Tag: amazing summers
Finding Perfection
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)
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.
THANKS CARRIE!
Do you want to guest blog for Runoia? Submit your blog writing to blog@runoia.com
Camp cooking.
Campers at Runoia have been developing their outdoor cooking skills for many years. Wilderness trips have been an integral part of the program since camp opened 110 years ago. Can you believe that back in the day campers used their bloomers to stash their lunches in when they went off canoeing!
Regardless of how far you are hiking or canoeing you have to eat and the food can make or break the success of a trip. Trying everything from re-hydrating dried mixes to baking a cake in a Dutch oven many girls get their first taste of cooking at camp. Campers are involved in all aspects of trip menu planning and then meal preparation.
From an 8 year old flipping their first pancakes to a 15 year old menu planning and cooking meals for a whole week and with everything in between; Runoai girls get a taste of independence and begin to build their own life skills around the campfire.
Food on the hiking trail has to be light weight, well balanced, nutritious and high in energy. Trail mix, no bake cookies and other high protein snacks can be a great boost when you still have miles to go to your campsite. Cooking over a camp stove requires good organizational skills, often a menu that needs minimal pots and some creativity for making the meal tasty. A canoeing trip may allow for a little more equipment and often includes a reflector oven or Dutch oven so baking around the fire becomes a great option.
There is often nothing more satisfying than sitting around the campfire with a tin plate and a spork eating a meal that you have waited all day for and that you helped to cook. 
Always a bonus if it is followed by reflector oven brownies or s’mores. 
Camp Runoia video blog
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!
Mountain Biking at Runoia and beyond
As the crisp autumn air flows in, I am reassured as to why I live in New England. For the seasons. Now is a perfect time to get outdoors and enjoy all that New England has to offer. Perhaps a swift hike in the woods or a leisurely walk along the water suits you. For me, I want to go mountain biking.
I was so inspired last summer spending time mountain biking with the girls of Camp Runoia. It is truly a gift to be able to pass on my passion for a great sport onto these young ladies. To watch their eagerness to learn and explore is a tough feeling to beat. I started mountain biking back in the early nineties when the sport first started to take off. Historically, this has been a sport dominated by men, but the question remains, how do we get more girls and women involved in this great sport? When I came to Runoia, I was thrilled to see that we had a mountain bike program. What a great way to expose our girls to a sport they may not be exposed to otherwise. As the bike technology advances and trails and parks become more accessible, my hope is that more young women will try mountain biking. I wanted to share something that a local mountain bike park that I ride at in New Hampshire hosted last weekend. Click here to see a short video with some highlights from the “Women’s Freeride Festival” hosted by Highland Mountain Bike Park.
Highland Mountain Bike Park is a very progressive place which is really on the cutting edge of the sport. Constantly creating new terrain and technical elements, they draw amateur and professional riders from all over the world. I feel lucky to have this resource not far from home. They obviously recognize that in order to sustain a sport like this and a facility like this, they need more riders. I’m sure that this workshop inspired so many women to get into this sport or if already in it, it empowered them to take it to the next level. This is a sport all about personal growth. You can go as slow or as fast as you want…as big or as small as you want. What a feeling when you accomplish the next big challenge for the first time. It truly gives you a great sense of power and accomplishment.
If you have never mountain biked, I encourage you to give it a try! This is an amazing sport which is here to stay. I look forward to many more “Fine Maine Days” next summer spent mountain biking with the fabulous girls of a little sleep away camp which we call Runoia!
By Chris Mercier
End of season refelctions
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.
A Runoia girl
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:
- Every night, someone at Runoia thinks about you before they go to sleep.
- At least fifteen Runoia girls somewhere in this world love you.
- There are at least two Runoia girls that would die for you.
- You mean the world to a Runoia girl.
- Someone that you don’t even know from camp loves you.
- When you make a big mistake at camp, something good comes from it.
- When you think your friend has turned her back on you, take another look.
- Always remember the compliments you’ve received from Runoia girls.
Runoia girls will…
Remember
Understand
Never hate
Optimize
Inspire
Amaze
And When You Get Back Home Again…
“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
Runoia – A Bittersweet Ending
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.