Final Day of 2-Week Session

“It feels like it’s only the third day here!”, one camper remarked to his friend as we headed to breakfast. Indeed, time flies when you’re having fun, and these past two weeks have been full of fun, friends, and adventure. As parents, you’ve probably been counting down the days, but here at camp we can’t believe where the time has gone! Today was the final day of 2-Week session, and we’ve been spending these past couple weeks together enjoying the outdoors, building skills in activities, growing deeper friendships, and gaining more self-confidence and independence. We enjoyed our last activity periods today, the final chance for boys to work on progressions and finish projects.

All smiles on one of the many paddling trips this week!

At Morning Watch today, Beau started our day off by asking us, “What is a friend?” He described a long list of qualities that good friends have, including being a good listener, being supportive, acting with kindness, and accepting others for who they are. He asked the community to think about what kind of friends they are, and reflect on the impact they make on those around them. Since we can’t help but influence everyone around us, Beau challenged us to make that impact a positive one, especially today on our last day, and be the kind of person that we would want to be friends with.

Drawing self-portraits in Arts and Crafts

As Beau shared this morning, you become like the company you keep, so it’s important to choose to surround yourself with people that help you become the best version of yourself. Luckily, at camp we get to live in a community with hundreds of kind friends, mentors, and teachers. These past two weeks we’ve been surrounding ourselves with not only great company, but pretty views and fun activities too. If just one person can make a positive impact on another’s life, think about what a great impact hundreds of people can have on each other while at camp.

This crew backpacked Clawhammer Mountain this week!

The morning was spent enjoying activities as usual, and we even had two final trips head out this morning, one to the ever-popular Sliding Rock and the other as a day hike to see the Triple Falls at DuPont State Forest. After lunch we had a “Lost and Found fashion show” in the Dining Hall to reunite boys with their misplaced items. This not only helps us work through the lost and found items that collect throughout the session, but it’s also a hilarious way to end our final lunch. Counselors put on all the lost and found clothing (which is comically small on them) and parade around the Dining Hall like they’re on a runway, while boys keep an eye out for which clothing might be theirs.

Afterwards, we had an extended Rest Hour for packing and getting our trunks ready to go. Once everything was ready to go for tomorrow morning, we returned to our afternoon activities, and then dinner. Evening Program was one last opportunity to play games with their tribes.

Collecting supplies to build one more fort

We close every session with Campfire, which gives us time to reflect as a community and enjoy songs, skits, and verses in an area special to camp. Tonight was our Candlelight Campfire, where everyone lights their candles as we sing the final song, Falling Creek’s version of “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.” It is a beautiful way to end the day, sitting together in the campfire area with glowing candles that reflect off boys’ faces. One of the verses particularly resonates with the atmosphere during our Campfire: “so when you leave tonight, by the fire’s light, please leave your spirit here. And we’ll let the trees, and all the memories, guard them all till we’re back next year.”

Everyone headed to bed tonight tired and happy, dreaming about this whirlwind of a session, and all the fun and growth we packed into a seemingly short couple of weeks. Parents, we know your sons can’t wait to see you tomorrow morning! The gate will open at 8:30am, see you then!

-Annie Pharr

Sailing away at Lake Summit!

More Highlights From This Final Day:

• Congrats to XC and lacrosse counselor, David Cowan! He was awarded the “White Tiger Staff of the Week” award today for consistently being an outstanding staff member.
• Breakfast: scrambled eggs with sausage, cheese, and tortillas to make breakfast burritos, plus oatmeal, fresh fruit, yogurt, cottage cheese, and granola.
• Lunch: mini corn dogs with macaroni and cheese, grapes, creole chicken gumbo, a full salad bar, and oatmeal raisin cookies for dessert.
• Dinner: Chef David cooked up his famous beef brisket, baked beans, rice pilaf, rolls, and a full salad bar with brownies for dessert.