December So Far...

As days pass and holidays creep ever closer, you’d think things would be settling down in our little “winter” office.  The opposite is true.  After the reunion we dove right into some other projects. 

First, we’ve been working with our leadership team in order to prepare for the leadership retreat.  The leadership team consists of our four head counselors, the five activity counselors and the directors.  Every year we kick off the season with a weekend training retreat.  We utilize an online forum to organize our work (both before and after the retreat itself).  People can post any ideas they have for camp and everyone is able to read and respond.  The leadership team’s first assignment was to post the goals that they had for the upcoming retreat.  Everyone contributed lots of amazing ideas.  Tom and I have been busy taking the teams goals and using them to design the content of the retreat.  We will be discussing things like: the responsibilities and priorities of the leadership team; giving the counselors the best possible support; the camper support coordinator position (which was introduced this year) and how it will evolve; brainstorming new art projects; and planning the staff orientation.  The retreat is just a couple weeks away and we’ve still got a bit of work to do beforehand.  It’s always great to see everyone in person.  Although, we will be working hard but it flies by.  Everyone loves talking about camp and the retreat just gets everyone more excited for the next summer.

Earlier this week we had to make some of the toughest decisions of the year.  It was time to pick who would become staff assistants for the summer of 2012.  We had almost 30 former campers apply for the job and we only had 11 spots available.  When it came down to it, we had lots of qualified applicants and not enough jobs to give out.  We did our best to create a team whose members complement each other with their strengths and skills.  We strive to build a team will work well together and do an awesome job.  I wish we could have all of you who applied on our staff and we hope that you keep in touch.  I’m sure we’ll see some of you back as counselors some day.  Congratulations to those that got the job and I look forward to working with you!

As many of you know, we announced that the bunk group theme for next summer will be “Dr. Suess”.  Weadded a link here where you can send us your suggestions for bunk group names.  When we get to camp, the counselors pick the names of their bunk groups from the list of names submitted by the campers.  We’ve already gotten several suggestions: Kittens with Mittens, Green Eggs and Ham, One-Fish-Two-Fish-Red-Fish-Blue-Fish, Barbaloot Suits, Cindy Loo Woo Crew, Star Belly Sneetches, Colliding Collusions, Pocket Wockets, and many, many more.  Send us yours today!

Well that’s it for this week.  Coming next week, holiday lunches!
~Jeremy

What a Reunion!

With dark winter days settling upon us and the final leaves falling from the trees, it was time for something to brighten our world and for CK-NJ folks that moment was our 21st Annual Camp Reunion on December 4th. Although I always know that the reunion will be fun, I'm still blown away by how much fun it really is. As each camper and staffer entered the Ice Vault (our reunion venue), the smiles increased, the noise level rose and the energy spiraled upward until we had created the perfect "camp storm". We laughed (and some of us screamed), we hugged, we skated, we consumed many pizzas, we shouted our birthday chant to two campers, we learned who won Zach B.'s mystery photo prize, we found out what the bunk group theme is for 2012 (see below) and we all got very cool CK wrist bands.


The crowd was too big for an accurate head count, but our official estimate is that at least 350 people were at the reunion. Thanks to everyone for coming out, especially to those staff members who had to make big efforts to travel and miss some precious time away from college papers and exam studying.


If you haven't found them yet, here's the reunion photo gallery.


Now back to that theme. As most of you know, our camp chooses to change the names of our four divisions and 22 bunk groups each year. We do that by picking an overall theme, after which the head counselors, counselors and campers pick their individual division and bunk group names. The bunk group theme for 2012 is . . . Dr. Seuss! That got a pretty good cheer when we announced it at the reunion, so I think we've got a winner. It's time now to ask you all to submit your suggestions for bunk group names. You can do this by visiting this web page and submitting ideas as many times as you wish. We'll share your ideas with the staff and they will pick the names from your suggestion list. Ready, set, go!


This cold weather makes some of want to hibernate, but we can't do that in the camp world because we have an exciting summer to plan, so the beat goes on here at the CK-NJ office. Our leadership team has begun using its online forum to make plans for next summer, and the whole team will be together in early January for a "planning retreat". We received many applications for staff assistants and have been conducting interviews. We'll be ready to announce our 2012 staff assistants in less than two weeks. The counselor hiring/re-hiring season is also underway and we're already excited about our new and returning counselors. If you know someone who has completed at least a year of college and would make a terrific counselor (must be able to teach one or more camp activities), now is the time for them to visit the staff information page of our website and submit their application.


Of course, we've also been speaking to families about camp, giving tours and receiving enrollments. We've also been updating our brochure and getting ready for camps fairs in January and February. January is when lots of new families start selecting camps, so we urge our returning folks to send in their enrollments, if you haven't already.


Well, I've got several interviews coming up this evening, so I'll sign off now. Hope you're having a fun (if cold and rainy) week. Talk to you soon.


Tom

We Love You Teri! *CLAP*

I'm writing today with some news that is both happy and sad (Sundial readers already know this). As many of you know, Teri and her husband Jim are expecting their first child in January. While we will be excited and happy for them, today is Teri's last "official" day in the office and that is quite sad. Although Teri will always be part of the CK-NJ family, she will not be at camp for the summer of 2011. It's been so wonderful having her as part of the year round team and we are certainly going to miss her. Over the years, Teri has shared her creativity and her contagious energy and fun. Don't worry, she will be at the reunion and I am sure we will all get to meet her family when they come and visit this summer.

We had a goodbye lunch at Soho 33 in Madison today (which was great by the way). Some gifts were exchanged after a fantastic lunch during which we mostly talked about the movie Parenthood starring Steve Martin (which is excellent by the way and if you haven't seen it, you should rent it this weekend). We gave Teri two children's books. Picked out by Tom was Nursery Rhyme Comics: 50 Timeless Rhymes from 50 Celebrated Cartoonists. I picked out Bed, Bed, Bed by the band They Might Be Giants. Teri gave us an amazing water color painting of the bowl she made herself! It's so good!

So in CK-NJ tradition, I want everyone to shout "WE LOVE YOU TERI!" and give the traditional clap in unison with everyone else!

We'll see you all at the reunion on Sunday!

~Jeremy

Tom Poses in Prize Fleece!

We've been busy gearing up for the reunion which is coming up fast! I've been getting things organized for name tags, the gifts are on the way, and we're planning to announce the bunk group theme for next summer! Can you guess what it is yet? There have been lots of clues!

