Tag: amazing summers

Writing in Pencil – a medium for change and flexibility

Posted on by Alex

It’s a bit of a joke around the camp office that I always write in pencil. While I certainly do a lot of typing there are still a multitude of camp jobs that require hand writing and notes so a pencil is always nearby. It’s my go to writing implement and while supplemented by some colored pens there is always typically a sharpened pencil to hand.

 

It’s always exciting at the start of the season when I find a new box of Dixon Ticonderoga’s, ready sharpened with new erasers set to go on my desk in the Lodge. The Camp Runoia fairies know how to keep me happy. The perfect pencil helps me plan and re-plan schedules with great satisfaction. It has to be the right HB# and sharp is preferred. TheWorking away in the Lodge program office erasers often get worn down quickly so are supplemented by a larger one.

Someone once asked me if I write in pencil due to not being able to commit. Moreover it is an ability to be able to be flexible and be able to make change. The schedules at camp are complex with many moving parts and often things need to get switched around quickly. The act or writing and erasing cements the information better in my mind. I can often then recall it without needing to go back and look at it.

This year we are having to use all of our creative resources to adapt and be flexible as we plan our camp summer. Even though we ran a successful camp last summer, the changes in how we understand and navigate the Covid virus means a slightly different approach this year. A month or so ago vaccinations were only trickling out, now most adults have the opportunity to get them and hopefully older children will be next. We have to keep updating and re-working our policies and plans to accommodate new information and shifting protocols. Having the ability to change and erase what we had in place allows us to be the most current and not be frustrated with information coming in that is outside of our control. It’s a great life skills to be able to erase what you have written and adapt it to what you now need.

I’m going to stick with writing in pencil. I love being able to erase and rewrite, to navigate change without feeling stuck and to create new words as needed over the old ones.

Using my pencil to check of the days until it is camp time. We cannot wait to see all of our girls and staff on Great Pond.

Getting ready for tag up the daily schedule is always fun!

The power of the pen – handwritten notes are special

Posted on by Alex

I know I have blogged about handwritten letters before.  Again it feels worthy of a mention. It is of great relevance as we are coming up on the camp season and are reminded that contact with the outside world through mail is so valuable. When technology is not accessible a pen and paper is a great connector.

There is some great commentary and many books written about the art and often ‘lost art’ of letter writing. It’s worth acknowledging that in our high tech times, jumping on face time or a zoom is easier than finding pen and paper and the ever illusive correct postage stamp.

I was inspired this week by a photograph on facebook from my camp friend in Australia. Her daughter had asked for letters so I had pooped a note in the mail and after a long and arduous journey she finally had it in her hands. The pure joy on her face was amazing and she apparently slept with it under her pillow. She has never met me and as her mum explained our connection, they looked on the map at how far the letter had traveled. A lot of lessons were learned just through a piece of mail that took a few minutes to write and the cost of a stamp. I am excitedly awaiting my letter back from her. 

The majority of people that I send postal mail to are my camp friends. While we do keep in touch via electronic means we mostly write to each other. It’s so fun to get an unexpected note in the mail and then know it’s your turn to write back at some point. It’s very casual and doesn’t feel like an obligation, we share daily life news and stay up to date with each other when we feel compelled to.

Mail at camp has extra value,  when you are away from home a fun card, or a letter is a treat at rest hour. It is great to see girls get writing too! As it is there only means of communicating there are stacks of letters waiting to go out in the camp mail bag every morning. I hope parents cherish those notes from camp even the ones that just say ‘camp is fun’ in big letters across the whole card. 

I love sorting the mail at camp, the fun stickers on the envelopes, the scrawly handwriting from younger siblings and the formal notes from older relatives. I laugh at the bills that I know will likely go unopened until August. It always reminds me of our larger camp community, the campers that have graduated that still write to camp friends, the parents who were alums and carry on the traditions of Runoia in their family and all of those people at home wondering how much fun we are having on Great Pond. It’s a whole pile of love coming in letter form.

We truly can’t wait for the summer season, so stock up on your stationary because we love getting mail!

