Tag: community
Dedication to the Runoia Log 2015
Passing through the Runoia gates each year, it seems futile to try and predict the course of a summer. Running from activity to activity with a friend you’ve only just met, but with a feeling that you’ve known each other for all eternity. Passing levels, achieving goals, hiking mountains, they’re all a part of camp. Those are the pieces everyone will talk about, the big moments. Other camp experiences are more subtle, yet they are the ones that truly set one summer apart from the rest. It could be something as simple as stopping to pick blueberries on the way to flag raising every morning. It could be a moment between two friends, sitting and watching the waves break calmly on the sand. It could be the night out under the stars, trying to find constellations, and hoping to see a shooting star. It could be that one inside joke between cabin mates that’s funny no matter how many times it’s said, or even just spontaneous and uncontrollable laughter. These little spur of the moment memories are made every day. They can’t be planned or anticipated, but looking back over a summer, that’s what we remember. When school comes back around, and everyone starts to get a little camp-sick, we can sit back and remember the blissful time with friends, where we left all our cares behind and enjoyed the moment we were living in. The little moments, there could be hundreds of them in one day alone, create a feeling. That feeling is the piece of camp that we can’t truly explain, but that we carry with us each day of our lives and makes our time at camp so extraordinary.
That’s why the 2015 log is dedicated to the spontaneous moments that come together to form special memories that will last a lifetime.
Carolyn Solimine
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.
Courage to Grow Up by Kyleigh Mercier
As I sit and listen to the wind bring in the sound of the peepers through the open window, I am reminded of how special this time of year is. It is mother’s day. And the world around me is bustling with life and new energy. Today I saw the red robins moving with intent and determination to build nests, I watched a hawk fly with such grace and glory from tree to tree. I see the red and the gray squirrels moving and collecting bounty. The world has awakened from the quiet hibernation of winter and the white stark horizon is now 30 shades of green. It is spring and it is a celebration of life.
Being a mother is my greatest accomplishment. I reflect on this day that it is not actually a celebration of my work, but that of my children.
It is their momentum and their exploration that feed my soul. Spring is also a time of change, and as with all growth there is change.
Chris and I are embarking with our family on great adventure. Our commitment to join the Runoia family is beyond exciting! We are determined and dedicated to bring our enthusiasm to camp and offer our love, our life, our experience, our connection, our intent, our passion, and our good will to Great Pond. We could not be more thrilled to travel to Maine with our beautiful children and share some of the greatest experiences that we could dream of with your daughters!
We promise to be kind, gentle, honest, and to encourage them to find the best of themselves. We support growth and experience. There is so much that the land and the programs at Runoia will teach us all this summer! And as spring blooms with life and spiritual awakening, I resonate with E.E. Cumming’s words “It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”
At Runoia we encourage and support what spring begins in growth all summer
long. My wish is that as you send your daughters from your nest to our woods, that we provide them with the safety and comfort, courage and the wisdom, the strength and the bravery, to expand their physical and emotional skills to their full potential, becoming exceptional young women.
Happy Mother’s Day. Happy Spring.
Find out more about Kyleigh and Chris Mercier here.
Nervous about camp?
Normal Nervousness About Going Away to Camp
This time of year we hear from families – mostly new families but some returning families as well – about their daughter being nervous about going away to camp this summer.
We have some ideas to help you out and so do the experts. This article gives you some ideas on supporting your nervous camper: How to handle summer camp anxiety
While validating her concerns is a good idea, it’s also okay to acknowledge her concerns and redirect her from focusing too much on summer camp right now. It is a long ways till summer and your daughter will have a lot of life experiences in the next 6 months. She will mature and grow helping her with the idea of being away. In the spring some of the tips suggested in the above article will help.
Here’s one of our favorite camp psychologist, Dr. Christopher Thurber’s ideas of how to help your child adjust to the idea of camp: Click Here
Or, for a quick look right now, here are some of our ideas:
- Get your daughter involved in the packing process and buying a few new things for camp will engage her
- Share that it is okay to be nervous and it is a normal feeling, tell her about times you’ve been nervous to do something and how you coped
- Let her know you want to help her and together you will come up with a plan
- Practice with sleepovers and weekends at grandparents’ home helps
- Address specific questions she has will help reduce her uncertainty,
- Look at our video and interacting with the camp map will get her involved
- View our YouTube videos and if you use Facebook, checking out our posts and pictures are good ways to see the fun parts of camp.
