alums Archives - Page 5 of 6

How the Runoia Pix Got Its Name

Posted on April 20, 2016October 18, 2016 by Pam Cobb

According to Runoia lore, as told by Joan “Baynie” Williams, may she rest in peace, the Runoia bathrooms got the name PIX on the train from Grand Central Station to Belgrade Depot.

Back in the day campers would arrive with their trunks at Grand Central for the train to camp. Both Runoia girls and Pine Island boys would voyage on said train. Of course the ride was chaperoned but there were plenty of shenanigans to go around, as you can only imagine.

Girls being girls and boys being boys back in the 1920s pretty much stayed with their own kind. The rueful glance, a random prank and other tit for tat ensued. The boys from Pine Island Camp wore their camp shirts that said PIC. After a few years of trips back and forth, Baynie and her gang decided the name for the Runoia bathrooms should be called the PIX (clever disguise) – as you can see an acronym not to far from the initials of that boys camp across the lake!

So, to this day, the Runoia bathroom is called the Pix.

I’ve noticed in the past decade that the word pix is falling from the vocab of the current campers and counselors. As many traditions go, it only remains a thing if people keep saying things like “I am going to the Pix” or “I have to go to the Pix” or “Will you come with me to the Pix?” or “Where’s the closest Pix” (Come on folks, I’m spoon feeding you here – let’s keep it going!). Runoia alumnae out there, you know you are horrified at the thought of Pix disappearing from the vocabulary, right? It’s our 110th summer and we will make an effort at bringing back this 90+ year tradition!

Maybe our next blog should be on how to resuscitate lost traditions!

Spring Training – Hitting a Home Run in the Job Market

Posted on April 5, 2016October 18, 2016 by Pam Cobb

We’ve all read about the parenting style of the Millennium Generation. Following the Millenniums is Generation Z – our current teens are Gen Z children. These parents have parented in similar ways. Here’s a hint to parents about how to help your children: let them figure out some stuff themselves.

Parents who try to help their teenagers by contacting businesses for jobs for their children should recognize that that child is the least likely person to make the team.

On the other hand, teens who contact businesses directly, act confident, carry their resume or email a resume ahead of time before they call, ready themselves with references, have the chance at hitting a home run. Feel free to coach them but let them play the game themselves.

Here’s ways you can help coach your children for the job market and not have them sitting on the bench:

Ask your child to make a list of businesses she/he is interested in working with to help build her/his skills
Discuss together how she/he will safely get to and from work. If it’s a resident job, help them come up with a list of good questions to ask a prospective employer and resident director.
Encourage your child to contact her/his references for the job application BEFORE they are contacted.
Practice, role play if possible, interview scenarios (phone and in person)
Ask your child what they think they should wear and how they should clean up to look presentable for the interview.
Other hints: A strong handshake, eye to eye contact and a smile go a long way. A smile while talking on the phone improves their tone of voice.

As a business owner whose organization hires 55-60 people under the age of 25 every summer, having a parent contact us about a job for their children is a strike out.

And parents, when your child, as a young adult, goes to work a professional job at a camp, please know that if they are over 18, we won’t talk with you about their job, the interview, the details of the process, etc. Obviously we will contact you if there is any kind of emergency but otherwise, they are an adult working at their job. You can find out that Camp Runoia is an accredited camp by the ACA, Runoia has employed many teens, young adults and 20-somethings over the years. Runoia’s website has an FAQ page for staff and our policies and handbooks are on line. Read them to help ease your own anxiety and know that we will help guide and coach your child to be a great camp

Summer Camp Work is Wholesome and Skill Building!

counselor. Working at sleepaway camp is a hard job and it’s a great, healthy outdoor living experience that will ready them for many things in life. Let them get up to

bat and hit the ball. If they strike out on their own, they might actually ask you for your help! If they hit the ball and make a home run on their own, they will be happier and more connected to the process.

Beware, if you, the parent, step into the batter’s box, the umpire may have to throw you out of the game!

That is So Cool; Camp Runoia – Style!

Posted on March 22, 2016October 18, 2016 by Pam Cobb

“Wow! That is so cool. Where did you learn to make that?”

Upon being asked, you reply, “ Camp Runoia”.

With great pride, you show off your stained glass, woven basket, or wooden box–just a few of the art projects possible at Runoia.

