Home Away from Home

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If ever anyone could ever spell out why camp why camp is awesome, it is Camp Weequahic camper Jenna H., this week’s guest blogger.

18439 is the zip code that has become my second home for five summers.  Starting at the age of six, I learned many core virtues at Camp Weequahic in Pennsylvania.  Summer camp has absolutely changed my life.

Living and sleeping in a cabin with different girls and no parents involves plenty of responsibility.  Everyone has to clean their bunk and the bathroom everyday with only a little help from the counselors.  Also, each camper has to create his or her own schedule of fun activities planned.  In addition, I have to be accountable for brushing my teeth and folding my laundry.  Responsibility is important, but cooperation is also a big part of the camp experience.

At sleep away camp, cooperation is used everyday no matter what.  All campers must cooperate completely during their activities by including everyone. By cooperating with my fellow bunk members, we can accomplish chores and activities more quickly than doing it all alone.  In competitions, different teams have to cooperate in order to win.  When the entire camp breaks into different tribes, girls and boys work together creating songs, competing in relays, and answering trivia questions.  At times, I can be a strong leader in my bunk or for my tribe.

Finally, I have gained independence every year I have been at this camp. Living 3,000 miles away from home allows me to take care of myself and be independent.  I am in charge of serving others and myself food.  I try new things like cooking, sewing, tubing, and kickball.  I have created friendships with people from all over the world and have stayed in touch with them.

Arriving at camp is the best experience of the whole year.  I am away from my parents but at least I still have my bother there with me.  I learn many things and make many new friends.  All of this creates a remarkable summer experience!

–Jenna H.

The preceding blog was originally published to the Camp Weequahic website on December 19, 2013.


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New Year, New Summer

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There comes a point for everyone involved with camp when we finally stop wishing for it to still be last summer and begin looking forward to this summer. The beginning of the new year is the perfect time for this. The new year is a time of new beginnings for most people and, although that long list of resolutions most of us start out with in January has already been all but forgotten by the time the first spring blooms begin to peep out of the ground, there is always the promise of camp. January starts that final countdown toward summer. We’re finally in the year 2014, and it is only a matter of months before we arrive at the Summer of 2014.  And a fast six months it always is! We spend cold winter evenings watching our camp videos or reading our camp newsletters. We attend camp reunions and follow our camp Facebook pages. By spring we’ve ordered all of our new camp gear and are eagerly awaiting for it to arrive.  We start to set goals for the summer with our camp friends. Then we blink, and it’s May. It’s time to start packing! School ends and the countdown is down to days…days that seem to take longer than all of the months we’ve waited put together. But it comes, the new summer of the new year, faster than we ever thought it would a year ago.

Like Father, Like Son

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This week’s guest blog first appeared on the Camp Laurel blog on December 10, 2013, and is a nice reminder of what a great multi-generational tradition that summer camp can be for families.

In 1977, Ron Scott, the former director of Camp Laurel, visited then potential camper Greg Racz’s father’s office. His mission: to talk about Camp Laurel. “A number of friends from Ethical Culture school already went there,” Greg recalls. It was an easy sell.

That summer, Greg made his first camp friend: Jem Sollinger. As the weeks – then years – passed, Greg grew to appreciate everything about Laurel; his fellow campers, the staff and the beauty of Maine. “Coming from New York City, being outdoors was great and I loved being able to play so much tennis.” As Jem recalls, no one was more consistent on the court than Greg, “He got everything back!”

More than 30 years later, “Laurel has only gotten prettier,” Greg says. He has a good way of knowing: His son, Daniel, is now a Laurel camper too. It seemed like “déjà vu all over again” in the early fall of 2012 when Jem visited Greg’s office to discuss Laurel for the next generation of Racz’s.

“Jem has done a phenomenal job,” Greg says of his longtime friend, now the camp director. “He’s got a great group of counselors.”

