Staff member Erica Carthy ‘Dream Team 2015’ captured the spirit of camp in this excellent video blog.
Take 3 1/2 minutes to relax and become absorbed in Runoia life #magichappens at Camp Runoia.
We are certain that it will leave you longing for camp days.
Thanks Erica!
We’re gonna make this place your home!
The summer of 2015 is awesomely reflected In the words of our Dream Team 2015 Counselors and staff.
I love working at Runoia. It really is a truly amazing thing that happens. I get the opportunity to make lasting friendships with amazing people, to pass on skills that I value very highly to a group of fantastic girls, and build my leadership skills more than I could at just about any other job. To the director team, thank you for giving me the opportunity to have two of the best summers of my life and for supporting me!
Personally, there were many highlights of the summer. I enjoyed watching the bond between everyone grow and it definitely showed during campfire and EP. Not only did I create bonds with campers, but I created friendships with the staff that I will hopefully stay in touch with! Seeing the kids improve in their skills and to be excited about trying something new was rewarding. It felt good to see the results of your hard work.
I loved every trip I went on. The Katahdin and Saddleback trips stood out as my favorite.
There are too many highlights to mention them all. I love Runoia because of the amazing experience it provides girls from all over the world. The biggest challenge for me was saying goodbye to campers and staff alike.
The highlights were all of the experiences I had with teaching the girls. It was so rewarding to have a girl come back to my activity and remind me of something I had told her or be able to do something without needing to be reminded. Seeing their smiling faces everyday was always amazing too.
I just want to say that this summer at Runoia was the best summer of my life and I am so thankful to be a part of the Runoia Dream Team!
We couldn’t have said it any better.
Thanks to our amazing ‘Dream Team’ staff! We hope to see you all in 2016.
What a Runoia girl is to me – Emily Friedman aged 9
At the end of every summer, looking back, I remember Runoia. Each summer is better than the last. Camp inspires me to be who I am and know that there are people out there that really care about me. Sometimes even a whole shack of friends!
These photos represent camp to me. The images show some of the places around camp. I also created a model of arts and crafts, a ropes course, drama, woodshop and camp craft. Most of these are my favorite activities. This set up helped me remember Camp when I was missing it after first session was over and I was back at home.
I always remember that:
Runoia girls will…
Remember
Understand
Never hate
Optimize
Inspire
Amaze
Many of you know Runoia celebrates reading. We also celebrate writing! Campers submit writing to the Camp “Log” each summer and poetry is often read at Assembly in the morning. The log is full of memories of the Maine summer and records the history of the summer events at Runoia. Many of our campers return to their sleepaway camp as alumnae to seek out memories of their summers in the camp Log.
Here’s a poem Runoia would like to share with you.
Late Summer – By Jennifer Grotz
Ahhh September, the days are getting a little shorter and the nights are certainly cooler. It is a quiet, peaceful time of year around camp. Wait a minute what is going on at the waterfront? Lifeguard training? It looks like it is the directors and senior staff. What a great time of year to find time to sharpen up their skills.
Who wouldn’t want to be in the lake on such a ‘Fine Maine Day?’
For year round staff and those that commit to camp as part of their regular summer routine the late summer and fall are a great time to start getting prepared for the next season. We are constantly improving our own personal skills, planning and preparing, taking advantages of training opportunities and striving to be the best that we can be in order to provide an exemplary camp experience for our girls.
After a little down time at the end of camp we are back in action ready to get things rolling for 2016. In the month of September alone we will be renewing our certifications, attending workshops, meeting with other camp directors for round table discussions, taking online courses and of course working on site to make improvements and additions for the 2016 season. Camper enrollment is already ongoing and we will start our rehiring for staff later this month.
Our Runoia 2016 community is already forming and we are excited to connect with every new member.
The life of camp director is never dull and even when camp is not filled with campers and staff there is always something to do.
Camp Runoia provides us all with the opportunities for Building Life Long Skills!
“You get a strange feeling when you leave a place, like you’ll not only miss they people you love, but you miss the person you are at this time and place because you’ll never be this way ever again”-Azar Nafasi
Three weeks have come and gone, since we bid farewell to each other and our place. Our place is Camp Runoia. At camp we are the best possible “us” that we can be. We are safe, we are encouraged and we are organically just ourselves. The friendships we formed at camp are unique. They are extraordinary relationships.
I recently traveled to California and was with friends and family who I had not seen in years. We talked a lot about camp. My uncle and cousins said at one point “ We get it. We are camp people.” Until you have been to camp, until camp has defined who you are, you cannot totally comprehend the degree of depth that overnight camp has on an individual.
