Category: Alumnae

Welcome to the Official Start of Camp Runoia 2018!!

Posted on by camprunoia

And we are off!! The summer of 2018 is about to begin here on Great Pond. My name is Matt Abrams and this will be my first summer at Camp Runoia as a senior staff member.  I am a long time camper, counselor and former Director of a boys camp back in Wisconsin, and I will be your weekly (every Wed starting next week) newsletter blogger.  I am so excited to fill you in to provide just a glimpse of the fun and experiences your daughters are having here throughout the summer.

What a summer it will be!!  Horseback riding, swimming, skiing, sailing, zip lining to go along with arts & crafts, pottery, basket weaving, archery & riflery.  Add in some sports and activities like basketball, mountain bike riding, tennis and soccer and of course lots and lots of singing, quality time with friends and laughter, all while carrying on the amazing Runoia traditions.  We know it will be a memorable summer, full of growth and making ever lasting connections. It will be an absolutely terrific and unforgettable summer!!

Ready to jump into summer at Runoia!!

The Runoia staff is ready. They have been training hard for nearly 10 days now and are literally jumping out of their skin because they are so excited for their campers to arrive tomorrow afternoon to get summer underway.  For those dropping off their daughters at camp tomorrow (FRIDAY) – travel safe and we look forward to seeing you here soon. For those dropping off at buses and planes, be on time and know we are ready for your daughters to arrive.

It is going to be an outstanding summer on Great Pond.  Lets get jumping!

Please check in here every week for the Camp Runoia weekly newsletter that will be posted every WEDNESDAY. We will also continue to post pictures just about everyday on CampMinder (login through the www.runoia.com) and a few on Facebook throughout the summer. Looking forward to meeting you if you will be at camp this summer, but looking forward to meeting your daughters even more.

Until next week!!

Maine magic – the wonder of spring

Posted on by Alex

Summer arrives quickly in Maine!

I have lived in Maine for around 20 years and still the spring transition from frozen tundra to vegetative jungle surprises me every year.  Spring is just incredible here! In just a matter of a few weeks the dramatic change in weather and landscape literally unfolds before your eyes.

The ‘Lupine Lady’ has been busy around the state of Maine

The ice melts off the lake and docks and boats are hauled out of storage and are back in use before the water gets much above 40 degrees.  Intrepid swimmers even brave the chilly water making the most of the days when it gets above 70 degrees.

The garden around the farmhouse at camp has started to spring up with lupines, irises and peonies.   It is always a time to wonder how long they have been established there and remember the days that Betty Cobb would tend to the weeds before camp opened.

The rhododendron outside my office window is blooming a glorious pink and regularly attracts bees and hummingbirds.  Anytime you step outside after 5am the air is filled with the noisy sounds of birds and the number of squirrels and chipmunks appears to have quadrupled overnight.  After so many months of dark, quiet and cold it is a time of great excitement and activity.

It will only be a couple of very short weeks until it is officially summer and Camp Runoia’s 112th season will be beginning on Great Pond.  Like the Maine spring things happen very quickly at the start of the season.  The camp docks and boats are in, the horses have already arrived, staff are trickling in and there is a flurry of activity both in person and in our inboxes.

We cannot wait for camp to be in full swing, for our campers to be here and to be enjoying the hazy, lazy days of summer.  The sounds of loons on the lake will soon be lulling us to sleep ad our days will be spent submerged in all that nature has to offer us.

112 Years of Runoia & Special Ingredient: Alum

Posted on by camprunoia

Camp Runoia will celebrate 112 years this summer of providing girls with an amazing camp experience. We have wonderful staff, a beautiful site, strong traditions, and excellent activities. We also have a special ingredient that supports everything we do: our alum, those dedicated women and men who have come before us. They support us through raising money for our scholarship fund so that girls, who would not be able to come to camp, can join us through their generous support. They introduce their own daughters and granddaughters, as well as new families to our special camp. They love to gather at Runoia or around the country to reminisce and rekindle lifelong friendships. They share their skills in creating beautiful artwork and projects to showcase our site. And always, our alum share their stories and help keep our wonderful history alive and vibrant. We are fortunate to have so many people who love Runoia and treasure their time on Great Pond. Enjoy the latest newsletter of the Camp Runoia Alumnae Organization  SPRING 2018 RUNOIA CRAO and if you’re not a member please consider joining, you’ll be glad you did!