“Holly is still there with her husband, Warren,” Greg recalls, referencing 35-year Laurel veterans, Holly and Warren Williams. Amazingly, in 1980, Warren was Greg and Jem’s counselor in the Falcons.

Greg adds, “The waterfront is still drop-dead gorgeous and the many ping pong tables are a welcome addition,” speaking to another one of his passions!

Daniel’s route to camp was similar to his father’s. Daniel’s friends – at the same Ethical Culture school – also go to Laurel. Of course, he’d also heard about Laurel “100 times” from his dad, Greg. Getting off the bus, the first person Daniel saw was Jem. Some things never change.

Daniel’s favorite parts of camp are the sports facilities. “The Fieldhouse (a new addition since his father’s day) is great. It’s so big, with lots of space.”

Does he talk to his dad about the old days? “Yes,” Daniel says. “He likes to talk.”

Daniel’s younger brother Joshua may follow in his brother and father’s footsteps. He loved the water-slide on Visiting Day and Daniel would love to have his younger brother at camp with him, “It would be a lot of fun having a family member there.” That would make Greg doubly happy. “Visiting Day was too short,” he says. “It’s great to get a second chance at Laurel” – even if its just for a day.

And what about the second generation of campers from Laurel South. Founded in 1993, we expect the first influx of alumni campers over the next couple of years. “We can’t wait for the first alumni campers” says Laurel South director Roger Christian. “Family – isn’t  that what camp is all about?” At the Laurel Camps…it definitely is.

STEM教育に関連するサマーキャンププログラムのメリット

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STEMは人気のある流行語であり、より適切に言えば、教育サイクルを巡る略語です。しかし、これはサマーキャンプのサイクルに含まれる用語ではありません。 STEMは、科学、技術、工学、数学の4つの分野を指し、サマーキャンプがこの傾向に加わります。アメリカンキャンプ協会によると、STEMに関連する活動は過去5年間のプログラムで良い理由のために最も人気のあるサマーキャンプです。サマーキャンプは、キャンパーが楽しんで学ぶ普段生活の代わりの場所を提供します。教室、屋外または個人のプログラムの排他的に設計された施設に取って代わり、レッスンの規模は、関連するキャンプ活動を通して学生にもっと注意深く実践的なアプローチで探索するSTEM分野のサイズを大幅に縮小しました。ニューヨーク·デイリー·ニュースによると、ニューヨークのサマー·キャンプの平均学生数は25人で、特に人気があります。一部の学校には30人以上の学生がいます。STEMに関連するキャンププログラムは例えば、自然、ロケット実験、ラジオなど、しばしば活動期間中に12人以下を受けます。STEMに関連するプログラムは、キャンパーの最も人気のあるキャンプであることがますます証明されています。しかし、なぜ子供たちは教育のニッチプログラムに入るのでしょう？これにはいくつかの理由があります。

第一に、サマーキャンプは形式に縛られず、リラックスした環境を提供します。宿題はありません。講義のプランはありません。講義はありません。締め切りはありません。試験はありません。

これは完全に、あなたが快適に参加できる環境です。すべてのキャンパーは、夏に少なくとも一度はSTEM関連のキャンププログラムに参加するよう奨励されていますが、新しい興味や熱意を求めて何度も戻ってくる人もいます。「あなたの望むものに参加する」というアプローチは、キャンパーが彼らの関心についてどのように集中するかを選択することも可能にします。コラボレーターは、この分野をリードするコンサルタント、大学生や専門家で構成されています。 彼らはキャンパーたちが望むように彼らの勇気を元気づけ、STEM関連活動のこだわった側面に彼らの努力を助けます。

第二に、サマーキャンプ全体のポイントは、キャンパーが楽しんでいることです。 言うまでもなく、キャンプ活動は楽しいものを強調するように構築されていて、その学期中に伝統的にあまり面白味のない科目分野であっても楽しく学べるように設計されています。その点に関しては、家から離れたキャンプの教育的なニッチは、その学期中の学習を競い合うことや、または置き換えることを意図するのではなく、それを強化することを意図しています。

