The Sari Diaries- Friday 7/8/16

Dear Chippies, Parents, Family and Friends,

Today was one of my very favorite days of the summer and I am excited to share the details with all of you this evening. It was our Ten Year celebration which is our annual day to honor those who have been at camp for a decade. We recognized Monica Fishbein, Emily Fradin, Sami Fabric, Sydney Levenfeld, Kahley Czupek, Sara Moss, Zoe Patinkin, Nikki Richter and Sophie Stempel throughout the entire day and they deserved it all. Read below for more info on the wonderfulness experienced at #TheRanch2016 on this fine day!

The day began at breakfast with the entire camp singing to the Ten Year girls. They had breakfast from Wolfpack waiting for them and they put on their Ten Year shirts. They were all smiles and very excited for their day ahead. After breakfast, their day of activities began. They climbed the wall, went down the zipline, rode horses, waterskied, tubed, and even cooked in the CRC Cooking Academy. For many of them, it was their first time in ages doing any of these activities and they couldn’t have been happier. Other staff were glad to help make this a special day for them in any way they could. Without a doubt, it was a exceptional morning and afternoon for these girls!

While the Ten Year girls were enjoying their day of fun around camp, campers did activities this morning and participated in a rainy day program this afternoon. We had our annual Male Staff Beauty Pageant which is always a camper favorite. Cabins worked together to prepare the male staff for the contest. They did their hair, made them up and even dressed the boys in, let’s just call it interesting, costumes. Luke Harris worked with C-C and had a great time coloring in coloring books and hanging out. They took an alternate route for the pageant and decided that beauty was from within and that it didn’t matter what Luke looked like…it was all about who he was as a person. Overall, it was a fun program that everyone got a good laugh out of. After we left the theater, there were many campers that went puddle jumping. Trailriders got into their bathing suits to enjoy the puddles and Blackfoot campers joyously splashed in the big puddle outside the theater!

Because we had nine Ten Year girls (yes, that is 90 years of Chippewa!), we broke up the traditional ceremony in the theater into rest hour and evening program. At rest hour, campers had the opportunity to go on stage to read poems and sing songs to their counselors who were Ten Year girls. After the rest hour portion of the ceremony, it was cake time! Jen really outdid herself by creating a s’mores bar cake. A little known fact is that it is the tenth summer that s’mores bars are a dessert at CRC! Everyone loved the cake…always a Chippy favorite!

The day ended with staff and siblings of the Ten Year girls toasting and roasting them on stage. The previous ten year girls (and boys) sang “Welcome Chippewa,” which is the traditional song we open the ceremony with. Age groups read poems, siblings read speeches and there were lots and lots of awesome gifts given. Each Ten Year girl received their rain jacket & denim shirt and Cliff, Lisa and I spoke about each individual. This group is truly special and we are incredibly lucky to have nine Ten Year girls who have dedicated so much to Chippewa. They are genuinely kind and caring people- the exact role models that we want for our campers. It has been a privilege to share their camp experience with them and to watch them grow from young campers into responsible counselors who have an understanding of how important their role at camp is in creating the magic that is CRC. I know that as our two hundred campers watched these girls being honored, they were imagining themselves on stage for their own Ten Year celebrations. I know this because I was there once and that is exactly what I was doing. I also know this because as we all left the theater, I overheard a number of conversations talking about how excited they are for their big day. It is so cool that we have a culture here where it is the expectation that everyone will spend at least a decade’s worth of summers on Dam Lake. There is no denying that this is unique!

I guess that’s all for tonight, but let me tell you this…I am going to sleep this evening filled with a feeling of contentment. I am so proud of these nine girls and quite honestly of this entire camp for recognizing the significance of dedicating ten years to Chippyland. Thank you Ten Year girls and Happy Ten Year…here’s to ten more!

Happy Camping and Love,
Sari