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 Susan M. who wrote in to tell us about her camp experience at Nakanawa. Here’s her submission:

“My name is Susan M. and I am not your average camper at a not-so-average camp. I am 13 and I go to Camp Nakanawa, which is located in Eastern Tennessee. I spend the best four weeks of my year each summer at Nakanawa. Nakanawa is a very important tradition in my family. My mom, aunt, great aunt, and great grandmother all went to Camp Nakanawa. Every year, all the girls in Junior Camp put on an Operetta for the parents on the last day. Some of the most recent productions include, The Wizard of Oz, Aladdin, and The Lion King. This summer’s Operetta was a revue of camp’s prior shows.

My age group was the oldest in Junior Camp so we could audition for a lead role. Prior to leaving for camp, I did not want to audition for a lead because I don't consider myself a singer and couldn’t carry a tune for a million dollars. The thought of singing on stage made my stomach turn. And turn and turn and turn. Enter Ms. Tiny. Ms. Tiny is the thoughtful, kind, “practically-perfect-in-every-way” Glee Club counselor. (Glee Club is an activity focused mostly on singing, acting and preparing for the Operetta.) Ms. Tiny was a camper herself for many years and has been a counselor many, many, many more summers. She is one of the most important and respected counselors in Junior Camp.

Jump to audition day: Since the 2019 Operetta was a revue there were lots of lead roles. When auditions started, I began to think. ‘Ms. Tiny is a great teacher and she said there were 30 main roles. That means I have a chance of becoming a lead!’ As I continued to process this exciting prospect I decided that one thing was certain… I was going to try out!! My audition certainly wasn’t the best, but Ms. Tiny saw something in me. The parts were announced the next day. One by one, the best lead roles were assigned. My hopes started to sink. I had gone out of my comfort zone by auditioning but I still wasn’t sure. ‘Cameron is Belle,’ Ms. Tiny read. ‘Brinkley is Aladdin, Morgan is Cinderella, Mary Meyers is Peter Pan…. and Susan will be Mary Poppins.’ ‘Wait, what!?’ I got a lead role! I was a very nervous but also extremely excited. Mary Poppins was a great lead and I couldn’t believe I would get to be her.

It took a lot more work than I thought to be Mary Poppins. Many days I had to use my free time to practice with Ms. Tiny. Her encouragement, enthusiasm, and excitement made spending my time rehearsing some of my most memorable days at camp. For weeks we worked on projection, our lines, the right costume, and so much more. Most importantly, I had to perfect my British accent!

On the day of the Operetta, I was a churning with emotion. I was nervous I would forget my lines, excited to sing in front of so many people, and ready to show everyone the Mary Poppins I had been perfecting for weeks. The show was a success and I was very proud of my performance. On the final night of camp, awards are given in each of the activities. I was very proud because all my hard work helped me get second place in Glee Club. It was the perfect way to end my best year at Camp Nakanawa yet. I am so grateful that Ms. Tiny gave me the opportunity to play Mary Poppins. I have so many wonderful memories from this summer. Being a camper at camp Nakanawa is nothing short of supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”

Thank you so much for this great entry, Mary—I mean, Susan! You sound like a fantastic actress and a super speller! The Nakanawa tradition runs deep in your family! How cool that you enjoy keeping the family tradition each summer! How exciting that you really moved outside of your comfort zone this summer! And, what’s more, is that you enjoyed it and made yourself proud! Glad you had such a great time! If anybody else is interested in Camp Nakanawa, you can give it a closer look by clicking here and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

This year’s summer camp season is still fresh in our minds, but for serious Camp Fans we think about camp all year long. If you’re unsure where you’ll be attending camp in the following season, then today’s Blog post just might introduce you to your summer camp experience next year! We’re shining our summer camp spotlight over to the eastern coast where we find Camp Jewell YMCA in the Berkshires of northwest Connecticut.

A regular fun factory, Camp Jewell has been around since 1901 and providing kids with 540 beautiful acres along the banks of New Hampshire’s Lake Swanzey. Once an all-boys camp, Camp Jewell moved to a co-ed program in 1970 and has since shown boys and girls summer fun like they’ve never experienced before. With their beginning more than a hundred years ago with well under a hundred kids, they now welcome 1500 campers each summer!

Join the exciting summer happenings going on at Camp Jewell where campers get the chance to splash it up with activities like Swimming, Canoeing and Kayaking, Fishing, Paddleboarding, and more. For land activities, they have Archery, Basketball, Carpetball, Climbing Towers, 4-Square, Frisbee, Hiking, Outdoor Cooking, Ropes Course, Soccer, Volleyball, Wiffleball, Zip Line, and lots, LOTS more!

And for indoor fun, Camp Jewell gives campers the opportunity to sharpen their skills in other activities such as Arts & Crafts, Dance, Drama, Guitar, Ukulele, Pottery, and other cool activities you can try your hand at!

One last note about Camp Jewell, their facilities and cabins for camper quarters are accommodating and complementary to the natural surroundings. The Main Camp Facility fills up at 400 people and they offer 13 fully winterized cabins that can each sleep up to 26 people! Every cabin features bathrooms, showers, and a central common area with a fireplace. And the Senior Lodge sleeps up to 68 people!

