Director Jud's Blog

Spending  46 hours of my life with no sitting or sleeping has to be the most unique experience I have ever  had the opportunity to be a part of. Getting  the honor to dance in THON 2013 was an amazing time full of moments that I will never forget. Inside the Bryce Jordan Center at Penn State University from 4:00pm on Friday February 15th 2013 until 4:00pm on Sunday February 17th 2013 there was always something going on and more than enough people to pass the time with.  My journey started early Friday morning, I woke up around 8:00 am, had breakfast, went to class at 11:00 am, packed my things, and then headed to the BJC at 2:30 pm. Technically, over the weekend I was probably awake for a total of 58 hours without sleeping.

An upcoming episode of The Mindy Project will feature Seth Rogen as the latest in a long line of famous guest stars to play the love interest of Dr. Mindy Lahiri. Other famous guest stars who have appeared on the show include Ed Helms, B.J. Novak, and Seth Meyers. Rogen will be playing Mindy Kaling’s summer camp crush on an upcoming episode of her Fox comedy The Mindy Project, according to media reports.

Rogen, who attended summer camp as a kid at Camp Miriam in British Columbia (he’s featured in the camp’s 2009 promo video), will be playing Sam, the kid Mindy Lahiri shared her first kiss with at Jewish teen summer camp, in an episode titled “The One That Got Away.”  

   Happy Holidays to Horsemasters and Non-Horsemasters alike!  Chilly weather is in the air at the farm, and all of the horses are bundled up in their blankets in preparation for the colder weather. While the snow hasn't started falling quite yet, there has been plenty of ice in the water buckets in the mornings, and the horses are feeling frisky with the cold wind blowing!

Session Slideshows -On the last night of each session we gather in the barn and watch the session slideshow. All Session we take pictures of campers and staff on activities (rock climbing, wakeboarding, art studio, etc.), doing community service, evening activities (Jud Games, yea!) and hanging around camp with friends. We gather the best of these photos, add a summer soundtrack and put together a slideshow that really captures the crazy, silly, amazing, magical moments of each session.

As many of you know, at the end of each session at Stone Mountain Adventures Teen Summer Camp we ask campers & staff to take some time to “reflect” in writing on their experiences, accomplishments, challenges, friendships & memories. We then collect all these writings and type them up into one giant document and include cabin photos. We call these the “Reflection Packets”.

This years Camper & Staff Reflection packets for 1st, 2nd & 3rd Session are done!  They were sent in the mail last week and many of you should have received them already.  International campers, yours should be arriving soon.

We are excited to announce the dates for summer 2013 for Stone Mountain Adventures:

A few weeks after the last of our 2012 campers & staff departed for the summer (see sad face) we had the honor of hosting a wedding between 2 former camp counselors Jen Watts Mattise and Patrick Arndt.  Jen & Patrick met at SMA Teen Summer Camp in the summer of 2004.  Jen worked with us at summer camp for a mind blowing 7 summers from 2000 to 2006.  She worked as in the art studio when it was in the red shed and not in the barn.  She also spent many summers on the boat teaching wakeboarding as well as instructing windsurfing & sailing.  Her final 2 summers Jen was a member of our management team & spent time in the office & out on activities. 

Hello, Families! 

Greetings Camp Families!

DirtFest - May 17, 18, 19th 2012

Where is Biff? The former SMA director is hard to find these days. Perhaps you saw him in Costa Rica last week leading a trip for Habitat for Humanity to build houses for low income families.

To all of you Horsemaster’s and non-Horsemaster’s alike…Spring seemingly is here! The grass is growing, the trees are budding, the flowers are blooming and the horses are crazy frisky. A little bit of warm wind blowing sends their tails into the air and we hear happy snorts and squeals from the far corners of the pastures!

Are you thinking about a summer camp for your child for 2012?

I had a trip down memory lane on Saturday when Sherri Comerford (previously Umanski) stopped by the SMA booth at the White Flint Mall Camp Fair with her 5 year old daughter Eva. Sherri and I were campers together when camp was still called Horsepower Adventures way back in 1984, 1985 and 1986! We had some fun playing “remember when…” and she was surprised to see how much everything at camp looks the same. Sherri said that when her daughter Eva is old enough there’s a great chance she’ll be a camper at SMA. So we signed up our first camper for Summer 2019, Eva Comerford!

I had an awesome weekend in the DC area this weekend at a camp fair at the White Flint Mall in the Bethesda, MD.  I met with many of perspective new families and got a lot of people excited about Stone Mountain Adventures.  The highlight of the weekend was meeting up with some SMA Veteran Campers at the fair who spent some time sharing memories and a few laughs.  Current SMA Campers who stopped by our booth and spent some time include Nick Walden (SMA ’09, ’10, ‘11), “Becca Blue” Lewis (SMA4, ‘11) and Ben Gross (SMA2 ’10, ’11).