Also, with Thanksgiving fast approaching, I wanted to remind EVERYONE that the 2011 Wear Your Camp T-Shirt in a Holiday Photo contest is on. Take a picture of you wearing a Campus Kids T-Shirt in a holiday photo and send it to us! We will pick a camper & staff winner. Winners will receive their choice of an embroidered Campus Kids fleece or polo shirt.  You can read the full details here. In this picture you can see Tom posing in the the fleece.

Hope to see you all at the reunion!

~Jeremy

Edit: Just after posting this blog, I went up to the kitchen to fix myself a cup of tea. There, I met the newest addition to our CK-NJ office team. He goes by the name of Mr. Coffee. I already LOVE his work! His predecessor was accidentally packed away with our summer equipment and is taking a year's sabbatical in our lovely Mansfield, NJ storage locker.

Oh, happy day!

Weddings and Power Outages

So I don't have any really big news like I'm having a baby but I do have some updates for you.

First of all, like many of you out there our home lost power on Saturday and after five days we are still in the dark. The town is assuring us that we will have power restored by Friday. While it's not very convinient, it's by no means the end of the world. We've spent the last few evenings playing with our cats, reading books aloud, and playing cards. We were fortunate enough to have purchased a house with a wood burning stove so we've been able to keep warm. As you can see by the photo, our cats LOVE lounging by the fire.

However, for our family Saturday will not be remembered as the day the power went out. It will be thought of as the day Natalie & Kyle got married and the power went out. Hee hee hee. Vanessa's sister Natalie got married on Saturday at the lodge Schooley's Mountain Park (any old time CKers remember that place) and the power went out 15 minutes before the ceremony was scheduled to begin. As crazy as it sounds, we went ahead with the wedding and it was a blast! There was not really any music besides one of Kyle's relatives playing an acoustic guitar but we lit lots of candles, ate some delicious food and had dessert. Since the power was out, we did something we probably wouldn't have done if there was music and dancing... we talked to EVERYONE! It was so nice to meet so many people and have so many great conversations! We got to catch up with all Vanessa's relatives and old friends. Also, an amazing poem by Neil Gaiman called, "The Day the Saucers Came" was read at the ceremony. Check out this illustrated version of the poem.

The Saturday before the Saturday that the power went out and Natalie got married was the Saturday that Vanessa and I got together with all the other video game nerds in California for Blizzcon 2011. Anyone, who clicked the above link understands why the previous sentence was worded the way it was. Blizzcon is a convention put on every year by Blizzard Entertainment to promote their games like Starcraft and World of Warcraft. We went mostly to catch up with some friends as the event itself is not mind blowing. Typical of most cons, most of the cool stuff comes only after waiting in really long lines. That's not to say that there weren't any highlights. Watching the costume contest, seeing the stars of the web series, The Guild, and getting to demo the new games coming out were all pretty fun. The best part was the closing concert played by the Foo Fighters. They rock and it was no surprise that the show was completely amazing. Dave Grohl came out into the audience, right into our section to do his guitar solo!

Coming up tomorrow, we will be posting the details for this years Campus Kids T-Shirt Photo contest. Check back to see the rules for this year's contest. If you don't remember last year's contest, check it out here. Also, Teri is printing the Reunion invitations right now so be on the lookout for those.

Talk to you guys soon,

Jeremy

P.S. We got this hilarious fax today.

Future Camper on Board

It’s about that time to officially announce to the CK blog world that my husband, Jim, and I are expecting our first baby! Baby Hansen will arrive mid-January… our “due date” is January 19th if you are interested in the specifics! I think it’s so funny that doctor’s pick A DAY that the baby will arrive… I’m pretty sure that the baby (in communication with my body) will decide when the time has come to take the journey out into our world, and isn’t aware of the date circled in red on the calendar in our house. But, as January rolls around, I know we will be counting down the days to the 19th so that we can meet this little someone, face-to-face.

The process of becoming a mom has been enlightening. Of course, it is bizarre watching my body change and morph as this tiny guy or gal (it’s a surprise) grows. But it’s also amazing – who knew skin was that stretchy? My stomach is where now? That bubbly feeling is the baby moving? Holy cow! I also get hungry very quickly. It seems as if I’ve just finished one snack and am off looking for what’s next to feed me and the other human I’m growing. But those are the little things.

Accepting my new limits has been difficult but necessary. I’ve always been an “I can” kind of person; just ask my parents and they’ll recall that time 7-year-old me and my 9-year-old sister moved couches and televisions to make more space for our Legos and Barbies. The old me does yoga, goes running, and spends lots of time outside… and then is off to the next task without a break. Now, I get winded walking up a flight of stairs; doing simple gardening chores and bending makes me exhausted; getting up too quickly from laying down feels like I just ran a 5k race. “A little bit at a time,” I have to remind myself. Chores that used to take an afternoon now have to get broken down over several days if they are really going to get done. And I have to ask for help in doing them. Luckily, Jim has been up for the task and is really supportive and great about helping me (and reminding me) to slow down.

I’ve also seen my priorities change as I ask myself “what’s really important here?” I drive slower. I find myself being a lot calmer and taking more time to decide how I’ll react in the face of a situation that might have annoyed me before. The choices I make are not just for me, they are for me and my child.

Not surprisingly, this experience has given me a whole new outlook on camp. I think of how every one of our camper’s parents went through what I’m going through now: shifting priorities and accepting change to welcome a new person into their lives. Years later, they’ve now come to the point when they make the very big decision to hand over their child to someone whom they have never met and ask them to take care of that child. Whoa! That’s a big deal. We are asking parents to trust us, and we have to deliver on the promises that we make to those families.

The fall is the time of year in the camp office when we get to think about what we’re promising, intentionally plan the work we do, and prepare for following through and doing an even better job than we’ve done before. How do we do it? Well, we’ve got our meeting to go over feedback and brainstorm how we’ll put those suggestions into action in the planning and preparation for 2012. We’re already organizing our Leadership Team and hiring counselors. From there, we must take those fresh-faced staff members and train them in our CK way of working and playing. We teach and model ways to keep kids safe, physically and emotionally. We have a strong philosophy and we share it and talk about it so that everyone buys-in. That way, no matter what set of counselors a camper has, they will be provided a similar experience to everyone else, while being free to celebrate the unique differences that each individual brings to their bunk group.

I look at all we’ve done already, and plan to do, to fulfill the promises of a CKNJ experience for the 2012 season, and I’m excited for our campers and their parents. And to see where we are now and know that I have a future CK camper is awesome! All the hopes I have for him or her, and the benefits I know camp will offer, are really endless. I wonder who will be my child’s first counselor… it could be someone who is starting camp for the first time this summer as a “freshmen” camper! The cycle of camp continues!

Teri

Our 200th Blog Post!

