Category: History

Feeling Camp Magic at Home – blankets, butter chicken, and congo bars

Posted on by Colleen O'Malley

Whenever the calendar switches from one year to the next, our excitement for camp explodes (even though we’ve been preparing for the next summer since the last) and we know a lot of our camp families and hopeful campers feel the same way.

Living ‘10 for 2‘ – that is, waiting through those 10 months of ‘real life’ for the 2 months of ‘camp life’ – is typical for the Runoia community. The year-round team is the biggest example of this: we spend all year hiring the best staff, talking to amazing new families, and planning the best summer ever. When summer finally comes, it can feel like it was over in a flash – and so we reset our sights on the next summer on and the cycle repeats.

We understand more than anyone that it can be hard to feel camp-sick when we’re home the rest of the year, and that summer can feel further away than ever before. Some of our seasoned campers and staff may be feeling particularly antsy, and some of our soon-to-be first year campers may be feeling a little bit more nervous as summer starts to come into view.

Luckily, feeling camp magic at home is fully possible with a little effort. One of the hardest tasks for us, our campers, and our staff is explaining the camp experience to ‘outsiders’ – it’s something you kind of just have to be there for yourself. But we can share some of the pieces of the camp puzzle with our families and friends by making a little magic happen at home.

Here are some sure-fire ways to make some Runoia magic at home, get your campers excited for the summer, and share the experience with your family and friends:

 

  • Cozy up with your Runoia gear
    • A 5-year blanket makes the perfect cozy reminder of camp!
    • Haven’t earned a 5-year blanket quite yet? Our TCS store has other cozy options, like:
      • sweatshirts and sweatpants
      • pajamas
      • fuzzy shorts
      • warm winter hats
  • Share Camp Runoia songs
    • Ask your camper to share some Runoia songs with you, and teach you the words!
    • Listen to some of our classic songs on our website

  • Look at our historic logs together
    • Has your camper told you that Runoia’s 118 summers are well documented in logs? A lot of them are online! Read through some of the coolest versions in our history here

Feeling camp magic is possible any time of year, because of the community, skills, memories, and life-long friendship made over the summer.

Luckily, these things last far beyond just one summer at camp!

Singing Builds Community at Camp

Posted on by Colleen O'Malley

As we come toward the end of an incredible 117th consecutive summer, one thing remains true year after year: Runoia loves to sing, and our singing builds community at camp. When COVID came and changed life and camp as we knew it, we weren’t able to sing as a community in the same way we always had.

Luckily, with the continuity of our campers, staff, and leadership – our singing and passing down of camp songs has resurged with so much energy this summer. Campfires are alive with songs new and old, and our oldest campers especially jump at every opportunity to sing more and push their bedtime a little later.

Songs can be heard at meals – singing for birthdays, the melody of ‘save your spoons, save your spoons for dessert…’, at assembly with songs led by staff, CITs, and campers, at campfires as we join together for our most reflective songs, and all of the in between moments – even at CRAO meetings!

Singing is vital to the Runoia community, and not for no reason – singing at camp benefits our community in countless ways –

It’s a chance to be silly and care-free…

a chance to be creative and make your own songs – like our HLC B campers who created ‘The Monkey Song’ from ‘The Beaver Song’ this session, or our 4th shack campers who rewrote a Taylor Swift song for the variety show

a chance to be brave and bold and stand up before a crowd

a chance to connect to camp’s history and sing the songs of generations before us

a way to relax and have fun

an opportunity to learn new things 

and a way to build community.

But don’t just take it from us – singing to build community is a tale as old as time, a thing of historical and cultural significance, and has scientific evidence to back its social benefits.

In Berkeley’s Greater Good Magazine, writer Jill Suttie shares that “Listening to music and singing together has been shown in several studies to directly impact neuro-chemicals in the brain, many of which play a role in closeness and connection.” She goes on to share that research in community music shows that “endorphins produced in singing can act to draw large groups together quickly.”

We’re glad to know that the science recognizes what Runoia has known as a universal truth for generations. We won’t be halting our singing, dancing, or piano-playing anytime soon here on Great Pond.

 

 

What are you reading Camp Runoia?