For many years, Camp Runoia has provided campers with a unique and exciting visual arts program which continues to flourish. The days of summer are filled with inspiring opportunities, allowing girls to find their inner talents, regardless of age or skill. Think back to your first time you finished a basket and stood on the rock and heard the shouts of “BASKET WEAVING SHOW OFF TIME.” Remember when you showed up at dinner wearing earrings you personally designed. How did it feel when you learned to wood burn and created a beautiful image of a loon on the box you made in woodworking?

This summer, I encourage you to tag up for a visual art project at Camp Runoia–perhaps one that may seem challenging or time consuming. You will be surprised to find

Make a Basket - a Runoia Keepsake! — Make a Basket – a Runoia Keepsake!

that you have talents waiting to be discovered. You will also learn a few things about other campers in the activity and perhaps find a new friend. The very best part is that you will have an object to keep as a memory of your summer or a special surprise gift for someone you know. More links to arts and Runoia programs are here.

I am very excited for you to discover the many visual art opportunities around camp. You will be amazed at the artwork created by fellow campers as well as yourself. Just think of what your friends back home will say when you show them the art project you made at summer camp!

By Jeanne S. – returning to weave baskets with you second session 2016!

Finding Perfection

Posted on December 10, 2015October 18, 2016 by Alex

The Perfect Tree – Finding Perfection

There is a lot of anticipation in our house this week. The upcoming weekend is our annual sortie into the woods to find the perfect tree to decorate for the Holidays. We don’t have a particular place or tradition for getting the tree sometimes we swing by one of the local Maine tree farms close to our house but we have also been known to go out in the back acreage and find a wild tree. Once we have decided if we will go and cut one or grab one at the market stand the hunt is on.

The challenge is always how do we find the ‘perfect’ tree? How big should it be? Round and full? or a little thinner so the ornaments hang down? At the farm there are even choices of what variety of spruce to bring home! It is hard for it not to become overwhelming especially when everyone has a different opinion about just what constitutes ‘perfect.’

Depending on how cold it is the search may be long or due to frozen fingers and toes it may be a short trek to the nearest good looking spot. ‘Perfect’ becomes relative when the promise of hot chocolate is involved.

The funny thing is that no matter which tree we end up getting everyone always declares it ‘perfect’ even when it requires a 6” decapitation to fit in the house or takes up half the room. It is the time with family and the tradition of actually doing this together every year that truly makes it ‘perfect.’

However you celebrate the Holidays I hope that it will be your own version of perfect.

The World Outside of Camp (WOoC)

Posted on December 3, 2015October 18, 2016 by Pam Cobb

Guest blogger, Carrie Murphey, writes a poignant passage about camp here:

In this moment snugged squarely into the season of gratitude and giving, I want to try to share my gratitude for what camp has given me over the years.

While camp is never far from my heart, the truth is, I haven’t worked at camp in five years now. I love my job as a college dean but I must report, the World Outside of Camp (W.O.o.C. for the fellow acronym-makers out there) is ever-so-slightly less amazing than every single moment is of camp. As such, I find myself thinking of camp often. Occasionally, it’s wistful longing for a campfire by the lake, but more often than not, it’s small everyday moments that help keep camp a daily touchstone.

Sitting in a chaotic staff meeting where many voices are trying to be heard and good ideas raised, I recall boisterous meals in the Dining Hall, working to listen with my whole ears – to tales of tag-up, swims in the lake, rest hour shack shenanigans – and add my voice when it is truly an addition, and not just because I am itching to make sure it still works.

Supporting students through their course selection process for next semester, I want them to pick topics in which they have a genuine and personal interest, rather than make a choice simply based on what their roommates or friends are doing. I think often of mornings at the tag-up board where Alex counsels Runoia campers into the same sort of thought process. “Are you really interested in being out on the water today or would you be happier playing tennis?” Making choices for yourself is a learned skill and one you get the chance to exercise every day at camp. I wish for days where all my available choices were as much fun as the ones at camp!