It seemed not too long ago that we barely knew what a blog was, much less did we imagine that blogging was something we'd be doing as part of running our summer camp. But here we are, writing our 200th blog! Congratulations to us, and particularly to you, our readers. If you'd like to take a trip down memory lane, here's the index to our archive.
Our first entry was Jeremy's welcome to the CK-NJ Blog on Monday, March 17 2008. On that day we had just returned from our annual trip to the Tri-State Camp Conference and were entering the most intense phase of our year-long preparations for another summer camp season, our 18th. Blog topics included Chicken Dance Elmo, our announcement tree in Madison, staff assistant orientation, snowboarding, website problems, international counselors, and the first of our annual April 1 blogs. 2008 was also the summer of our weekly blogs from the corn field. Little did everyone know that this would be the last of 18 summers at our original Hackettstown, as we announced in our September 12th blog that we were moving to a new camp home at Blair Academy.

We blog for two reasons. First, we hope that what we write makes camp more fun for our campers, staff and parents. There are aspects of camp that not everyone sees and this is our opportunity to share all of that. Second, writing the blog makes our jobs more fun. We love what we do and it's fun to come up with creative and interesting ways to tell the amazing story of our camp. So thanks for reading (particularly if you've read all 200 blogs).

To help commemorate this blogging milestone, I thought I'd share some of the camper artwork that is on the walls of our year-round office (using blue tape, of course). These are fun reminders of summer days past and more great times to come.

Tom

Unpacking

I’m back in the office! Woo hoo!! I commented yesterday while unpacking one of my three boxes labeled “Teri Desk” that each of the boxes seemed like a time capsule. Four weeks ago I had packed those boxes and the contents have been untouched since then.  Pencil cup, ruler, stickers, bobble head, file folders… yes of course I remember packing those things, and they made it back to the same spot on my “home desk” that they occupied in May. But there are lots of things that got packed in the boxes at the end of camp that weren’t brought to Blair at the start of the summer, and I really haven’t thought of them since camp ended.  Here are some of the more interesting things that I’ve pulled out of the moving boxes.
One (overflowing) file folder opened to reveal a cache of summer Sundial submissions; a drawing by counselor Jamie, a poem, a story, and a set of haikus written by campers. Lots of good stuff in there… glad that came back to the office with me! We have some new office decorations.
My orientation binder; still organized with tabs to separate the topics we needed to cover with the staff. Returning staff meeting notes, new ice breakers, a camp tour, our camp philosophy, a session on age group characteristics, and homesickness.  A set of prompts for acting out role plays on homesickness that Sean, Devon and I never got to use… better save those for a future summer’s use and to reflect on how orientation went.
A list of “First Bunk meeting groups” with the names of the counselors, people we are now all VERY familiar with, broken up into 6 groups so they could experience a bunk meeting on our first night of orientation. But when that list was first handed to me, it was before any of the counselors had even arrived on campus for our 2011 summer. What will Marc be like? And this Celil guy? How about Kimmie and Michelle? Those feelings from before the start of orientation come back… will they like camp? Will they “get” what we’re trying to do here? What will they take away from orientation? Have we planned enough? Looking back on the summer, I know we did.
The Campstock booth schedule, the Staff Assistant schedule for Week 7, an evening activity schedule; man, do we schedule a lot at camp!
Several notepads scrawled from first page right up to the cardboard backing with lists. At first, I think, why did I pack this up? The lists are completed, checked off, “done-zo”. Ahh, but the knowledge in those lists becomes clear as I read through them.


o What to do to prepare for Rock of July.


o When to have the slip-n-slide (during the heat wave!).


o Supplies that need to get organized or purchased for Super Mario Day.


o Design a new dining room layout for weeks 3&4 when we had LOTS of campers.


o Add “slip bucket gets emptied” to the list of jobs for Team B Staff assistants on Fridays.


o Bunk meeting ideas based on new things we saw counselors trying this summer (“Glows and Glues”, fashion shows, talent competitions… you name it!).


o The sign-up sheet for presenting at the staff Farewell Banquet.


I look over these things and can hardly believe our 2011 camp season is over. Did it really happen? I know it did because, besides all of the new friendships and memories I have from the summer, I have three-boxes-worth of mementos to remind me of the work, and the fun, that we had. I’m sure you’ve unpacked by now, too. Do you have a few mementos of your own that remind you of the amazing time you had this summer? What are they?  Where do you keep them?  Drop CK a line on our Facebook page or email me at teri@campuskids.com and let me know!
'Til next time,Teri

What's a Hoosier?

Nobody knows the answer to that question, but if you live in Indiana you ARE a Hoosier. I'm about to spend a few days out there as a member of an accreditation committee for the American Camp Association (ACA). Since the committee is made up of people from across the U.S., there actually won't be many Hoosiers on the committee, but that mid-western friendliness will definitely set the tone for our deliberations.


Back here in New Jersey a lot of people are suffering greatly from the floods brought to us by those two angry ladies: Irene and Lee. I know that many of our camp families are in some seriously flooded areas and I hope everyone is safe, though I know you are dealing with a lot of damage. I drove through one of my former home towns the other day, Cranford, and was shocked at the extent of the damage there. And yesterday I couldn't get into Blairstown because the Paulens Kill had flooded the town a second time. Fortunately for Blair Academy, the main campus (and the part that we use in the summer) is high up on the hill. But many faculty residences, along with the school's maintenance facilities, are down on the flood plain. We are sorry to see so much destruction, but we know that the people in strong communities like Cranford and Blairstown are the type that pull together and don't stop working until everyone is back on their feet.


As New Jersey and other East Coast states recover from these floods, we reach the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. We remember that day like it was happening right now, when we wondered how we ever would move on from there, much less be looking back ten years later. We published a "Sundial" shortly after 9/11/01 and here is some of what I wrote in that issue:


Between the last time you received a Sundial and today the world has changed. We know sadness as we had never imagined it, along with fear, anger and so much more. The world and each one of us has changed and we wish that this had never happened. Amidst these overwhelming feelings, though, is the growing understanding that not all of the changes are negative. We have learned, for instance, how precious and wonderful life is. We awaken to each day with a new sense of purpose, a greater urgency to use our time well, a stronger focus on caring for and about each other. I thought I knew how wonderful our 2001 Campus Kids summer was, how special each camper and staff member was. In this new reality, however, I am so much more grateful for the opportunity we had to live, play and work together. I cherish the memories more than ever. Each of you has been in my thoughts and I hope you have been spared the most painful losses of the September 11th tragedy. I know that for many of us, camp friends have been an important part of our support systems. That support will continue and will grow stronger every day. If there is anything we can do at Campus Kids to help you, please don’t hesitate to ask. I hope that your camp experiences, both past and future, help restore the happiness, friendship and hope that should be part of everyone’s life.


