It’s Sports Week! What some camps call Color War, Runoia calls Sports Week. The short story is we have kicked, run, raced, swum, jumped, trotted, shot arrows, competed, played hard and played like a girl!
On top of it, we have had birthday parties, Evening Programs of “Create Your Own Country”, Pillow Football, Birthday Bash, Build A Boat to Float Contest, Talent Show, Runoia Caberet, Graduation Dinner and a Camp Fire with the theme of What Camp Friendships Mean to You.
Here are some of the pictures to tell the story:
Our Dear Trip Leaders (Some of Them)!Birthday Table Groups by Shacks!The Runoia Play was a Medley Cabaret!Blue White Horse Show
The Epic Oak Island Swim
Blue White Swim RacesBlue and White Team Captains Second SessionJunior Soccer PlayersThe Pine Tree in the Back Shows it’s a Maine Peach!Coco Crisp Enjoys his 10th Summer at Runoia and Gets His Own Blanket
Hi Families! What’s on our mind about news today is the events of the past week. New in 2016, we are posting our news here in the blog rather than sending home a paper newsletters. Enjoy!
Runoia Girls Learn All Day!
Camp started off with the most amazing and beautiful whether we have ever had. Activities roared into high gear as campers were eager to climb, ride, sail, hike, make art, play tennis, do archery and riflery, windsurf, canoe, kayak and head out on trips.
Trips headed to the wilderness this week included: 6th shack backpacking on Saddleback and canoers paddled on Umbagog. Saddleback is on the famous Appalachian Trail and Umbagog is a quiet lake on the Canadian border.
Runoia Gals Exploring Maine
The 2nd Shack crew had a lovely evening at Fairy Ring and enjoyed S’mores for dessert. 4th Shack canoed to Oak Island and camped out enjoying pizza soup, pancakes in the morning and returned in time to go to major classes.
Do you know what your daughter’s major was this past week? Major classes run 5 periods over the week allowing your daughter to build progressive skills in the activity. If news is slow to come from your daughter.
Majors at Runoia are MAJOR!
Reflection: Have you been tuned into the Growth Mindset in education. Growth vs Fixed Mindset is inspiring teachers in the classrooms across the country and guess what????? Growth mindset has been a thing at youth camps for over 100 years! Reflection and intentionality, including personal accountability, are tools we use at the beginning of our majors week (goal setting) and reflection happens at the end of most classes and “circle up” is part of the end of the day in shack groups throughout camp. Taking the time to set goals, reflect on what was accomplished and re-think what you want to accomplish next cements the learning process into lifelong skills.
Here’s one educators take on Growth Mindset: We at Runoia proudly believe in camp as a key part of youth development and building 21st century skills. Read our blog on Why Camp? AND – we have fun this week! This week in Evening Program we played
Ta da! Prestidigitation – a word of the day this week!
Run Sheepy Run, had Lip Synching contests, Song Trivia, The Laundry Bag Game, Mostest, Broom Hockey, Gaga Tournaments, Chill Out EP and more!
Happy Fourth of July! We can’t wait to share with you what we experience after another full week of camp!
Where do you find harmony? Where does your child find harmony?
Harmony in a Camp Moment
Is it in that first cup of coffee? Or is harmony found amid a car ride to school, where perhaps there are a few quiet moments to connect and communicate? Maybe it is in a sunrise or sunset, or the dinner table that occasionally finds everyone gathered around.
For me, finding harmony started with a mid-afternoon walk, a text and a podcast.
The text? A few words that came across my phone noting that my niece was heading to Iceland on a few week adventure.
The podcast? A short story of two folks who once used a roll of a dice to lead them, by chance, to explore new places during their week vacation.
A text, a podcast and that afternoon walk invited me to find harmony. Those few moments inspired me to think differently about my upcoming summer.
Yes, it’s good in Cleveland, but where and what else should be explored? Where else can I grow, grow with others seeking the “harmony” in life?
Remembering a love of Maine from vacations of the past, a simple Google search of camps quickly led me to Runoia. Runoia, Native American for “harmony.”
A Special Runoia Waterfront Spot
Belgrade Lakes, archery, loons, stained glass, horses, family style dining, ceramics, campfires by the lake and plenty of traditions…Yes, this was sounding like harmony to me.
Beyond the age of a camper, this summer I will become part of the staff – the team – that will work together to create harmony among a camp filled with young ladies.
For me, harmony is about taking this time to join Runoia, to become part of a community, and to work towards a program that benefits all.
This summer, harmony will be about the sunsets, and the loons, a new stained glass project. Harmony will be about the first arrow a young lady shoots. Harmony will be about kayaks, and books being read aloud in a cabin as the moon rises. Harmony will be about Sunday evening programs by the lake, and trips to places never explored.
A Loon on Great Pond
Harmony will be about opportunities to grow, and learn and explore. Together.
This summer, harmony will be about Runoia and I can’t wait.
What about you? Where and how will you find your harmony?
Written and submitted by Jeannie Fleming-Gifford, Camp Runoia Summer Assistant Director
The countdown to summer sleepaway camp is well underway as we approach the 150 days till camp marker. While some campers are enjoying the count down, others are feeling a big nervous and maybe even somewhat anxious. This is perfectly normal!
What can you do to encourage your campers to be ready for camp?
