Message From The Summer Camp Director
The calling of each new
day at camp brims with potential, hope and excitement. Back when I was a cabin
counselor, this calling was the sound of my alarm with 8-10 sleepy campers waking,
greeting each other as we stretch, dress and walk to breakfast. We might
reminisce about last night’s evening program or look ahead to today’s
activities.
“Tonight’s Zingtong,
right?”
Ahh.., that walk to
breakfast where the air might even be a bit cool, walking in twos, threes and
as a cabin group, joining other as we merge on paths leading to the dining hall
for our first camp-wide experience of the day.
We will shout, “Hurry up,
campers!” to those cabins that are lagging behind and sing as a camp before
entering the dining hall one cabin at a time. Then there’s the buzz at
breakfast of campers and staff talking, moving around to pick up trays of eggs,
pancakes or hash browns. There’s the steam coming off the oatmeal or hot
chocolate as the CODs (Counsellors of the
Day) make announcements or return lost and found. In the day ahead, some
cabins will be going on canoe trips, others will be doing high ropes, sailing
or working toward swim levels.
The day will promise to be
a hot one with blue skies. Campers will be reminded to wear hats, sunscreen and
drinking lots of water, but no one needs the reminder to carpe diem - seize the day. It just what we do at camp! Counselors
ensure that their campers’ needs are looked after and they are busy building
physical, social and life skills from wake-up in the morning to check-in at
night. No television, screen time, or internet fillers. It’s all authentic and
tangible activity.
In 2017, we are “seizing
the day,” by adding an extra day to many of our sessions including PLC,
Intermediates, Session B, Session D, and our Senior Tripping programs. An extra
day gives greater opportunities to enhance our programming whether it’s skills-based
classes, session-long projects, wilderness trips, camp-wide programming or
cabin initiatives. It offers both our staff and campers an extra day of
opportunities to build on one’s summer’s successes. It gives us more space to
grow, to think “outside the box,” and create new traditions. In addition, it
makes the camp experience easier for our families and their schedules with a
Saturday departure date.
As a summer camp director,
it’s the next step forward for Camp Kawartha where our priority is excellence,
high quality programming and a commitment to the safe growth of your child.
Thank you for choosing
Camp Kawartha and giving us the awesome responsibility of looking after your child(ren).
One of my favourite parts of the job is talking with families, helping them
with choosing a program and answering questions on anything to do with camp. If
you have questions at any time, always feel free to e-mail me at adam@campkawartha.ca. We look forward to an unforgettable summer!!
Adam Strasberg aka Wham
Summer Camp Director