Today is the 14th day of camp and our incredible health team has completed testing every member of our community. Everyone has again tested negative! We still have a lot of work to do to protect our camp community throughout the summer, but with this news we have cleared one of our most significant gating criteria. A huge keylog goes out to our staff for not only making the two week cabin quarantine a success, but for making those cabins incredibly fun and supportive places throughout that time.
Now we will begin to implement the next phase of our Covid-19 response plan, in which each village will become a pod. The boys will again be able to select their activities as individuals and we will be working off of a schedule much closer to that of previous summers. We will still be practicing masking and distancing measures, as we will ask our boys to mask whenever they are inside a communal space or within 6-feet of someone from another pod. We will continue to eat at our outdoor dining hall as often as possible. And we will continue with our strict sanitation protocols of both hands and equipment. The responsible thing to do is to continue to take measures to minimize transmission in case our covid-bubble were to be pierced.
And with this news, we’re about to embark on an action-packed week. Tonight will begin some activities where the entire villages will get to interact. Tomorrow night is our first Espionage. Tuesday is Cruiser Day with some special treats planned there. Wednesday and Thursday will be our United Nations Days! In honor of this very unique summer, we are having an extra special two-day UN Day. And beginning Saturday, our cabin trips will begin with our oldest boys heading out for a 9-day trip in the Boundary Waters. And we’ve launched WNSC, our very own in-camp radio network which will have campers and staff working together on production and podcasting.
In these two weeks, I have been in awe of our campers and staff as they have adapted to new norms, created and followed new routines and protocols, and have done it all with smiles on their face. While there remains so much uncertainty about what the world will look like in the coming weeks and months, we know here that our North Star campers are prepared to face it with smiles on and masks up.
Today’s Grace:
“You are not remembered for the rules that you follow, you are remembered for the rules that you break.”
-Gen. Douglas MacArthur
Be seated.
