Because of camp....

The saddest day of my year is the day I leave camp. I'm sitting in a hotel room in Boston in a comfortable bed, with a TV, electricity and a bathroom that's less than two metres away and I should be happy. Instead I'm looking at all my photos from the summer, wishing I was in my wooden cabin with my camp friends looking up at tall pine trees instead of concrete buildings and feeling absolutely miserable. It's been the most incredible summer and just as I said in June, everything I was worried about came to nothing. I'm crushed that I had to leave camp, but I'm so happy that I was able to return to camp once again, meet amazing new friends and become apart of the lives of some awesome campers.

Before I went to camp, I could never have imagined all the things that I have done and the influence that camp has had on my life at home. These achievements wouldn’t mean half as much if I didn’t have such an amazing group of people to share them with. So I wanted to take this opportunity in this, my final blog, to thank some of the people who have been part of my camp experience and look back on all I have achieved because I went to camp. Firstly, thank you to my family especially my Mum who has always encouraged me to go to camp, rides out the highs and lows of the season with me, sends excellent care packages and always takes my calls – no matter what time of day they come. Thank you too to my extremely kind and generous employers who understand how much camp means to me and have graciously allowed me to go to camp for the past two seasons. Thank you also to the amazing and extraordinary girls I work with at home who put up with me taking off for eleven weeks in the middle of their school year. Thank you to Carol, Steve and Susie Sudduth for inviting me back every year and allowing so many people to call Wyonegonic our summer home. Thank you to all my camp friends for being my camp family and for being there for me through anything and everything. Thank you to our campers who are all amazingly talented and brave and inspire me every day. Lastly, thank you to the women who spotted me amongst hundreds of other potential camp counselors at a CCUSA job fair in 2006 and told me that I would be perfect for Wyonegonic - I had no idea how right you would be and I am forever grateful to you.

The American Camp Association has a campaign encouraging parents to send their children to camp called ‘Because of camp....’ This campaign uses famous actors, musicians and other well known people to promote the camp experience by finishing the sentence ‘because of camp.’ I thought a fitting way to end my blog would be to do the same thing. So listed below are just a few of my responses. I hope that you’ve enjoyed reading my blog over the summer, and that if you’ve been inspired to try the camp experience for yourself that it is as thrilling and rewarding as my experience has been.

Because of camp:

I can build a fire.
I can make friendship bracelets.
I became a lifeguard and a swim instructor.
I have slept in a tent.
I have stood on top of mountains.
I am more independent.
I know who I am and what I want to do with my life.
I discovered a love for the outdoors.
I can paddle a canoe.
I have taught children skills for life.
I taught a child who was afraid of the water when she arrived at camp to swim across the length of the swim dock by the end of her first season.
My most treasured possessions include a canoe paddle and friendship bracelets.
I know how to get 100 girls to be quiet in less than ten seconds.
There are songs that will forevermore remind me of camp.
There are songs that I have no idea what the real words are because our camp’s rewrites are so much better.
I have seen the look of joy on a child’s face when they accomplish something they never thought they could or would.
I have accomplished things I never thought I could or would.
I have travelled across the United States and Canada, seen amazing things and met many new friends.
I have learnt to step out of my comfort zone and try new things.
I have a job at home that I enjoy.
I have a second home and family.
I have friends from all over the world who love me at my best and worst, and despite or because of my quirks.
I know what is it like to laugh so hard that you wake up the next morning with aching sides and cheeks.
I know what it is like to be in a place where what I can do and how well I can teach is much more important than how I look.
I know there are two kinds of friends: home friends and camp friends.
I have had the best summers of my life.

The comfort zone

When I look back over my time at camp, I realise that my camp experience has mostly been about leaving comfort zones. Each year I’ve come to camp, I’ve stepped a little further out of my previous comfort zone and tried something new and it’s always been a scary but rewarding experience.

The first year I came to camp, the very experience of coming camp itself was stepping out of my comfort zone. Prior to this, I’d never been overseas before and I’d never been away from home for such a long time. I was worried that it would be a mistake, I was worried that I was going on my own and was about to spend three months with a group of total strangers, and I was worried about how I was going to handle living with a bunch of little girls 24/7 who would look to me for their every want and need. Camp has turned out to be one of the greatest and best experiences of my life. It has never been a mistake to come, the group of total strangers have become some of my closest and dearest friends, and as for those little girls – my love for them is boundless and unconditional, and on this day especially – the day before our girls leave to go home – I realise how strong the bond I have with these girls truly is.