Posted on by Alex

Reading is an integral part of our Runoia summers. A tech free environment means that campers and staff have ample opportunity to grab a good book and delve into the pages. Whether it is at rest hour or before bedtime, a book is a great way to settle and relax on your bunk. We encourage campers to bring their books from home and also have a large library in the Lodge with reading material to suit everyone. It is an established tradition that in all cabin groups staff read to campers at night from a shack book. We also try to keep track of how many books collectively get read throughout camp over the summer.

While often an independent activity, reading can also be a great connector. We sometimes run a ‘book club’ at camp so that campers of all ages can engage together about a particularly enjoyable novel. Our Runoia staff share their reading favorites on our group facebook page and it often results in some cross cultural exchange with our friends across the pond.  Maine camp directors use books to come together for professional development and meet every few months to share thoughts about an inspiring text that helps with camp management. Talking about what you are reading can not only be enjoyable but can be the start of great friendships.

Women’s History month is the perfect time to take on some thoughtful reading and explore more about how women have shaped our society and cultures. We continue to build our already well stocked Runoia library to include more diversity and love to offer books by great women authors. Suggestions of any favorites that you feel are a ‘must’ read for our camper population are very welcome.

It is often hard to pin down what to read next – there are so many books and so little time! Check out the list here for reading material for kids of all ages, A Mighty Girl is a great place to get other ideas and resources too.

For the more mature reader this proved to be a great list and many of our staff were reading titles from this collection.

If you don’t have time to grab a book there are plenty of TED talks that may be equally inspiring and focus on women’s issues.

As our thoughts start turning towards the summer, having a summer reading list is an exciting part of the planning process. Certainly some campers have school books that need to be read before school is back in session but there are endless hours of time to grab a great book and sink into the joy of turning the pages. There are so many great spots around camp to be in harmony with nature and just jump into a book, we can’t wait to be back on Great Pond.

Is It Runoia? The Olympics? A Top Sporting Goods Company?

Posted on by Pam Cobb

Words like driven, persistent, visionary, powerful – we design for you, fight for you, connect with you, reflect on you and step up our game for you. “We are the change in sports to get more women to the top of their game. “

They sound like a commercial for Camp Runoia! But it is not actually Runoia.  If you’re familiar with this powerful campaign from Dick’s Sporting Goods, it is a media campaign designed by the strong women team created by Lauren Hobart. “Inside Moves” supports girls and women as leaders and competitors. Check out the campaign for some inspiration!

As we kick off the Winter Olympics in Beijing, seven new sports have been created for winter sports – most of them mixed gender. And yet one sport has been added just for women: the Monobob. Why? Men’s already has two and four-person bobsled and women’s’ just has two person – the addition of the Monobob levels the playing field. The idea? One person runs the icy track and tries to get the top speed without crashing. Pretty gutsy.

This reminds us of our own Runoia heroes who had the guts to start a girls’ camp on a lake in Maine, to run a girls camp for near 50 years.

Might we borrow the campaign and shout “Runoia is the change in camps to get more campers to the top of their game. “? We think so!

Love, Aionur

Why Camp? Colleen talks about her journey to Runoia

Posted on by Alex

“Why camp?” is a prompt that seemingly pulls my whole life, identity, and personality into question. As my director at my alma mater’s office of outdoor pursuits would say, we are “camp people.” She used this as a way of not necessarily vetting the people and employees she let into her life and office, but more as a sign that she had found a kindred spirit. I remember her delighted reaction – a reaction with the animation of a camp person – during my graduate assistantship interview when I told her that I was a camp kid. To us, it is an indication of just the kind of person we’d like to work with, and someone who we know we can connect to. In my twenty-six years, being a “camp person” remains the quickest, most sincere source of connection to strangers that I’ve personally experienced. It shows in Runoia’s staff training each year, where friendships are forged in two short weeks, grown in the following eight weeks, and maintained for lifetimes following. It reminds me of my own childhood camp, where sessions were only one-week long, yet resulted in friendships that remain in adulthood. Camp is where I found a deeper connection each summer to my sister, who is now my best friend. 

So to us, and to many of my other camp connections, knowing someone is a “camp person” is like a preview to who they are. A “camp person” can be anyone, of any and every identity, but a few things always hold true. To me, they are: a person who values connection with nature, others, and themselves; someone who builds and draws on their community in their toughest moments; a person who shows flexibility, empathy, and devotion to others; a person who shows devotion to themself. I can only speak for myself, but that sounds exactly like someone I’d like in my community and by my side.

