Author Archive

Camp Starlight Reunions–Warming Our Hearts Even in the Cold Days of Winter

Tuesday, January 15th, 2013

In the cold of winter, it’s sometimes hard to conjure up those warm and sunny feelings of the days on the beautiful grounds of Camp Starlight. Growing up as a camper at Camp Starlight, this time of year would always bring with it a special excitement for me and my camp friends. Camp Starlight Reunion was almost here! With the New Year right, I realized that before I knew it, I would be back with my summer family!

There is something about spending time with the most amazing people you know that makes time stop. How do seven short weeks seem like a lifetime, almost the same way that an afternoon in cold January seems like forever? There is always such an amazing buildup to the reunion, including planning sleepovers with your bunkmates, and getting back in the camp mode.

My bunkmates and I had traditions starting from our first pre-camp reunion sleepover in 2001. We would sleep at my house and in the morning, my dad would make us French toast. It was a new tradition that added to our endless list of summer traditions. We would always reflect on the past summer, and make plans for the summer to come. There is nothing better than being with your camp friends. The reunions every January were just a taste of the summer to come, and who doesn’t love getting some new, amazing Starlight  gear at the end of the day!The idea of our winter lives being shared summer family  is exciting, and when you are with camp friends, it always feels right!

Julia W.

Blogs

Monday, January 14th, 2013

Do you love to write? Do you love Camp Starlight? We would we be thrilled for you to write for the Camp Starlight blog. Please send your blogs to info@campstarlight.com.  

The Subtle Pleasures of Summer Camp

Thursday, January 3rd, 2013

Have you noticed subtle pleasant but odd changes since your children returned from summer camp?  Have you peeked into your son’s room and noticed that he made his bed?  Were you tempted to take your daughter’s temperature the other night because she volunteered to clean up her room?  Maybe they just seem calmer or are better about sticking to routines about which you went hoarse more than once preaching to them before you put them on that bus or plane headed to their favorite summer zip code.  Perhaps they’re better about saying ‘thank you’ and ‘please’ or spend less time all out at war with each other over little things like the remote control and whether they’re going to watch The Voice or Modern Family.  Did they really mature that much at summer camp?

Not that you’re complaining.  It’s a nice, unexpected bonus.  When you initially enrolled them for camp, you were thinking it would be good for them to spend their summer working on arts and crafts projects, learning how to sail, going swimming, doing the silly things that kids do at camp, and playing sports instead of using up your entire cell phone data plan during twelve hour texting marathons or playing the Kinect so much that you can no longer tell whether you’re watching a video game or an actual television program.  You thought, ‘Maybe they’ll even make a few new friends.’  But, oddly, it’s the smaller things they seem to be bringing away from their summer camp experiences that you find yourself enjoying the most.

Sure, you read all about the benefits of sending children to summer camp before you decided to send them.  But you didn’t allow yourself to actually have expectations that your children would come home friendlier, more dutiful, more flexible, able to manage their time better, and generally happier–in short, more mature. Those are the special changes that you enjoy seeing and that make summer camp that much more valuable your eyes.

Songs of Summer

Tuesday, January 1st, 2013

What do Bruce Springsteen, Nicki Minaj, One Direction, Katy Perry, Neon Trees, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Flo-Rida all have in common? Well, in the outside world all of them are musicians.  But that’s about the only thing collective about them. This past summer, however, each musician had what we call a “Song of the Summer.”

These Camp Starlight Songs of Summer are the songs that you hear on the radio in the car, during a television commercial, or simply shuffling through you iPod. Once the music starts, wherever you are, you’re instantly taken back to the great memories of camp. You might be in the car driving to school, sitting in class, or hanging out with friends.  Wherever you might be, you’re instantly transported back to those defining moments of camp.

It could be the moment when you stepped off the bus and heard One Direction, or every time you sat down for a meal in the dining room everyone went crazy for “Starships” (even if it wasn’t your song).  It could even be the songs you heard during clean up or heard in the Camp Starlight Week in Review slideshow.  We love to hear our favorite tunes, over and over again.

Music has such a presence at camp that some songs are engraved in our camp memories.  How can we forget “We Take Care of Our Own” and its existence as not only a song of the summer, but the theme for 2012? Every year, we have an amazing time listening, singing, and dancing to the “Songs of the Summer” and it’s truly an awesome feeling when you hear certain songs and they take you back to camp. The memories instantly come back like a flash back and we recall how much fun we had in the Summer of 2012!

What will be the Camp Starlight songs of the summer for 2013?

Patrick

Ask Me More about Camp

Saturday, December 22nd, 2012

Raise your hand if this sounds familiar…
Your child comes to you and says, for what seems like the billionth time, “Ask me more about camp.” It’s now December and you’ve heard some of the stories so many times that you can actually recite them along with her.  You wonder what odd but amusing little story your little one has managed to scour from the back of her mind that somehow involves the solitary five minutes of summer camp about which you haven’t yet heard.  While you’re doing this, your child only grows more impatient, “Go ahead.  Ask me,” this time becoming so excited that she hops up and down a couple of times and appears to be choreographing her own little “ask me more about camp” dance, which somewhat tops the bemusement of the time she sang for you to ask.

