Greetings from Hilltop. An absolutely wonderful Second Session has come to a close. The campers are all either with their families or well on their way. Counselors have cleaned up for most of the day, and are off to an evening off. Your camp director is writing a blog post before taking some family time.
I’ve been doing this for 17 years, and this day never ceases to amaze me. Last night at Evening Fire, I spoke to the campers about how to deal with feeling multiple feelings at the same time. I think it hit most of them where they were – feeling sad that camp is over, happy to see their families, proud of what they’ve accomplished, and apprehensive about what’s to come all at once. But, I’m sure I was reacting to what I was feeling as well. It’s been a wild 18 months, and sending home our Second Sessioners is both a huge capstone this strange time, and also the same as it always is.
Hopefully, I’m not rambling too much. If I am, take it as a sign of what the end of a session does to a person. We’re all a bit tired, happy, and sad all at once. The good thing about it is that regardless of what mix of feelings campers are feeling today, they come from having an intimate, authentic experience. They haven’t had much of that in the last 18 months, and so it’s wonderful they got it here this summer.
Most of you are already with your campers, and those of you who aren’t soon will be. I hope they’re regaling you with stories of a month of adventure. Some of them, unfortunately for parents, may react to the transition to the real world by withdrawing, being on devices a great deal, and so forth. Give them a day or two, and they’ll come out of it. The transition from camp to regular life is a big one, and everyone reacts a little differently.
Hopefully, they’re all talking about coming back next year. If you’d like to take care of that, registration for 2022 is already open. You can find the camper application in your parent account if you’re the type that likes to get things taken care of when they’re top of mind. There’s no rush, though. All returning campers are guaranteed enrollment as long as you sign them up before November 30, and we will send out reminders.
We’re thrilled to have gotten through Second Session without a single positive COVID test, of course, but please do contact us if your camper tests positive anytime in the next 14 days so we can notify cabinmates, as well as do any other necessary contact tracing. We did have a cold going through camp earlier in the session. We did dozens of COVID tests, and no one was positive, so we’re as convinced as we can be that it was a cold. Please feel free to reach out if you’re concerned.
Other than that, it’s time for this camp director to take a little break. Junior Session campers come in just a few days, and we need to get ready for them, celebrate with our summer staff who are not staying for Junior Session, and rest up so we can give them a great experience. As ever, thank you for sharing your children with us. We can’t wait to see them next year. Please stay in touch.