Newsletter

Spring Newsletter - May, 2009

A camp director's most important task during the off-season is to hire a talented and diverse staff of young (and young at heart) women (plus a few guys) to serve as the builders and shapers of the Waukeela summer community. This also happens to be one of the best parts of my job, since it keeps me in touch with an ever growing number of staff who have served at Waukeela before and allows me to welcome a whole new group of individuals into that august group as well! I'm happy to report that 70% of the 2008 staff (43 people including 5 internationals) have been at Waukeela before, while 13 counselors and 6 support staff (including 14 internationals) will be new to camp. Collectively the staff come from 15 states and 8 countries!!

Finding great counselors has been a little easier than normal this year for two interesting reasons. First, the only known benefit of the world-wide economic recession is that many more terrific young people, including lots of ex-campers we've haven't seen for a while, have been seeking camp jobs this summer! In addition, camp's leadership team (what we call the "Senior Staff") has been entirely in place since Christmas when I convinced Kate Dickson and Helen Critchley to take on the top two programming positions. Kate, who served as Senior Head counselor last summer, has been promoted to Program Director and will double as the person in charge of camp in my absence. Helen did such a great job as Swim Head last year that we have moved her into the office to serve as Activities Director where she will help Kate schedule and organize everything we offer. They'll be joining the other Senior Staff members whose appointments were announced in our winter newsletter: Traci Mead Westman as 1st Session Residential Director; Sandy Ghelli in the same role 2nd session; Trish Brown as CIT Head; Dana Ragouzeos as SEP Head; Becky Kahn as Senior Alley Head Counselor; and Lil Kivel as Junior Alley Head Counselor. Leah Beane will serve as a back-up for all of these people on their days off in her role as 1st Session Staff Director. And because Leah is expecting her 2nd child early next fall, we're giving her 2nd session off when she'll be backed up by my wife, Cesca, who has spent plenty of time around camp but will serve in an official capacity on the staff for the first time!!

Together, these 10 amazing women have over 80 summers of experience at Waukeela. They'll provide the leadership, wisdom, energy, and day-to-day operational guidance which all the staff (including the Director) need to make our 88th summer season the best ever!!

Around the Departments

Waukeela's counselors are organized into 7 departments for teaching purposes, each of which normally has an eclectic mix of new and returning staff members. Our largest department is Swimming, which will be watched over, as it has been for the past 43 summers, by our ageless Waterfront Director, Stevie Maam Thomas. The only other returner from last summer's outstanding Swim staff is Tasha Cammarata, but she'll be joined by 5 other ex-campers who learned to perfect their strokes under Maam's watchful eye: Liz Hutsell, Emily Greiff, Allison Beeman, Chelsea Ward-Waller, and Katie Wood. Brand newcomers to Big Dock include Gemma Bell from England and Lianne Fiske from Massachusetts, each of whom is greatly looking forward to her first brilliant summer on Crystal Lake!

The place where Waukeela experience counts most each summer is in our Adventure Trips Department, and this year we'll have lots of familiar faces leading Waukeela girls throughout the wild areas of New England and beyond. Steve Bell returns for his 23rd year running our White-Water Canoeing program; his side-kick this summer will be Elaine Frenette, returning for her 11th summer at camp. Katie Keefe will also be back to lead Hiking for the fourth time, returning after taking a year away to work as a naturalist for the Appalachian Mountain Club. She'll be joined by two other mountain-loving enthusiasts with personalities as glowing as a White Mountains sunset: Cal Cawford, a rugby playing friend of Becky Kahn's from Colgate University and Claire Murray, coming from half-way around the world to see how the Whites compare to her native New Zealand Alps!!

Jule Brouwer returns to teach Sailing for the fourth straight summer and to be crew chief in the Boating Department again. For the first time in memory everyone at the Boathouse will have been at Waukeela before: Laura Clark and Meredith Greene return to teach Windsurfing and Canoeing, respectively, while Clarissa Salas, an ex-camper and CIT from Venezuela, will help Jule keep our Sailing fleet afloat. Meanwhile Hadley Keller, another member of the stellar CIT group of 2005 but perhaps better known currently as Xiaoling's big sister, will be our Kayaking instructor.

Shakespeare lovers take note - many British are coming to make debuts in the Waukeela Performing Arts Department this summer! Sarah Jenyon and Catherine James, both veteran actors now studying Drama at "uni", will direct "the Play" this year with a bit of a ‘int of cockneyed accents; in Dance Sophie Henderson knows all the latest hip-hop moves from the other side of the pond. Teaching music, Jessica Crosby is a multi-talented performer who plays the piano and guitar and has starred in many a Broadway musical in her native land. Holding down the flag as the lone American in the PA department this summer is ex-camper Melissa Centeno, teaching Digital Photography and Film and knowing just where to point the camera to record all the wacky and wonderful moments of a Waukeela summer!!

