Turning Over A New Leaf: Session 4 Begins
Session 4 Opening Day is finally here! Thank you to all you Session 4 parents who made the trek to the piney woods near Timpson to drop off your kiddos. This is sure to be a memorable session for many reasons.
Over the last 48 hours I have thought a lot about what transpires from the closing of one session to the opening of another. Rewind two days to this past Friday. We started the day with Summer Tree. There, campers shared why this summer was their best ever. Brothers and sisters said, “I love you.” Tears were had, and a lot of truth and wisdom was shared. It was the culmination of a two-week session and hearts were full.
Behind the scenes, our staff was gearing up for the rest of Friday. Directors spent rest period going from cabin to cabin getting camper feedback on their cabin counselors (each camper gives their cabin counselors a 1-5 rating on how well they did). We prepared for Initiation. We tallied individual and team points as we neared announcing Tribal Competition winners. Camper closing day packets were being assembled. Once Initiation was over, we announced that Caddo had won Tribal Competition. This was a big deal!! I might say that Tejas was very gracious in their attitude, even while Caddo celebrated the victory. We immediately walked down to the pool for Sing Song and enjoyed our last Sing Song of the session. Following Sing Song we announced the winners of inspection, who would soon be enjoying complimentary pizza in their cabin. Meanwhile, campers enjoyed those last precious moments together in their cabin for cabin time before we called lights out. We all went to bed Friday night in hopes that maybe, just maybe, our campers knew their true selves a bit more than when they arrived two weeks prior.
Closing Day came bright and early at 7am the next morning. Breakfast on Flagpole Hill followed along with Final Pow Wow under the bows of the sweet gum tree. Soon everyone was packing up. Counselors worked heartedly to lead their cabin in one more cabin cleaning. 9am arrived and soon parents were scatted across campus greeting their cabin counselors and packing up. Closing Ceremonies were soon underway, and we all celebrated a session coming to a close. More tears were shed— more than usual.
One of my favorite things to do on Closing Day is ask campers how their session went. I am sure this was not necessarily the case with all our campers, but of the dozen or so campers that I polled, this was their favorite summer hands down. Why so? The common denominator was the same— the people. In particularly, campers noted that they absolutely loved their counselors. I was once again reminded of how remarkable this Huawni Counseling Staff really is. They are young people Mandi and I want Bear and John Brooks to truly grow up and be like, and they surely have been making a huge impact on our campers this summer.
As soon our Session 3 campers exited onto FM 1645, counselors met in the Staff Lounge for our counselor final pow wow. More tears were shed, and we for a moment celebrated the ending that was Session 3. Fifteen minutes later we were back in Session 4 prep mode, cleaning cabins and getting ready for a new bunch of campers. By mid afternoon counselors finally got to rest. I encouraged many of them to think about ways that they recharge in addition to sleeping. I was delighted to see them take this to heart. Counselors spent time Saturday afternoon alone, reading books, napping, or going into Nacogdoches to take a break from the rigor of Camp.
The sun came up Sunday morning and it was a new day. Counselors got to sleep in and enjoy the quiet, cool morning. At 11am we met up once again to meet our Session 4 campers, at least on paper. Counselors spent a good 45 minutes looking at application and youth development intake forms. After lunch we spent another hour plus doing last minute work duty putting the finishing touches on our campus. At 1:30pm we gathered in the Dining Hall and spent 5 minutes alone in silence. Soon you could hear the song Brothers by Penny & Sparrow play over the speakers as we readied for one more session. Everyone gathered in a circle and Erin Delony and Billy Martin gave us one last pump up speech. And soon, everyone was reminded of why we are here, as we chanted “LTK”, which of course stands for love the kids.
Today it was like turning over a new leaf, as we pocketed our Session 3 memories and faces and looked ahead to this new, precious group of campers. We are excited to get to know each one, uniquely and specially.
Homesickness
For many of you, it was your first time to drop your child off at sleepaway camp. This can understandably be a very nerve racking and emotional event. As hard as it is, we believe that homesickness is great opportunity for growth. Why is this so? I encourage you to read these two blogs I’ve written based upon the book Homesick & Happy by Michael Thompson.
Homesick & Happy Intro
Homesick & Happy Chapter 1 – Off They Go
Staying in touch with your camper and camp pics
We highly encourage you to utilize letter writing as well as sending your camper emails through your CampInTouch login. Also, be sure to log into your CampInTouch account to see the photos we will be posting daily. And finally, be sure and subscribe to our blog page by going here and clicking on the subscribe via email blue button.
Parent Book Club
One of the biggest benefits to camp for your campers is unplugging from the busyness of life and connecting with mother nature. This summer for our Huawni Parent Book Club I will be blogging on the the book Last Child in the Woods. This book has great research about the benefits to our kids being in nature. To get a free copy of the book, go here and reply at the bottom of the blog. I look forward to learning together.
Campers are now hanging out in their cabins getting some quality cabin time with those amazing counselors that I mentioned early. Camp is back in motion, and we are looking forward to the coming week!
-Travis
