Camp Echo Lake – Senior Village Life: Week 2 Recap
The campers of Senior Village at Camp Echo Lake do a number of activities as an entire village. Because of the overlap between the Senior Village Boys and Senior Village Girls, we have altered the recap schedule a bit. You’ll notice that this recap is titled “Senior Village Life.”
Each Wednesday going forward, the Camp Echo Lake summer blog will feature an overall recap of the Senior Village, and the individual recaps from the Senior Village Boys and Senior Village Girls will both be posted on Thursdays.
The “Senior Village Life” recap is a collaborative effort between Jon O’Brien (Senior Village Boys Head Counselor) and Kersti Kienitz (Senior Village Girls Head Counselor).
The week began with Group Sing, always one of the most anticipated all-camp events. All of the Senior Village groups showed how well they can come together as a team with their Group Sing performance. While all of the groups were funny and thoughtful, it was the Upper Village Boys (both East and West) that captured the attention of the judges, tying for second place. The UVBEs sang about Stefano’s beard being gone to the tune of “Since U Been Gone” by Kelly Clarkson. The UVBWs sang a slow melody about the things that they love at canteen to “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion. The LITs took first place for the Senior Village division. They connected well with each other and showed tons of camp spirit.
After nearly a week-and-a-half of grueling anticipation, Tribal finally broke at the end of this year’s Group Sing competition! Campers and staff were all surprised at the end of the LITs Group Sing performance, when out of nowhere, green and gold papers went flying around the field house with the names of the campers on each Tribal team (Iroquois & Mohawk). Senior Village campers were thrilled to find out which team they were on, and are very excited for the upcoming competitions!
Senior Village, along with the rest of camp, sat on the beach of Echo Lake and enjoyed a beautiful fireworks display this past week in celebration of the Fourth of July.
Senior Village campers had a great time participating in the kickoff of Tribal with Tribal Tug on the beach. While each group put forth their best effort, Iroquois lead at the completion of the event by a score of 82-27.
Later in the week at Group Games, the Senior Village campers participated in basketball, soccer, futsal, ultimate frisbee and capture the flag.
Everyone gave a great effort, but ultimately, Iroquois came out on top once again, and lead by a score of 117-38 overall. While this may seem like a big scoring difference, we have just begun the games, and Mohawk is a strong team with a lot of opportunities left to pull ahead in the competition.
Our amazing group of 4n4 campers and staff departed from Echo Lake this past Friday, ecstatic to be going on the trip of a lifetime. The group started out Friday morning with a flight from Newark to Denver and spent a day in Boulder, CO. They later drove through the gorgeous Rocky Mountain National Park to their destination – Estes Park. We have received a number of amazing photos from the group. The photos of their view of the Rockies were truly phenomenal!
The group went rock climbing and rappelling with the Kent Mountain School instructors, and have now departed Estes Park on a beautiful drive through Rocky Mountain National Park. The next stop for 4n4 is a three-day rafting/camping adventure that they are all very excited about!
One of this week’s evening activities included our annual OTB (Off Track Betting) event where campers watch recorded competitions ranging from Laurie and Brenda’s “fun-off” at The Fun Spot to guessing which dog could jump through a hula hoop. The campers all wagered Tony Stein Dollars on the staff members that they thought would win.
This year’s OTB had to be held indoors due to the rain. Although it was cut slightly short, the campers did get the chance to see a number of events including: Brenda beating Laurie in the “fun-off,” Tony beating Emily in Gaucho, Janna beating Matt LeMoine in a sandwich-making contest, LIT Group Leaders Julie and Matt having a “spirit-off” (which Julie won) and Becca and Kersti tying in a game of torpedo run in the gymnastics pavilion. The night ended in the middle of the intense dog competition, where Reggie (Brenda’s dog) and Deacon (Kersti’s dog) were attempting to jump through hula hoops.
The campers will continue OTB tonight where the winner of Reggie vs Deacon will be revealed, as will the result a sandwich-eating contest between Jon O’Brien (JOB), Stef and Sam.
Once the campers see all of the competitions, they will be able to turn their Tony Stein Dollars in for Village Galleons, which they will be able to use at our weekly auction (as explained in last week’s Senior Village recaps).
We started going through the ABCs of British Etiquette with our Senior Village campers this week at lineup. These funny lessons from our very own British leaders (JOB and Stefano) not only make the campers laugh, but also reminds them of the importance of being polite.
We covered apologies and chivalry with the campers this past week. The campers are looking forward to see what lessons are coming next.
Senior Village’s next Special Day (Lazy and Crazy Day) takes place tomorrow. We are all very excited for the chance to sleep in, watch cartoons, eat sugary cereals and then have an afternoon being wild and crazy!
Lazy and Crazy Special Day is the kick-off of an incredible week for Senior Village campers (Six Flags Great Escape, Tribal Track and the Upper Village departing for their trip to Cape Cod). Of course, we can’t forget Visiting Day, which all of the Senior Villagers are looking forward to!