第三に、これは健康的な活動のミックスです。学生が1日に授業を受けるために移動する典型的な学校のクラス環境とは異なり、キャンプ場がスポーツやウォーターアクティビティに参加できる屋外は、少なくとも半日、その伝統的なサマーキャンプが利用されます。 多くのキャンプでは、キャンプやスタッフに回復の時間を与えるためのプログラムの中断も含まれています。したがって、プログラム活動は、健康的な身体活動、リラクゼーション、および教育の組み合わせなのだと理解されています。これは、日中の心をリフレッシュして活動に参加し、未来の活動へ近づくための時間と空間をキャンパーに与えます。

伝統的なSTEM関連のサマーキャンプは、学校で提供されているものに代わるものではありませんが、最終的にはキャンパーが学期中には到達できない方法で、未来の数学者エンジニアもしくは科学者をそれぞれの科目に没頭させます。一部のキャンパーは、これらの科目で見つけた新しい興味を家に持ち帰って、学校に新しい熱意を持ち、STEMに関連するサマーキャンププログラムを先取りすることができます。

They Just Don’t Get It

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The guest blog this week was originally posted on the Camp Starlight Blog on December 10, 2013.

As the winter season is upon us, for many people, memories of the summer are fading but for a bunch of us, summer is still very much on the forefront of our minds. This is because we are camp counselors. Even though it’s been 4 months since we were at Camp Starlight, we are not quite used to the “real world” yet and long for a time when singing songs about napkins and moustaches is normal. A place where tutus for men, suspenders made of duct tape, and blue and white face pant is just typical everyday attire. A place that you “get” and it “gets” you.

You can never truly explain to people who have not spent a summer at Camp Starlight what the experience is like and trying to get them to understand a story or sing along with hand motions to a song is lost on them. Why don’t they understand how eating a piece of cantaloupe is important, or why this square dancing bracelet is a bragging rite? Why don’t they get it?

Only the lucky ones that have worked at camp can empathize with what we go through; trying to explain how hard but crazy good our kids were, why you can’t stop singing those songs, or why if you see a child you immediately turn back into a counselor.

I guess you have to realize that the summer of your life was unique and special and something most people will never “get”.  But that won’t stop you from trying to get others to come with you next summer to Camp Starlight!

It’s Summer Camp Recruiting Season

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Attention college and university students:  Have you started to think about how you’re going to spend next summer? Sure, it’s winter, it’s cold outside, and the thing you’re most worried about  now are your upcoming finals. Perhaps in the back of your mind you’ve toyed with the idea of applying for an internship or two. But have you considered working at a summer camp? Right now, in the late fall and dead of winter, many summer camps are on tour, making stops at schools throughout the country and recruiting events around the world in search of the most caring, dedicated, enthusiastic and fun students who are interested in working with children. If you’re taking courses to become a professional in any field that pertains to the education, coaching or care of children, a summer spent working at camp is more valuable than any internship. Imagine how much you can dress up your resume after a summer living and working with children. Your understanding of diversity and your communication skills will also get a big boost because you’ll be working alongside people from all over the world, all walks of life and from a variety of professions. Best of all, you literally get paid to spend most of your days outdoors having fun while participating in activities with your campers!

If you think working at camp sounds great but you’re not a person currently majoring in an area related to children, don’t be discouraged. Although students aretypically placed in camp counselor positions, there are many different types of roles at summer camp, and summer camp recruiters are always excited to meet and chat with candidates of any college major who may fill a special niche position. So even if you aren’t an athlete or education major, if you think you have a special talent or quality that you can bring as a camp staff member, don’t hesitate to pay summer camp recruiters a visit when they’re at your campus. You might just be that special candidate who is difficult to find but for whom a camp has definitely been searching.

