Tag: sisters for the summer
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
Celebrating Camp Birthdays at Runoia
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!
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!
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.
Poetry at Camp Runoia
Many of you know Runoia celebrates reading. We also celebrate writing! Campers submit writing to the Camp “Log” each summer and poetry is often read at Assembly in the morning. The log is full of memories of the Maine summer and records the history of the summer events at Runoia. Many of our campers return to their sleepaway camp as alumnae to seek out memories of their summers in the camp Log.
Here’s a poem Runoia would like to share with you.
Late Summer – By Jennifer Grotz
Before the moths have even appeared
to orbit around them, the streetlamps come on,
a long row of them glowing uselessly
along the ring of garden that circles the city center,
where your steps count down the dulling of daylight.
At your feet, a bee crawls in small circles like a toy unwinding.
Summer specializes in time, slows it down almost to dream.
And the noisy day goes so quiet you can hear
the bedraggled man who visits each trash receptacle
mutter in disbelief: Everything in the world is being thrown away!
Summer lingers, but it’s about ending. It’s about how things
redden and ripen and burst and come down. It’s when
city workers cut down trees, demolishing
one limb at a time, spilling the crumbs
of twigs and leaves all over the tablecloth of street.
Sunglasses! the man softly exclaims
while beside him blooms a large gray rose of pigeons
huddled around a dropped piece of bread.
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.
Mid Summer
A Mid Summer Night’s Dream
After saying ‘goodnights’ during the summer, I walk up from Senior Village at around 10pm through the dark. The sky is filled with stars I don’t carry a flashlight as I know the paths well. Some nights are so dark there are moments when I think I may lose my way on others the moon is bright in the often clear, Maine sky. I am met on the kickball field by the odd firefly. They catch me by surprise and always seem so mysterious with their ability to produce light.
At the end of a busy day camp is quiet and still. The girls and many of the counselors are in their beds. They may still be reading or writing a letter home but most are already asleep. It is one of my favorite times of day at Camp Runoia.
As we embrace the middle of our camp season it is a great time to reflect on the gift of camp. To be able to live, work and play in such a beautiful place surrounded by nature and people who love being here is beyond compare. We have a deep appreciation for the gift that we have all been given.
As I fall asleep listening to the loons I imagine the magic that exists around me and dream of fairies dancing at Fairy Ring.
What Camp Means to Me
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
Meri Wicks on the Value of Summer Camp
Why Camp?
How many of you went to camp when you were younger? What did you do? Who did you meet? Or maybe, what did you learn? Now imagine if you didn’t have those amazing summers filled these opportunities.
I attended an all girls summer camp in Belgrade Lakes, Maine for 8 years as a camper. In less than a month I will be heading back to Camp Runoia for my third year as a counselor for a total of 11 summers overall. Camp had an extreme impact on my life and I can see it having the same impact on my younger campers.
Will your child go to camp? I hope to persuade all of you to understand that kids need camp even more than before to receive a sense of independence connecting with nature, and learning life long skills in a safe and kid friendly environment that can really help them thrive and succeed in their lives.
Unlike in the school setting where we had to learn what was mandatory and what was required to pass. Camp gave some of us our first taste of independence. Camp allows kids to choose activities they want to do. I remember I had a huge passion for sailing. While I know my mom would have wanted me to kayak all day or go on hikes, I choose to sail everyday. From a radio podcast done by CNN by a senior executive producer Michael Schuler, Schuler spoke with a summer camp advocate, physiologist and school consultant Michael Thompson about summer camps. Thompson explained camp as, “the closet thing to Hogwarts that kids are likely to get. All of children’s literature knows that the adventures only begin when you’re away from your parents. Every great children’s story is driven by the child being away from parents, experiencing things on their own.” Later in the podcast, Thompson summarizers how kids gain independence and how camp can be the place to start that journey to independence he says, “Your parent has to open the door and let you walk out and find independence, experience it and become comfortable with it.” Camp gives you theses independence experiences from even a young age and can help you when you start looking for colleges or majors you want to study. Because at camp you became comfortable with your independence you can have a better idea of maybe what you want and what you think is best.
What if 20 years done the road no one talked face to face? Scary to think about, right? Today we already see it on a smaller scale. Look around. People are on their phones at restaurants instead of having small talk with the person across from them, or even at parties where it’s almost all about face-to-face communication. There is always a group of people sitting in the corner head knocked over and thumbs raptly going across the keyboard saying things like “I’m bored.” Of course you’re bored, you’re looking at a screen with pictures while a fun night is passing you by.
More and more kids are using social media and cellphones then ever before. In a survey done in 2012 by ORC International for the National Consumers League or (NCL) which is the nation’s oldest consumer organization. It shows that 10-11 age ranges is a “sweet spot” for pre-teens to receive a cell phone. Six out of 10 pre- teens were aged from 10-11 and then twenty percent of 8-9 year olds and 15% of 12 year olds received a cell phone. These age ranges are the same age of the girls I have camp and the percentages, we can assume jut keep going up each year. They use texting as a “cool thing” to do. They will text each other when they are right across from each other and think its funny. But this can become a potential problem. They use texting and the Internet as an alternative way to talk and they have developed poor communication skills because of it.
Camp allows these youngsters to unplug and reconnect with the nature and the world around them. At camps they don’t have access to cell phones or computers or any other technology really. This makes them talk face to face and realize that connections are the most personal when they are in the present moment. Countless times I remember girls coming in the first day practically crying when they gave their phones away thinking how will they survive? A few days into camp they realize they don’t need a phone to be complete. They have already made friends but just talking and having real time conversations. Camp is really the only place left that can do that.
At camp kids learn in a setting that is safe and nurturing. According to the ACA, parents trust camps because first and foremost they are kid centered places. What a camp does is all for a child. And camps make each camper feel special. While everything that goes on in the world especially with the increased social pressures kids have been burdened with, camp is a place to relieve them of these burdens. They can have a place to just be themselves. So that kid that didn’t have many friends at home because maybe his/her family isn’t as wealthy or maybe they are bullied at home because they are too short, too tall. Camp is a place that those kids can have a chance to grow. Camp can also helps kids succeed in something other than academics. Personally, I was not what people call an “excellent” student growing up, however, none of that mattered when I got to camp. I was passing leveling in archery, learning how to ride horses, and learning how to work well with others in a team. Camp did not judge me based on my school grades or based on anything for that matter. At camp kids can be whomever they want, and most of them choose to just be themselves for a change, and not have to worry about what they might be at home.
Recently, I asked my mom why she sent me to camp when it can cost a great deal to some. She said, “The cost didn’t matter to her. The cost was worth the experiences I got out of it. She knew I was having fun, and I looked forward to it each year. I made friends and each year, I’d come home more mature, and more knowledgeable about others and myself around me. That was something you couldn’t put a price tag on.” Going to summer camp has been a tradition in my family and others as well. I want to be able to send my children to camp in the future so they too can have these amazing opportunities and experiences. My fear though, is if parents do not understand that kids cannot learn everything in school and they need to have these outside encounters and have a chance to grow in a new environment. I hope this has persuaded all of you to understand how vital camp is to a child’s development and see how important that these kids have the chances to learn in new and unfamiliar environments.