The things I’ve done at camp that I was initially fearful or unsure of, have become some of my favourite memories and proudest achievements. The best of these happened this year when I hiked Pleasant Mountain for the first time. Wyonegonic sits at the foot of Pleasant Mountain; it is my view from the swim dock and can be seen from pretty much every part of camp. For years I have put off, evaded and done everything possible to avoid hiking up this mountain. It seemed so high and steep; I thought that it was far beyond anything I was capable of doing. One of my friends didn’t agree, and with lots of encourage and persuasion (okay I can’t lie, she also bribed me with ice cream!) I agreed to give it a go. As we hiked I realised it wasn’t so bad after all, and that I was actually enjoying the experience of climbing this mountain. When we reached the top, the feeling of accomplishment, joy and achievement I felt is simply indescribable.

Ironically, it looks as though next year I will be stepping out of my comfort zone again, this time by not returning to camp. Coming to camp has become a normal part of my year and it is so strange to think about not being here, and camp going on yet I won’t be part of it. As I watched our Candlenight ceremony tonight (which at Wyo is how we mark the end of the camp season), I was listening to the words of one of the songs which really summed up my camp experience and reassured me that even though I’ll probably be missing next season, there is always the hope and promise that I will make it back:

At summer’s passing we bid a fond adieu
To our comrades true whom we hold dear;
Parting is sweet sorrow, but there will be tomorrow
So keep the candles burning through the year.
May joy and laughter and happy days hereafter
Follow you along a pathway bright
May cares all forsake you and blessings overtake you
Till we return ‘neath smiling skies of blue,
Wyonegonic’s waiting here for you.

An Open Letter to Time

Dear Time,

You may remember how back in April and May this year, I begged for you to go by faster so that I could get to camp. I don't mean to be difficult to please, but now that I'm at camp and our season is almost at an end, I'd really appreciate it if you could slow down, because I'm not ready for it all to be over yet.

I'm not ready to say goodbye to our wonderful, talented and brave girls who have won me over yet again with their smiles, hugs, giggles and enthusiasm for everything camp has to offer. I'm not ready to no longer hear the sound of their laughter as they skip through camp, to not hear tiny voices call my name and give me hundreds of hugs as I walk to my meals and my activities everyday. I want to stay longer so I can still have campers pull me aside to show me where they are convinced they saw a fairy fly to this morning, or give me heart shaped rocks. I don't want my meals to be quiet, silent affairs where there is no singing or dancing. I don't want to go back to a world where there's no lake to jump into on a hot day, where I don't get to tread the boards of the swim dock and feel the sun on my skin and as I look at Pleasant Mountain and delight in the achievements of my swimmers. I want to stay here longer, and plan amazing fun crazy evening programs for our campers, to teach swimming and canoeing all day long, make and receive enough friendship bracelets to cover my wrists and arms, ankles and legs, and sing in evening circle with my friends and our girls as I watch the sun set over another beautiful day.

I especially don't want to leave the family of friends that I have here at camp. I don't want to not be able to eat with them at meals, to sit on our deck at night roasting marshmellows in front of the fire I built looking for shooting stars. I want to be able to keep walking down from our dining hall eating freshly baked cookies with them. I want to keep doing things like breaking out into song and have their voices join mine, without anyone thinking it's strange, because here at camp - that's completely normal. I'm not ready to leave behind the warmth of their hugs, pats on the back when I'm having a bad day or high fives of congratulations when I do something well.

I'm not ready to leave this beautiful place that has become my home. I don't want to go to sleep in a world where I don't hear the sound of the wind in the pine trees or the sound of the loons on the lake. I don't want to leave this place where I can swim in a lake at the foot of a mountain. I don't want to not have the time to be able to watch beautiful sunsets everyday.

So as you can see, I'm clearly not ready for this all to end yet Time. You need to slow down so I can stay a little longer in this amazing place that has become my home with the people who are my family. So please, slow down not only for me but everyone else here too. I know we'd all really appreciate it.

Kind regards,
Laura.

