

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Robert Fulghum wrote a great poem entitled “Everything I Need to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten.”  Since so many campers and staff members often speak of all of the valuable things they learn at camp, we thought we’d do a tribute to Fulghum’s original poem, as well as to all present and former campers and staff members, with our own camp take on the classic…

Everything I Need to Know in Life…I didn’t learn in a classroom or in a book.  I learned it at summer camp.  I learned….

  • I can make good decisions for myself
  • Living with other people requires compromise.
  • Learning to say ‘I’m sorry”
  • Making my bed every day
  • Clean up my own mess
  • Don’t overpack!
  • Don’t take things that are not yours.
  • Write letters. People still love getting mail.
  • Trying new things is fun, even if they don’t turn out to be something you’d want to do everyday.
  • Sometimes being able to laugh at yourself is the best medicine.
  • Everyone should take the time to act silly —even grownups.
  • It’s okay not to be the best at something as long as you try really hard.
  • Just because you don’t succeed the first time, that doesn’t mean you should give up.
  • It’s not so hard to smile and say ‘hi’ to someone you don’t know.
  • New friends are great!  Old friends are the best!
  • Traditions tie us to others forever, no matter where we are in the world or how much time has passed.
  • You have the power to choose whether you have a good day or a bad day.  And even if your day doesn’t get off to such a great start, it doesn’t have to end that way.
  • No one wins all of the time.  It’s what you take away from the game that matters.
  • Having a routine is a really good way to stay organized.
  • Words CAN be just as powerful as sticks and stones, so think about what you say to someone else before you say it.
  • Judging people by what they look like or what they wear won’t get you very far in life, and you might miss out on some great friendships because of it.
  • Cheering for others is just as fun as being cheered on.
  • Every great thing comes to an end.  But the memories of it last a lifetime.

The world would be an awesome place if everyone went to summer camp!

What Are the Bunks Like?

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What are the living arrangements?

This is one of the most common questions we receive from prospective parents.  Of course, we’ve all seen enough Hollywood interpretations to imagine our children living in everything from tents with cots to luxury facilities complete with common rooms furnished with ping pong tables and fluffy sofas.  The reality at America’s Finest Summer Camps is somewhat simple, and  in this blog we’re going to try to answer some of the most common questions that we receive about camp living facilities.

What are the cabins/bunks like?
Most cabins or bunks house 8-12 campers plus a couple of counselors in a single room for sleeping and a separate bathroom and shower area.  Some cabins or bunks may have separate areas with cubbies for storing clothing and personal belongings. The beds may actually be traditional bunk beds (one stacked on top of the other) or they may be single beds lined next to each other and separate by cubby stands.

What’s the difference between a cabin and a bunk?
Essentially, nothing.  It’s simply a matter of each camp’s preference in whether to call its living facilities cabins or bunks.  This may or may not be related to the particular region in which a camp in located.  In some areas “cabin” may be the more common term while in others, camps are more likely to call them “bunks.”

Where do campers put their things?
Whether it’s next to the beds or in a separate area, camp cabins and bunks have cubby areas in which children can place their things.  Although there is ample cubby space for everything on the camp’s packing list, it’s important to keep in mind when packing that there isn’t a lot of extra storage in bunks or cabins.  So it’s a good idea to contact the camp before giving into temptation and tucking a lot of extra items in your camp trunk.

Are the toilet and shower facilities inside the bunk, and what are they like?
Although some summer camps do have community shower houses shared by several bunks, all of America’s Finest Summer Camps feature cabins and bunks with ensuite bathroom facilities inside that are shared only by those living in each individual cabin or bunk. They typically have a few sinks as well as toilet and hot water.

Additionally, many bunks feature porches or sitting areas outside and drying racks for beach towels, since waterfront activities are a prominent part of summer camp.  Those most cabins and bunks do not feature air conditioning, there are plenty of screened windows that allow air to pass through, which works well in mountainous locations where the air tends to be a few degrees cooler anyway.

So there you have it, what a bunk/cabin is like at America’s Finest Summer Camps.

Lobster–A Maine Tradition!

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This week’s guest blog comes from the Laurel camps and showcases something as synonymous with the state of Maine as summer camp–LOBSTER!

At the Laurel Camps, our mascots are moose.
But as everyone in Maine knows, lobsters are as much a part of the state experience as moose.

The first record of Maine lobsters dates to 1605. Back in the day, they were caught by hand. Four-foot lobsters were common. The record seems to be a 12-pounder. That’s a lot of meat.

But they were considered “paupers’ food” – unfit for most people to eat.

By the late 1700s, as tastes evolved, boats with open holding wells on deck allowed live lobsters to be shipped. The lobster market grew.
Maine’s industry got another boost in 1843, when the first cannery was built in Eastport. As demand grew, so did technology. Wooden pots and special boats helped lobstermen broaden their range. Soon, they were hauling catches in deep water, far from shore.