I still do gain strength from my camp colleagues and friends, from all of our campers and camp families, from the camp experience itself. And my trip to Indiana will reinforce the good things I know about camp because I'll be with a group of remarkable people who are doing good work in their camps across the country. Camp communities fuel optimism.


Families have already been setting up tour appointments for later this month, which is very exciting. Also exciting is that Jeremy, Teri and will will finally all be back together again in the camp office on September 14. If you've ever passing through Madison, please come visit. And if you figure out what a Hoosier really is, I'll buy you lunch.

Tom

Labor of Love

I write this as we come to the end of Labor Day weekend, the final official holiday of the summer and the unofficial end of the summer vacation season. Most of our campers start back to school this week, an exciting time to see friends and renew their "work" as students. Despite their protestations, I think that most students look forward to the start of a new school year.

It's also the start of a new camp year. Most people who aren't camp directors don't realize this. They are more focused on the fact that camp just ended and they pretty much stop thinking about camp for a while. From their perspective, there's camp time in the summer and after that it's just "the rest of the year".

Well, for me it's more like New Year's Eve and the feeling that we're launching something new and wonderful: Summer Camp 2012. You know how you sometimes make New Year's Resolutions? Well, here at Campus Kids-NJ we've made sort of the same thing, except we call it our "year-round office calendar", which is in a blue loose-leaf binder. Jeremy, Teri and I created it over the previous year because we wanted to be better organized about the work we want to accomplish month-by-month. What we do "the rest of the year" -- September to June -- makes or breaks the summer, so we've got to get it right.

We've divided our tasks into six major areas: Campers & Families, Program & Operations, Staff Recruitment, Staff Training, Marketing, and Miscellaneous Administration (also known as "other"). In any given month we can look at each of these categories and know what needs to be done.

For instance, we are beginning to read the many, many types of feedback we received about this summer, along with our own notes, and compiling all of this into a format we can use to make decisions about next summer. We'll be answering the questions, "How did we do?" and "What went well?" and "What can we do better?" and "What are the best new ideas for 2012?" We're also starting our 2012 staff hiring by updating our website, assessing staff performance for 2011, deciding what openings we have and if we want to change any jobs or job descriptions, and planning what recruitment we want to do through colleges or websites or international agencies. Of course, the fall is also when we do our staff assistant hiring as well as when we put together our leadership team. And we set up our weekend tours (starting again Sept. 24 and 25), speak to families who ask about our camp, prepare the next "Sundial" . . . you get the idea.

This is our work, our labor. I think of it as our "Labor of Love " because we love what we do so much. Camp directors are some of the luckiest people in the world. Not only do we have the most amazing experiences at camp every summer, but we get to spend the whole year getting ready for the next awesome summer. What could be better?

So as you head off to school or back to work, we'll be doing the same thing here at Campus Kids-NJ. I hope that you love your work as much as we do.

Tom

P.S. -- If you'd like to be a guest blogger, please let me know. Campers, staff, alumni or parents are welcome to share their personal perspective on camp.

Blog Lag

As August is about to leave us with the flip (or click) of a calendar page, we are facing the irony that we had the least amount of time to blog about camp during the summer itself. With all good intentions, we had hoped to blog along all summer and then, whoosh, we were so caught up in the constant fun of camp that we didn't sit down in front of our computers enough to pull it off. That's probably good, actually.

So you don't feel totally let down, however, I want to point out that the you could have been following our summer fun in great detail if you had looked at any of the following:

72 WEB PHOTO JOURNALS. Our terrific "Team D" staff assistants faithfully posted photo journals throughout the summer, covering all kinds of camp topics, both the expected and the unexpected. Here's the web photo journal index. Pick any article and you'll have a good time.

40+ DAILY PHOTO GALLERIES. Also from those same staff assistants, along with Stu and Jeremy, we have posted photos for every single day of camp and every Weekend Adventure trip. If, as they say, one photograph is worth a thousand words, then we've got millions of words here to explain the major awesomeness of our 2011 summer.

85 STAFF INTERVIEWS. Team D also managed to post a quick interview page for every staff member. Here's the index. This staff was awesome.

8 "SUNDIAL" NEWSLETTERS. Published at the end of every camp week, these issues are a great retrospective of our "outer space" summer.

So even though we experienced that unfortunate affliction called "blog lag", I think we did a more than okay job telling everyone in the CK World and beyond about our 21st summer camp season.

If you're a die hard camper, you probably are still experiencing that sense of loss that comes at the end of camp. It's so abrupt; we're suddenly without all those friends and activities that last from morning to night. Camp is a world without pause, and definitely without boredom, and some of us truly have a hard time getting back on our feet when it ends. Most frustrating can be the attempt to explain to other folks what camp was like. They listen and smile and they want to understand, but they don't seem to quite get it, and they definitely don't understand the crying and the non-stop camp stories.

It's at this time -- about two weeks after camp ends -- that I wish we all could get back together just to talk and share our favorite memories of the summer. A few hours of camp stories would make us feel great, wouldn't it?

We will be talking about our 2011 summer for a long time, but here at the camp office we've already begun planning for 2012 if you can believe it. So after a little bit of rest we'll be sharing with you the beginning of our new camp year and all that goes into planning for the 22nd summer of CK-NJ.

In the meantime, enjoy these final moments of your summer, don't forget to finish up your summer reading, have fun starting the new school year, and please put the December 4th reunion on your calendar (and your parents' calendar too!).

We'll talk to you soon.

Tom

Sunday Night

It's the eve of Week #2 at camp. As I sit in my office I hear staff members returning to campus, getting ready for the start of our second week with the campers. How was Week #1? I'm glad you asked because it was fantastic, wonderful and awesome.


Every week at camp -- all eight -- has its own particular feeling and Week 1 is no exception. I love the energy that everyone has at this time of the summer. It's everyone's first day, first week, and both counselors and campers are super charged and excited. There's nothing subtle or laid back about the enthusiasm for Week 1. It's fresh and a little bit crazy. It moves quickly. You might expect some kind of "warm up" period because it's the very beginning of the summer, but that's not how it happens.


We had our first Talent Show, complete with a variety of acts presented by all ages of campers and with hilarious video-based introductions by our hosts. We launched our first sports tournament, basketball, with a theme harking back to CK-NJ division names of years past. Danny got us started on a snack-time Ro-Sham-Bo tournament and I guess I should be happy I lasted to the second round, but I'm looking forward to a better performance this week.


