Greetings from Hilltop. We’re right in the middle of Second Session. We had a staff meeting last night, and I was able to tell the staff that in exactly two weeks from that moment, we’d be wrapping up our final Evening Fire of Second Session. The middle is in an interesting place. It doesn’t have the newness of the beginning, or the secret sauce that makes the last few days of Camp just magical. What it does have is the real meat of the experience. This is the time when adventures are had, friendships are deepened, and memories are made.
As one little indicator, last night was Cabin Adventure. Cabins were all over Camp on special adventures that were designed by their counselors. I had multiple counselors come up to me on Friday night and Saturday morning asking to change their days off from Saturday to a different day so that they could be with their kids for Cabin Adventure. I granted as many of those requests as I could. I love that phenomenon. Young adults today get a bit of bad rap of being selfish and incapable. In this environment, I find that nothing could be further from the truth. At least when they have work in front of them that has meaning, as they do here, they are selfless, hard working, and capable of great things. These campers are the beneficiaries.
It’s been a great week of Camp. On Monday, we had the Garbage Auction, a Second Session favorite. A week ago today, instead of normal Sunday Work Projects, we all picked up trash all over Camp, and each cabin and tent got points for the trash they picked up. On Monday, we had an auction where the cabins could use their points to bid on items like Ribs with Paul, the Head of Girls delivering your mail, to tea with all the British counselors. It’s good fun, and it also injects lots of adventures throughout the session. On Tuesday, we had Capture the Chicken, which is like Capture the Flag, but with a rubber chicken (and therefore much better). On Wednesday, we had silly songs and skits on Moonraker Point. On Thursday, for lunch, we had the Gypsy Sisters and Swamp Chomp lunches, the only meal where we split into Boys’ and Girls’ sides. For Evening activity, we played Lord of the Rings, a complicated yet very popular version of Capture the Flag that we play on the Sports Field, with a Tolkien them, four teams, multiple flags, and extra characters that have special powers in the game. Trust me, it’s fun.
On Friday, we had Gypsy Day. Gypsy Day started in Ruth Brown’s era at Camp on a day when the water system failed. She had to get all the campers off the property so they wouldn’t use the facilities and she could have them fixed, so she declared it Gypsy Day and sent them off on adventures. Today, we continue that spirit of adventure with slightly more advance planning. We surprise the kids with a slightly early wake up, and starting with the oldest girls, we wander through camp, waking everyone up with song. We play some big group games on the sports field, and then return to the Lodge for a special breakfast including a decorated Lodge, muffins baked by the CTs with fortunes inside, sugared cereal, and eggs. At breakfast, each camper gets a clue that sends them off to meet their Gypsy Band, which will go on an all-day themed scavenger hunt, meeting crazy characters along the way, and ending in buried treasure. In the afternoon, we all gather back together in cabin and tent groups, change into Sunday uniforms, and honor eight campers chosen by the staff for their extraordinary expression of our camp values – trying new things, being helpful, and being a good friend. We have dinner, and then a lovely Garden Concert to end the day.
This next week ahead will be normal for a couple of days, and then the Seniors will depart on their six-day trips. They will have great adventures, and Camp will feel a little different while they’re gone. When they return, we’ll be in to the last few days of camp. As I told the staff last night, and will tell the campers tonight at Evening Fire, the time will fly by, and it’s incumbent upon all of us to make the most of these fleeting moments together. Thank you for sharing your children with us. Until next week, be sure to follow our daily updates on Twitter.