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August
27, 2009
Erica
 Has
it been three years? That seems so short, yet also like a lifetime ago. We
lost Erica Vallario three years ago to a tragic accident. Since that time
neither Erica nor her parents have been out of our thoughts and prayers.
There is always something about camp, or the people at camp, that reminds me
of Erica. This summer there were numerous times I would think of Erica as I
spoke to someone who knew her. Or even someone who didn’t know her, and I’d
think how much she/he would have liked Erica. And, of course, some of her
campers are now staff assistants and some are starting college. And some of
her camper contemporaries are counselors and have graduated from college.
At camp this summer, I could see among the people who had known Erica that
they each had their personal ways of remembering her, sometimes with humor,
sometimes with a tear of sadness or a short pause, but never forgetting. I
get angry when I think of the waste it is that such a giving, energetic and
youthful person died so young. I start to think of what could have been and
then I think of what actually was. Erica’s life was too short as measured
in years, but it was a very full life as measured by her energy and spirit
and generosity and hope and the number of people she inspired. There are an
awful lot of people this week who are remembering what Erica meant and still
means in their lives. By that measure, she lived a very full life indeed.
Thank you for that gift, Erica. May you rest in peace.
Tom
P.S. -- More about Erica is at this web page:
http://www.campuskids.com/nj06/galleries/Erica.htm
August
24, 2009
A Quieter
Monday Night
Oh, this night is so different from just a week ago. This would be the
first night of Week 9. But, alas, there are only 8 weeks of summer
camp, so this was a very different Monday on the campus of Blair Academy,
home of Campus Kids-NJ. Well, let me tell you first how we got to this
day.
Last week was one of the best in camp history, ending with Thursday night's
CampStock IV and a fun Friday (though maybe not as energetic as usual!).
I enjoyed a morning walk through campus, and even onto Blairstown's Main
Street, with Rose and some campers. Then we gathered for our final
Announcements of the summer and lunch (with renditions of practically every
division song ever sung at CK-NJ), then dorm clean-up and then . . . . Well,
we were supposed to gather outside by the buses for an extra-long goodbye
time, but a raging tornado-like storm came quickly roaring across the
campus. We kept the campers inside while this brief, but mighty, storm
poured down rain and knocked down some big trees and the electric lines.
Thanks to our staff, we re-grouped and boarded the buses safely and sent our
campers on their way home for the last time this summer.
Then the staff organized into
work teams for an afternoon and evening of intense work, packing away
everything for the summer. At 10:00 that night we gathered for a
farewell dinner with good food and lots of speeches from staff members.
Most stayed up all night, but everyone was awake for our early morning
breakfast and a Saturday morning of more cleaning and packing. Though
we enjoyed each other's company, it was strange not having the campers with
us. Then, the moment many had been hoping would never come, it was
time for our staff to leave the campus and return to their homes across New
Jersey, the country and the world. Staff goodbyes at CK-NJ take a very
long time, so many hours later, the staff had left but for a 7-person work
crew.
We continued to work through our list of jobs and took a big load of stuff
down to our Madison office (the rest went into storage lockers). Then
Sunday night we were down to just four staff and a few hours of work to go.
After a morning of work and breakfast at the Blairstown Diner, Jeremy and I
said goodbye to Dave M. and James and we headed back to Madison to drop off
the final load of stuff.
 And
now it's Monday night and it feels like we should be having clubs and
evening programs and canteen and bunk meetings and Teri and I should
be having our bunk meeting with the staff assistants. The bowl is
empty and ready for the Blair field hockey season to begin. The team
was out there practicing today and there was no sign of the CK-NJ campers.
No program schedule for Monday of Week 9.
It's good to get some rest; we really need it. But we miss you all
very much. It's too quiet for a Monday night!
Tom
 August
17, 2009
Monday Night
One of the best parts of sleep-away camp is all the stuff that happens at
night. Campers who have been just to day camp notice right away that
we're busy having fun at night. Take today, for instance.
Afternoon activities continued right up to 5:10 PM and then bunk groups
returned to their dorms for "supper bunk". That's when the bunk group
is back in their dorm for showering, relaxing and getting ready for evening
activities. Then it's suppertime (the chicken parm was very good
tonight) and out to clubs. There are lots of clubs to choose from.
Tonight I went out to the mini-marathon and track events. We have a
wonderful
 composition
track here at Blair Academy and
the relays were very exciting. We also had a one-mile/two-mile run
through campus -- one of the prettiest courses you'll ever see. After
all the club activities, the camp gathers at around 8:15 for the start of
canteen for the younger campers and evening activities for the olders.