You can’t resist her enthusiasm because you think it’s great to see her this excited about anything other than the latest episode of iCarly, so you cave and wait for her mile-a-minute relay of some cute story about that time she held hands with six friends and they all jumped off the water trampoline and made a really big splash, which was really funny because it made so many waves that it almost tipped over a paddleboarder nearby…No, really it was SO funny!  Or the time they went on the nature walk, and it started raining, and they were trying to hurry back to camp, but they slipped in the mud…THAT was the funniest! You’re still trying to get the stains out of the shirt she was wearing that day, but you get an image in your head, having seen the photographs of your child and her friends covered in mud the camp posted on its website, and knew from the ear-to-ear grin that she was obviously having the time of her life, and you have to chuckle because, yes, it’s funny.

Your child starts a new story about a soccer game and how her friend had really wanted to score a goal all summer at camp but really wasn’t that good at soccer, so she blocked another player so the friend could try to score. And you realize that even though you might get asked to quiz her about camp a few hundred more times before the line turns into “I can’t wait to go back!” you don’t mind because you realize that hearing about little moments like this is nice. Not only did your child just have the time of her life, her enthusiasm in sharing her experiences with you adds great value to your decision to send her to camp because not only is she having fun but she’s learning valuable life lessons.

And Now for a Holiday Olympic “Break”…

Tuesday, December 11th, 2012

1, 3, 5, 6! WE WANT OLYMPICS!

It is the point of the summer when Olympics is the only thing that you can think about. Who do you think is going to be Captain? Who do you think is going to be General? Sing Leader? Lieutenant? Everyone is discussing their favorite breaks from the years in the past, and talking about how they would want Olympics to break this year. If you’re in upper camp you’ve probably told all the juniors and inters that you actually know the break because you “overheard” David and Allison talking. Then you will probably tell them about your ideal break, convincing them that it is going to happen this way.

1, 3, 5,6! WE WANT OLYMPICS!

You’ve now limited your list to the times and locations of when it could possibly break out. You now start to look around for any clues to what the break might be, (even though the “clues” you think you’ve noticed have been there forever). Any change you notice in camp must be a part of the break. Was that bench here two days ago? I don’t know… must be Olympics! David never stands over there…it has to be for Olympics!

1, 3, 5, 6! WE WANT OLYMPICS!

We can’t even take it anymore! Please just break Olympics! Everyone is already doing Olympic cheers; outfits are already picked out for the first day; people are wearing one blue and one white bracelet to immediately rip off the bracelet of their opposing team once they finally find out which team they are on. We’ve all narrowed down that tonight is the night (since it didn’t happen all the other times we predicted.) It has to be breaking tonight!

1! 3! 5! 6! WE WANT OLYMPICS! 1! 3! 5! 6! WE WANT OLYMPICS!

And finally the moment is here! It’s Olympics! The floor starts to shake. Everyone is jumping and screaming, some even crying! It’s the best break yet! You rush to find the paper to reveal the team you’re on and rip that other bracelet off! You run over to congratulate the captains! Generals are announced, and then sing leaders, and lieutenants! Finally, the best part of the summer is here!

Hayley M.

Starlight T-Shirts around the World

Friday, November 30th, 2012

Tuesday, November 13th was the 3rd annual International Wear Your Summer Camp T-Shirt Day!

We challenged our staff to go into their closets and pull out some of their Starlight gear, put it on and show some Camp Starlight spirit. With all the choices our staff had a…staff shirts, sweatshirts, sweatpants, leagues shirts, We Take Care of Our Own Summer 2012 shirts, Polar Bear Club gear, Arts and Crafts jewelry and apparel projects, shades from a Farewell Party, and Olympic team shirts,  we knew they would be up to the challenge.

We received so many great photos from all across the country and around the world.  From Sydney, Australia to college campuses in Kansas and Oregon. We want to thank everyone for participating and making us all feel a little closer together that day!

Another Successful Stack the Caps Event!

Tuesday, November 20th, 2012

http://www.liherald.com/fivetowns/fivetowns/stories/A-fun-and-helpful-donation,37226

Way to go, Mollie!

A Thankful Time of Year

Monday, November 12th, 2012

It’s that time of year when we take a moment to reflect on those things for which we are truly thankful. As we roll through November, we approach special days spent with those we love. The holidays are such a warm and special time of year in which so many take pleasure. We are reminded how lucky we are to be surrounded by those we love and for all of the wonderful things we are so fortunate to have. It goes without saying that our experiences at Camp Starlight are ones we truly appreciate and love, and may even count twice on our list of things for which we are thankful.

Past the Post Camp Lull

Monday, November 5th, 2012

It’s here.  The lull.  The point at which the reality has set in that summer is over but next summer isn’t quite real enough.  By now, most of us have shared our favorite memories of camp at least a half dozen times with anyone who will listen  and we’ve actually started to settle into our fall habits, even if we still catch ourselves humming camp songs in that off moment while riding in the car or doing homework.  There is a peacefulness about this time of year, though, because it’s the point at which we really begin to grasp the summer couple of months, reflect on them, and embrace the memories of them.  Believe us!  We’re not joking when we say that for those of us at camp, the summer passes with lightning speed.  Blink more than once and miss it speed, in fact.

It’s hard to really take it all in in the moment.  But one of the best things about camp is that it is something that can be savored.  Henry David csluThoreau wrote, “But the place which you have selected for your camp, though never so rough and grim, begins at once to have its attractions, and becomes a very centre of civilization to you.”  And he was right.  Camp is as much a mindset as it is a place.  For the next ten months, things will regularly happen that will remind us of something that happened at camp.  Whether it was a heart to heart with a counselor, a favorite activity, or even just the adventurous spirit that comes with discovering something new, each summer at camp is full of about a million opportunities to learn just a little bit more about life, some of them impossible to realize until well after the original moment has passed but each of them capable of taking campers and staff back to that “place.”