Anxiousness is Normal
Here’s some tips from the experts:
Brooke Cheley-Klebe from Cheley Camps suggests “Get your camper involved in picking out gear for camp. If you buy hiking boots, go on a hike with them!
Camp Owner and TED talk extraordinaire, Steve Baskin suggests reframe what three weeks away is about “wise parents provide their children with a different frame to look at camp. It is not “3 weeks away from mom and dad”, but is instead “a grand adventure full of fun and friends”.
Jen Bush writes for American Camp Association: “Learn details of the facilities. Will your child have to walk to the bathroom at night? Some kids, especially those from urban areas, are unaccustomed to total darkness, so it’s a good idea to practice using a flashlight. Will she be exposed to a lot of bugs and wildlife? Consider taking a family camping trip in advance to familiarize your child with the outdoor environment, nighttime sounds, and roughing it a bit.”
A great idea we heard from a parent is have your teenager take a mini-vacation from their phone or screen. Make it a positive experience where you go do something together or something she enjoys and explain that it’s about being present together. Not tying it “going away to camp” will be in their favor.
Counselors are Fun
Other ideas:
Look over the packing list together on https://runoia.com/camp-store/, start browsing your closets and stores and gathering items together for camp.
Practice sorting their dirty laundry from clean clothes, carrying their toiletries to the shower, brushing and braiding their hair, making their bed. Make a list of things they will be expected to do at camp on their own or with the support of a counselor or a friend and start practicing!
Discuss what they will enjoy doing at camp, look over the camp activities, help explain how they can sign up for activities at the camp and who to turn to if they would like to change their schedule.
Let them know how Runoia directors and adults are around all the time to help them at camp. Have them write an email to us about any concerns so we can address them. Reducing uncertainty and knowing adults will be there to help them really helps.
Caring Adults at Camp Runoia
Let your camper know it is absolutely normal to be nervous about camp and let her know that everyone is nervous – even the campers returning to Runoia. Remind her we are great at helping campers adjust and get oriented at Camp Runoia and we want her to have the best time of her life!
This time of year is a typical time for reflections on the year behind and dreams and goals for the year ahead. At Camp Runoia we build lifelong skills through daily, weekly and session long goal setting. Although we fondly hash tag “magic happens” – ironically most of the magic that comes out of the camp experience is planned and intentional youth development. These building blocks for goal setting set the stage for growth and a lifelong skills of reaching for and working toward things beyond our grasp.
Many Runoia campers learn about goal setting and marking achievements along the way to meet that goal through camp life. Daily reflections by way of “circle up” at the end of the day with cabin-mates and counselors at Runoia might be a “pit and a peach”, a “rose and a thorn” or a “pickle and a candy”. Runoia campers take a moment each day to think about and share what was hard for them and what they feel proud about from the day. Sometimes sharing “a peach bud or a rose bud or a seed” helps campers to think about what they’d like to start working on through camp activities or their major activity for the week.
What we have found to be true is talking about what you experience makes it memorable, etches what you’ve learned and builds on the experience making it more profound or magical. Announcing to others what you found challenging and what you feel proud about and what you want to work on, allows you to feel as sense of gain, a positive experience even if it was hard along the way.
As all of us take time to reflect and set goals for the year, thinking about how we set daily, weekly and session goals in the summer helps get better about setting goals for the year. Leave it to camp to help build skills that last a lifetime. And it never hurts to dream a little about how #magichappens, too!
I know a place where the sun is like gold, and every evening you play games like Know Your Counselor, Lip Synch Contest, Stop the Bus and Broomball.
Out on the blue waves, where summer breezes blow, our boats, kayaks, windsurfers, swimmers and stand up paddle boarders go sailing into sunset glow.
Make new friends but keep the old; this summer at Runoia we’re meeting people from California to Florida, from Minnesota to Texas and from England, Spain, Venezuela, Ireland, Hungary and Switzerland. We are a merry merry crew the Runoia girls are we!
Be it ever so humble there’s no place like camp and when you travel to Attean Pond and to the Bigelow range, returning to camp feels just like home. Our equestrian team traveled to Camp Vega and brought home the Championship ribbon. There’s no place like home!
And so I thank the earth for giving me, the sun and the rain the apple tree – we are ever grateful for our sun drenched days, and even a summer storm or two keeping camp green and perpetuating a #FineMaineDay.
Where does the wind come from? Does anybody know?
Besides turning thoughts into camp song, we’ve been busy with activities, meeting people, creating art, learning about tennis, archery, riding, skiing, sailing, basket making and more.
I am nervous there are butterflies in my stomach, my nights are often sleepless and I start my days in great anticipation. It is almost time for camp! I have spent the whole year since the end of last August preparing for this. The stage is set and I eagerly anticipate the curtains opening.
The days become a blur with long hours both in the office and out on site. We are preparing, checking, double checking, chasing down information, finishing up the last projects and filling the waiting with work.
Even though I have done this many times it is always so new, so exciting and just a little nerve wracking. I will be met with a new audience while some faces are the same the mix is different. Will I recognize returning faces? Will the lake be warm? Will all run smoothly? Will the sun shine? Can we meet the promises that we have sold to families and to our new staff?
I am confident in Runoia’s ability to run smoothly like a well-oiled machine. We live for and store up our energy for this – the summer season when it truly is camp time. Maine is looking beautiful and ready for it’s summer campers and their families.
Bring it on it’s going to be awesome and we are going to totally make the Runoia dream team for 2015 a reality!
