Hey, Camp Fans!

We were delighted to see such a great response to our ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest here at Everything Summer Camp and now we’re eager to publish each one right here on the Blog! After our seven lucky winners, everyone else who submitted received a $20 gift certificate to our online store!

Today’s post is from Maddy K. from over at Beber Camp in Mukwonago, Wisconsin. Check out her submission on why Beber is so great!

This was my 2nd summer at Beber Camp! I have a VERY supportive team at camp (since I have an incurable disease that makes every day hard)! I have had the BEST 2 years at Beber Camp. I have made some of the best friends, tried a lot of new things (as an adult)! *I started as a staff member! I got to try water skiing, paintball, and more.

I love celebrating shabbat with all my friends. You will make some of your best friends (in my case from around the world) at camp! I am already counting down the days till next summer. The best times were when staff could do all staff paintball games or go get ice cream (we went to this place where my dad went as a kid), and more.

The highlight of the summer for me was: in between sessions was spending time and bonding with my co-workers (as I’m usually in the office and, not getting a lot of time outside/around others)!! I have made tons of friends from ALL over the world! We have a quote at my camp: “friendships won may never die”! It is true, I still have friends from my first summer! You will make your best friends at camp!

Wonderful, Maddy! Thanks for sharing your experience with us. I’m glad you got to do some really fun activities this summer and spend your days outside the office! How cool that you get to meet so many new people from all over the country and the WORLD! What a great place Beber Camp must be! For everyone else, if Beber Camp sounds like it could be the right place for you, check it out for yourself by clicking here. As always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

Your camp stories were great! I had a great time reading through them all and now I’m excited to share them with all our readers online and post each submission right here on the Blog! I’ve finished announcing our ten lucky winners who took larger prizes and we’ve now moved on to the rest of your submissions.

The following entry is from Sam P. who wrote in to tell us about his camp experience at Camp Seneca Lake. Sam is one of the grandkids of whom Carol H. wrote about in her contest entry. Here is Sam’s submission:

Hello, my name is Sam P. and I'm 12 years old. I just returned from my third summer at Camp Seneca Lake. Last summer I was not able to go to camp and I was saddened and disheartened. However, this summer I got my chance to be in oldest Cayuga and I had the time of my life! Cayuga is the name of my village. The boys in my village are entering grades 4 - 7. Next summer I will be in Mohawk village.

At camp I got the chance to participate in two Mass programs (camp wide competitions with 4 teams), one Color War (red versus blue, I was on red and red won), and C-day (Cayuga Day). Before COVID we took off campus trips on C-day. One year I went to Corning Museum of Glass and Watkins Glen State Park. This year we stayed on campus and had tournaments, played fun games, and ate pizza and ice cream.

All of these activities were incredibly fun! I also just enjoyed hanging out in the village with my friends. In the end, I am so grateful that I was able to experience this amazing summer and have the time of my life.

Wonderful, Sam! Thanks for sending us this piece about your summer in the Cayuga village of Camp Seneca Lake! You make it sound like a blast there. I hope your team did well in the Color War. The field trips from years past sound pretty fun, but who can say no to pizza and ice cream?! Glad you had such a fun time, Sam. I hope you have even more fun next year in Mohawk! For anybody else interested in Camp Seneca Lake, you can give it a closer look by clicking here and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

Your camp stories were great for the ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest here at Everything Summer Camp! It was such fun reading through them all. Now I’m eager to share them with our online community and post each submission right here on the Blog!

I’ve finished announcing our ten lucky winners who took larger prizes and now I’m sharing the rest of your submissions. The following post is from Dominick B. who wrote in to tell us about his camp experience at Camp Mondamin. Here’s his submission:

This was my first time going to sleep away camp and I had the best time of my life! I was supposed to go last summer, but COVID had other plans. My mom let me pick out the design of my trunk and I was so excited to help pack all my supplies! My trunk is awesome and held up well. I have collected stickers to decorate it. I plan on using this trunk through college. I want to be a camp counselor when I’m older!

I looked through all the trunk designs and we even watched a video of how sturdy the trunks are made by your company! I really liked the lightning bolt design. I got a trunk storage shelf to hold my personal items. I would like to buy another shelf if I win this contest!  I would also like to buy a crazy creek chair or get one for my birthday.