Check out more about Camp Jewell by clicking here and, as always, thanks for reading, Camp Fans.

- 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 $15 gift certificate to our online store simply for participating. The following post is from Raag M. who wrote in to tell us about his camp stay at Camp Mowglis. Here’s his submission:

“It was a perfectly bright afternoon; the sun was warm on my back and a cool breeze was blowing. I was at Camp Mowglis, in Hebron, New Hampshire for the summer of 2019. I was walking down to the rifle range, which is the circled area.

I was walking down there for the first time, feeling a tinge nervous, but mostly excited.
 
When I stepped inside the rifle range after a short walk I had to choose a rifle to shoot with. I went with B2. It was the German Anschutz model. I then set up a target to shoot at and sat down on the bench. Then after getting our ammunition blocks, we lay down to shoot. 
 
And then the moment came. When the Riflery instructor told us to shoot I loaded, looked through the sights, and shot. I did this repeatedly until I was on my last and 5th shot. I then looked through the sights and I took deep breaths. When I shot, my eyes were closed. I felt like it had been a good shot.
 
When we went outside to retrieve our targets I was bursting with excitement! I wanted to know what score my target was. It was a 24/50. I felt like jumping for joy, I was so ecstatic. When I shot again, however, my shots were not that good. They were a 19 and a 16. I still went to the next activity happily because I had had a great time in Riflery!”

Nice shooting, Raag! I love those moments when time seemingly freezes with some deep breathing and laser focus. It’s great to hear that Riflery was such a cool experience for you! Keep in practice if it’s something that you really like! I bet with some more focus and deep breathing you could shoot 24/50’s on the regular. Camp Mowglis sounds awesome! If anyone else would like to check it out closer, you can do so by clicking right here. As always, thanks for reading!

Hey, Basketball Lovers!

One name that will never fade from the NBA’s memory is the legendary Michael Jordan. An all-star player who ceaselessly amazed fans and colleagues, Michael Jordan goes down in history as one of the best athletes to play the game. Not a camper himself, but the owner of his own basketball camp, the Michael Jordan Flight School—the leading youth basketball camp in the world—I’ve covered Michael previously on the Blog.

But there’s much more to learn about this magical basketball player. Here’s a little bit more about him.

It Tongues in the Family
Notorious for sticking his tongue out, when it came to focus on the court, Michael’s father is where he got it from. His dad would have his tongue hanging out as he fix-it projects around the house. Turns out that Michael’s father got it from HIS father. He recalls Michael’s grandfather who would have his tongue out as he worked on automobiles. It’s since been coined as ‘Concentration Tongue’.

Michael Jordan wore the number 23 for his whole career…except for one day when somebody stole his jersey from the locker room about an hour before gametime. The thief was never found and, forced to go with what they had around, Michael wore a nameless jersey with the number 12 printed on it.

His own childhood hero, Michael loved watching Magic Johnson when he was growing up. His friends started calling him Magic Jordan and the license plate of the first car he ever got even read ‘MGCJRDN’. Magic and Michael eventually became very good friends.

Have fun with your friends on the hoop and court you have available to you and look into visiting a basketball camp for your next summer stay! And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Aficionados!

Your camp stories for this year’s annual ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest at Everything summer Camp were fantastic! I’m eager to share them with our online community and post each submission right here on the Blog!

Last week concluded the announcements of our ten lucky winners who took larger prizes. And now today, I’ll begin sharing the rest of our submissions. All other entrants receive a $15 gift certificate to our online store simply for participating, making everyone a winner.

The following post is from Katie P. who wrote in to tell us about her time away at Camp Merrie Woode this summer. Here’s her submission:

“One night me and my friend got up around 4:27 am to the sounds of rustling I quickly shined the light out of the window and she saw a bear, the bear’s name is Margaruite, I rushed over to see if she was telling the truth and she was. A quick reminder to help you with this story is that me and my friend go by dumb and dumber because we are both over-the-top stupid. I got out of bed rushed to the bathroom and came back to put the trunk in front of the door we didn’t want to wake anybody up and we also didn’t want to be killed for the rest of the night. As we were walking back to our beds my friend tripped on a suitcase and then to my foot making her break her nose and it started gushing blood. We tried to clean it up the best we could but obviously we are dumb and dumber so we didn’t know much on how to fix it. By the way none of the rest of the cabin was awake. We shoved a tampon up her nose and called it a day. We got back into one bed together instead of getting into each of our own beds by ourself. We thought this would be the safest way to sleep. For the rest of the night we were scared so much we couldn’t stop shivering. This was one of the funniest and most terrifying moments of my life!”

You and your friend had quite a frantic night at camp! I’m glad that nobody got hurt too bad and nobody got eaten by a bear either! Thanks for your story, Katie! You had a number of us laughing pretty hard here around the office! How very resourceful of you two to use this hygienic bathroom product on (or should I say ‘in’) your friend’s nose.  Also, Margaruite is a wonderful bear name!

If you’re interested in checking out Camp Merrie Woode, give them a closer look sometime. And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John