There's a campfire going on tonight, a swim party and other activities.
Then everyone else goes to the canteen, in age order, after which it's time
for all the bunk groups to return to their dorms for bunk meetings and
bedtime. Bunk meetings are a very special part of the day and each
group has its own favorite activities and discussions that take place then.
After the Supers' canteen is over then I get to go to a bunk meeting too.
Teri and I are the "counselors" for our staff assistants and we have our own
bunk meeting every night, one of the highlights of my day. I love the
nighttimes at camp. I love camp.
Tom
August
9, 2009
Camp Generations
 Peeking
around the corner, I can see that next summer is our 20th camp season.
So much has happened in these two decades and, fortunately, each summer
seems like it's the best one yet. Summer '09 is no exception,
especially since this is our first one at beautiful Blair Academy.
So, starting to think back over the CK-NJ years, one thing that has changed
recently is that we have increased the number of former campers who are
becoming counselors. This year is a record: 9 first-year counselors
were campers here. (We also have a number of veteran staffers who also
were CK-NJ campers). It's so amazing to see "our kids" come back
and take on adult roles as counselors. We're very proud of them and
are grateful for what they offer to camp. Each one of them says, in
her/his own way, they they are here partly to give something back in
appreciation for what camp has meant in their lives. What a great
feeling to hear that.
 We
don't run the traditional CIT Program common at many camps, partly because
we want our campers to take a break from CK-NJ before they become counselors
(we don't have junior counselors at our camp). We also want them to
experience at least a year of college. Being a sleep-away camp
counselor requires a maturity level that often has not yet been achieved by
the graduating high school senior who has not yet been to college.
 Also,
we think it's important to gain other perspectives. Sure, we think
that our camp is terrific and we're proud that what we have taught our
campers has great meaning in their lives. But we also know that
it's easy to think there's only one way to do things. So it's good to
take a break from CK-NJ and explore some other parts of the world.
Sometimes that means that a potential counselor doesn't come back to work at
camp, but those who do are much better counselors than if they had continued
here without interruption. Life is too complex and varied to think
that our way is the only way, and we want our staff to approach their jobs
with creativity and new perspectives and to help make our camp better.
The best counselors don't just copy what others have done. Instead,
they have goals and think about different ways of achieving them.
We also don't want our whole staff to be former campers, even though that
might be the easiest way to fill the staff. We need people who have
never been here before, who live in different places around the country and
the world, who look at life from different angles. Every year our camp
is enriched by these new perspectives. We can't imagine CK-NJ without
all the wonderful "new people" who have joined us every summer.
 Another
note on former campers becoming counselors. Not all former campers
would make good counselors. That's not because they were "bad campers"
or that they won't be successful people in other types of jobs. But
just because you've been a camper here doesn't make you qualified to be a
counselor. There are particular skills and personality traits that we
want counselors to have. This year we have a larger-than-usual number
of former campers on our staff, but not all former-camper-applicants were
hired. It's always competitive to be a member of this staff.
Being a camp counselor is one of the most challenging and rewarding jobs
anyone could have. Over these first 19 summers we've had hundreds of
dedicated and skilled counselors. And we are proud that some of the
finest counselors were once our campers.
Tom
 August
3, 2009
Time
I've always felt that camp is a gift of time, for the campers and staff.
It's time away from our normal lives, spent in an adventure we probably
couldn't have anywhere else.
But it's strange how time feels different at camp. For instance, camp
is very relaxing because we have so much time to do the things we want to
do. But it also seems very hectic and fast-moving; it's amazing how
much we do in a very short period of time. A day sometimes feels like
a week in the sense that we get to know each other quickly and we do so many
things in a day. And sometimes a week feels like a day because we
can't believe how quickly the time passes at camp.
We lose track of time at camp also. Keeping up with the news of the
world is hard to do (and a welcome break, to tell the truth) and sometimes
we forget briefly what day it is.
Camp is definitely its own little world with its own sense of time.
This morning I'm realizing that we are starting our sixth week and I can't
believe how quickly the summer is passing. I think back to the first
two weeks and it both seems like they were ages ago and that they ended just
yesterday. I look ahead to the next three weeks and it seems that they
will last forever because of all the things we have planned. But then
I remember that these weeks will whiz by because we are having so much fun.
It can be confusing. But what's clear is that camp is fun and we make
the most of every moment here.
The buses are making their first pick-ups right about now and they'll be
pulling around to the other side of the bowl very soon. I can't wait.
It's camp time again . . . the time of our lives.
Tom
August 2009
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