I’ve noticed in recent years, in a time where we are almost constantly in front of a screen and expected to be one-hundred-percent available at all times, we sometimes mistake this accessibility for connection. True connection with others this way has, however, fallen short for me and many others. Camp is where we can seek authentic connections when we need them most, and to “build lifelong skills” in a unique place that is designed  to facilitate growth. While our campers head home at the close of each summer eager to share the activities they participated in and the feats they’ve accomplished, they are also sharing their friendships, their personal victories, and the counselors they loved most. Beneath the hands-on skills our campers and staff learn at Runoia, we are quietly building the connection, community, flexibility, empathy, and devotion of “camp people”. 

It’s funny to me, then, that I still identified as a “camp person” even in the time between the end of my own camper experience and landing at Runoia years later – a testament to the idea that camp never leaves us. When I first arrived at Runoia in 2018, I thought I was taking my last opportunity to have one camp summer in the open space between my undergrad and grad years. I did not expect to find a camp community again. I had remembered the importance of being a “camp person” myself, but completely rediscovered the magic of connection with other “camp people” that summer. My absence in summer 2021, taken to move across the country, solidified my need for a connection that most people may not know they’re missing if they’ve never experienced it. 

Maine is not my home in the literal sense. I’ve never truly lived there, save for the three summers I’ve spent at Runoia. Even now, I’ve managed to move further away from Runoia, and my home camp for that matter, than I’ve ever been. And yet, coming back to Runoia – even just virtually for now – is a homecoming: a camp person stepping back into her camp-person-self with her camp people. And I am so happy to be home.  

Colleen O’Malley – Assistant Director, Camp Runoia

It’s blue and white and other camp fun

Posted on by Alex

We are in the final stretch of First Session 2021. Many items are on the bucket list for our last several days, but first we have much to report on from this past week. 

After a couple of rainy days and a cozy Friday movie night, the weekend brought sunshine and new energy and both days saw temperatures in the high seventies. Saturday was the last day of our fourth activity block, and girls enjoyed getting into the lake for swim lessons and getting out on the blue waves for sailing, kayaking, paddleboarding, windsurfing, and skiing. We had our first 2021 American Archer (passing all of the levels) go Charlotte M. and some major level passing in target sports, girls gearing up for the Blue/White horse show, action on the tennis, volleyball, basketball, and badminton courts, fabulous dance and drama lessons going on around camp, baskets and art projects being completed, and so much more. Sunny days have also helped us to get our girls out for tubing, a highly coveted treat here at camp! Saturday night supper was Birthday Tables in which everyone celebrated all of the girls in their cabins who have birthdays during the session by dressing up in different themes and singing silly songs, eating cake, and having a Birthday Party Bash with music, limbo, hula hooping, foursquare, and lots of laughter echoing throughout camp. 

 

Sunday morning started with a sleepy breakfast – campers and counselors wore their pajamas to the dining hall and, as always, doughnuts were a hit! Blue/White junior and senior team captains were nominated and elected, and then we all gathered on the beach for swim races. Each girl earned points for her team, and we’re pretty sure our neighbors across the lake heard the awesome team spirit coming from the beach in the form of songs and cheers! Good thing most of them are Runoia alumnae and were probably cheering for their old teams too!

Juniors played kickball and seniors played softball Blue/White games in the afternoon, and then we all got into our uniforms for supper and again gathered at the lake all together for our first Sunday night campfire, revolving around the theme “Better Together”. Each cabin shared a skit with the rest of camp and we taught and sang some of our favorite traditional Runoia songs while watching the sun set over Great Pond. We were joined by three loons who seemed to linger in our cove longer than usual, perhaps entranced by the melodies and harmonies we created together. 

 

On Monday we began our fifth and final block, this one lasting for four days to allow our girls a good chunk of time to develop and build on their skills in each of the program areas they tagged up for. The farm program is very popular these days, giving girls a chance to learn some gardening and animal care practices. Our Harmony Land campers went horseback riding on Monday evening, while the rest of the camp did “Laundry Bag Skits” – each cabin received a box full of random items and got to write, direct, and perform a short play. There were some truly hilarious moments, and we think we may have some rising stars on our hands! 

