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Greetings Camp Families!
Summer Camp is in full swing here at SMA and it is hard to believe July is right around the corner. Here is a quick recap of what has happened since staff arrived June 13th:
Session One began Saturday, June 23rd. Campers descended uponStone Mountain Adventuresin centralPennsylvaniamostly by land, but a few did join us from more faraway places likeFlorida,ChicagoandFrance. While the majority of our counselors are fromPennsylvaniathis year, we are fortunate to have one fromCalifornia, Georgia and two fromEngland. Until they arrived they didn't even know they lived one train stop from each other! Two campers fromFloridaalso learned that they live within a mile of each other and even attend the same middle school! A small world, indeed.
Campers jumped right into evening "all camp" group activities like Silly Jud Games on the front lawn, camp fire skits and songs at the fire pit, and more silly games and ice cream at a locally owned shop. Morning and afternoon adventure activities so far have included belay school and swim check for all campers, wakemasters, horsemasters, rock climbing, art studio, soccer, windsurf & sail, canoeing, tennis, biking at Rails to Trails, touch rugby & swim, ultimate frisbee & swim, mountain biking, a hike at Shingletown Gap, softball & swim, and the Amish Market. At the end of the day yesterday camp had acquired 18 bunnies to care for this session! These once anonymously known rabbits now hold names likePrussia, Pegasus, BunBun and Slinky.
Part of every camper's daily routine is "crew." There are six crews made up of boys and girls from different cabins that are led by a counselor. Each day one crew does dishes, tidies the dining hall, tends to the gardens, checks the grounds for micro trash or other miscellaneous items, or is "off." Crew doesn't last long and usually involves music and a silly song or team building activity to build comradely.
Another routine that campers can count on is Evening Meeting on the front lawn. This is after dinner and before our nightly group activity. Everyone sits in a circle. There is usually a dog (Comet, Sula or Frisbee) or small child (Wyatt or Molly) disrupting the group, but that's not such a bad thing. Once the group settles down, Jud leads or asks someone else to lead a sharing activity we call "Warm Fuzzies and Cold Pricklies." A warm fuzzy can be shared anytime. However, if a cold prickly is shared it must be followed by a warm fuzzy. A warm fuzzy might be "I got up on the wakeboard on my third try!" A cold prickly (followed by a warm fuzzy) might be "I miss my cat at home, but I had so much fun on the canoe trip this afternoon."
Last night the first overnights of the session were out of camp. There was a wakeboarding overnight group that camped at the lake with eight campers and two counselors and a canoeing overnight group with 13 campers and three counselors. Tonight there will be two more overnights - another wakeboard group at the lake and a group of rock climbers doing an overnight near Bilger's Rock. Coming up this weekend - roller skating in State College and an All Camp Day on Sunday with a sleep in, donuts and bagels, our first bunk clean up competition and then an afternoon and evening at eitherLakeRaystownorGreenwoodFurnaceState Parkcomplete with a full cook out!
When can you expect another post? Sometime next week we will provide another update complete with pictures from the All Camp Day.
Lastly, we're having issues with our phone that allows campers to call out on, but campers may receive calls at our regular number 814.667.3874. We ask that boys receive and make calls on odd numbered days and that girls receive and make calls on even numbered days. Please feel free to send your camper an email once or twice a week maximum and we will print it and give it to him/her. Ye olde snail mail is ALWAYS welcome!
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