Week one was a success:
Dear Parents,
We appreciate all of the effort that went into getting the boys tested and up to camp on July 19th. This marked the end of our one week preseason with staff, who did an excellent job of preparing our facility to meet health department guidelines while also participating in daily educational sessions covering Vermont guidelines and CDC best practices. We had a great beginning day of campers getting checked in, followed by waterfront orientation. The evening was capped off by a council fire where counselors described the activities they teach, while I shared the history of the camp, and further elaborated on guidelines for safety such as mask wearing, social distancing and infection control. The camp song was sung followed by lights out. Monday brought sign up, where boys chose the activities for periods one and two for the week. For the first week, activities were divided into two groups. Seniors would take waterfront activities first period and juniors would take land activities, so that we could keep senior campers and junior campers divided into separate pods. Those groups would flip flop in subsequent activity periods. This was also true for meals, cabin arrangements and use of other common areas of the property.
During the week campers concentrated on taking two activities in the morning followed by clinics, where boys sign up for a short period of unique activities offered by counselors before lunch. Examples might include a letter writing clinic, summer reading clinic, skit rehearsal, lacrosse or knot tying. Afternoons consisted of rest period, store, third and fourth period activities or team sports, followed by general swim. After dinner boys enjoy an hour of free time known as "boats and canoes," where they can take out a boat on the lake or relax in the cabin area or on the beach and pier to watch the sunset.
Blue Grey teams were chosen, which divides campers into two teams where participants compete throughout the summer in a variety of events. The first such event occurred on Tuesday in the form of (social distanced) soccer for seniors and kick ball for juniors. Friday also saw Blue Grey teams competing in riflery, archery, and relay races on land and over the lake. At this time Grey leads Blue 4 to 2. That can easily swing the other way this week. Night time activities included a camp fire on the beach, consisting of two separate fires with marshmallows for the senior and junior pods. Casino night, Bingo night, and cabin skits were also big hit during evenings of the first week.
Our progressive levels of achievement in activities are identified as "Prospect," "Chocorua" and "Wachusett" Lodges. Boys must accumulate ten achievements at each level to become a member of one of the lodges. I would like to recognize Reed Nester for passing Wachusett Water Skiing this past week, which was very significant since it was the last requirement for him to become a member of Wachusett Lodge.
Weather has been on the sunny and hot side with the exception of Thursday when we experienced two torrential downpours and adjusted our daily activities accordingly.
All boys have sent letters home at this point. You should be hearing from them in the next few days. Please remember that the best time to contact boys by telephone is during meal times: breakfast 8:40 - 9:15 (except Sundays 9:10 -9:45), Lunch 1:00 - 1:50, and Dinner 6:30 - 7:30.
We would be glad to accommodate anyone signed up for two weeks who would like to extend their stay for the entire three weeks. Otherwise, two weekers will depart on Saturday, August 1st. This would again be a situation where we will meet your car at the Headquarters building for screening, and a counselor will load luggage into automobiles for departure. Pick up should occur between 9:00 am and noon. We can make exceptions to accommodate later pick ups during the day.
We are looking forward to a great week number two!
Unaliyi and Best Regards, Phil