I doubt whether we've ever had better trained teachers than those in the Creative Arts Department this year. Ali Urella, now studying to be a Pottery teacher at Plymouth State University, returns for her 2nd summer on staff and her first as Head of our CA Department. Her partner in clay will be Sarah Eustis, who is studying Pottery and Sculpture at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. (Sarah was recommended to Waukeela by long-time camper and counselor Holly Stewart.) Bringing cross-cultural connections and a decidedly international look to the Department will be Natasha Porter (Scotland), Francesca Broomhall (England) and returner Fernanda Grajales (Mexico). Fernanda will specialize on the crafts side of Arts and Crafts while Natasha, who loves to sketch, draw, and paint, will focus on the arts side. Francesca has extensive experience with all kinds of textiles techniques using everything from sewing machines to blowtorches! Stay tuned to see how white Waukeela tee-shirts turn into wow-filled Fabric Art projects this summer!!

The Land Sports Department includes the warmest set of activities at Waukeela, but its "cool" factor has been rising substantially over the last few years. That trend is likely to continue this summer as Lil Kivel and Becky Kahn will be working the Zipline and our other High Ropes Course Elements. Ruth Kempf is returning to teach Archery and introduce a creative new "Obstacle Course" feature which will be both challenging and fun. Dorothy Gannon, who took Lil's former place as one of Ralph's Rugrats last summer, will take her place again this summer as the Field Sports counselor. And there will be a very familiar face at the Rifle Range as well - long-time two session camper and former Silver Bullet award winner Ria Dilullo returns to her old stomping grounds to teach Riflery. Indeed, the only new face in Land Sports will be Elisabeth Wilders, who comes from Cambridge, England to show us how they play Tennis at Wimbledon!!

Bettina Dandrea will take over the reins of responsibility for Waukeela's Horseback program this summer, riding herd (so to speak) over a newly expanded staff. Next in command will be Lisa Turnbull, who has studied Equine Management and run her own program in her native Australia. And ably assisting them both in the barn and in the ring will be ex-campers Abby Alling (SP class of 2004) and Lauren Salko (SEP class of 2008)

As always, our non-counselor staff will be anchored by Ralph and Mary Mead - obviously camp wouldn't even open, much less function, without them. Catherine Corwin had planned to come back as Swim Head this year, but tore the ACL in her right knee in a spring skiing accident. So we're installing her instead at the front desk where she will get her kicks as our ace Office Assistant. Handyman-par-excellence Lance Garish will be back for his sixth year helping Ralph fix anything that breaks in Maintenance. Keeping them both organized as their indispensable rugrat will be Chrissie Garbacz, who took care of business on the Precamp Work Crew last spring and is coming back for more this year.

Speaking of being taken care of, the swine flu outbreak has put a focus on Waukeela's health services as never before. And I can't tell you how good it makes me feel to have the veteran crew of Waukeela nurses who will be looking after our campers and staff this summer. Debbie Gannon returns for her 4th summer in the Waukeela infirmary during 1st session, and she will be joined by Misty Smith, a school nurse who has run her own daycamp for diabetic children in her native state of Georgia. In 2nd session both Wanda Visnick and Terri Conte are back (along with their girls) for their second summer amidst the Pines. We will be taking some special precautions this year to deal with any flu-like symptoms we see - more on that to come in a letter from me next month.

Last, but certainly not least, Tim Remillard return to keep the Waukeela community scrumptiously-well taken care of in the food department! Spicing up the staff's geographic diversity, and presumably a few of our menus as well, will be a European Kitchen Crew including Alicja Wypich from Poland, Lucie Dupuis from France, and Eleanor Whitlow from the UK.

Non-Returning Staff

Careful readers will note that several long-time Waukeela staff members are not returning in 2009. Kristen Archibald will be studying in Uganda this summer as part of the Masters Degree in Social Work she is currently pursuing. Lauren Galvin plans to work for a leading Outdoor Adventure company back home in England, and Lena Lofvenborg decided to work in her native Sweden after traveling extensively in the U.S. and around the world these past couple of years. Maddie Lodge planned to return unless she was accepted into a very prestigious acting program she applied for in New York City - fortunately for Maddie but unfortunately for us, she was, indeed, accepted! All four of them will be missed tremendously this summer, but have promised me that their Waukeela careers have not yet ended. We look forward to the day that each of them returns to the Pine Grove, and wish them great success in their various adventures and endeavors in the meantime.

Winter Parties

The best part of being Director in the off-season is attending the Waukeela winter get-togethers, and no spring newsletter would be complete without mention of the wonderful families who hosted these affairs in 2009. There's not enough room to list the 24 returning campers who helped me introduce the ways of Waukeela to 25 new camp families also in attendance. But it's safe to say that all of us left feeling deeply warmed by the hospitality, friendship, spirit and exuberance we found therein, and eager for the time when we would convene in Eaton Center!! Very special thanks to Holly Haynes and Charley Watts, Anne and Laurence Sperry, Joan and Steve Gates, Lissa Perlman and Seth Hulkower (for the third year in a row!), Nancy and Jim Morris, and Beth and Steve Prusky for opening their homes, hearths and hearts to spread the word about Waukeela and support the work that we do!