 

Runoia Summer Camp Raids & Pranks; scale 1-10

Posted on by Pam Cobb

Back in the day, the use of the word “raid” meant when one group of campers or staff did something to make another group laugh or be surprised or think to themselves, “Oh! How clever!”.  A few classic Runoia raids had to do with major shenanigans by counselors.

Examples include:

Moving canoes to the Kickball Field and decorating them with a tapestry of multi-colored spinnaker sails running off of a pole erected between the maze of canoes.  Level of effort = 10, level of cleverness = 10, level of surprise = 10, level of regret raiders had when they had to put everything away in the morning = 100.

Taking an entire dining hall table with place settings and plates taped to it, benches and chairs and moving it to the Majorie (float).  Level of effort = 10, level of cleverness = 10, level of surprise = 10, level of anxiousness by cooks when table was missing = 100.

Placing Betty Cobb’s car keys in a Pine Island Camp hat in the parking lot and moving her car to the lawn at the beach.  Level of effort = 10, level of cleverness = 10, level of surprise = 10, level of furiousness Betty Cobb displayed upon discovery = 100.

As time went on, raids morphed into a surprise trick or act that often left one group mad at the other. Somehow, the name raid also morphed into prank and they were less complicated and less clever:

These included stunts like taking a person’s under garments and running them up the flag pole only to be discovered in front of everyone in the morning. Level of effort = 2, level of cleverness = 1, level of surprise, embarrassment and humiliation = 100.

Or taking everyone’s pillow in one cabin and hiding it in the Pix of another.  Level of effort = 1, level of cleverness = 1, level of surprise = varies but enraged campers who had gross pillows became a directors’ problem.

One entire cabin of shoes all tied together and strung around the dining hall. Level of effort = 5, level of cleverness = 5, level of surprise = 10, level of effort by raiders who had to untie and return all the shoes = 10!

Right around that time, Runoia directors decided raids were not such a great idea as children’s feelings were getting hurt or they lost belongings or campers were prowling around at night and safety was a concern. The concept of doing nice things for others came up but never really stuck year after year (people still do a lot of nice things for each other in that pay it forward kind of way). The concept of doing funny, surprise things around camp like: random fairy houses, 4 and ½ shack built at the flag pole, honey bears being painted and left on the tables, still happens.

A new tradition emerged about 7 summers ago where the oldest campers in Senior Village (SV) at Runoia get to do a fun prank/raid type event that is meant to surprise and leave an indelible impression of our graduating campers upon others without wrecking anything or hurting anyone or wasting resources. These 15-year-old seniors have been thoughtful and fun and funny over the past few years.  An all-time favorite that is the prank that keeps on giving:

Tiny SV14notes stuck everyone all over camp that we are still finding four years later in 2018!

Level of effort =10, level of cleverness = 10, level of surprise = 10

Keeping it fun and clean; the Runoia way.

 

Spring has almost sprung in Maine

Posted on by Alex

Being from ‘away’ I often feel like spring in Maine is somewhat of a myth, it is long awaited yet gone in a fleeting moment.   It seems like we go from freezing nights to 70 degree days without any transition time.

Springs arrival cannot consistently be predicted even by the trusty local farmer’s almanac.  This year as we head to the end of April many of the lakes still have ice on them but in previous years we have had 80 degree days and have been swimming in Great Pond.  The poor crocuses and daffodils have had to  battle their way through left over snow piles and the still freezing nighttime temperatures to make their colorful appearance.

This is the local joke here about the seasons.  We have hopefully skipped right over mud season this year as the orange cones are already out on many of our local roads.  The transformation from winter to summer is sometimes so fast you blink and miss it.

The studded snow tires are off the car, kayak racks replace ski racks, the famers markets are moving back outdoors, snow shoes are exchanged for hiking boots, the sand we put down on the driveway is now shoveled back up and we are ready for the new season.

There is a definite hint of color in the trees although it will be a few more weeks until we see actual leaves.  Promise fills the air as the sun shines for more hours a day, the sky is so blue and there isn’t even the murmur of the ‘s’ word in the weather forecast.

At this time of year there is a frenetic pace around the Camp Runoia office.  The fruits of our winter labors are about to come to fruition and we want to be well prepared for the harvest.  We are fielding phone calls and emails from parents who are keen to get their paperwork and registration details squared away, staff are beginning to plan their travel and orders are being placed for a myriad of items that we will need to get the season started.  The cabin list is full with just a few beds open for those last minute sign ups and we are so excited to put the faces to the names that we have been looking at all winter.

Hurry up summer, we will be ready!

