July 1, 2008

The campers from Ohio left early this morning with quick good byes. I thought to myself I can’t believe how fast these weeks are going by. The good byes were not very emotional for the campers unlike the other camps so far this summer. While this is not necessarily a bad thing I wonder to myself if it’s a result of not having cabin chats which certainly help develop the group dynamic/cohesiveness. Another thing unique to this camp which was a great idea I thought was a 1 on 1 evaluation with the Unit Leader. We worked on making birthday cards for the campers which will be sent to them on there birthdays by the camp administration.
I had the wonderful opportunity to ride from camp with Robert and Aly Fox (who works with New Camp Development for the Association of Hole in the Wall Camps). We had a lot of good conversations and decided to go to the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp to show Robert what another camp was like. They were in the process of preparing for camper arrivals tomorrow for a new program they have started called Hero’s Journey. From my understanding this will be a camp out for older campers who will learn outdoor survival skills who will also be trained by state troopers and at the end of the session there will be a simulated crash and helicopter rescue. It was awesome to go back and help give the tour. I was dropped off at the New Haven train station where I took the metro north to Grand Central and the subway to my cousin’s place in the financial district.