Some of the activities I observed or participated in this week were slack line, skate boarding, jogging, archery, cheer leading, ceramics, musical painting, bead looming, badminton, fitness center, swim instruction, ultimate, creative writing, campfire, bunk meetings, afternoon shade. Now if you know anything about Campus Kids, you know that there were lots more activities taking place at camp than this short list. So this week I've got to speed up and get to more activities.


My favorite snack of the week was a toss-up between the ice cream sandwich and the apple. My favorite bunk meeting was with the staff assistants around the campfire discussing how hard it is sometimes to describe to non-camp people what camp is really like. My favorite "camper progress" was the six or seven campers who were dealing with significant homesickness that by the end of the week was much, much better. My favorite weather was every day this week, one of the all-time best weeks of weather I can remember at camp.


Tomorrow night is Rock of July, which has everyone very excited and I've got my July 4th shirt ready to go. You would think that, as camp director, I would understand exactly how a great special event like Rock of July is planned and executed, but I have to admit that it's a mystery to me. Somehow with everything that our staff does day and night, they also find the time to form bands with the campers, rehearse, and put on an amazing couple of hours of music, in addition to the games and crafts taking place at the same time. I was talking earlier today with my son about how many camps hire outside entertainers to put on shows at camp and how I couldn't imagine doing that at Campus Kids. It has nothing to do with spending money for entertainers and everything to do with taking the talents within our own community and giving them the chance to shine. Whether almost-professional or just-slightly-better-than beginner, watching performances by our very own camp community members is very special. It always rocks.


Well, I can sense more and more staff moving around the campus. Bus counselors are going off to bed very soon, others will follow. In just over ten hours, the buses will round the curve above the bowl and the sea of yellow-shirted staff will break into cheers and clapping as our campers return to Blairstown.


There's nothing like starting a new week at camp. Wish you were here.


Tom

Summer Camp Blast Off

Campus Kids-NJ fans know that this summer's theme for bunk group names is Outer Space. We collected lots of suggestions from campers and gave the list to our counselors this week so they could decide on bunk group names. Here they are!

InterGIRLactic Planetary (IGP) Division: Head Counselor Devon


Freshman Girls: COSMIC CUTIES (counselors Chloe and Becky)
Sophomore Girls: MOON PIES (counselors Emma and Kimmy)
Junior Girls (3 groups);
WRITTEN IN THE STARS (counselors Gabby and Laura)
MARTIAN MALLOWS (counselors Kat and Meg)
GALAXY GIRLS (counselors Rhyan and Michelle)

Solar Sisters Division: Head Counselor Kim


Senior Girls (3 groups):
THE ROCKETTES (counselors Yianella and Lauren)
LUNAR LADIES (counselors Erica and Hannah)
HONEY MOONS (counselors Alexa and Mel)
Super Senior Girls (4 groups):
SUPER NOVA GIRLS (counselors Teeny and Alyssa)
SUPERSTARS (counselors Missy and Nina)
SUPER SONIC SISTERS (counselors Rachel and Christine)
THE 'LIL' DUPERS (counselors Rachel, Pascale and Jess)


Galactic Empire Division: Head Counselor Abe


Freshmen Boys (2 groups):
LITTLE MONSTARS (counselors Al and Jamie)
COSMIC KIDS (counselors Eli and Ross)
Sophomore Boys: PARKING METEORS (counselors Ben and David)
Junior Boys (2 groups):
SPACE INVADERS (counselors Kiran and Marc)
FISSION CHIPS (counselors Stephen and Adam)


Rebel Alliance Division: Head Counselor Dave


Senior Boys (2 groups):
ROCKET POWER (counselors Royce and Jesse)
ZAPHOD BEEBLEBROS (counselors Jake and Celil)
Super Senior Boys (4 groups):
GANGSTARZ (counselors Danny and Jason)
SPACE VENTURA (counselors Matt and Kyle)
HUBBLE SPACE TELEBLOKES (counselors Simon, Luke and Doug)
SOLAR SYSTEM OF A DAWN (counselors Ste, Koen and John)


It's Thursday night and all the dorm decorations have been made and the rooms are getting their finishing touches. We'll see some of our campers for our optional Settling In Saturday, but we'll see ALL of them on Monday. Can't wait!


Tom

74 Plus 1

Today during staff orientation we set up our annual Activity Skills Round Robin for the counselors. This is when Stu and Jeremy put out a piece of paper for each activity offered at camp and instruct the counselors to walk around and sign their names to the activities they can teach. Even though we hired our staff knowing their activity skills and interests, this is one last chance for them to tell us if they are a #1 (high skills and able to lead the activity), a #2 (skilled, but probably better as an assistant), or #3 (interested in helping out and learning more about it).

I walked around and counted seventy-four activity pages! I didn't even realize that we offered that many activities! It was fun to watch each counselor go to each paper and decide where (or whether) to put his/her name on it.

There was also a seventy-fifth page, titled "Other". This is where counselors could write down new activity ideas. I'm excited to see what new additions we'll have to our program this summer.

As you probably know, during the summer our campers get to pick their own activities every day -- individual choice, not group choice. That's an amazing amount of choice and our campers make the most of it, trying out lots of new activities and going back to those they like the best and/or want to learn the most about. It's one of the coolest things about our camp.

Our full staff orientation is just a little over 24 hours old and we already feel like we've been together for a long time. We've played games, taken tours of camp, talked about various age level characteristics of children, started to plan our program activities, had two bunk meetings and a campfire, learned some CK Classics like Rob-Lou-Jen, Gladiator and Ga-Ga, and lots more. It's amazing what we accomplish in a small amount of time.

It's a great staff and I think those lucky campers who will be joining us soon are going to agree with me. Well, some of the staff are playing basketball in the field house right now and others are just chilling while the head counselors, Teri and Jeremy sneak away for their meeting to pick the bunk group co-counselors. We'll find out tomorrow what they decided and continue our orientation the rest of the week.

It's an awesome week at camp. Wish you were here.


Tom

The History of the CK-NJ Logo

So the other day, I was unpacking my summer clothes and rummaging though some old camp stuff and I stumbled across some CK-NJ history. I found the old sketches we had of the CK logo. Some of you, I figured, might like to know the history of our amazing camp logo.

When I started working for Campus Kids we used the text logo at the top. Tom has told me that a lady who was a friend of one of his old colleague's, drew the logo as courtesy. Although no money was exchanged, Tom assures me that they sent her a VERY NICE bouquet of flowers. We usually printed it in the horizontal format you see here but occasionally it appeared in a vertical format with Campus above Kids. The style of the logo was intended to be reminiscent of the lettering on a college jersey and emphasize that we were on a school campus.