I think of camp at odd times and regular times (from my desk, watching as the sun goes down outside the window, I regularly find myself singing “Taps” in my head), and most often as I reflect on a new friendship I’m developing or an old one that I’m trying to keep active. For all the skills that camp builds, none is more important than those you pick up living in a cabin with fellow campers and counselors. You won’t think of how important your shack bonding time was, or how invaluable opening day name games were, until you come face-to-face with a new person and find yourself able to make comforting and comfortable conversation. Perhaps it is through those conversations that you’re able to develop a friendship out of a chance encounter. If you’re lucky, there’s always the possibility that your camp friendship skills will allow you to develop even a non-camp person (they exist!) into the type of friend you thought was only possible at camp.
This season and every day, I’m grateful for all of the memories I have of wonderful times at camp (and yes, particularly those involving campfire), but the real gift that camp gave me are the countless moments when camp is with me in the World Outside of Camp.

Ahhhh! Keep the "inner" Campfire Burning All Year! — Ahhhh! Keep the “inner” Campfire Burning All Year!

THANKS CARRIE!

Do you want to guest blog for Runoia? Submit your blog writing to blog@runoia.com

Celebrating Camp Birthdays at Runoia

Posted on November 12, 2015October 18, 2016 by Pam Cobb

Having a birthday at camp is special and fun in many ways. It’s a birthday bonanza!

There are the songs. The cards. The decorations. There is the birthday party on birthday night. There are the cakes – your cakes and all the other cakes. There are more songs and costumes and loud, crazy, silliness. Lots of birthdays are celebrated at Runoia each summer and they are something everyone looks forward to each session.

Songs are silly songs like: I thought I heard my grandmother say that so and so’s birthday was today with a fee fo and a fi fo… OR Ice cream soda water ginger ale pop, the cake the cake with the candles on top, get ready get ready your pearly white teeth… ALL Runoia campers and alumna can finish the words to these crazy songs.

So whenever your birthday falls, think of the playful Runoia celebrations, the special moments given to girls whether it’s their birthday or not. The whole camp has a party – that’s pretty sweet!

What Camp Means to Me

Posted on June 25, 2015October 18, 2016 by Pam Cobb

Camp Runoia has helped make me who I am today. Runoia has taught me many life lessons, 
especially how to adjust to change in my life. Before camp, I had never been away from my parents.  
Although it was extremely hard for me being away from my family my first year, 
Pam and the staff handled themselves great, always being there for me when I was feeling homesick.  
The second and third year, I had a fantastic time, and had started to learn how to adjust 
to the change of not being with my family. Now, fast forward to college.  
I am from Pennsylvania and because Camp Runoia taught me to be an independent woman, 
I was able to go to the University of Maine.  Here at the University of Maine, 
I met my now fiancé, John and are now settling in the Portland, Maine region.  
I would never have been able to go to college far away from my parents, if I had not been to Runoia.  
Camp Runoia has helped me become a strong independent woman. I am so grateful for my time at Runoia, 
and feel that sending me to Runoia was the greatest gift they ever gave me, for at Runoia 
I learned so many life lessons. I really believe I would not have the life I have today 
without Camp Runoia. 

Anastasia Kerner

The Camp Runoia Dining Hall

Posted on June 3, 2015October 18, 2016 by Pam Cobb

In the center of camp is a special place. Its hub endures the hustle and bustle of camp’s daily flow. We greet it with the pattering of feet as we fall out from flag raising and it shudders at the end of the day as milk gets spilled upon its floors and crackers crumble into happy mouths. We sing and fill the rafters with graces, bobos and birthday songs.

Where else besides cabins do we spend two and a half hours almost every day with an assorted group of random people? Where else could you find thousands of red and white flowered and plain squares? Like a silent movie, benches and chairs get moved in and out, up on top of tables and down again. It is only furniture but it’s furniture that fills its innards with substance and fortitude.

Probably the person who spent the most time within its screened walls was Johnny. For 54 summers Marion “Johnny” Johnson sat regally reigning from the corner by the flagpole. To date, some of her special sayings are shared in that very same corner. Betty’s Table became, and still is, an icon of good manners, quietly closing doors, trying new foods and cleaning plates. Counselors who return to camp for a couple years adopt their own table and create their own legacies with the campers who share meals around them.