 

Luckily the sun decided to hang around through Tuesday, letting us have a full program day and two excellent recreational swim opportunities. It was wonderful to see so much splashing around, diving for rings, handstand contests, and games of Marco-Polo. First and Second shack each went out for a half-day hike yesterday at “The Mountain”, and made it back to camp before the rain. The sun poked back out for a bit for the late afternoon, and Tuesday night’s evening program was Counselor Hunt – a giant game of hide and seek in which girls ran around camp together trying to find hidden counselors, several of whom got extra creative – up a tree, in an empty(!) trash can! 

Our last several days will be jam-packed with more incredible program opportunities, day hiking trips, the completion of baskets and art projects, healthy and delicious meals, ziplining from the climbing tower, jumping on the water trampoline, the passing of archery, riflery, sailing, windsurfing, and riding levels, an early morning Oak Island swim, Blue/White competition, caring for our chickens and bunnies, end-of-session traditions, dips in the lake, and of course, those unforgettable moments of Camp Runoia magic that all of our Super Star Staff have been working hard to create for our campers. 

Wow – sound like a lot? Sure does, but we always get it done! A huge shoutout to everyone who has made the First Session of Camp Runoia 2021 possible we are so grateful for the opportunity to all be together again in person.

 

Thanks to Sophie B. for blogging and keeping track of our antics.

First Impression

Posted on by Pam Cobb

My First Impression in early May is the scents that are only at Camp Runoia. The leaves and grass and earth and air and lake water scents all combine into one scent. If we bottled it up, it would be called Eau de Runoia, or perhaps Eau de Harmony in the spirit of the meaning of Runoia.  I was instantly reminded of E.B. White’s book, “Once More to the Lake”.

Traditions abound at camp and one of the Camp Runoia traditions is recording your First Impression of arriving at camp for the “Log”. The Log is a record of all the things that happened in a summer.

You can only have a first impression, once (we like to do it once a season). Not unlike making your own first impression on other people (warm, stern, welcoming, exclusive, funny, serious, happy, sad), the land and lake puts on its very best display of nature and scents and views which evoke feeling. Especially when you return again and again.

The phrase First Impression seems obvious but here’s further explanation to get you pumped to record your immediate reaction to arriving at camp. A definition of first: Coming before all others in time or order; earliest, Combined with a definition of impression: An idea, feeling, or opinion about something or someone, especially one formed without conscious thought or on the basis of little evidence.

Of course, when we arrive in early spring, the parking lot is empty. Jen is not standing at the gate welcoming us, Alex is not in the parking lot directing us and beaming upon your arrival and Mark is not perched on the waterfront eager to greet your family and share the beauty of the “crown jewel” of Camp Runoia, Great Pond. Your counselors are not here yet to give you that big “hello” and “let’s go” kind of attitude. Finally, the sounds of shrill, excited voices from girls floating all over camp are not here, yet.  Only the spring birds, rustle of soft winds in the trees and waves lapping along the shoreline are here this time of year.

What will your First Impression of camp be when you arrive at camp? You may have to wait and see and feel and then write it down before it disappears.

Love,

Aionur

Spring Equinox Is Almost Here by Guest Blogger Mark Heuberger

Posted on by Pam Cobb

The first day of spring is March 20, 2021, which coincides with the vernal equinox. According to astronomers, this is the moment when the sun crosses exactly over the earth’s equator and the length of day and night is approximately the same.  The days then start to become longer than the nights, leading to those long summer days at Camp, when the sun does not set until 8:30 PM.

For Camp Runoia, the first day of spring starts us thinking about the fields, forests, and lakes warming and recovering from winter. We will soon start seeing the tiny sprouts of the ferns emerging from the earth; some ferns will grow to three or four feet high. The trees slowly become colored with buds, flowers, and leaves. We begin combing the woods for lady slippers and trillium flowers.  We are counting the days until Camp (100 till first session 2021!).

And of course, the first day of spring means that “Ice Out” is soon.

Some readers of this blog may not realize that the lake freezes over completely in the winter, covered in several feet of ice. Enough for trucks to drive out on the lake towing ice fishing huts.  At some point in spring, the ice suddenly thaws and disappears. Soon the loons will return and we will hear their calls again. Boats and docks will reappear on the lake and in a few short months we will be swimming, paddling, sailing, and skiing on Great Pond.