There are a few things prospective staff members should be aware of, though, and recruiters like to be up front with candidates. Working at summer camp is fun, and you’re certainly not going to be fetching coffee (except for yourself at meal times) or be lost in Excel spreadsheets cursing the invention of pivot tables. But you will work harder at summer camp than you probably ever have or maybe even ever will again. In fact, we in the summer camp industry have a motto that working at summer camp is the “hardest job you’ll ever love.” The hours are long. You can expect to be on duty from breakfast to bedtime, typically, six days a week. Summer camp is extremely fast paced and the environment is best described as “organized chaos,” so you have to be able to keep up with the pace and make split second decisions. Being able to stay positive and provide encouragement, even when it’s storming outside, you’re stuck in the bunk/cabin, and the soccer team (of which most of your campers are a part) just lost a big game, is critical. You have to be able to put on a smile and choose a positive attitude even on days when you wake up not quite feeling the summer camp vibe. You must also be able to care about and for someone else’s children as if they are your own for several weeks. It’s still important to remember that those campers assigned to you are your campers for the entire duration of camp, and you are expected to do your best to make sure that ALL of your campers have equal opportunity to have an amazing summer. If you’re dependent on your tech gadgets, you’ll likely experience a bit of culture shock. Summer camps encourage campers to enjoy their natural surroundings and forbid most electronic equipment such as cell phones, laptops, iPads, and Kindles. Staff members may keep them in camp lockers or safes for use in their off time, but they may not be kept in bunks/cabins or used while on duty.

If you’re still reading after the “hard parts” of the job, you must really be interested in working at camp. So now that we have most of the difficult aspects out of the way, here are some fun and rewarding parts of the job. Your summer will be rent free. You’ll likely live in a bunk or cabin with another counselor or two and 8-12 campers. You’ll eat free, too, as your meals are provided. What that translates to is that you can save most or even all of your salary if you have no other financial obligations. The ability to be completely silly on the job when the situation merits is actually commendable. You’ll also get paid to play sports, swim, sail, make clay pots, build woodworking projects, make arts and crafts, do fun science and nature experiments, play crazy games, be in camp shows, go on trips with your campers, etc. You’ll likely make more friends in one summer than you have in the past several combined…real friends. Not just Twitter or Instagram followers. You’ll get to know some children who will remain in your heart long after camp has ended. You’ll also get to meet some staff members who choose to return to camp summer after summer. You may even decide that one summer working at camp is just not enough for you either. Regardless, a summer as a camp staff member just may be the summer that changes your life. Summer camps often get emails or phone calls from former staff members explaining how their time at camp clarified an education or career path. Sometimes it’s the collective of everything that happens over the summer that has such a profound effect on staff members. Sometimes it’s a single moment.

So if you want that summer that’s different, that will set your experiences apart from those of many of your friends, then be on the lookout over the next few months for a visiting camp recruiter and go into spring break free of worries about how you’re going to spend your summer. If you happen to miss the campus tour, don’t be discouraged. You can also apply to work at summer camp through most camp websites. For a good start, visit the websites of America’s Finest Summer Camps.

Experts Agree: Camp is Cool

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Our guest blog this week was first posted to the Camp Laurel South blog on October 10, 2013.

Summer is over – which means camp directors can catch up on our summer reading.

In the past few months, the media has been filled with stories examining the camp experience. A variety of writers extol it, from several intriguing angles.

Reviewing Michael Thompson’s new book Homesick and Happy: How Time Away from Parents Can Help a Child Grow, Time Magazine’s Bonnie Rochman said the author focused on the magic of camp after realizing “it’s where most kids first battle homesickness only to emerge triumphantly independent.” But it’s not only children who benefit: the Time story is titled “Summer Camp: Great for Kids, Even Better for Parents.” Camp lets parents realize that their children are growing up; that they can be independent, and survive away from home. And, of course, time apart from their kids is important for parents’ own relationships and fulfillment.

Talya Minsberg picked up on that theme in her piece for the New York Times’ “Motherlode” parenting blog. Youngsters grow and explore at camp, she says, “despite their parents’ worry.”

