Category: Camp Traditions

Happy 4th of July from the HOTTEST Camp Runoia!!

Posted on by camprunoia

Hi to all, hope you had a great 4th of July and enjoyed yourself. Here, like most of the country, it was and is HOT, HOT, HOT. So we have been doing lots and lots of things to beat the heat, mostly using the gorgeous Great Pond to full effect. Even with the heat, everyone is settling in nicely and getting into the routine of Camp.  Our first full week has been a wonderful time of old friends catching up, campers meeting the staff with our counselors getting to really know their campers, and the start of making new life long friends. Great times and it’s only the beginning. Here is our…

Camp Runoia Week 1 in Review

After Moving in Day and Orientation on Saturday, the girls “tagged up” and got started with Block 1 on Sunday.  New for Runoia in 2018 is 2 and 3 day Blocks (instead of daily sign up). This will give all of the girls an opportunity to better learn new skills, hone already existing skills and complete project more easily. Sunday started our first 3 day block, and the initial feed back has been extremely positive. So Sunday, Monday, Tuesday your daughter signed up for 4 activities of her choosing and then has Swim for 1 period.  Great start to the summer for all!!

For Evening Programs we really mixed it up a lot, from Crrazzy Counselor Night and Log Nite to my personal favorite (so far) Powder Fairies.  Crazzy Counselor Night is a funny dress up game where the campers get to pick one of their counselors and dress them up in as

Crrrazzyy Counselor Night was hilarious!!

many clothes as they can fit on their bodies. We had unicorn masks, layers and layers of shirts (over 80 shirts on 1 counselor) and tutus flying everywhere. Silly fun for all!! Powder Fairies was a lot more active for the kids as they got grouped into 12 different teams and then had to accomplish exciting and challenging team tasks at 9 separate stations. Making it more challenging, there were 3 Powder Fairies (counselors dressed up as… you guessed it… fairies) with the power to FREEZE the entire group if any member of the group was tagged. Needless to say, running and chaos ensued and the campers had a blast!!

Then the heat moved in on Tuesday afternoon and it has not stopped. 90s, mostly cloudless and pretty windless too. So it has been just HOT! And of course, what do you do at camp when it’s hot? Get in the water, so it has been water activities galore for all. Quick dips in the lake. Rec Swims. Get in the water and drink lots of water has been the non-stop message.

Nothing beats a swim in Great Pond. Nothing!!

But we did not let the heat beat us on 4th of July. No way. The CITs did an amazing job and put together a great day for all of the campers. After being split into their 2 traditional teams, America and Great Britain, it was time to go head to head at the Station Rotation. 10 different games for all to play, and with the heat, many of them were water themed – like Slip and Slide, water balloon toss, water wars and more. Into the afternoon they battled and did the annual Relay Race across camp ending in 2 Senior Villagers swimming their respective watermelons across the finish line together!!  Great time for us all, and it all ended with a swim in Great Pond to cool off again.

The heat is finally supposed to break tomorrow and should allow us to keep on moving ahead with regular programming into Week 2. More fun to come!! Talk to you next week…

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!

 

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.

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!

 

Camp Runoia – finding your tribe

Posted on by Alex

Have you found your tribe?

At our workshop last week we were invited to find a group with only random volunteers standing up as the group leaders.  The task was to be accomplished without speaking and with no other direction other than ‘find your tribe.’  There was no knowledge of what we were to accomplish in the found group or how long we were committing ourselves to those that we chose.  Reluctantly people moved to join a group, glancing around to see where others were going and apprehensively acknowledging those that came to join them.  It felt strange to make a choice with little information and based mostly on an impression of the volunteer group leader.

Finding your tribe has become a buzz of the current blog and social media world, sometimes is happens organically and sometimes you have to put effort into finding your people.

Our first task in our new group was sharing why we had chosen to belong there.  Answers ranged from the simple and thoughtless ‘it was near to my seat’ to more complex stories about previous connections, commonalities and a feeling that it would be a good place which had swayed their decision making.

In our lives we have many groups that we belong to, some through choice others through situation.  We all seek a place to belong, for like-minded people who we can share experiences with and who we can feel our best selves among.  Being a member of a group of people in which we feel like our true selves and are loved and accepted as we are is a comforting place where we can relax and engage without hesitation. We naturally have a desire for unity in the communities in which we live, work and play.

Runoia girls have a ready made tribe.
We are glad that these women found their tribe back in 1907 and founded Camp Runoia.

Camp Runoia provides campers and staff with the opportunity to have a ready-made tribe of people who come from a variety of places to be the Runoia summer family. The  group forms and reforms with new members joining and old ones moving on.  We remain connected by our commonalities and often bound by our differences.  We enjoy the belonging for the moment of time that is the summer season and sometimes keep the bonds through the years.  We regroup again the next summer.  Having a place and a group of people to be a part of is empowering and reassuring.

We can’t wait to be back on the shores of Great Pond with our Runoia 2018 tribe!  If your daughter is still looking for a place to belong this summer you can sign up here.

New year new challenges

Posted on by Alex

You can teach an old dog new tricks

I have been singing in various women’s choirs since I was seven years old and have had the pleasure of working alongside some amazing conductors and competing in international choral competitions to great success.  As a member of a choir it is a comfortable easy place for me to be.  You literally can lean on those around you to help carry the tune or maintain the sound.  I have sung with my current chorus for the past 12 years and it is safely within all aspects of my comfort zone.  There is a sense of community and support among the eclectic group of women not unlike that which we have at Camp Runoia.

With my Women In Harmony singing friends.

This fall stepping completely out of my comfort zone and with a little trepidation and a good amount of anxiety I decided to challenge myself and started taking private voice lessons.  In most aspects of my life I am generally a very confident person but when it comes to singing alone I often clam up and feel very uncomfortable.  Leading camp songs isn’t too much of a problem but more formal performance in front of an unknown audience terrifies me.

I wanted to develop my vocal technique, understand my somewhat irrational fear and be able to overcome some of my lack of confidence in solo singing.  Our chorus pianist is one of the most brilliant musicians I have met and is very non-threatening so was a great choice for taking this leap of faith with.  She doesn’t even require a financial commitment so I couldn’t even use the ‘you’ve paid for it so you have to go’ as an incentive for showing up.  It is interesting as an adult to push outside of your comfort zone by choice and then to stick with is even when it is fairly painful.  Not knowing really what to expect I convinced myself that I could at least make it through the first class.  I did! and now look forward to those 45 minutes a week when I focus on my own skill development.  I don’t think my technique has improved all that much yet but I feel more confident walking in and know that I can do things that I find challenging even if I have to give myself a little mental push.

As you welcome in the New Year and perhaps make resolutions to change or start something new, I hope that you will be confident and courageous, try something unexpected and go outside of your comfort zone.  As we often tell our campers ‘it isn’t always easy to try something new.’ It is great for kids to see adults not always be good at something and have to work to get better or to overcome a challenge.  Share your journey with those around you and embrace and enjoy the process.

Bring on 2018!