Hello From Outer Space

Hey everyone out there in CK Land!

It’s been a while since I posted to the blog. We’ve been busy getting ready for next summer. Teri and I are working with the leadership over the internet to plan for next summer. It occurred to me that you might not know what Teri and I do over the summer. Although we are both assistant directors, we each focus on different areas of camp.

Among the many things she does, Teri works closely with the head counselors. She helps them plan for bunk groups and trouble shoots any problems that might come up. One project they are working on right now it to come up with new ideas and activities for bunk meetings. She also co-leads the staff assistants with Tom. They have a bunk meeting every night, too! Teri also assists Sara in the prep for evening programs and special events.

For the most part, I just put my feet up and chill out all summer… heh heh. Actually, I do quite a lot. My main job is to help support the activity coordinators and help them organize the activities at camp. Right now, we are planning what new activities we will add to the selection this summer. In addition, I create the daily schedule at camp and that takes up more than a bit of my day. On top of that, I also help support the Team D staff assistants. Those are the amazing people who put up the pictures on the website, interview the counselors & staff, and write the photo journals about what is happening at camp.

Well, we’ve got lots to do so I’ll be signing off. Before I go though, I wanted to thank everyone who’s sent in suggestion for bunk group names. I’ve learned a lot about outer space from looking up the names you’ve sent in. I learned that Gliese 581 g is an unconfirmed extrasolar planet, orbiting the red dwarf star Gliese 581, 20.5 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Libra. It’s also considered the the planet outside our solar system with the greatest potential for harboring life! Did any of you know that the gaps in between the rings of Saturn are known as the Encke Division and the Cassini Division? Neat stuff, eh? Also, I want to remind everyone that you can help pick the bunk group names for this summer by clicking here. If you want to see the names sent in so far, click right here!

Talk to you again soon,

Jeremy

Snowy Tours

We give our camp tours year-round and this past weekend was a winter challenge. But several families came out to learn about camp and found out that it's a beautiful place in every season. Staff assistants Mandy and Mitch came along to help me. As former campers, they have a great perspective and did a fabulous job explaining CK-NJ and answering questions.


It takes just a little imagination to see the campus without snow, with lots of green grass and leaves and to believe that in just a few months we'll be running around in shorts and t-shirts. We get to to into the dorms, the dining room, the performing arts and fine arts buildings, the swimming pool, gyms, squash courts, fitness center and canteen, so that by the end of the tour it almost feels like summer camp.


Tours are one of the fun parts of our "off season" work at CK-NJ and we do them almost every weekend. Maybe we'll see you or your friends here soon! Just give us a call or an e-mail to set up your tour appointment.


Tom

The Ultimate Specialty

Campus Kids has a wide variety of activities -- sports & swimming, fine arts, performing arts -- that campers can choose from as they design their daily schedules. Each activity is lead by counselors who can teach skills so that our campers can learn new things and advance in their favorite activities.


We have one activity, though, that offers a special advanced program during one part of the summer: Weeks 5 & 6 (July 25 - August 5). It's our ULTIMATE FRISBEE SPECIALTY, which is lead by Ryan Belline and several other experienced ultimate coaches. This program doesn't replace our regular Frisbee activity at camp (which is wildly popular), but instead offers time to work on advanced skills and team strategies. Read all about it here. This is our second year offer this specialty and we expect that it will be very popular. If you want to join your local Ultimate team (or even start one), then you won't want to miss this special program.


Tom

Winter Beauty

Most people know that we give tours of camp to families who want to learn more about Campus Kids. But they sometimes don't realize that our tours take place year-round, including the middle of winter! Our campus, Blair Academy, is a beautiful place in every season, with winter showing off its blanket of white in a most appealing fashion. The roads and walkways are well-cleared so it's easy to see the campus and talk about our summer program. We see dorms, the pool, the athletic facilities, fine and performing arts centers, dining room and more.


I snapped these photos last weekend after our tours were finished:



 This sign stands out more clearly in the winter when the grove of trees behind it is without leaves.  Hardwick Hall has the swimming pool, squash courts, gymnasiums, fitness center, yoga room and canteen.  "Athletics" leads to the extensive grass and artificial turf fields, tennis courts, and the activities we set up just for camp: archery, fencing, skate park, ga-ga and gladiator.  The golf course is regulation with 9 holes.



 I know . . . this should be green and lush, maybe with the sprinklers spraying to cool us down.  And there should be some Frisbees flying across the lawn -- which we call "the bowl".  This is where we gather for the start of our activities, for our announcements and lots of all-camp activities, including campfires, Rock of July, CampStock, and evening shade.  At this time of year, though, it's used by the Blair families and students for sledding!  Oh, I almost forgot, those are two of our dorms across the way: Mason and Freeman. 

So you don't have to wait for the "nice" weather to come see camp. It's nice in every season. Give us a call or an e-mail to make your family's tour appointment on a winter weekend. See you at camp!

Tom

P.S. -- See more photos at the blog page of our website: http://www.campuskids.com/njblog/campuskidsnjblog2011_01.htm

It's a New Camp Year

At the turn of the new year as everyone was freezing, digging out of snow piles, and celebrating the start of 2011, Campus Kids-NJ was preparing for our official beginning of the new camp year: our annual Leadership Team Winter Retreat.

Our camp leadership team is made up of those staff members with camp-wide responsibilities who take time throughout the year to prepare for an amazing camp summer. This year we met on January 7-9 in Madison at the CK-NJ office (and Tom's home) for three very full days of planning (and fun, of course).


I always consider this planning retreat the official beginning of our new summer because it's the first gathering of next summer's staff members. The LT will continue its work via online Internet forums (yay for technology), and gather together again in early June. Our 14 members came from near and far: Mississippi, Colorado, Oklahoma, Maryland, way Upstate New York, Pennsylvania, and of course New Jersey, and we were grateful to dodge the snowstorms that have so disrupted travel this winter.


I want to thank our wonderful team for their dedication and hard work. If you could have experienced the excitement of this group, you'd agree that Summer 2011 is going to be out of this world.

Tom

P.S. -- Here's Kim, Stu and Teri at our planning retreat.  We have lots more photos of that weekend on our website: http://www.campuskids.com/njblog/campuskidsnjblog2011_01.htm