Are you feeling a little anxious too? Check out Dr. Michael Thompson’s book, Homesick and Happy – How Time Away From Parents Can Help a Child Grow.
We look forward to a super 2015 season with your daughter. Let us know if you need a little extra support, we would be happy to help!
The Center of Camp
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 (and in 2014 Jai and Gines raise their respective little ones) 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.
The 2006 Log is dedicated to the Dining Hall, to all its bumps and leaks and all its glory.
Camp Runoia’s season of change
October is an interesting month in the camp Runoia office. It is finally a time to breathe and reflect while enjoying the beauty of the seasons changing around us. Camp in the fall is so quiet with the merriment of summer long gone, the days getting shorter and a chill in the air. Flip flops are no longer the footwear of choice and layers are the way to dress as you never quite know how the day will turn out.
Our days are filled with pondering, questions and often discussion. There are many aspects of the camp business to reflect upon as we contemplate the past season and plan for the next. What site and facility jobs must be accomplished before the snow flies? how many spaces will be open for new girls? which staff are invited back? what were the summer highlights? where do we need to improve? how will winter tasks be distributed?
There is time to spend looking through the thousands of photos from the summer, to miss the happy smiling faces and reminisce about people and events. There is more time to chat on the phone with returning and prospective parents and to connect together as a team to share our hopes for the next season.
As the last leaves get raked off of the archery field we are glad for this time of change and hopeful that when the leaves appear again we will be ready to greet the spring and be well prepared for our new 2015 season of camp!
Service learning at camp
This summer during their 7 weeks at camp our incredible group of CIT’s managed to fit in more than 20 hours each of community service. They participated in a wide range of activities from seeking out invasive Eurasian milfoil along our camp shoreline to running the kids table at the local Aquafest.
They put to use the skills they gained through their CIT program while also providing much needed support to local organizations that rely on volunteers to operate.
They also increased Camp Runoia’s visibility in our local community and built positive connections between camp and area organizations. They were able to chat with summer visitors about the camp experience and the value camp plays in their lives.
It was a powerful experiential learning experience for the girls and the skills they worked on translated easily to other aspects of their CIT program and to their everyday lives. The lifelong skills and enthusiasm for volunteer service that they built at camp will stay with them as they grow and learn in life.
What are you doing to make a difference in your community?
Life Lessons at Camp Runoia
- LIFE LESSONS
Earlier this year, one of my friends asked me “what’s the best place you’ve ever been? And I answered “camp”! Although this is only my second year here, I cannot begin to describe how much camp has impacted my life. I truly feel as if I have been here forever. Camp is all about making life long friends, as well as memories and I am so thankful that I have been able to have that experience.
The hardest part about camp for me is saying goodbye to all of the people I’ve become so close with because I’m not certain when the next time is that I will see them. You meet people, make memories and then you say goodbye. However, I’ve learned that that is what makes this camp experience so special. Being here has also taught me to live in the moment and to take every opportunity that I am given, and I am so thankful for this life long lesson. To all of my friends here at camp, you know who you are, past present and future, I want to thank each of you for letting me into your life. I love you all.
To the Camp Runoia Directors, thank you so much for keeping the Camp Runoia traditions strong and for sharing them with me.
Written by Rose B. for the Camp Runoia Log, August, 2014
Info for 2014 Parents
Hello Parents!
The daylight stretches into the evening hours now which means summer is just around the bend. We are seeing a lot of parents working hard on their forms for camp. Thank you!
Did you know on your Runoia Camp in Touch (CIT) dashboard you can find all your forms? In addition to the forms we need from you, your dashboard gives you some critical info for planning and packing for overnight sleepaway camp in Maine at Camp Runoia. Between the forms page on your dash board and the www.runoia.com page on FAMILIES, you will find:
There is an explanation of “What to expect on opening day” at Camp Runoia.
You’ll find the official Camp Runoia Packing List.
Check out the options for sending emails to your camper and where you can look at photos posted every 3-4 days during the camp season.
A link to the official outfitter of Camp Runoia – Lands’ End.
Looking for vintage Runoia gear? It’s classic and revered. Go to Amerasport.com and search for Runoia to order your throwback Runoia gear.
The Parent/Family Handbook – this is a handy document to peruse and bookmark for future reference.
The Camp Runoia app is also available on our FAMILIES page. The app allows you to keep in touch with picture posting in the summer, connect with your CIT dashboard and see scenes from around camp.
There’s much much more on your dashboard so be sure to check it out. Just picture us in the Runoia office eagerly awaiting your forms!
The Runoia Team