Belgrade Lakes – the Foodie Town in Central Maine

Posted on by Pam Cobb

With more people living in Central Maine, the demand for quality take-out and restaurants has grown as well. Over the years Central Maine’s population has grown and sophisticated pallets have grown with the influx of people “from away”.

With our new hospital, Maine General, attracting physicians and health care workers from far away, more retirees have been attracted to our recreational area, many skiers drive through to Sugarloaf on Rt. 27 and the fact that people have made the Belgrade Lakes region their second home. During the pandemic, many people have worked from home and stayed in Maine after the summer.

The influence of Portland, Maine restaurants movement to farm to table and sustainable food sources, local breweries and oyster and sea-agriculture, has influenced Central Maine as well. Belgrade restaurants like The Village Inn and Tavern source local food, grass fed beef, meat without hormones and antibiotics and locally brewed beer. Hello Good Pie, bakery, café and meals to go, prepares quality food with locally sourced dairy, meat, vegetables and fruit as part of their everyday fare.

Of course, if you’re searching for that comfort food, there is always the Sunset Grill, Spiro’s Gyros, the local hot dog stand on the way to the transfer station and even the 5-star Belgrade Lakes Golf Course serves everything from a dog to a lobster roll.

In summer the Belgrade Farmer’s Market is a place to see and be seen. Many people arrive by boat to the 7 Lakes Alliance docks where the market opens every Sunday from mid-June until harvest season is over in the fall.

Many of our parents will be driving their daughters to camp this summer. You may be one of them! As you prepare for your trip to Maine, make sure to include a stop in Belgrade Lakes to experience our Foodie
Town.  Finish off your tour of tasting at The Dairy Bar for a Gifford’s cone and call it a good day!

Camp Runoia – overnight camp is a hot commodity

Posted on by Alex

We may be in the sparkly depths of winter here in Maine but many people’s minds are on the summer and planning for a season of camp. Overnight camp is a hot commodity this year. Many children missed the opportunity last summer and are longing to get back to nature and friends at their summer home away from home. While there is hope that the pandemic situation will be a little more resolved by June we also have the realization that mass vaccination and development of herd immunity is going to take a good while to accomplish.  We need some hope and fun to look forward to. In some States teachers are slated to be vaccinated soon and there is potential that kids may get back in school before the end of the year but other places lag behind and virtual or hybrid school continues with little end in sight. We are holding out for an awesome summer and are ready to jump right in to camp life!

Camp has the unique opportunity to create a healthy, fun, in person environment where we can spend as much time as possible outdoors and can participate in all kinds of activities, in real life with other people. Our success last summer proved that we can navigate covid protocols and that while it may look a little different to how camp operated in 2019 it is still spectacularly Runoia. If you are curious about our adaptations last summer you can check them out here.

I have spoken with families from California to NY whose children have been in virtual school since last March. Little interaction with peers, no sports or after school activities along with  isolation from places and people that they love has been hard for everyone. Regular family vacations and summer plans are also looking unlikely for this year as travel still remains challenging and there is a great deal of uncertainty about how open States will be. This recent New York Times article sums up the challenges  that parents are currently facing.

Camps in Maine are filling up faster than ever, and Runoia is already almost at capacity. Already signed up are our campers that navigated camp successfully in 2020, those that took a leap year and are excited to be returning, new families that are ready for the opportunity and a myriad of girls that want to get out on their own for some summer fun. Full season spaces are at an all time high as other summer opportunities are currently limited and it seems like once you get to camp it’s the best place to stay for the summer. We are not kidding when we email and tell you there are just one or two spaces left in a cabin and if you want them sign up today!

‘Masks up lets go’ and get enrolled for the best summer ever!

Zoomies – virtual reality

Posted on by Alex

Zooming around the Camp Runoia office this week I managed to miss 2 scheduled virtual meetings. They were on my calendar and I also received those handy reminders directly into my inbox yet somehow I still failed to get onto the calls. How is that possible when I am sitting at my desk working and know that I have them scheduled? Its zoom fatigue and overload for sure. There is now so much available virtually. I would honestly never have attended this many meetings and training sessions in a regular pre-covid week. Not having travel time makes it seem like there is so much more time logistically available to attend sessions. Virtual over booking is definitely becoming a real problem.