Minsberg should know. A former camp counselor herself, her piece is a paean to “the in-jokes, goofy rituals and the cherished memories” of a camp-filled summer.

She called camp “magical…a place removed from the stresses and distractions of the real world, where staff members and campers alike discover a new kind of independence and responsibility. Camp is a place of positive transformation – where you…clean up your dishes and make your bed with no complaints, and meet undoubtedly the coolest people in the world: your 19-year-old counselors.”

Writing lovingly for Slate, John Dickerson also nailed the camp experience — with a twist in his article, “My Daughter Went Away to Camp and Changed.” A former camper who returned to pick up his daughter 36 years later, he noted that camp hasn’t changed. However – happily – she had.

In her father’s absence, she’d grown up. She’d explored, taken risks, tried new identities. “We are not invited” to camp, Dickerson said. That’s “a paper-cut echo of the truth at the heart of parenting: You’re doing it best when you’re teaching them to leave you.”

Camp is a perfect way for parents to teach children to leave them. It’s also a perfect way for parents to teach themselves how to let go, and take their own steps toward independence. Independence, that is, from their kids. That doesn’t mean they love their children any less. In fact, it means they love them more.

The young people these writers love are back at home now. They’re glad to be there. Their parents are happy to have them. But odds are good that they can’t wait for next summer to arrive.

10 Camp Things for Which We’re Thankful All Year Long

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The holidays are upon us and ‘tis the season to ponder those things for which we’re truly thankful. For those of us who are fortunate enough to eat, sleep and breathe camp 24/7, 365 days a year, it’s hard not to make an exclusive “camp” list. After all, camp is just as much a part of our lives in November as it is in June. So we figured we’d share some camp things for which we are thankful all year long.

1.)    Our campers. Each and every one of our campers brings something unique to camp that makes our camp family complete. Getting emails and phone calls about our campers’ accomplishments throughout the winter makes the memories we have of the summer that much more special, and makes us even more excited to see everyone the following year.

2.)    Our camp parents. We feel pretty lucky to have so many parents who as enthusiastic about camp as their children and who keep in touch throughout the winter, providing us with fun and interesting updates.

3.)    Our staff. Finding a staff of talented people who are willing to leave their first homes and make summer camp their second home for several weeks  each summer in order to literally live their jobs day and night is no easy feat. That we’re able to put together a staff each summer who is so vested in creating an amazing summer for all of our campers is truly a blessing.

4.)    Alumni. It’s always a special treat when our alumni share their favorite camp memories and reiterate how great their camp years were. The fact that so many of our alumni are still in touch and/or are active within our community says a lot to us about just how special camp is and motivates us to continue to strive to make camp a lifetime worth of memories.

5.)    A beautiful campus. That first drive into camp each summer is always so special. No matter how many times we’ve been there, that first glance of the bunks/cabins, the dining hall, the fields, the courts and the waterfront each summer is something we anticipate all year long.

6.)    Memories. Memories are what makes each summer different than the last. Even in the fall, we find ourselves asking each other, “Remember when…?” and laughing over our favorite camp moments throughout the year.

7.)    Camp Songs. We often find ourselves turning up the volume whenever a song that proved popular the summer before plays on the radio or humming the alma mater or a favorite dining room tune while we’re busy planning for next summer.

8.)    Camp friends. It’s so nice to have someone with whom we can remember those special moments from previous summers and with whom we can have a hearty laugh about those inside moments that only our camp friends can understand. It’s also nice to be able to re-experience camp through meetups through the winter and makes us even that much more excited about next summer.

9.)    The camp tradition. It sounds pretty obvious, but just the fact that we’re able to carry on such a beloved tradition is a privilege. Summer camps have been around for more than a hundred years and such an iconic part of our culture that movies and television shows have been made about summer camp and books have been written about it. Not to mention, without summer camp, we’re not quite sure what we’d be doing. We certainly can’t imagine doing anything else.

