Greetings from Hilltop. Junior Session is off to a great start. All the campers got here safely and on time. The boats pulled into Four Winds Bay and were greeted by cheers from Greenie Hill from the counselors and the campers who’d been dropped off by their parents. I was on one of those boats, and as we waited for the first boat to unload, I was telling the campers which cabins they were in. Two were in Rocky Point. We could see Rocky Point from the water, so I pointed it out. The wonder and excitement these campers expressed at being able to see their cabin from the water was palpable. That’s what Junior Session is all about – adventure and surprise around every turn. It’s going to be a great week.
After all the campers were in their groups, they went to their cabins to get to know their spaces and cabinmates a little bit. We had our first flag lowering of the session, and each cabin introduced itself. We had a wonderful pasta dinner on the Lodge deck, and then met on the stairs for some songs and announcements. Afterward, they returned to their cabins to unpack for the week, get settled, and get some rest. Tomorrow, we’ll take care of a little business in the morning (things like seeing the Camp Doctor, taking the swim test, exchanging uniforms that don’t fit and the like), and then jump right into activities in the afternoon. These campers are primed to experience everything Junior Session offers, and our staff is ready to switch gears from the older campers and focus on imagination and play this week.
I’m sure you’re wondering how you can follow along with what’s happening in this corner of Deer Harbor this week. There are a few ways. First of all, even though the week is short, we love letter writing here at camp. If you haven’t already, drop something in the mail tomorrow. There’s something magical about the tactile, delayed nature of getting a letter at camp. There always has been, and it’s even more so in our age of immediate communication. All the campers wrote postcards at dinner this evening, so keep an eye out for that. Secondly, we’ll post daily updates on Twitter and Threads (the updates are the same on both platforms, so just pick your favorite), and post here today, Thursday, and on Sunday after the campers have departed. Finally, if you need that real-time check-in, don’t hesitate to call our office. The team here is happy to check in on your camper and get back to you.
Thank you for sharing your children with us this week. We know it’s a sacrifice and often anxiety-making. But, when today’s parents were these campers’ age, it was quite normal for kids to walk to school alone, play unsupervised, build forts in the woods, and figure out how to navigate turbulence in a friendship without immediate adult support. That world is largely gone for today’s children. Childhood may be safer today, but those independent experiences as children prepared us for the bigger freedoms of the adolescent and young adult years. These Junior Session campers are about to have as decent a substitute for those freedoms of decades ago as can be accomplished in today’s world, and they’ll be better off for it. Plus, it will be a ton of fun. Stay tuned for the daily updates on Twitter and Threads, and we’ll see you back here on Thursday.