Waukeela Wanderings

12 intrepid Waukeela girls (plus 1 stalwart Waukeela guy) will travel outside the US this summer on two adventurous expeditions. Five of them - Alex Arpaia, Tori Powell, Rachael Meyers, Janine Wexler and SEP Director Dana Ragouzeos - will travel on a house-building project to Nicaragu as the centerpiece of Waukeela's program for 17 year olds in between their CIT summer and their first year as a counselor. As volunteers for Bridges to Community, a U.S. based NGO with deep ties in this hemisphere's second poorest nation, our girls will live, sleep, eat, work, and play alongside Nicaraguans, including the family whose one room, cinder-block home they will be building. When their 8 day construction project is over, that home will have risen from nothing to its roof line. In the process, our girls will have witnessed how the vast majority of the world's families live and experienced in the most concrete way possible that their own work has made a difference. Before flying home our girls will also spend three additional days on Nicaragua's western coast, relaxing after a week of strenuous labor and participating in some eco-adventure activities including a zip line which ends with a leap into the Pacific Ocean!!

Getting wet in waters far from Crystal Lake will also be the shared fate of Caitlin Delaney, Isabel Watts, Kristen Morris, Michaela McWain, Kendall Beeman, Emily Greene, and Becca Winkler - this year's Extended Trippers who will undertake a three week white-water canoe expedition to La Verendrye Wildlife Reserve, a wilderness park in western Quebec with over 1,200 miles of canoe trails. Similar in size and scope to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area of northern Minnesota, the Verendrye has many different canoe circuits which include interconnected stretches of white water, flat water, and lake paddling but all having a minimum number of portages. Named after the French explorer who discovered the Rocky Mountains, the region is a natural Eden which is home to large quantities of moose, bear, otter, and 35 other mammals plus abundant fish and bird species.

Conceived by Steve Bell back in 2003 as a logical extension and culmination of the White-Water Canoeing Program he built over many years at Waukeela, the Extended Trip is offered to Scotch Pines and CITs who are otherwise restricted to 4 weeks in camp in those two summers. Although it does not appeal to all Waukeela girls, for those adventurous souls who choose to participate, the ET offers unparalleled leadership development and group dynamics skills which simply cannot be gained in camp. The responsibility which Trippers must take - for their own actions, their impact on others, and for the success of the trip as a whole - as well as the determination to overcome all obstacles which they face together - are precursors to those expected of Waukeela's staff, and of all young people entering the world of work. In this regard it is particularly fitting, I think, that Steve's co-leader this summer will be Elaine Frenette, who went on the very first Extended Trip in 2003 after completing her Scotch Pine summer!! Over the years almost every Tripper has come back to work at camp at some point in time, but Elaine is the very first to return as one of the ET leaders!!

Although our international expedition programs are offered only to our 15-17 year olds, younger Waukeela girls will also have a special excursion opportunity this summer. Four years ago Eaton Center neighbor and Waukeela alumna Kathy Fisher and her husband, Kurt, volunteered to take then CIT Jule Brouwer and three other campers on the first ever Waukeela overnight sailing trip off the coast of Maine. Their daughter, Madelyn, will be a first-time camper this summer, and the Fishers have again offered to lead a Sailing trip on their new boat, a 26 foot sloop which will sleep as many as eight. Rumor has it our Sailing counselors are dreaming up some related Wacky Waukeela Workshops (Island Hopping; Celestial Navigation; Nautical Knots for Suntanners, etc.) for those who are most interested!!

In Memoriam

Elizabeth (Betsy) Marshall was a long-time camper and counselor in the 1930s and 1940s. She never had children of her own to follow in her footsteps at camp, however, so when she died a few years ago, she left a sizeable gift to help fund the scholarship operations of our alumna group, the Waukeela Foundation. This year the Foundation's Board has decided to make three gifts to Waukeela in memory of Betsy. The first of these is a simple stone bench, hewn from New Hampshire granite, which will be installed at a ceremony this June overlooking Crystal Lake near Big Dock. The second will be several hardy blueberries bushes which we will plant in the same general vicinity as the bench. And since Betsy especially loved the arts, the Foundation will also purchase two new pottery wheels for the Creative Arts Department. I am told by her friends that Betsy lived and breathed Waukeela all her life, so I believe it is particularly appropriate that these gifts will allow future generations of our campers and staff to enjoy the benefits of Betsy's spirit and generosity using all five senses!

Camp Sisters

If you are a new Waukeela girl this summer, you will receive a letter from an already-Waukeela girl before camp starts. Your "camp sister" will be someone who is your age or a little older who will be at camp the same time you are. She will write to introduce herself and to see if you have any questions or concerns she might be able to help you with. She will also find you Opening Day and help to show you around. Your camp sister greatly looks forward to hearing back from you before camp starts, and to meeting you very soon!