Women who dared

Posted on by Alex

I have long been amazed at the tenacity of our Camp Runoia founders Lucy Wieser and Jessie Pond.   Their dedication to starting a camp for girls showed great bravery and confidence when heading off into the unknown wilds of Maine.  In our world of high speed transportation and at your finger tips technology it is sometimes very hard to imagine how different life was back in the early 1900’s.  Rural Maine was sparsely populated with few paved roads and limited access to many areas.  The Maine Central railroad had only established the Belgrade Depot in 1850 and the local community was mostly made up of farms with some vacation housing  in the village.  Arriving by train from the city into Belgrade must have been quite a culture shock.  While the actual story of their first adventure has become a little lost in the mists of time I imagine them in skirts or dresses, hiring a horse and cart to travel around the area.

Belgrade Depot station around the time Ms Weiser and Ms Pond founded Camp Runoia.

On our staycation this week we traveled to the Owls Head Transportation Museum which had some fascinating displays the most interesting of which for me was about the early female pioneers of travel.  Like our Runoia founders they were making history in the early 1900’s and boldly going places that women typically hadn’t ventured to.  Their names were new to me and their adventures and experiences seemed so radical for the time.  Can you imagine driving a car cross country with a couple of your girlfriends?  Now think about doing it when there were only 156 miles of paved roads and your car barely had a roof!

Can you imagine traveling cross country in this?!

I shall continue to be inspired by the brave bold women of the early 1900’s and to keep sharing their stories with our fearless young women at camp. Maybe they will become the pioneers of this new generation.

The writing on the wall – hand-prints on my heart

Posted on by Alex

Twenty years ago when we moved into this house there were a lot of DIY projects that needed accomplishing. Painting the downstairs bathroom was not high on the list of priorities.  In order to brighten the place up a little we started adding the hand-prints of our visitors.  The parameters were basic: pick your colors, pick your spot, paint your hand and print it on the wall then add your name and date your print.  The hand-prints themselves started out simple, often with just one color and expanded to more elaborate creations that reflected the personality of their owner.  There are now a couple of hundred of prints representing friends from all aspects of life,  a large percentage of whom I know through camp.

The hand-prints tell their own stories. Jayen was an international counselor who just spent one summer with us. Angela is still a feature on our CRAO board.

The hand-prints are a regular reminder of the people that have touched my life.  Some of the folk are still regular visitors, or perhaps sadly now deceased, still others were only around for a short time and we have now lost touch.  They all generate memories of a time and place when we were connected, a shared history and an impression left in my life.  There are many old Camp Runoia friends, campers and staff that passed through for a summer or two or who it feels like I have known for a lifetime.  They hold a space in time that is a reminder not just of them but also of a particular summer on Great Pond.  The dates are helpful in remembering just how long ago it was that they were at camp and how quickly time flies.

Betty-Jo Howard a Runoia legend

 

At Runoia the names in the boathouse are a similar memorial to those that have passed through at some previous point in time.  They remind us of people we know and also trigger thoughts about those whose story is now  a mystery lost in time.  The faces may be long forgotten but their names are painted in bright colors to remind us that they were here and are part of the rich fabric of our camp community.

The hand-prints on my wall definitely reflect the hand-prints left on my heart.  This will be my 23rd summer at Camp Runoia in Belgrade Lakes, Maine  and I hope to add a few more hand-prints to my bathroom wall and a lot more to my heart.

Growth Mindset and The Power of Yet

Posted on by camprunoia

This past week, a group of Runoia staff attended the American Camp Association New England Conference. It’s an incredible opportunity to learn and network with camp professionals who all share the core belief in the positive power of the camp experience. It can be interesting telling people you are going to a camp conference. I have been asked if the sessions are mostly things like firebuilding, songleading, and crafts. Indeed, they are not. While there are some workshops for counselors focused in hard skills that they use in their day-to-day work at camp, our young leaders can hear from many presenters about behavior management, learning styles, leadership, and communication skills. For directors, topics include risk management, systems thinking, best business practices, youth development, human resources, marketing, and more. So many interesting choices all geared to helping camp professionals do their best work.

I went to many great workshops and one I found particularly compelling and affirming, titled, “Motivating Campers with a growth mindset: What psychology research tells us about inspiration” presented by Andrew Watson. Andrew is a teacher, speaker, and “camp guy” who earned his undergraduate and graduate degree from Harvard. His specialty is connecting brain research to the work that is done in schools and camps and has published a well-regarded book, Learning Begins. In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for success. Andrew spoke about how camp is a perfect place to nurture a growth mindset as it’s an environment that is supportive of children moving out of their comfort zones, trying new things, making mistakes, and being excited about getting better at something. Camp is a place where “The Power of Yet” exists so instead of children taking a “I can’t do this” stance, they can develop the orientation of, “I can’t do this YET”.

