With the arrival of the buses at about 2:45pm, the second session was officially underway! As the second session campers stepped foot on camp grounds, our staff and 8-week campers excitedly jumped and cheered to welcome them to North Star’s 77th summer. We gathered around the flagpole shortly thereafter and announced the cabins. From there the boys went to settle into their cabins, and together with their counselors are setting up their summer home.
We are thrilled to report that 100% of the Covid tests came back negative last night.
Seeing the joy on the faces of so many of our boys who weren’t able to join us last summer filled us up even more than camper arrival usually l does. Whether you visited your 8-weeker via Zoom, or found your way to Schaumburg to drool, we know that making camp work has required an extra level of sacrifice and commitment, and we are so grateful for all of our families. The boys have missed out on so much over the last eighteen months, and we are so thrilled to have everyone back at camp. Our counselors have been reminding the boys how to shake hands, make eye contact, and introduce themselves. We will spend the summer working to teach the boys social skills from refreshers on the basics like learning the names of others to valuable lessons in empathy, teamwork and compassion. And the best part is that we get to have a blast all the while playing in our beautiful slice of the Northwoods.
The boys are now unpacking and new campers will soon be receiving a tour of camp. By the time they go to sleep tonight, they'll have played games with their cabins and met some of the other guys in their age group age as well.
Dinner this evening will be burgers, fries and jello, plus the ever present salad bar and Sun Butter and jelly. There will be vegetarian burgers available for those that prefer, and Gluten free options for those that need it. And of course brownies for dessert. Immediately following dinner, the campers will choose their first week's activities. The first three days of activities will be by cabin, and then the boys will have their full slate of elective instructional offerings from there.
Tonight’s evening activities will be followed by the candlelight ceremonies, where each cabin will have a meeting led by their counselors. They will share their goals and expectations for the summer, while continuing to get to know one another. This will be the first of many cabin discussions that are an important part of the team-building goals that we have for each cabin group, and helps develop the strong sense of community that we strive for at camp. Our expectation is that every boy goes to bed tonight knowing that they have at least one counselor that they are already comfortable enough with to wake him up if they need something in the middle of the night and that they have made one new friend that they can play with in the morning.
Tomorrow the kids will have a busy day as our medical team checks in the boys. They will take a swim test on a nice hot day and find time to play several games of dodgeball. Evening program will be our first game of All-Camp Capture the Flag. And Tuesday will be a modified Cruiser Day, so that the boys can spend one more day in their cabin pod before we hopefully clear our next round of our testing protocols. If everything goes according to plan, the boys will have their first three elective instructional activities, which they chose tonight, starting on Wednesday. From there we will also begin sending out our cabin camping trips to get the boys back out having adventures in nature. The first four weeks of the summer have absolutely flown by, and we’re so excited to have our second session boys at camp for an amazing 4-weeks!
FOLLOW CAMP ONLINE
From here on out, you can follow along with the summer of 2021 on our website at www.NorthStarCamp.com/blog. We will also be posting updates on Facebook at www.facebook.com/northstarcampforboys, on Twitter at www.twitter.com/northstarcamp , and on Instagram @northstarcamp.
We post pictures online on a regular basis, and you can access those directly from your CampInTouch page. To access your CampInTouch page, go to www.northstarcamp.com and click "login" in the upper right hand corner. From there you can click on "Photos" to see those smiling faces. If you'd like to set up guest accounts for friends or family you can do that from your landing page by clicking on "Guest Accounts."
Thank you for trusting us with your boys!
The boys are now unpacking and new campers will soon be receiving a tour of camp. By the time they go to sleep tonight, they'll have played games with their cabins and met some of the other guys in their age group age as well.
Dinner this evening will be burgers, fries and jello, plus the ever present salad bar and Sun Butter and jelly. There will be vegetarian burgers available for those that prefer, and Gluten free options for those that need it. And of course brownies for dessert. Immediately following dinner, the campers will choose their first week's activities. The first three days of activities will be by cabin, and then the boys will have their full slate of elective instructional offerings from there.
Tonight’s evening activities will be followed by the candlelight ceremonies, where each cabin will have a meeting led by their counselors. They will share their goals and expectations for the summer, while continuing to get to know one another. This will be the first of many cabin discussions that are an important part of the team-building goals that we have for each cabin group, and helps develop the strong sense of community that we strive for at camp. Our expectation is that every boy goes to bed tonight knowing that they have at least one counselor that they are already comfortable enough with to wake him up if they need something in the middle of the night and that they have made one new friend that they can play with in the morning.
Tomorrow the kids will have a busy day as our medical team checks in the boys. They will take a swim test on a nice hot day and find time to play several games of dodgeball. Evening program will be our first game of All-Camp Capture the Flag. And Tuesday will be a modified Cruiser Day, so that the boys can spend one more day in their cabin pod before we hopefully clear our next round of our testing protocols. If everything goes according to plan, the boys will have their first three elective instructional activities, which they chose tonight, starting on Wednesday. From there we will also begin sending out our cabin camping trips to get the boys back out having adventures in nature. The first four weeks of the summer have absolutely flown by, and we’re so excited to have our second session boys at camp for an amazing 4-weeks!
FOLLOW CAMP ONLINE
From here on out, you can follow along with the summer of 2021 on our website at www.NorthStarCamp.com/blog. We will also be posting updates on Facebook at www.facebook.com/northstarcampforboys, on Twitter at www.twitter.com/northstarcamp , and on Instagram @northstarcamp.
We post pictures online on a regular basis, and you can access those directly from your CampInTouch page. To access your CampInTouch page, go to www.northstarcamp.com and click "login" in the upper right hand corner. From there you can click on "Photos" to see those smiling faces. If you'd like to set up guest accounts for friends or family you can do that from your landing page by clicking on "Guest Accounts."
Thank you for trusting us with your boys!