Later on, we realized that just the words weren't really campy enough. Some people saw the logo and assumed we were an academic program. We didn't want that so we decided to add a graphic of some kids. Tom didn't want something too detailed, more of a silhouette drawing that would look good in one color and any size. My wife Vanessa drew the second sketch you see there as a basic concept. It evolved into the third sketch by the time she was done. What she was going for was to show that it was boys and girls at CK and that we were both sports and arts. Also, (if you couldn't tell) the girl is playing Frisbee and the boy is doing the art. We started using that logo around 1997. In 2002, we reverted back to the text logo because we felt it wasn't saying enough about us.

Somewhere in the neighborhood of 2006, Tom and I were sitting around talking about how we needed to bring a picture of kids doing camp activities back to the logo. We felt people were not noticing our advertisements because the text was just boring and didn't feel summer campy enough. So I took out my sketch pad and drew the concept you see to the right. We wanted to show a variety of activities, not just the generic sports and arts depicted in earlier graphic. We also added the Sundial, which was the centerpiece of camp and would be easily recognized by any current CK-er. At the time, two big activities for us at camp were skateboarding and guitar. Remember, 2006 was the summer of the first CampStock! So we knew we wanted to include those in the graphic. Here's a little piece of CK logo trivia: the guitarist in the logo is based on a photograph of long time CK-er, Josh Katz, performing on stage. Anyway, we showed my terrible little sketch to Vanessa and it evolved into the logo we use today! It is usually depicted how you see it here but in some situations we add the year.

I hope you found that interesting. Stumbling across those old drawings was a pretty cool find. Well, camp is right around the corner and we're getting ready to move our operation over to the summer office. See you soon!

Jeremy

The Staff Makes the Camp

Of course, we wouldn't have a camp without the campers, but we couldn't have the kind of camp we want without the staff. Despite our beautiful facilities (at Blair Academy) and great variety of program activities, it's the type of folks we hire and how they perform that gives our camp its soul and personality.

That's why the process of working with our staff is year-round. Each month of the year there is something taking place that involves staff recruitment, hiring or training. It starts way back during the previous summer, when staff job performance is assessed, so that we enter September with solid thoughts as to who should return next summer and in what roles.

As we prepare for a new summer, we break our staff into five parts: leadership team, returning counselors, new counselors, staff assistants, and "other" (a very important category that includes nurses and administrative staff). Each segment has a timeline for identifying who should return, recruiting new staff, and conducting orientation and training.

Staff fill out applications (or "application updates" for returners), provide references, and have interviews with me. Orientation truly begins during those interviews, because that's when we begin to establish a working relationship with the staff member and the staff member begins to understand more about our philosophy and expectations.

There IS an onsite orientation week in June for all staff, but that's just a part of our orientation program. In the months leading up to that week, we provide lots of information about camp via special web pages, online forums and an online video training library. So when the staff arrive for the start of the formal orientation, a lot of work has already been completed.

Our Leadership Team (directors, head counselors, activity coordinators) also meet for three days in January for an intensive planning session, followed by months of work on our online discussion forums.

Even our youngest staff members -- the staff assistants -- have a special weekend orientation in the spring to prepare for their varied and important jobs.

All of our preparations culminate in that very important Pre-Camp Staff Orientation time in June, when we finally have the entire staff together and the very last preparations are completed. Day #1 finally arrives and we all put on our fresh new staff t-shirts and greet the busses as they roll up alongside "the bowl". When I see the happy faces of campers and staff as they greet each other and form into their bunk group "families", I know that the year of staff preparation was worth it, and that it's definitely true that "the staff makes the camp."

Tom

Friday the 13th!

 Guess what happens tonight in Blairstown, NJ, home of Campus Kids-NJ? The Historic Blairstown Theater Reopens tonight! If you ever takena stroll down Main Street, you can't miss this charming little theater. After working on for two years, the owners are bringing the theater back to life tonight to show the classic horror movie Friday the 13th. I'm sure all you CK-NJ trivia fanatics already know that the original film was shot in Blairstown. Anyway, I just had to mention that!

But before I head off for the weekend, I've got some camp news for you. I'm sure lots of you have seen all the countdowns on Facebook and know we're getting very close to move-in day. Tom, Teri and I will begin getting the camp office set up the first week of June. Then the leadership team arrives and we start getting everything else ready. We've been busy reading all your camper choice surveys and answering questions about camp. There's still some space left, though! If you aren't signed up, get your parents to call us up ASAP!

We keep adding to the list bunk group names based on the suggestions sent in by campers. Some recent favorites of mine include Syzygy Sisters and Total Eclipse of the Heart. You can see the full list here. Keep your suggestions coming, here!

Coming soon to a blog near you: the history of the Campus Kids Logo!

See you soon,
Jeremy

The First Week of May

May 1st came and, in the blink of an eye, the first week of the month is gone! As you can imagine, the pace around here quickens, along with the excitement for camp. Long months of preparation are about to pay off because camp starts next month!

May is the month of planning final logistics. Now that we know who most of our campers are (though they are still signing up!), we can work out the last details of our bus routes. Likewise, with almost all of our staff in place, travel plans for all of them are being plotted. Lots and lots and lots of forms are arriving daily at the office: health forms, camper choice, personal information, etc., so we're reading all of those and incorporating that information into our plans. The final decisions about staff pre-camp orientation are being made. The art supply order was just placed, with other orders for equipment and supplies to be finished up soon. Teri, Jeremy and I are starting this week to call families of new campers to check in and see what questions they have. And the list goes on and on. It's a lot, but it's very exciting. I'm even finding it a bit hard to sleep some nights because I'm so excited about camp!

We're also still giving tours up in Blairstown and campers are still signing up where we have space. Every season is beautiful at Blair Academy and Spring is certainly spectacular. Here's a photo from a recent weekend:

Aside from "Blair" who is still sitting in front of West Hall finishing up her drawing, what's missing from these photos are our campers and staff! These flowers may be gone when we arrive in June, but the leaves will be on all the trees, the weather will finally be hot, the days will be long, and the 21st season of Campus Kids will begin! Let the first Frisbee be thrown, the first drum beat heard, the first dives be taken into the pool. Camp is coming!

Tom

Be Prepared!

Something that may not come to your mind when you think about camp is the preparation. Tom, Jeremy, Stu and I don’t just show up on June 27th when the buses arrive, ready to take on whatever is thrown at us. That would be crazy! Instead, we’ve spent time looking for, hiring, and training qualified staff, teaching them how to be great counselors and activity leaders. But that’s still not enough to be prepared. We create opportunities for our staff to do some of that training before they get to camp – they participate in discussions, watch videos, and some of them are doing work in college to learn about children and teaching. And you may have read in past blogs that we meet with the Leadership Team and then with the Staff Assistants in the winter to work with them and plan how we’ll reach our goals in preparation for the summer.