 

It’s hard to resist when opportunities are so accessible.  It’s super easy to sign up for another webinar or training clinic and often far less expensive than when they were previously offered in person.  I have chorus on zoom, camp directors meetings, school conferences and a myriad of other get together’s and meetings that may or may not have once been in person. There are definitely extra connections now that likely would have been a quick email or phone call prior to the zoom room and which now get a scheduled meeting time and link.

 

The technology is amazing for sure, even with low tech home equipment we can get transported around the world and into meetings all over the place.  It’s great to be able to be in a ‘room’ with my family in the UK as an in person visit still seems a long way off. Interviewing Camp Runoia staff all over the country is easy and efficient and gives me a lot more information than a phone call might do. Camp information is being shared so easily across the country, I loved joining the West Coast camps conference which was much more affordable than it would have been to attend in person.

My favorite training location!

 

In the past year we have all had to quickly learn a new way to represent ourselves professionally and socially. There are multiple training sessions about getting the most out of your zoom calls. I’m not sure I even ever want to ‘zoom like a pro’. You can also check out appropriate zoom etiquette.  Even with all of the available coaching and our endless hours of experience it is still pretty entertaining that poor internet connections, the infamous mute button and everyone’s pets and small children provide meeting hilarity on a regular basis.

 

While I am grateful for the technology and happy that we have a solution to the current problems of not being able to be in person I truly cannot wait to be back in real life with actual people and not squares on a screen. I want to see people’s body language, share a laugh that isn’t stuck in cyberspace and be able to interact easily. I am ready for even socially distanced, masked up,  outdoor staff training on Great Pond. I will be sure not to miss any of those in person meetings!

Take me back to the good old simple days.

To Trip or Not to Trip

Posted on by Pam Cobb

Yes, let’s Trip! A trip at Camp Runoia is about getting outside on a wilderness camping trip (adventure, journey). Last summer, with the new uncertainty of the pandemic, we stuck close to home and did not make plans to go off campus.

This summer, we are keen to run low-risk out of camp trips to beautiful remote places where we will not be interacting with other people. Camp trip programs are a great opportunity for social distancing, being outside and with the help of hand sanitizer, doing it all quite safely.

Ask any alumnae of Runoia what her camp experience entailed and she will pipe up about a trip. We remember the funny things, the hard things, the team work, the adventure and being in some of the most beautiful places in the world. Moments become memories: that sense of achievement of working hard to climb a mountain, to paddle 8 miles, the joy of cooking your own food (and yes, it does taste better when you cook it yourself), taking a sunset swim in a sandy cove, learning how to purify water and the importance of packing your belongings properly.

Many leadership opportunities and life skills arise from taking trips. Is it the most comfortable sleep you’ve ever had- probably not! But we learn in life there are compromises. Deep in the chill of winter we dream to get out on the trail and out on the Maine lakes. Yes, without a doubt, let’s trip!

Building life skills through adversity

Posted on by Alex

Building life skills is what we do at Camp Runoia. Little did we know that 2020 would test the skills that we had and encourage us to go far out of our comfort zone to develop new ones. We learned so much about ourselves, our campers and about the meaning and power of camp through being resilient  and adapting.

Looking back now we are grateful for the opportunity that a covid summer presented us to. We had to be flexible, grow, reconsider how we have always done things and be willing to modify, change and adapt in an instant. It turned out to be an amazing all be it exhausting summer and one that will certainly go down in the history books of Runoia.

