August 16, 2013

Another exciting day at camp

SO much going on! Whitney girls (a marathon sprint by of paddling and portaging) got back as lunch began, to massive cheering by the whole camp… This morning at 7 I tested a Senior Boy for the jumping portion of his 1st class award in riding. He jumped a flawless course of 3 foot jumps and did a beautiful job jumping 2 foot jumps with no stirrups. After passing his dressage  and written tests and cross country jumping test over the past few days. Andrea, the Program Director who supervises riding (and was at the test), used to be head of riding and she fondly remembers giving this camper his 3rd class award in riding in 2007 when he was a Junior Boy, and his 2nd class award in 2011. I love the continuity of that and the ongoing multiyear staff investment in children’s growth and development… Today at the barn is Arowhon Horse Show and we’ve already given out lots of ribbons this morning….Yesterday was High Ropes Special Day: clown school up in the air! Yesterday was also the third heat (of four heats) of the Wayne Peck Sailing Regatta – This is our annual camper/staff sailing race, where the camper must skipper three of the four legs of the race… So many camper/staff teams sign up that we have to hold four elimination heats before the final race… I failed to place this year, but a great time was had by all sailors…. Brent boys left yesterday morning and we expect them back any minute… Brent girls left this morning….

Yesterday was also the Two Mile Swim. 15 intrepid campers were paddled out to the Joe Lake Dam and then swam the two miles back to camp, each accompanied by a safety canoe. We’re SO proud of their achievement! Today is LIT Solo Day… 14 LITs have chosen to do a 24-hour solo: They will paddle out together to a group of campsites that are very close together, and each of them will be given a specific spot to stay in. They have food, water, shelter and a journal… and a whistle to blow if they need help or choose to abort their solo. There will be staff close by who can easily hear the whistles if they blow, and come to the rescue. In 15 years of doing solos, we’ve never had anyone blow their whistle! And we’ve had many reports of LIT solo’s being profound experiences of personal growth for them.

The last days of camp are always like this – jam packed with everyone working their “bucket list,” trying to cram in everything they want to do before Planet Arowhon stops spinning for another year.

Summer is winding up, not down

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