What is even more unique is when we have the opportunity to do work to prepare for FUTURE summers. Finding time to go to meetings and conferences with people from other camps, thinking about what’s next for CK, and how we can make our program even better for the following summers. And even MORE exciting is when we get to spend time with FUTURE counselors -- teenagers who think they might want to be counselors some day, and get them thinking about what it means to work and teach at camp before they even have a job!

And that is exactly what I did about three weeks ago. I went to a Teen Leadership conference that was held in NYC. Not only did I get to go, but I got to present a session during the conference, AND I also got to bring some participants! Four of our returning Staff Assistants—Zach, Caroline, Lauren, and Kelcy—joined me at the ACA’s Teen Leadership conference for a day of thought-provoking, fun, and lively discussions and sessions. It was basically a mini Tri-State Camp Conference for teens, and not only did I spend the day with them, I met many teenagers from all sorts of camps who were looking to give themselves the extra edge for their future counselor jobs.

All of the teenagers who participated were once campers at some camp, whether it was a day camp or sleep-away. They had that exciting buzz about them, not just because many of them were reuniting with other camp friends, but because they were all on the brink of a new adventure. No longer campers, these teens were gearing up for the first summers at their camps in various new programs and positions– Leaders-in-training (LIT) programs, Counselors-in-training (CIT) programs, Junior Staff, Kitchen staff, and the coveted CKNJ position of Staff Assistant!

We woke up quite early to catch our train. Caroline, Kelcy, Lauren, and Lauren’s mother Mary Ellen, (who works for ACA), met me at the Westfield station, and we took the (get ready) 6:48 am train to Penn Station in New York. It was really early for a weekend, I’ll admit it, but once we were all on the train, it gave us plenty of time to catch up since the last time we saw each other. We enjoyed the ride and met up with Zach in New York, and then had a nice breakfast to fuel up and get pumped for an awesome day. 

Breakfast at a midtown diner.

Then, we were on our way to the conference! We took the subway to 112th street and walked to the Bank Street College of Education where the conference was being held. We walked in a few minutes early to help set up and it was a little quiet – but not for long! Teenagers slowly started pouring in until there were almost 300 participants there! Everyone got their schedules and name tags, and I waved goodbye to the Staffies as they went to the first session –some fun camp games to get everyone excited and in the camp spirit.

In the mean time, I set up for my back-to-back sessions. I had prepared an activity and discussion on the topic “transitioning from being a camper to being a staff member,” with the goal of helping the participants begin to prepare for the changes they would experience this summer. It was so fun to finally do the session I had prepared for over the past months, and I think my groups got a lot out of it! I felt comfortable in front of each of my “classes” of 15 teenagers, and I will definitely say my teaching and camp experience helped me stay organized and on topic! While I was teaching, our Staff Assistants attended a variety of sessions, including one called “The top 10 best and worst qualities of a counselor,” and others about managing stress, fun teambuilding games, behavior management, and effective communication. Not only did the Staffies get to learn some good information from other camp professionals about what it takes to be a good counselor, they also spent time meeting teens from other camps, and hearing about what those LIT, CIT, and Jr. Counselor jobs are like! It’s amazing how different their jobs are from what the Staff Assistants do at our camp.

I believe there were two highlights of the day—one was fun and the second a little more serious. The first fun highlight was definitely our “Leisurely Lunch” of pizza. Leisurely Lunch is an idea Zach wants to see take flight this summer. Instead of rushing through the meal to get to bunk time, he’s asked the Staff Assistants to try to eat at a slower pace and spend the whole mealtime together, talking about everything from camp to sports to current events. So, we practiced and ended up being the last people in the lunchroom besides the cleanup crew! 

Our Leisurely Lunch let us enjoy each others company.

The other highlight was the Keynote Session by Michael Brandwein. Michael is a well-known and frequent ACA conference speaker, and is the author of many books that we use as resources for the training of our leadership team, counselors, and general preparation for camp. This particular session was about dispelling the myth that great leaders are “born with it,” and he worked hard to convince us that there are many things one can learn to do that will make them a better leader and therefore a better camp counselor for children. Just like a trick can be practiced over and over again to look like it’s magic, he assured us that there are many things you can practice doing, and you’ll get better at, to make you a leader. 

Our Staff Assistants (top) pay close attention to Michael Brandwein (bottom)
as he shows some tricks, and teaches about being a leader.

After a wrap- up session and debrief, we got some awesome t-shirts (what camp person doesn’t love a t-shirt?) and headed back to NJ. Our conversation on the way home was about their excitement for, that one day in the future, starting their first summer as a camp counselor so that they could practice what they learned. Although they aren’t counselors yet, I told them that there were two things they could do this summer to prepare for being a counselor. First, they can observe the counselors at camp this summer, to see if they do some of those skills that they had learned would make them better leaders. Second, I assured them there were plenty of ways they could start practicing what they learned about being a counselor this summer when they are staff assistants. They live in the dorms with the campers, eat meals in the dining hall with them, help run evening activities, and can be with the kids at activities. In all of those situations, there are small things they can do to show that they care for the campers and want to be good leaders. After all, it’s definitely not too early to start the preparations for 2013 when they can be counselors!

Until the next blog,

Teri

CHARLIE HAS A BROTHER

Stu is a grandfather for the second time and Grandson #1, Charlie, has a baby brother! Graydon James Lisbe was born this week to Mike and Paula. Before tasting his first Frito Pie, Graydon weighed 7 lbs. 15 ozs., and measured 19". Everyone is doing well and we're waiting to hear when Stu will be flying to L.A. to meet Graydon and console Charlie (just kidding!).

We're glad that mom is doing well, that dad has maintained most of his sanity, and that we now have another camper ready to play Ultimate Frisbee for our 2019 summer season.

Welcome to our world, Graydon. We can't wait to meet you.

Tom


P.S. -- For those readers new to CK-NJ, Stu is our associate director. He's been part of our camp family for 20 years.

