Thursday, May 29, 2014

New Counselor Interview: Margaret Cyr-Ohngemach

Margaret has been coming to camp for years as a camper, CIT, volunteer, and now a first time counselor.



 Q: What is one of your favorite memories from when you were a camper? 

A: Every second! 



 Q: Is there any specific type of forest-dwelling animal you hope to have the chance to see this summer? 

A: Yes. Any kind. 

 Q: If you were in a canoe in the middle of the lake and you got to have one person to keep you company, one object in your possession, one kind of hat on your head and one song playing the whole time, what would they all be? 

A: If this situation were ever to arise, there is no doubt in my mind that my wonderful co-counselor Erika Lewy would be in the canoe with me. I would hope to have string cheese with me, which needs no explanation. I would be wearing a very large sun hat because sunburn is bad, and the song playing would be something sung by jack johnson. 

Thursday, May 22, 2014

New Counselor Interview: Pablo Murphy-Torres



Pablo has been a camper, CIT and volunteer. This is his very first summer on staff.


Q: Why in the world do you want to come live in the woods at L.G. Cook 4-H Camp for two months?
A: Why wouldn't I? Camp has a certain atmosphere that is just good for the mind, body, and soul. During the rest of the year, there are so many different, stressful, things going on. When it's time to go to camp, you can forget all of that and just focus on having the time of your life.


Q: What is one of your favorite memories from when you were a camper?
A: Definitely my first Battle for the Island game. I love capture the flag, but in my neighborhood, there aren't enough kids to play. at camp we had a lot of land, a lot of people, and that meant a lot more fun.


Q:What do you think is the most important trait of a great camp counselor?
A: I think that creativity makes a great counselor. When you have a creative counselor, you never get bored. Summer camp is about having fun, meeting friends, and trying new things, and creativity has a big hand in all three. 


Q:What's your favorite kind of camp food?
A:CARL'S BLUEBERRY COBBLER! Hands- down favorite, because it's just that delicious.

Q: If you were in a canoe in the middle of the lake and you got to have one person to keep you company, one object in your possession, one kind of hat on your head and one song playing the whole time, what would they all be?
A:
-Person: Sergio Aguero (Editors Note: If you're like me and have no idea who this is, he's a soccer ( the English "football" player) of some sort or something. Thanks, Internet.)
-Object: tortilla chips
-Hat: guacamole hat for my tortilla chips (Editors Note #2: Guacamole is delicious. End of note.) 
-Song: "Feather on the Clyde" by Passenger

Friday, May 16, 2014

Returning Counselor Interview: Emily Dallas

Emily "Lightning Rod D-City" Dallas is a long time former camper, CIT, volunteer, and shooting sports counselor. This will be her third summer as a counselor, the most of any counselors on staff for the 2014 season.

Q: Why in the world do you want to come live in the woods at L.G. Cook 4-H Camp for two months, again!?
 
A: Because a day at camp is really fun; we sing AND jump AND laugh AND run... 
 
Q: What part of being at summer camp have you missed the most in the off-season?

A: I don't know what I've missed most, but whenever I have a bad day, I think about how much I would rather be at camp.
 
Q: What do you think is the most important trait of a great camp counselor?

A: Whole-hearted passion for camp and everything it stands for, and a realization of how much this place means to so many people.
  
Q: What's your favorite kind of camp food?

A: FrEaKoUt!
 
Q:What's your ideal weather?

A: Sunny and 87 degrees  

Q: If you were in a canoe in the middle of the lake and you got to have one person to keep you company, one object in your possession, one kind of hat on your head and one song playing the whole time, what would they all be? 

A: I would want to float around with Lindley G. Cook, possess a large bowl of Freakout, wear Ben's antique orange(ish) hat, and listen to "Closer to Fine" by the Indigo Girls.

Thursday, May 15, 2014

The Counselor Staff of Summer 2014!


Nothing impacts and shapes a summer at camp more than the Counselor Staff, and our staff for 2014 is ripped and roaring and raring to go.

We've got 23 counselors coming in this summer, and all 11 cabins are going to be open all season long. We've got returning counselors who've worked here before, counselors who've been campers, counselors who've been CITs and Volunteers, counselors brand new to camp, counselors from all over the country and counselors from all over the world. The one thing they've got in common is they can't wait to spend a summer in the woods at L.G. Cook.


Every year, on the first day of staff training a group of strangers gather in the Dining Hall, nervously sitting around a big conference table waiting for training to begin. They're anxious about how this summer will turn out, anxious about this new strange home in the woods they'll be inhabiting, anxious about exactly what they've gotten themselves into and anxious about who in the world all these other people are.
 
A couple hours later, they're a bit more comfortable, they're getting to know each other, find out what they have in common, and discover what the summer holds ahead for them as a group and as a team. 

A couple days later, they're friends.

A couple weeks later, they're family.

By the end of the summer they will become an indispensable part of each others lives and each others histories, because each of them will be forever changed because at some point they made the crazy decision to come spend a summer at camp. And it all begins with a bunch of nervous strangers in a big ol' building in the woods. 

Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting interviews with some of this summer's counselors to give you the chance to get to know them even before they get to know each other, morph into a counselor staff and shape the experience of  every camper who comes to L.G. Cook during the Summer of 2014.




The Staff of Summer 2013. We won't know what this summer's group of goofballs are going to look like yet until they get here, put on their staff shirts, and live together in the woods for a couple months...

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Welcome to May

Sure enough, as soon as the calendar turned to May the rain stopped,  the wind halted, the temperature rose and the sun came out. (Not necessarily in that order.)

Thanks, calender. I knew I could count on you...eventually. (Seriously, not to nit-pick but you took your good ol' fashioned sweet-time this year, didn't you? Not complaining. Well. Complaining a little.)

To celebrate the arrival of such pre-summer weather, have some pictures of our resident camp waterfall, awoken by the recent rain:

It was a bit of an accomplishment not to drop my phone right into the spillway when taking this.


I was going to take a video to communicate the great noise this rushing water makes but...1) I realized I don't know how to do that, 2) Even if I did know how to do that, my phone wouldn't know how to do that cause  it's 25 years old (exaggeration) and 3), if I had been able to take a video I definitely would have dropped my phone in the spillway.


Happy May!