According to the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands, who keep records of ice out dates on all Maine lakes, “Ice Out” is defined as the first day when you can navigate from one end of the lake to the other, even though there may still be ice in some coves or along the shoreline.

Ice Out dates for Great Pond over the last 20 years have typically been in middle to late April, but in four of the last 20 years, ice out has been in March, as early as March 20 in 2010, the first day of spring!  When will ice out be this year? Stay tuned.

For many this winter has been especially challenging. The coming of spring, the long warm days, the new beginnings, and the new opportunities are almost here and are welcomed.

Love, Aionur

Women History Month!

Posted on by Pam Cobb

March Blog

Women’s History is celebrated in the month of March. The 1925 Camp Runoia Log was dedicated to the founders of camp – Lucy Weiser and Jessie Pond. The quotes next to Miss Pond’s photo in the log reads, “Grace was in her step, in every gesture dignity and love” and next to Miss Weiser, “Society, friendship, and
love Divinely bestowed upon man.”

These two women had the vision to start a camp for girls. In 1907 they opened Camp Runoia for the first summer. They were courageous and resourceful and certainly are smiling upon us as we begin our 115th consecutive summer of Camp Runoia for girls.

We celebrate Lucy and Jessie during women’s history month and all the years they dedicated to bringing girls and women together on the shores of Great Pond for growth, adventure, friendship and more.

Check out more about Runoia history and the women whose legacy families have helped camp to continue operating on our Runoia family tree section.

So many women have accomplished so many things in this world. If you’d like to dive a little further into Women’s history, check out the US library of congresses resources on women’s history in the United States including women related to arts, culture, government and politics, historic places, women and war, women rights and women’s suffrage, women in science, women in business and more.

Here’s a great resource for teachers for lessons, images, data and research from the library of congress.

Find out more about the 14th Librarian of Congress, Dr. Carla Hayden, the first woman and the first African American to lead the national library, nominated by President Barak Obama in February of 2016 and confirmed by the senate 6 months later.

And realize the #runoiagals were pioneers of owning a business that allowed girls to do what so many boys were able to do – get out of the city, connect with others in camp

Love,

 

Aionur

 

 

Camp Runoia summer sisters

Posted on by Alex

As families travel to see loved ones in faraway places and gather around the table to celebrate the Holidays we are reminded of our camp ‘family’ the summer friends that sit deep in our hearts. Many of the people we are close to at camp live far away, some are even separated by a whole ocean. Most of our campers don’t get to see their shack mates through the year and miss those friends dearly. They often refer to their camp friends as their ‘summer sisters’ as that is how close the relationship feels. Even as adults our camp cohorts are geographically dispersed and missed greatly through the ‘off’ season. As the Camp Runoia song says the people you spend your ‘long summer days’ with definitely become ‘old friends for always’.

The bonds that you make at camp are unlike any others. Sharing day to day living, successes, frustrations, time by the campfire or in a tent under the stars just can’t be replicate by sharing a math class at school!

Social media is a connecting force for our older girls, Instagram, snap-chat, face time and text groups keep them in touch when they are not at camp. It is interesting that relationships generated in our tech free world at camp are nurtured through the ease of communication via technology when we can’t be together. It’s fun for our Runoia girls to share parts of their everyday non camp life with their besties from the summer. Our alumnae facebook page is bustling with activity especially when old photos are shared with a call out of ‘who is that?’. They generate interactions and the sharing of stories and ‘remember when’s…’ It is amazing what people remember even when camp was many, many years ago.

Recently a camp mom emailed to get the contact information for her daughter’s entire cabin group which included friends in Europe. A life milestone Bat Mitzvah celebration warranted the attendance of all of her daughters camp friends. Long after their camping days are done so many Runoia friends share other big life events together. Another Mom of a younger girl asked about addresses so that her daughter can send homemade Holiday cards to her shack mates.

Camp is so much more than just a few weeks of doing incredible activities in a beautiful location. It is friendships that last a lifetime, relationships that truly have deep and meaningful value. Camp is where many people make their life friends and truly have their ‘summer sisters.’