How Wyo works

So I've realised that I've never actually explained how Wyo is set out and what we do here. As I mentioned last time, Wyonegonic's season runs for seven weeks and campers can choose to come for the full season, or for a three and a half week half season. The best feature (in my slightly biased opinion) of our camp is the waterfront. Some camps have a waterfront as part of their camp and then the rest of the camp is spread back from there. Not at Wyo! Our camp runs along the waterfront, starting with junior camp (my home at camp, as well as where our eight to ten year olds live), moving on to Intermediate camp (for 11 and 12 year olds) and then a little further along the water from there, is senior camp (for 13, 14 and 15 year olds). Our CITs have their own tent village in junior camp, and our assistant counselors (ACs) live within two different units over the summer. Junior and Intermediate (Inty) campers and counselors do activities together, even though we live and do our evening programs separately. The combination of the units is referred to as Jinty, so essentially even though we are one camp, we kind of work as though we are two - Jinty and Senior.

Jinty campers get to choose their activities every week. Some of the activities we offer here at Wyo are swimming (which is compulsory for every camper), canoeing, ecology and outdoor living skills (also compulsory for one week each for campers who are here for the first time), archery, drama, dance, sailing, tennis, arts and crafts, pottery, landsports, low ropes. In Senior they have a high ropes course and their campers can also do riflery, windsurfing and waterskiing. Each end of camp also does a play/musical each half season and most of the campers love being apart of it. Wyo also offers amazing hiking and canoeing trips to our campers - some are just for the day, others are overnight and some are for four or five days. Our campers love going on trips and it's a really cool way to put the skills they've learnt here at camp to the test!

On an average day (which there are few) in Jinty, our day begins at 7:15am with the wake up bell (usually) and we eat breakfast at 7:45am at our dining hall which is one of the few places at camp that isn't along the waterfront. We have to walk (well I call it a hike) up to our meals here at Wyo as our dining hall is located at the top of a hill (I call it a steep hill). After breakfast we have an activity period called Morning Special where the staff offer activities to the campers that aren't usually offered during the day. These can be things like friendship bracelet making, knitting, ultimate frisbee, reading on the dock, walking the camp dogs or really silly things like puddle jumping, soap monsters or walking to senior camp ninja style! Morning special ends at 9:45am and then we have two activity periods which go for an hour each (where I usually teach swimming), then we have free swim and our campers can come down to the swim dock and swim, or they can take a shower or just hang out in their cabin. After this we eat lunch (and yup we hike/walk again) then it's time for every counselors' favourite time of day - rest hour! Rest hour is when the campers return to their cabins and do something quiet like reading a book or mail, making a friendship bracelet or writing a letter home.

When rest hour finishes, we have two more activity periods and another free swim, which gets us to dinner. After dinner we have evening program (EP) which is an activity run by two counselors and can be anything from water or tag games, to crazy Wyo fashions and a dance party. After EP we do evening circle which is my favourite time of the day at camp. As a unit we all form a circle and hold hands with our right arm crossed over our left. We sing some really pretty songs as a hand squeeze is passed from person to person around the circle. As you squeeze the hand of the person next to you you're supposed to make a wish and if the squeeze makes it all the way around your wish comes true! After evening circle our campers go to bed, and after such a full day they are well and truly ready!

You Say Goodbye and I Say Hello

The longest day on the camp calendar is changeover day. Wyonegonic's camp season runs for seven weeks and our campers have the option of staying for the full seven weeks, or coming as a half season camper and staying for three and a half weeks. This past Saturday marked changeover day, as the end of our first session finishes on the same day that our second session begins. Needless to say, it is a very long and tiring day!

For some counselors it starts at 4am (and for others like me this year, it started the day before with a trip to Connecticut to pick up campers for the second session). Our campers need to be driven to Portland and Boston airports to make flights home, and some of those flights leave very early! Most everyone is awake by 6:30am as trunks are loaded onto trucks and campers look around for that lost sock or swimsuit. From around 9am parents start arriving to pick up their children, and can I just say that although I was always incredibly sad to lose the campers I've become close with during the first half, there is no greater smile a camper has than when they see their parents walk into camp. So if you're the teary/emotional type this will surely get you going. Most of our campers are gone by 11am and this is when things get really busy as the cabin counselors have only two hours to prepare their cabins (and themselves) for the new group of campers who will arrive at 1pm.

As the afternoon goes on, the new campers arrive and start to settle in, camp is buzzing with excitement, and any sadness from this morning is well and truly lost in a flurry of activity and anticipation for the next half. The kids are pretty much put straight in the water here for swim evaluations and tipping canoes, and then before you know it, it's dinner. We usually do a quick getting to know you game after dinner, and then we are all glad to be told to go to bed at the same time as our campers.