And now the sun sets earlier, September is upon us. This fall brings anew for us all. New school year, new teachers, some have new homes and communities. But we have our best self, stashed inside. Like a treasure in our pocket, we can bring our inner strength and our inner sunshine to this new season and these new experiences. We will never be the same again, we grow and we change and with that is the hope that we are our best selves because in part of who we became at camp. At our Camp Runoia…our home away from home.
I find that I take myself home, to Camp Runoia, almost daily. I hum along to songs and think about the sound of the lake and the green of the giant ferns.
“…Dip, dip and swing them back…Flashing with silver…follow the wild goose flight…dip, dip and swing…” — Hum along through the changing seasons … and be your best self on whatever adventure this fall brings.
Kyleigh – Camp Runoia Associate Director
The end is always bittersweet.
We like to think of the end as a new beginning. Campers and counselors alike take new skills with them to school and work and life. They cherish new friendships, some that will last a lifetime. Canoeing, sailing, swimming under the sun – those skills will last forever. The counselor who did something caring and thoughtful at a time that a camper needed it, a friend who helped another when they need help, that laughter, endless laughter that they can hear ringing in their ears… these glimpses and moments of summer are instants that weave into the tapestry of campers’ and counselors’ lives. 
Cotillion is our final evening together. A night of tradition starting with processional singing It’s Blue and White, the teams sitting and facing each other in the Lodge, the awards and ribbons, points awarded and special moments of acknowledging accomplishments. The traditional game of #Hucklebucklebeanstalk to find the final scores of the season, the Bobos and cheers and tears, candle lit paths and the cotillion fireside singing.
This night helps put a punctuation mark at the end of the chapter of the summer of 2015. With Runoia’s 110th summer coming up in 2016, a new chapter will be written.Bitter and sweet. Bitter in the ending, sweet in the experience. Bitter in the goodbyes, sweet in the new friendships.
The end is bittersweet.
Poetry and Writing from Runoia
Runoia Unique – by Third Shack
Shoes decorate the porch to the Lodge as laughter escapes the four walls.
Inside kids that were once strangers are now bonded by friendship bracelets and stories of horse riding and wind surfing.
Piled by the fire in crazy creeks and singing songs of the blue waves, I am in awe of the compassion and acceptance around me. At Runoia, campers come from all across the world to find their home away from home.
The Lake by Lizzie N.
Camp Runoia by Charlotte W.
I know a place where the sun is like gold, and every evening you play games like Know Your Counselor, Lip Synch Contest, Stop the Bus and Broomball.
Out on the blue waves, where summer breezes blow, our boats, kayaks, windsurfers, swimmers and stand up paddle boarders go sailing into sunset glow.
Make new friends but keep the old; this summer at Runoia we’re meeting people from California to Florida, from Minnesota to Texas and from England, Spain, Venezuela, Ireland, Hungary and Switzerland. We are a merry merry crew the Runoia girls are we!
Be it ever so humble there’s no place like camp and when you travel to Attean Pond and to the Bigelow range, returning to camp feels just like home. Our equestrian team traveled to Camp Vega and brought home the Championship ribbon. There’s no place like home!
And so I thank the earth for giving me, the sun and the rain the apple tree – we are ever grateful for our sun drenched days, and even a summer storm or two keeping camp green and perpetuating a #FineMaineDay.
Where does the wind come from? Does anybody know?
Besides turning thoughts into camp song, we’ve been busy with activities, meeting people, creating art, learning about tennis, archery, riding, skiing, sailing, basket making and more.
Until next week. Love, Aionur
A Mid Summer Night’s Dream
After saying ‘goodnights’ during the summer, I walk up from Senior Village at around 10pm through the dark. The sky is filled with stars I don’t carry a flashlight as I know the paths well. Some nights are so dark there are moments when I think I may lose my way on others the moon is bright in the often clear, Maine sky. I am met on the kickball field by the odd firefly. They catch me by surprise and always seem so mysterious with their ability to produce light.
At the end of a busy day camp is quiet and still. The girls and many of the counselors are in their beds. They may still be reading or writing a letter home but most are already asleep. It is one of my favorite times of day at Camp Runoia.
As we embrace the middle of our camp season it is a great time to reflect on the gift of camp. To be able to live, work and play in such a beautiful place surrounded by nature and people who love being here is beyond compare. We have a deep appreciation for the gift that we have all been given.
As I fall asleep listening to the loons I imagine the magic that exists around me and dream of fairies dancing at Fairy Ring.