P.P.S. -- See more commentay and a photo of Charlie here: http://www.campuskids.com/njblog/campuskidsnjblog2011_04.htm

Take Off Your Mittens

One of the amazing things about this past winter was that all that snow and ice side-stepped our camp tour schedule. We didn't have to postpone any of our appointments with the many families who came out to learn about camp and talk about the warmer days of summer.It seems like we can finally take off our mittens and say that spring weather is here to stay, though we've had a few false starts and I think the snow removal crew at Blair Academy may still have their plows and shovels at-the-ready just in case.Most of us, though, are ready to stow the mittens and scarves and even try on our t-shirts and shorts to see if they're ready to go for the summer. In the camp office, we've been having the great T-Shirt Color Debate and we think we've finally decided on the colors for this summer's camper and staff CK-NJ shirts. It's still a secret, so I can't tell you yet (though you might be able to bribe me with some authentic Fig Newtons or homemade Frito Pie).Camp tours are fun because every family has different questions and every prospective camper brings his/her unique combination of curiosity, excitement, nervousness and anticipation. Some have never been to sleep-away camp before, others have tried it out. Some already know other campers at CK-NJ, and others don't know anybody at our camp yet. Some are obviously going to be playing sports all day, others will be dancing and singing and acting, and still others will be doing lots of lanyard, ceramics, painting and tie-dyeing. Most, though, will have some kind of mixture among their activities. And since all of them will be able to pick their own activities every day (because they go to Campus Kids!), they will be able to easily try out new activities, which some people think is the best part of camp (next to making new friends).Let me catch you up on our Weekend Tours photo gallery: (to see all the photos from our website blog, and entries that don't appear here, go directly to our website:
http://www.campuskids.com/njblog/campuskidsnjblog2011_04.htm

And the tours continue. I had a really fun day of tours yesterday. Today Stu, Mandy and Mitch are doing tours. As you can see from this photo, Mother Nature has finally decided that it can be spring at Blair Academy. Let's all enjoy it while we get a little bit more excited because camp is just around the corner.

Tom

Second Favorite Time of Year

You can easily guess what this camp director's favorite time of year is, but you may not know what comes in second place. It's right now -- these first weeks of Spring. Why is that? Because, just like the awakening of the flowers and trees, camp families come alive with excitement about camp. For me, that means that I get to talk to lots of moms and dads and kids as they write or call with questions about the summer, or just to say how excited they are for camp.

I love to answer the many questions that come up about camp, the big ones and the small ones. Whether it's about the bunk groups or the activities, the packing list or the bus stop, Settling In Day or a Weekend Adventure, medical concerns or food allergies, missing home or making friends, choosing activities or evening programs -- it's all fun to talk about.

In addition, I (along with Teri and Jeremy) get to talk with parents about their kids. We love these conversations because it's fun to hear how exited the kids are for camp and also to help address their individual concerns. The more conversations we have the better, because then we know our campers better and can help make the summer an awesome one for them.

Add to all this the conversations we have with our staff, and Spring is a hectic, enthusiastic time around here . . . second only to the summer itself.

Tom

Woot! Camp Conference

Teri, Tom and I just got back from the Tri-State Camp Conference which is held every year.  It's a gathering of people from all facets of the summer camp profession.  As you can imagine, most of the attendees are directors like us.  But there are also camp counselors, professional speakers, child psychologists, camp nurses and administrators from the American Camp Association.  There are also plenty of vendors who sell specialized products and services to camp.  The people who sell us our sports equipment, the company we buy our skate park pieces from, even the guys who take care of our insurance needs were among the many in the exhibit hall.

Most of what we do at Tri-State is attend sessions on various topics of professional development. This year I went to some of the best sessions I'd ever participated in. I went to one that fit the Campus Kids philosophy particularly well. It was all about alternatives to intense competition. The speaker, Rick LaVoie, has a special needs background but his message was aimed at all camp and school programs. He stressed that competition could be excellent when the sides are fair and when people get to choose to participate. But if you're forced to compete or have to compete in situations where you don't have a chance to win, it can be a negative experience. He taught lots of ways to promote cooperative activities where working together makes them fun. Rick challenged the idea that classrooms and camps should be competitive to get kids ready for the "real world" which appears to be obviously competitive. We talked a lot about how hard some companies work to increase the cooperation among their employees in order to make that company more successful in a competitive marketplace. Interesting stuff, eh?

Now this may be more interesting to the parents out there than the campers, but the keynote speaker of the conference was Seth Godin. Seth is a best selling author and successful entrepreneur. He was the founder of several companies including Squidoo, one of the most popular websites in the world. On www.squidoo.com you can basically find user-designed pages on any topic of interest or make your own page. It's pretty neat stuff. Seth talked about how it's good to be different - "You've got to be worth talking about if you want people to talk about you and promote your business". To this, I say, is there anything better that telling people about Campus Kids?

One more thing, before I go away on a week's vacation! WOOT! Remember when I was telling you about the CD Mixes we made for the staff retreats? Here's a video that highlights the mix from the staff assistant retreat and the songs they contributed:

 Hope you liked the video! Talk to you all when I get back!

~Jeremy

So right now I am sitting at my desk furiously burning 19 copies of a CD Mix in preparation for our upcoming Staff Assistant Retreat. While my computer hums away, I’m wondering if we ever told you about our now-famous CD Mixes.

For the past few years, whenever we have a staff retreat, we prepare a CD mix that everyone contributes one song to. The exciting part is that no one knows who contributed which song (well, I know because I make the mix but I stay quiet about it). At the retreat itself, we play the CD and everyone tries to guess whose song is playing. It’s lots of fun! Also, every CD has a theme. At the leadership retreat in January, the theme was “Songs I liked when I was a kid”. Here’s the playlist from that CD and list of the leadership team members (in a random order). See if you can guess who picked each song:

1. Steely Dan, “Reeling in the Years”                                                                     
2. Paul Simon, “I know What I Know”
3. Rolling Stones, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”
4. Mya w/Blackstreet, “Take me There”
5. Bruce Springsteen & Bob Dylan, “Forever Young”
6. The Beatles, “8 Days a Week”
7. Aretha Franklin. “Respect”
8. Modest Mouse, “The World at Large”
9. The Turtles, “Happy Together”
10. Soul Asylum, “Can’t Even Tell”
11. Spice Girls, “Wannabe”
12. Cyndi Lauper, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”
13. Jimmy Eat World, “Futures”
14. David Bowie, “Rebel, Rebel”

a. Brooke
b. Abe
c. Sean
d. Sara
e. Jeremy
f. Kim
g. Teri
h. Todd
i. Dave G
j. Katie
k. Tom
l. Rose
m. Stu
n. Devon

Click here to see the correct answers!

The other big news of the day is that the most current issue of the "Sundial" is being collated by a CK Veteran you might remember! It’s Charles Cook! Charles was a long time counselor and aquatics coordinator with us. He also attended several weekend adventures. Charles is often remembered for his love of hot dogs and for being a HUGE JETS FAN! Yep. Jets, Jets, Jets! That’s all he ever talks about.

Until next time,

Jeremy

PS. Charles is actually a Giants fan and specifically NOT a Jets fan. But it was really fun to mess with him!