     Takeaways from summer 2020:

  • We practiced doing hard things and did them well
  • We stopped sweating the small stuff
  • We learned new skills and revisited old ones that we hadn’t had time for
  • We reassessed what had value to us
  • We were more appreciative of the people and activities that we missed
  • It’s was OK to let some traditions go and know you can come back to them
  • We adapted and were flexible under ever changing circumstances
  • We used a growth mindset to challenge what we had done in the past and make it viable for the current situation
  • If you ask people will show up to help in ways you may not have thought of
  • You have to make the most of the moment in time that you have
  • Time with family is valuable but you need your friends too!
  • It may not be what you imagined but it can still be spectacular
  • Nature just keeps doing it’s thing. Sunset on the lake is beautiful.
  • Community comes in many forms, when we support each other we are all stronger
  • We maximized the opportunities that we did have rather than lamenting the ones that we didn’t
  • We had an amazing  summer on Great Pond that we never could have imagined   

As the year comes to a close we have deep gratitude for all that we have and look forward to 2021 with joy and eager anticipation. Happy New Year to our Runoia family, see you on Great Pond.

5 year Camp Runoia blankets

Posted on by Alex

 

Nights in Maine are very chilly, already there is a decent amount of snow on the ground and the dark settles in early. Evenings are perfect for a board game or cuddling up on the couch with a good book. Having the right blanket to snuggle up with is a crucial accessory. There are so many around to choose from,  a multitude of soft and fluffy ones, the scratchy woolen one to be avoided and the most popular recent addition a cozy sherpa fleece.

My favorite is my Runoia 5 year blanket, it’s a decent fleece, medium weight and a little old these days but it carries with it the warmth of summer. Amazing that a blanket can hold the memories of years on Great Pond.  The lifetime friendships, the hundreds of girls,  the joys and laughter all wrapped up in Runoia blue. 

Getting your 5 year blanket is a big deal for campers and staff, it represents your commitment to the place you have called your summer home, it’s an achievement, a milestone and a celebration. They are much anticipated and presented at cotillion on the last night of the season. You also get to be in the log photos for 5 years or more. You can’t purchase them and you only get one so need to take care of it reverently.

New 5 years in 2020
5 years or more in 2020

More than that achievement though it is the reminder of your summers you when you are not at camp. The blanket stays with you when you are at home in the winter or have long moved on from the shores of Great Pond. It elicits your Runoia a fond reminder of those long summer days. Maybe it gets pushed to the back of a closet for a while, or ends up in your dorm room at college. Perhaps it’s turns up in a carefully shipped package from your childhood home to you when you start your own life in a new place. Could be the dog steals it to curl up on or a younger sibling uses it for fort building. As time goes on it may get a little wash worn or frayed around the edges but it still has a warmth that only Runoia can provide. Alumnae still talk about their blankets and bring them back when they return as staff or attend a reunion.

We hope that there will be many more Runoia blankets to hand out. Celebrating 5 years at Runoia is so much more than receiving your camp blanket. We want all of our summer family to feel the warmth and love of camp the whole year through.

Light in the darkness

Posted on by Alex

What a year! One that none of us could have imagined this time last year as we were planning for the summer of 2020.  What we assumed would be a typical camp summer season turned into anything but and taught us lessons that will guide us as we prepare for 2021. We have so much gratitude for those that were with us along the way, there was so much team effort at all levels. What initially appeared to be a pervading darkness evolved with lots of hard work into joy and light.

The Maine summer camp community pulled together in ways never seen before. For the good of all Maine camps there was advocating at the legislative level and support for all regardless of the decision to operate camp for the season or not. Camps were offering resources and practical help to each other wherever they could. Calling and cheering on those that opened camp, celebrating the wins together and also mourning the losses.  Maine summer camps were definitely stronger together working to support each other in a time that created great hardship and an unprecedented struggle for many small family businesses. The resource sharing continues as we plan for the next season, those of us that opened sharing our journey and all forging ahead to ensure that as many children as possible get to have their summer camp experience.

Our Runoia camp community grew stronger too. Even though we were missing so many of our summer family, the support was incredible. The families that trusted us to take care of their girls and literally dropped them at the gate showed a commitment and bravery to the camp experience that we couldn’t have imagined. Our girls were brave and bold, flexible and willing to adapt to all of the protocols and changes. They showed up ready to have a blast at camp and did just that. 

