Camper Jake Kraemer in the News

As I was scanning through the November 30th Deerfield Review I stumbled upon a familiar picture. As a University of Wisconsin alumnus and football season ticket holder it took me a second to realize that the photo wasn't former Badger running back PJ Hill, but it was North Star Camper Jake Kraemer.

Props to Jake for his participation in the Thanksgiving Day charity Turkey Bowl. We're waiting for a copy of Jake breaking into his best Heisman pose.

If you haven't read about North Star's annual Thanksgiving week "Wanegan Bowl", check out last week's Leb's Rambling.

2010 Wanegan Bowl Recap

For many, the Thanksgiving holiday brings an opportunity to get together with family and friends. Along with great food, many people play in an annual Turkey Bowl type of football games. For North Star folks in the Chicago area the game of choice isn't football but speedball, a hybrid game that combines elements of football, soccer and basketball. The day after Thanksgiving is our annual Wanegan Bowl.

Seven years ago about 20 of us gathered at West Ridge Park in Highland Park and while the game has moved and the participation has grown, the game still marks a great opportunity for current and former campers and staff to get together and play a game that we all love. The Wanegan Bowl is open to anyone who has been either a camper or staff at North Star and is currently 16 years of age or older.


-Wanegan Bowl 2010 Participants-

Last Friday Nov. 26th about 50 of us descended upon Brickyard Park, ignored the fact that we weren't in mid season shape and didn't care about the 20 degree temps. Two nights before the game AJ Bayard, Mike Blumberg, Jack Silverstein, and Mike Swiryn drafted the teams in typical United Nations Day style. It didn't matter that none of the captains were at camp this summer and probably knew about half of the players. Teams were split up (pretty evenly).

In order to ensure that everyone gets to play, we now have four teams and play tournament style. It means a little more time outside, but it also gives everyone more time to hang out and catch up. As usual the displays of athletic prowess ranged from impressive to forgettable. In the end, Team Swiryn was victorious in winning the Steven A. Hitchens trophy.

Following the game NSC Alum Brian Glickman was presented with the 3rd Wanegan Bowl Lifetime Achievement Award. Think of this as our version of the Oscar's Thalberg Award. We honor someone when we feel its appropriate and this year Brian was honored for his lifetime of (blind) dedication to North Star, Illini basketball and The Dave Matthews Band. Following the afternoon's festitivites, we all head over the Michael's Hotdogs in Highland Park.


-Brian Glickman recieves the Lifetime Achievement Award from Jack Silverstein-

We'll play again in 2011, so if you missed this year's game, we encourage you to come out next year.

Happy Thanksgiving from North Star!

We wanted to take a minute to wish you and your family a very Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at North Star.  We also wanted to take the occasion to tell you that we are so thankful that you have chosen to be part of our North Star family and either spend your summers with us or have your son spend his summers with us.  We wanted to throw a keylog into the fire(place) to thank all of our great campers and their families, our awesome staff and alumni for helping make North Star such an amazing community. Whether you're in the Northwoods of Wisconsin or thousands of miles away, we hope that you have a great holiday. We cannot thank you enough for your support of North Star!

Thank you for the summers past and the ones in the future.  If your son can return for the Summer of 2011, we hope that he will do. We know the Summer of 2011 will be a great one. If you have any questions about Registration, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Thank you as well for all of the ways you continue to support North Star! Whether it is by referring your friends and family, by being active Alumni, by giving to the scholarship fund, or just by keeping us up to date on your life, we appreciate everything you do for North Star.

Thanks again for being part of the North Star family!

Happy Thanksgiving,

Leb, Sue, Dan and Andy

New NSC Apparel Preview

Over the past few months we've been working with the folks at Cloz Company to redesign our NSC logo apparel. We've been working on new designs for our shirts, hoodies, shorts and everything else. In a few days we'll be sending out information and a link to the online Cloz Store, but things are still in the works... but we're happy to give everyone a sneak preview of the new designs.

Many items will be available in green, gray and black, so you'll have more options, as well as a greater selection of items to choose from. As soon as the new items are online and for sale, we'll be sure to spread the word.

2010 Alumni Newsletter

The 2010 NSC Alumni newsletter is on-line. Click the newsletter below or go to the alumni section of the NSC website and then select the Alumni Newsletter link.


We're always looking for more alumni news and we collect it all year long, so if you have an update, send your news to office@northstarcamp.com. Of course, we will utilize Leb's Ramblings all year long to keep everyone up to date on the latest alumni info!

NSC Chicago Reunion Sets a Record

This past Sunday saw one of the off-season hallmarks, the North Star Chicago Reunion. With many of our families in either the suburban Chicago area or on the city itself, there is always a great turnout, and this year was no different. We gathered at the Takiff Center (formerly the Glencoe Community Center), enjoying the newly renovated facilities.

The reunion is always a great opportunity to catch up with camp folks. While it feels like late summer these days, its hard to realize that almost three months have passed since second session ended back on August 13th. So there was reason for all the excitement as everyone saw their camp friends, caught up, and shared news. Sue was diligent taking down news bits and we've got lots of info to share in the upcoming Siren, not just from Chicago, but from all of our reunions.

Then it was time for what everyone had been waiting for... the Chicago premier of "The Summer of 2010", the video made by Joe Riccitelli. As per usual, the video was great. Joe again traveled from Rhode Island to be at the reunion, but he wasn't the only one who traveled to the reunion. Dan Riemersman came from the Univ of Iowa, John Sheehan and Brant Schrage came from U of IL, Jon Weiss flew in with Leb and Andy from Cleveland, Jordan Santo came up from St. Louis and Trevor Van Laanen came from school in Wisconsin.

And yes, we did sent a new North Star record. After the reunion Leb and Sue take all of the staff and prospective CITs out to dinner. With a large CIT group and a few alumni in tow, the folks at Fuddruckers were pros at dealing with our large group. Several CITs and at least one JC attempted the various one pound burgers on the menu, however I don't believe that any were successful. The record that was set...the bill for all food. There were, however, Fuddruckers punch cards. Needless to say, Leb and Andy are going to get their fair share burgers on the road.

November Newsletter is Online

The November Siren is online. Read the latest news and check out the updated list of campers who have signed up for the summer of 2011.


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