The only thing I don't like about second session? The end is much closer now, and as I predicted before I even arrived, I'm loving every minute of my time here and I don't want camp to end. Ever!

Wyo Wake Up Calls

So I think I mentioned in my last blog about how we get woken up at camp on July 4 (the CITs banging pots and pans together while the riding staff ride horses into camp yelling that the British are coming?). Well, that's not the only kind of bizarre way we get woken up here. Normally we get woken up by a bell - the same bell that practically replaces your watch at camp because it will be rung when you need to wake up, change classes, eat or meet. The bell kind of runs your life at camp - not such a bad thing!

There are some days in the camp calendar that really do require a different and more special wake up call. One of those is Beach Day. Usually on the second week of our first session at camp, the junior staff surprise our campers by taking them to the beach for the day. The surprise is only revealed to the campers on the day at the wake up call, which instead of the usual bell, is ... well us. We all meet just before the normal wake time dressed in swimsuits, towels and other beach gear (floatation devices are not uncommon). We run and drive a car into camp (which has Beach Boys music playing very loudly) and yell and scream for the campers to wake up because "it's Beach Day!!!!!!!" All the campers (still half asleep) initially look at us like we're crazy (which we are, but that's okay because we're at camp and it's not only allowed but kind of expected). Then they get very excited! Beach Day is a great day and one of my favourite days to be a junior camp counselor. It's so great to take the campers out of camp for the day and watch them play in the water, build amazing sand castles, look for sea glass, and bury members of staff in the sand! Of course they're absolutely exhausted on the ride home but always seem to have the energy for the ice cream stop before we get to camp.

The other cool wake up call we have here at Wyo is for our sailing regatta. The racing sailors (sometimes again with the pots and pans) will yell for us all to get up and to bring our pillow cases on to the swim dock. Now I can't lie here, sometimes I do have moments at camp when I wonder - 'what on earth am I doing?' As I stand on the dock flapping my pillow case about at 7:03am, I am definitely having one of those moments, but then I wake up some more and I remember that this is kind of cool! All the campers and counselors line up on the swim dock and flap our pillow cases up and down, yelling our sailing cheer to summon Widgie the wind god from the depths of Moose Pond to create wind for our sailors. Widgie usually makes a brief appearance before returning to the muckety-muck of the pond.

So there you have it - at camp even waking up can be an adventure!

PS. Just a quick shout out of congratulations to our sailors this year who won the Wyonegonic regatta for the first time in more than 10 years! Well done to you and the amazing counselors who worked with you! Totally awesome!

Paddle Time!

One of the things I like most about my camp is the way we celebrate the 4th of July. It starts (very) early in the morning when the CITs (counselors in training) wake the whole camp up by banging pots and pans. They are closely followed by our riding staff (re-enacting Paul Revere) who ride through camp on horses yelling 'the British are coming! The British are coming!' Then everyone is allowed to set aside their green and whites (just for one day) and wear red, white and blue. Some of the clothes and accessories the girls bring with them are amazing!

The highlight of the day is the picnic we have at our camp director's farmhouse which is right near camp. The hike up there is not, but it is worth it when you get there. At the farmhouse the girls and counselors play games, eat amazing chicken, then all the campers from staff from other countries get to hold up the flag from their country and tell everyone else a bit about it. It's such a nice way of including us in the 4th of July celebrations and I look forward to it every year. There are six Aussies at my camp this year, and for what we lack in number I think it's fair to say that we make up for it in volume!

There's one more thing that I will now forever more associate the 4th of July with. On July 4 this year, I received my five-year canoe paddle. Now I know to people outside the Wyosphere a canoe paddle doesn't sound like that big a deal, but at camp (and to me) it's huge! Wyonegonic has a tradition that marks people's fifth, tenth, twentieth and fiftieth (yep that's 50) years at camp. Each year is marked by a different item significant to Wyo, and at year five you get a canoe paddle. I have been looking forward to getting my canoe paddle since my first year of camp in 2006, and when I got to stand up on July 4 with all the other people getting their paddles, it was an amazing feeling. I couldn't believe I'd actually made it! I get to paint my canoe paddle before I take it home with me, and I'm still so excited that I get to call this paddle my own! Happy 4th everyone!