Hello! My name is Lucy and I am writing a guest blog post for you today. Here at camp, I am an Itokan which is Merrowvista’s leader in training program. During this session, I am helping specialists around camp and for session B I will be leading a two week village.
Yesterday morning there was regular programing for the campers with lots of activities happening all around camp. In the afternoon they enjoyed the warm weather at our County Fair, where different activities are set up for campers around the main area of camp that campers can travel around to. They earn tickets in trivia, hula hooping and lawn games or they could relax and get their nails or face painted. Once campers rack up enough tickets they can send a staff member to musical jail where you have to sing yourself free! Some campers got together and pooled their tickets to get Bailey Sheats, Assistant Director of Merrowvista, to sing them a song!
Yesterday night we asked campers to wash up and put on their nice clothing for the last dinner with 2-week campers here. After dinner, villages headed to the Chapel for Candlelight Sing. This is the time we take to gather together and sing songs before campers leave. Each village gets up to share a song with the community. We start with the loud, rowdy songs and, as the night goes on, transition to the slow and quiet songs. At the end of the night campers receive their founder medals. Candlelight sing is when we celebrate our time together at camp while acknowledging that it will be the last time that the whole community will gather together before we say a fond farewell to 2-week villages. I was amazed at the great performances; one cabin sang us Riptide with ukulele accompaniment while another cabin rewrote their own version of Linger, a camp classic.
This morning, the 3- week villages spent their morning packing and prepping for their hiking and canoeing trips. Carter Dome and Sentinel left to canoe on Newfound Lake while Canaan, Lincoln, Mahoosuc, and Lafayette journeyed off on their overnight hiking trips in the Ossipee Mountains.
Although today was chilly and overcast, 2-week campers had a great time at their wish day activities. Wish day is when campers have the opportunity to do an activity or interest group that they did not get the chance to do during the session. Campers had the opportunity to go on a distance swim to strawberry point across Dan Hole Pond, work on projects in the woodshop, tie-dye, make Sculpy clay creations – the list goes on and on!
After the 3-week campers departed, 2-week campers welcomed their families to Merrowvista and enjoyed a picnic dinner before heading to the council circle. At Grand Council, each village had a chance to share their accomplishments with the parents and to sing them a song before saying goodbye to village mates and leaders.
The 2-week campers will be missed but we are looking forward to welcoming back the 3-week Pioneers and Trailblazers! In the next couple of days we will start the Four Fold Tournament – a community wide event that lets everyone test and grow in their Mental, Social, Religious, and Physical folds in different ways. Check back soon to learn more!