The staff group that literally came together in May as we decided that yes we would open was such a dedicated and resilient group. We definitely couldn’t have opened without their commitment and flexibility. Our senior staff who after a zoom call about protocols and what camp would look like said ‘let’s do it!’ and dived in with gusto to create a fabulous and safe camp experience. The health team who planned and prepped and took all the protocols seriously and kept everyone healthy. Our amazing kitchen crew who masked up in the incredibly hot kitchen and kept us well fed. Everyone who pitched in, sanitized, cleaned up trash, kept kids entertained, figured out how to operate their program safely and stayed on site for 5 !/2 weeks without complaining! How lucky we were to spend the summer with this group of folk, many whom were feeling the sadness of their own camps being closed yet showed up for us.

 

In this season of lights and bringing in brightness to our homes on the shortest days we are grateful for the joy that camp brings to us. Although the year has been challenging in so many ways there is so much to be thankful for and so much light in our lives.

We are so grateful for the smiles and laughter of a summer on Great Pond, the  relationships that endure over the years and the promise that Runoia will be there no matter what.

However you are celebrating the holidays may you have light and love around you.

JMG – A college application essay topic

Posted on by Alex

The Junior Maine Guide (JMG) program has been a mainstay at Camp Runoia for decades. It provides older campers with the opportunity to participate in a Maine State, organized youth program that develops and tests their wilderness skills. It is a rigorous program that can take a couple of years to accomplish. Camp develops all kinds of life skills and becoming a  JMG is a huge achievement but the process also has great value.

This weeks guest blog is Lilly Grace’s college application essay that focused on her time working towards becoming a JMG.

Common App Main Essay by Lilly Grace
To the average person, building a roaring fire with a soaking wet billet of wood, an axe and just a few matches may seem like a nearly impossible task. After all, that’s what I thought as I was first learning how to make a “wet day fire.” However, what most people don’t realize is that the dryness of a billet is irrelevant to one’s ability to build a “wet day fire.” Rather, what is most critical to their success is practice, preparation, and an ability to persevere through
setbacks until ultimately satisfied. Building a wet day fire is a mentally and physically challenging skill that is just one of twenty-one tests to become a Junior Maine Guide. Although the process of becoming a Junior Maine Guide was only intended to teach me wilderness skills, I believe it was the most rewarding experience of my life thus far because I gained more than just a vast amount of knowledge about the wilderness. I also took this unique opportunity to
learn and develop critical life skills.

The wet day fire test
One thing that I learned quickly upon arrival at the five day testing encampment is that candidates must be organized, disciplined, and confident in order to succeed in this environment where there is little structure. I had three full days to complete twenty-one tests at any time and in no specific order. I lacked those three essential qualities that I needed, and JMG presented additional challenges that I had never had to tackle before in school. However, as I had learned from my past experiences, success is something that does not come easily to me and has always required more time, effort and motivation on my part. Therefore, these challenges that I was presented with were simply just a few hurdles in reaching my goal.Throughout the three summers, I was committed to gaining the skills needed to succeed.
I overcame my organizational challenges by making study and testing schedules that were essential to keeping myself motivated and on track throughout the summer, and I made sure to stick to them. I learned how to study in more exciting and efficient ways that developed my self-discipline. For example, when learning locations on the map of Maine, my friends and I would place M&Ms on the different locations and if we guessed the location correct, we were
rewarded with the candy. As for my time-management, I learned that using a watch was extremely beneficial to budgeting my time and ensuring that I was able to complete every test in the short time frame. And once I learned that I could build a Wet Day Fire and solo a canoe with ease, I knew I had the confidence to take on anything.

Becoming a Junior Maine Guide has been, by far, the proudest moment of my life, as I knew it was something that I worked so hard to accomplish on my own. This rigorous program typically takes two years to complete, however it took me three. While some people may perceive my additional year in the program as a failure, I choose to see it as a blessing in disguise. I struggle with ADHD and weak executive functioning skills, which is something that affects my everyday life, but I clearly have never let it stop me. In fact, I believe that I have made more improvement with my executive functioning skills through trial and error in the JMG program than I ever have in a school classroom. In the end, I proved to myself and others that I am exceedingly capable of persevering through my learning challenges to accomplish anything that is important to me. It just might take some additional time and effort.