But demand outpaced lobsters’ ability to reproduce. Inevitably they became smaller, and more scarce. With 3,000 full-time lobstermen working Maine’s waters, worries about extinction increased.

Regulations helped. The number of traps a lobsterman could set was reduced from 1200 to 800. The number of licenses was strictly controlled. Small lobsters, and females with eggs, must be thrown back.

The effect has been dramatic. Lobsters are now plentiful. In fact, last summer prices plunged – to the detriment of hard-working, independent lobstermen.

While you will only find lobster at Camp Laurel and Laurel South at our annual, end-of-summer Steak and Lobster Banquet, it is plentiful throughout the “207” state at lobster pounds, supermarkets, restaurants – even gas stations – all year long.

Put on that bib, crack those shells, and enjoy!

The preceding blog was originally posted to the Camp Laurel blog on February 7, 2013

Learning to Lose at Camp

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Whether it’s a school spelling bee or a soccer game, as parents we want to see our children win not just to experience the joy of seeing them excel but because we know that they want to win.  Being raised in a competitive culture naturally makes us all want to be number one.  Children equate being number one with being the best.  However, as grownups we know that it’s impossible to win all of the time and that winning doesn’t necessarily mean being the best so much as being the best on that particular day.  The idea that losing, in reality, is closer to not winning in that it’s possible to “lose” yet gain something valuable from a contest or competition is one of the most difficult concepts for children to embrace.  Camp is a place where not only is this point driven home daily, but it’s a lesson learned at camp in a fun, constructive environment.

The pressure of anxious parents and coaches on the sidelines of sports competitions combined with the knowledge that school performance affects everything from what kind of classes they can take, extracurricular activities in which they can participate, and what colleges they will be  attend place a great deal of emphasis on children’s performance.  The ability for children to be able to process that good can come from not winning is clouded because the end goal is the emphasis.  The underlying message that children sometimes inadvertently receive as a result is that they will be valued or loved less if they lose.  Camp, on the other hand, emphasizes process and embraces novice.  One of the primary messages conveyed to campers is that winning is a great thing at camp, but it’s not everything.   Improving skills, finding activities one really loves, having fun and making friends are valuable attributes at camp.  In such an environment, winning
takes on less prominence.  Children are less likely to feel less valuable as campers for losing.

Camp leaders and staff work very hard throughout the summer to make sure this atmosphere is maintained. Children are encouraged for performance, accomplishment, and attitude regardless of being winners or losers in a contest.  Many special camp  games or competitions are also structured in a way that encourages children to work together in order to win and provide excellent opportunities for those children who may not be excellent athletes or extreme intellectuals to have their moments to shine.

Learning how to “not win” at camp makes it much easier for children to put “not winning” at home into proper perspective!

Camp Mom

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Recently, we posted a blog how the staff who watch over children at summer camp.  To further expand on that point, our guest blog this week is from Lindsay at Camp Starlight regarding one of the essential members of not only Starlight’s staff but many other camps a well…The Camp Mom.

One of the most essential roles held in a summer at Camp Starlight is that of the Camp Mom. The Camp Mom is always alert and sensitive to the needs of Starlighters in their everyday routines. Her chief role is to pay that extra special bit of attention known as mother love to our junior campers, specifically our Junior Boys. She checks that the campers are clean and keeping up personal hygiene. She makes sure everyone is lathered up in their sunscreen before heading off to a day of fun in the sun, and she is always ready with her clippers to trim those fingernails when they need it!

Our staff at Camp Starlight is ever vigilant to the safety and well-being of campers, but as we all know, there are just some things that a mother does best. The Camp Mom has the freedom and flexibility to be where she is needed whenever that is. She drops into the bunks, stops by at activity periods, and of course does her daily rounds at meals to make sure everyone is having a proper meal. Counselors are aware and working to make sure the kids are happy and healthy, but only a mom can really go behind and make sure everything is just right. As important as these roles are, the position also steps outside of the everyday practical check-ups and really allows the Camp Mom and the campers to develop a caring relationship through the summer.

In addition to watching the physical welfare of the kids, a Camp Mom also takes on the role of a nurturing supporter. Campers realize she is there for them to talk to, to wish each of them sweet dreams at night, and to help encourage their independence and growth during their summer at camp. For all of these reasons, it is obvious why the Camp Mom is such an integral part of our youngest campers’ summers. All of our previous Camp Moms have shared their enjoyment of being mother to the many kids they met over the summer and being able to care for them during their time away from home. It is also a common feeling that a summer at Camp Starlight as the Camp Mom brought them a wonderfully warm experience personally because of becoming a part of the amazing people known as the Starlight Family!

Lindsay

*This blog was originally published to the www.campstarlight.com on February 1, 2013.