I really loved camp and made some good friends. I decided to get into mountain biking and I was able to work my way up to a 3 day overnight trip to the Tsali mountain biking area. I also learned how to sail, kayak, and canoe. I was able to use all the new camping gear I bought, too! Thank you,

Dom 

Thanks so much for this great entry, Dominick! It sounds like you might love your trunk and Everything Summer Camp even more than camp itself—but I’m sure that’s not the case. We’re thrilled to hear how well your gear worked out for you and how much you love your trunk! That’s great that you got to do your first summer at overnight camp (albeit one year later than planned). Camp Mondamin has a knack for showing campers the best time of their lives! Hope you enjoy more Mountain Biking this fall! Glad you had such a good time!

If anybody else is interested in Camp Mondamin, you can give it a closer look by clicking here and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

What’s up, Camp Fans?!

We received some quality camp stories for our ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest at Everything summer Camp. You knocked it out of the park this year, campers; these stories are fantastic! I’m eager to share them with our online community and post each submission right here on the Blog!

Now that I’ve finished announcing our ten lucky winners who took larger prizes, I’m sharing the rest of your submissions. All entrants win a $20 gift certificate to our online store simply for participating. The following post is from Olivia P. who wrote in to tell us about her stay at Camp DeSoto. Check out her submission right here:

This year I went to camp DeSoto. It was so fun! I definitely want to go back next year but anyways I’m going to tell you about my grade’s trip day. Our grade went swimming at DeSoto falls. It was really beautiful. On the way there, we sang songs on the bus. Once we got to this random parking lot in the middle of nowhere, we met our guides and from there it was about a 30 minute hike to the falls. We put on our life jackets and jumped in. We did not expect it to be cold, well, we kind of did but not THAT cold. After a few minutes you couldn’t really feel the cold because your body just kind of goes numb. I kept scaring my friend and it was so funny. A kind of unwritten rule for trip day is that your grade makes up a song/parody. Our parody was to “Mamma Mia” and I don’t remember many of the words I just remember that we just sang about how cold it was! I also remember that we saw a canoe on the hike there that was wrecked and stranded from a long time ago and we asked the tour guide if anyone was on it. She said no. We were all relieved and slightly disappointed. At the end of the day, it was a really fun trip and I’m excited to go rappelling next year!

Great submission, Olivia! I love sing-along bus rides, but the Mamma Mia parody all about how cold the water was at DeSoto Falls sounds even better! Glad to hear you already have your sights set on next year and an exhilarating rappel ride! Camp DeSoto sounds really cool. If anyone else would like to check it out closer, you can do so by clicking right here. As always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

Throughout September so far, I’ve been announcing the winners to our annual ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest. And, today, the time has come to reveal our grand prize winner for this year’s edition. Find out right here and right now—the winner of our $300 gift certificate is….

Emily G.!

Yaaaayyy, Emily!!! Congratulations. You’re our grand prize winner!!! Emily wrote in to tell us about year #3 at summer camp, Camp Arbutus Hayo-Went-Ha. Read her account of her fun camp stay right here on today’s Blog post:

This past summer was my third year at camp. After being defeated in summer 2020 by camp being canceled I was extra eager to attend this year. My camp experience started out strong, I loved my counselors, my cabin was amazing, and I made amazing friends with a lot of people. I was especially excited to go on my cabins trip this year. This year our trip was a four day backpacking trip around North Manitou Island. I had never been backpacking and was super excited to try it. The day we left for our trip my cabin was in high spirits and we were all excited about this new adventure. Throughout the four days we all bonded whether it was at one of our campsites or while on the trail. It was also so amazing to just look around and see what I was hiking through. The scenery was straight out of a fantasy book and it felt so surreal. The trip went by so fast and I was having a hard time realizing what I had accomplished. I don’t have a lot of time throughout the year to go on hikes and be in the woods, so every year at camp I love to take it all in. Camp will forever be a part of me and I will forever be thankful for the experiences & friendships it has given me and what is yet to come.

What a fantastic submission, Emily! How cool to have this adventure to sort of epitomize your camp stay this year—sure to stay with you forever. I’m glad this year delivered such a meaningful experience for you after you were stuck at home for summer last year. I’m so glad Camp Arbutus Hayo-Went-Ha keeps you going back for more! For anyone else interested in checking out Hayo-Went-Ha, you can do so by clicking right here. And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John