10.) The promise of next summer. We’ve said it a million times, but we start anticipating the next summer as soon as the buses pull away. That ten month wait each year seems like forever, but it proves to be just enough time to plan another summer that promises to be even better than the last. The anticipation drives us all year long as we plan and makes us thankful to be part of camp all year.

Camp Creativity

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This week’s guest blog was originally published on the Camp Weequahic website on October 14, 2013.

It’s a great joy to see young people create something fun with their own hands from lumps of clay, blocks of wood, or bits of string. Each day, girls and boys build confidence by creating something new, bond with their new friends across the crafts table, and interact with teachers who have creative flair and patient, encouraging words.

However, no matter in which creative studio they play, Camp Weequahic campers get to explore, learn, and create in ways not often enjoyed at home or school.

The Arts Studio provides a number of options for campers to enjoy.In the hub of our creative commons, campers explore jewelry and candle making, drawing, painting and more. The attached ceramics studio allows for time on the pottery wheel as well as hand creations, molds, and more. Sometimes, campers enjoy projects they’ve done before. However, more often than not, they are challenged to create in ways and methods they’ve never tried. These creative fits and starts lead to understanding and, later, confidence.

Creativity at Camp Weequahic is not only confined to our well loved Arts and Crafts studio. The newly improved woodshop offers campers of all ages treats and challenges. A flotilla of boats were created by Junior Boys while the girls built enough birdhouses to fill the woods.

One of our Senior campers built his own lectern (which he used as the head announcer of the Weequahic Basketball League) while a rising 7th grade girl built an Adirondack chair that many thought could only have been built by the woodshop staff. The creations flowed out of the woodshop all summer – and we can’t wait to see what the kids create for Summer 2014.

Not to be outdone, campers in our newly developed Top Chef facilitycreated scrumptious meals of omelets, pad thai, spring rolls, handmade pasta, s’more cookies and more. Not only did they enjoy making these dishes, but they enjoyed sharing them with their friends, especially those next door in CW Designs, our fashion design studio.

Whether making pajama pants in CW Designs, a mini-desk for their bunk bed in woodshop, or bracelets for friends in Arts and Crafts, Weequahic campers create and laugh and learn every day!

Seven Summers

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Most children step off the bus and get their first glance of summer camp as eager, excited, and slightly nervous seven or eight year olds. It’s their first time away from home and they’re not quite sure what to expect. Few register those first moments as the first of a seven year adventure. It’s just the first summer, after all. Even parents sometimes forget that summer camp isn’t just one summer and, in that regard, is much more than a campus. It is a place where children grow up, and it should be a place where campers are every bit as enthusiastic about stepping off the bus their seventh year as they are their first. It should be a place where they feel an integral part of something larger.

Relationships form early at camp. The friends campers make their first year are often their closest throughout their camp careers. The adrenaline filled first meeting is the beginning of several years in the making. But the accepting environment of camp that encourages children to try new things also facilitates the promise of new friendships each summer. What campers learn as they progress through summers is that at “their camp,” no two summers are quite the same.

There is always the element of the unexpected at camp. Anticipation throughout the winter to return to camp is driven by the mystery of how the next summer will be different than the last. The ability to envision the campus as pretty much the same way they left it (with maybe a few upgrades or improvements) eliminates the element of fear in change for children. The stability of the campus itself makes change something to which campers can look forward. Boating docks, dining halls and arts and crafts studios become favorite spots as the settings of memories from summer to summer. Although they are the same places they were the summer before, the memories campers associate with them make them slightly different.

That first exploratory summer, young campers are also able to observe and begin to anticipate the various rites that occur as they age. They look forward each summer to special trips and activities that are exclusive to their second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh summer. In the end, summer camp isn’t a singular experience. It’s the sum total of many summers and a culmination of friends, activities, traditions and memories that builds from that first welcome on the first day of camp that first summer.