570-798-9831
The history of summer camp is as deep and diverse as an ocean, full of life and a variety of characters, it contains an endless amount of history. There are so many stories that can be told within the gates of camp.
One way to leave your bit of history and to make your camp story last a lifetime is through the tradition of decorating a bunk plaque at the end of the summer. With the help of everyone inside your bunk, a plaque is given to every bunk on boys and girls side to decorate however they like to tell a story about their summer. Inside jokes and funny incidents are often inscribed on these wooden plaques, the paint depicts all the fun these campers have experienced this summer. No matter what is painted or dusted with glitter, the plaque symbolizes all the fun camp was able to provide for these campers. The plaque allows for a bunk to bond over all the good and sometimes the rough times of the summer, reminiscing over everything they have gone through together and will remember for the rest of their lives.
This tradition is so special in the way it brings all the campers and counselors together, reminding everybody of how they were able to overcome challenges and accomplish goals as a bunk, the summer wouldn’t have been the same without everyone in the bunk taking part in helping each other.
These plaques are forever hung in the Dining Hall of camp, the one place everyone is gathered for important times of the day. When you look up at your plaque from this summer or summers ago, you are able to remember all the amazing memories you have made at camp and the unique experiences you wouldn’t be able to participate in anywhere else. With your plaque, your history is forever a part of camp.
Camp excels in providing campers with the most traditional summer camp experience of their lives, helping campers have all sorts of fun under the sun. While there are many activities and traditions campers can enjoy on campus, there are a few that require sending campers outside and into bigger fields. The Lower Camp was able to attend a professional baseball game and experience one of America’s favorite summer pastimes. Nibbling on popcorn, spreading mustard along a hotdog and root, root, rooting for home team, the Lower Camp enjoyed a wonderful night of American tradition at the baseball game. The stadium lights illuminate the campers almost as much as their smiles do as they sit back and cheer for the players on the diamond, embracing all the energy and fun of the crowd. Even though they aren’t on the field playing, they get to sing along with the chants in the stands, do the wave and laugh at the silly faces they make on the jumbotron. All the fun of the baseball game is what enables campers to transform these moments into lifelong memories. Taking the campers out to a baseball game allows them to experience a true American summer because no summer is complete without attending a baseball game and eating as many hotdogs as there are homeruns. It’s a night completely meant for the happiness of the campers. Camp goes the extra mile–or the extra base–to ensure a camper enjoys their summer and is able to look back and love their summer as much as they loved eating a baseball helmet full of popcorn.
It’s National Friendship Day and campers at Camp know how special it is to celebrate the friendships they have formed at summer camp. Campers know that summer camp is a magical place like no other, there are an infinite amount of different things to do so there are just as many ways to make memories and build friendships. When you spend an entire summer with the same people living in your bunk, friendships form just as naturally as the flowers bloom. Friendships at Camp are so special for that reason, campers spend quality time with others in large quantities of time, transforming friendships in positive ways. Campers are always able to rely on their friends to support them when things get tough or when they feel homesick, their friends are there to help them fall asleep at night or pull them back up to get back into the game. They also support each other when things are going in the right direction, cheering them on as they are winning the game or performing on stage, these friendships battle the bad and the good for the sake of each other’s happiness. Campers know they have friends to back them up and encourage them to do their best. Additionally, with the amount of silly, ridiculous and outrageously fun activities campers get to experience, campers are able to deepen the bonds of friendships when experiencing these activities together. They are able to make every moment turn into a memory because it’s with their friends. When campers look back at every sporting event during Olympics, every dance performed for Spirit of Camp or every challenge that was overcome during relay races, they look back at who was standing next to them, laughing and smiling along with all the ongoing fun. These special memories are why friendships at Camp should be celebrated, they will stand the test of time and last forever in each other’s memories.
When campers come to Camp they always brings pieces of home with them, packing pictures, stuffed animals, blankets and all sorts of objects that remind them of home and make them feel safe. Campers bring pieces of home to camp because of how much they love home and want to remember it, so when campers return home, they also want to bring pieces back that will remind them of the summer. Camp is a special place to stay for an entire summer but two months at summer camp is a shorter amount of time than ten months spent at home. To hold on to those summer memories, campers bring back handmade crafts from ceramics and woodworking to their home so they can always have a part of Camp with them. At ceramics and woodworking, campers get to build all sorts of crafts of all different sizes that symbolize their time spent at summer camp. At woodworking, campers can create welcome home signs, key holders and even mailboxes to install in their homes and when campers make these items from scratch, it makes them even more special. The hard work put into sawing and nailing the bits of wood together makes the craft much more meaningful for the camper and the new home it will stay in. At ceramics, campers will mold bowls, cups and all sorts of sculptures for their homes, glazing with detail and precision to make the item that much more beautiful. For campers to make their own art with their own hands is remarkable, not to mention that it is art that functions in their home. All these crafts the campers create for their homes is a special way for campers to keep the spirit of Camp at home with their families, crafts that will last long after a camper’s last summer. 
With the endless amount of opportunities provided to campers at Camp, campers are not only constantly encouraged to set goals for themselves, but they are encouraged to achieve those same goals as well. Whether a camper decides to set a long or short term goal, Camp guides the campers to achieve them in a way that makes the journey to success that much more exciting and fun. Learning how to play piano, do a magic trick, sink a three pointer on the basketball court or standing up on water skis, the goals campers set for themselves are varied but always achievable with the support of staff and friends at Camp. Everyone is excited to help each other and push campers outside of their comfort zone to reach their goals because this is a place where everyone believes in the potential of others. Here to celebrate both the wins and losses, achievements and failures, Camp always keeps the ball rolling for campers to pursue their goal no matter how many times they fall on their journey. No one will judge a camper’s goal either because no goal is too big or too small, even if the goal is as simple as a making one new friend. Camp recognizes the amount of effort someone needs to put in to achieve a goal, understanding that it is not just the work of the camper to achieve goal, but the combined support of coaches, counselors and staff. The unconditional support of everyone at Camp is how goals are always achieved every summer.
One of the most exciting elements of Camp are the weekly stage productions among the different divisions, with the giant spotlights, intricate stage designs and lively singing and dancing, the theater produces a lot of entertainment. As the Theatre Specialist, I know my job is the best on campus because I get to go behind the scenes of all of this fun. I truly get to see what makes the show and how it gets better from start to finish. I see the best of the best. The director Jeff Moss is a legend in itself and working besides him day in and day out makes my job the best. The ability to work with every single camper is so much fun too because often enough the campers that have never been a part of a stage production or in a theatre are the ones that get the lead role in the show. Each week I see so much growth in the campers becoming more confident with their roles or abilities on the stage. One of my favorite parts of the theatre is after the show ends and the campers will say “Yes! We did it!” They give me a hug of pride, joy and relief all at once and in that moment those campers feel like they are my own kids and I am so proud of them. Those moments, combined with all the amazing elements that go into producing a show every week, is what makes my job on campus truly the best.
When I walk around campus I’m surrounded by inspiration and I’m always surprised when more often than not inspiration walks straight up to me. Taking a second to myself to appreciate the sweeping valley of trees, shades of light to dark green portray a gradient of texturized forests. It’s like looking at a landscape painting at the Metropolitan or Art Institute of Chicago, but instead of moving on to the next landscape after a few moments of silent viewing, you are alive for as long as you want inside this painting. In this case I was noticing how the trees follow a wave like pattern in the valley that mirrors the placement of slow rolling puffy clouds in the sky above when an Upper Plebe simply called out to me. “Want to join us?”