Betty and Diane raised their newborn children under her eaves. Alex, K and other camp parents over the summers have done the same. Campers have laughed, cried, screamed, and shrieked with delight amidst the pine paneling. The hum of the water cooler adorned with the magically changing poster provides a watering hole for many. Each corner has its own echo, each it’s own feeling. Late night sardines has been played in all the nooks and crannies. Dances and casino halls, specialty restaurants and rainy day games have transformed her façade at times. Snacks, studying for JMG, package surprises, the mail bag, counselors’ coffee and board games have all been part of its personality. On its walls, some over 100 years old, banners and posters, signs and memorabilia hang to be seen by all. It is the epicenter of our daily sustenance, the Mother Ship of our excursions, the source of many good times and tastes.

What is a #runoiagal?

Posted on May 28, 2015October 18, 2016 by Pam Cobb

By Kyleigh

A #Runoiagal – She is adventurous, but cautious. She is intelligent and she is full of inquisition. She loves to laugh. She likes to explore. She appreciates herself. She cares for the world and her family and friends.

In just a few short weeks, we are going to welcome “home” many experienced Runoia Gals and many new.

Together we will make magic happen!

Here is a poem written from one of the youngest campers this year at Runoia. She is beyond excited to come to camp and meet new friends, try new activities, gain autonomy in her physical and emotional abilities. And she is beyond excited to smell the moss and kiss the horses!

I thought I saw nothing…

But it might have been something.

I saw something blue,

But it could also be black

With big white clouds

All the blue connects

Big Beautiful sky!

Where birds fly everyday

I thought I saw nothing…

but it might have been something.

Trees swaying in the wind

The wind smells like the moss and flowers

I am the forest!

Big beautiful forest!

Where birds rest in nests every day.

Here is to all the Runoia Gals that ever have been and ever will be!

Runoia Alumnae Shares her PJA Blog

Posted on December 4, 2014October 18, 2016 by Pam Cobb

Annie Carney, Digital Producer. Annie enjoys skiing, boogie boarding, and attempting to knit the perfect headband.

One of the biggest influences in my life has to be my summers spent on Great Pond at Camp Runoia. As a young professional, I can tie back many life lessons learned from those years and how they have made me a better worker, professional, and peer. Working in advertising can be very unpredictable, with deadlines, change requests, crazy clients, etc., but nothing can prepare you for canoeing down a river trying to make it to your campsite with ten 12 year olds during a severe lightning storm.

Lesson 1 – “Fake it till you make it”

This lesson really came from the summers I spent as a counselor – two years teaching sailing and one as a wilderness trip leader. Being fresh out of high school and enlisted with the responsibility of overseeing kids all day, you quickly learn how to fake it. Not in the sense of inexperience, (if you are going to be teaching sailing, you must have the credentials) but in the sense that when the unexpected happens — you are the adult that makes the decisions.

The first time I really faced this, and had the “Oh sh**, I’m in charge moment” was on a backpacking trip when half way up the mountain, one of the girls with asthma turned to me and said she needed her inhaler. When I checked to see if it was in our medical kit, I found it was not. In that moment, you can either panic or, look at the scenario and figure out how to fix it. This is when you learn the skills of ownership and the ability to make decisions, because there is not always time to think about things, but to find the best solution and keep moving.

Lesson 2 – You can’t choose your coworkers, but you can choose how to work with them

Working on a camp staff, you get the spectrum of personalities from all different walks of life, and essentially have to spend 24/7 with them for 10 weeks. Early on you learn there are many approaches to teaching kids sailing lessons, managing mealtime table manners, motivating cabin cleanup, and leading evening activities. You begin to understand that you may not always agree on how the other person works, but to be part of a team, you must respect them. The same goes for working in a professional environment. In order to successfully be a part of a team, you must respect and understand that everyone is working towards the same goal of doing the best work possible, and finding how to align with everyone to be successful.

Lesson 3 – How to Herd Cats – or Kittens

As a project manager, you must the have the ability to “herd cats” aka, lead an unpredictable, diverse team along in order to meet all your deliverables and deadlines. The same can be said as a camp counselor. Motivating girls who are completely out of their element as they hike the tallest mountain or go in a sailboat for the first time is challenging. People can always be resistant, but finding the right ways to communicate and motivate will get you far. I’ve successfully lead 13 year olds up Mount Katadin, and I’ve successfully lead a creative team to produce a 50 website page creative in 10 days.

Lesson 4 – There is always time for fun

No matter where you work or what you are doing, it is always great to remember to have fun. There is always time for silliness and dancing (as I am the queen of that) and to remember it is only a job.