Our girls have the opportunity every day to practice growth mindset and we see the power of YET happening whether it is in archery, swimming, riding or whatever experience a girl wants to learn and master. I encourage us all to actively add “yet” to our outlook on the world – just imagine all the things we can learn!

 

 

Building life skills through horseback riding

Posted on by Alex

This week’s guest blogger is Jen Dresdow, Camp Runoia’s Equestrian Director.  Horseback riding is a huge part of Jen’s life.   When she is not managing Camp Runoia’s riding program she is a team coach for IEA.

Jen Dresdow coaching one of her students.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

~ Theodore Roosevelt

Runoia riders after a show

This past weekend I both coached my team at and organized the Zone 5 Region 7 Finals for the Interscholastic Equestrian Association (IEA). IEA is a program for 6-12 grade students that allows them to compete in the equestrian sport without owning a horse. Riders draw horses provided by the hosting barn and are judged on their riding skills, called equitation, alone. This is my fifth year coaching a team and my daughter, Natalie, is in her fourth year of showing IEA.

Regional Finals is a show for the riders who earned 18 points or more during the regular season. The top riders and team from regionals will compete at Zone Finals in three weeks for a shot at making it to the National Finals in April.

Choosing to compete in any sport takes courage and hard work. Dr. Brené Brown describes vulnerability as the willingness to be “all in” even when you know it can mean failing and hurting.  Being judged on your equitation, which while there are standards, is subjective to the judge’s personal taste. While ribbons and trophies are fun, and riders learn the value of working hard towards a goal, I feel the most important lessons learned in the IEA ring are that it’s okay to take chances and learning how to process both success and failure.

We participate in horse shows at camp, both our own Blue/White show, and at other camps. Our campers set a personal goal before a show. Maybe it’s getting their diagonals, picking up the correct leads, or finding all the right distances to the jumps. We don’t dwell on how they placed in the class, but did they work on achieving their goal. We also celebrate their courage in trying.

My IEA team riders transform when they put on their show clothes. They go from silly teenagers to poised young adult. They climb aboard a 1200 pound animal with a mind of its’ own and pilot it over jumps, all while maintaining the correct body position knowing a person they’ve never met is judging their every move. I am always in awe of their audacity and I’m reminded of Dr. Brown’s saying, “Every time we choose courage, we make everyone around us a little better and the world a little braver.” I am incredibly lucky to be surrounding by young women both in the IEA and at camp who “dare greatly”.

Camp Runoia’s ‘to do’ lists

Posted on by Alex

Hard to believe that we just had another 6” of snow this past weekend but we are hopeful that there is a touch of spring in the air.  We are getting very excited to start our 112th season on the shores of Great Pond.  At this time of year we have a lot of Camp Runoia ’to do’ lists and just lists in general.  The cabin list already looks very full, the hired staff list is coming along nicely, Glenn is checking things off the maintenance list and the alumnae organization has checked off their winter reunions.  We have lists that keep us on track for what needs to get done at this time of year and also lists that evolve as we discuss and plan for the upcoming summer.

Monday mornings often find me rewriting my to do list. Last week’s looks like a disaster with crossings out, added notes, scribbles, doodles, phone numbers and a myriad of incomprehensible ramblings.  It is evidence of a productive work week but not a very useful tool for the new week.  I like to start the week with a fresh sheet of paper and a pencil (yeah I’m old school).

Making a new list creates a sense of accomplishment (and occasionally disappointment), the things that were completed are left on last week’s list and a fresh list brings hope for the new week.  Sometimes it is lengthy and as camp time draws near it can be a little overwhelming but often it is short as new items will get added as the week goes on.  Our Directors meeting on Tuesdays always drum’s up some new additions and each day can be unexpected as the business of camp is often unpredictable.  Lists are apparently good for us and there are many great articles and blogs about the why’s and how’s.

We are pretty excited that the camp database can now produce lists of the blue and white team! If you’re an alum make sure we know your team.  Legacy campers follow their Mother onto a team so the accuracy of the list is very important.

Historical lists are very important.

If signing your daughter up for overnight camp is on your list we recommend doing it soon at spaces at Camp Runoia are now very limited.

Happy to be checking this week’s blog post off of my list!