Newsletter 5: Summer 2024

07.26.2024

Our Latest Video

 

Second session rolled in on a perfect July morning. Sun, dew in the grass, a baby bunny hopping around the perimeter of the ‘G4’ bunk. Camp slowly blinked to life and suddenly everyone was buzzing with anticipation. New friends and old faces only minutes away from arriving to their summer home. It happened in a flash- a camp full once more. Name games and tours of camp ensued. Then, we headed into the only possible lunch to start a session on. After grilled cheese pulls, goldfish taking a dip in a lake of tomato soup, and several calls for ‘iggy,’ camp spun into an afternoon of activities.

That night, the counselor show capped off our opening day of second session. Staff took the stage for an evening of dances, skits, and even songs. The closing act, a Camp Schodack original song preformed on ukulele by our head ropes counselor. It turned into a camp-wide sing-a-long. “Tribals break, tribals break/it’s a fake, it’s a fake,” we all sang out. There’s so much ahead of us this session that we cannot wait for. 5-Day tribals, BPN, Carnivals, and music festivals galore. Not to mention the trip days, canteen times, and our second musical act of the season. Summer 2024 keeps getting better!

Division Write Ups

Click below to jump to your camper’s division:

Junior Camp

Middle Camp

 Seniors

LTs

Acorns

This week has been full on but very enjoyable. Roller skating on trip day was a massive hit as the acorns improved their skating skills and raced around the rink. All 3 bunks have also done tye dye in arts and crafts.

Here are some of the things we’ve been up to this week….

  • The Acorn 1 girls love the pool sessions splashing around and improving their water skills.
  • The Acorn 2 girls love dance and gymnastics and spend a lot of their campers choices there too!!
  • The Acorn boys are enjoying baseball and basketball. Their new love is junior camp playground time.

A big highlight of the week has been dress your counsellor as night activity.

We are excited for the upcoming week
-Hollie

Junior Girls

The Junior Girls have had a wonderful first week of second session! We welcomed 9 campers into our bunks with open arms!

All of the Junior Girls got s’mores at a fun bonfire on Wednesday night. The Junior Girls also loved watching the counselor show on Sunday and the Harlem Wizards basketball game.

The Basswood Girls had a water balloon fight at the waterslide! The Cob Girls also had fun with water balloons when they threw water balloons at targets during their Schocarts period! The Cherry Girls had a great time playing 9-square! The Cottonwood Girls loved making and performing dances during their dance period!

Overall, it was a fantastic week for the Junior Girls.
Xoxoxo,
Anna Lieb

Junior Boys

The Second Session started with a bang for the Junior Boys!

The new campers were given a warm welcome by their bunkmates and staff upon their arrival at the 12123.

Trip Day was a roaring success as we rolled up to Guptill’s for roller blading and ice cream! Everyone had a great time racing round the rink and showing off their skills.
We had Change your Counselor after trip day, where we dressed Junior Girls counselors up in imaginative and fun ways!
This week was Tie Dye week in Arts and Crafts, where the Junior Boys had the opportunity to create their own unique style.
Basswood Boys got to lead The Walk as a result of winning the previous week’s cleanliness cup. They also had a fun tennis session with their CAIL Diego!
The Cottonwood Boys brought the energy for their dance period and the Cherry Boys had an awesome time at cooking making honeycomb ice cream.
We are excited for next week already!
-Grant

Middle Girls

Welcome second session campers!
It was sad saying goodbye to our first session Middle Girls but we are delighted to see our new and old friends in the second session.
The Middle Girls have had a great week at Schodack with many special and fun events.
This week..
The Larch Girls took over The Scoop!
The Yew Girls did some cool Tie-Dye in the art shack.
The Sassafras girls made delicious egg fried rice in the camper kitchen.
The Tulip Girls were busy knee boarding and water skiing down at the lake.

On Tuesday we went to the skating rink and movies for trip day. We also got ice cream! The day was enjoyed by all the middle girls.

On Thursday we had a Wizard themed day.
We had a visit from the Harlem Wizards! We watched them perform awesome tricks while they played basketball. Even some of the staff joined in!

For night activity we had Wizard Trivia! Overall it was a very special day, loved by all.
Another fun filled week at camp for the Middle Girls with lots more to come!
Hannah 🙂

Middle Boys

We are so excited to have welcomed our second session campers! The Middle Boys are still thriving. Each of the bunks have had a showdown at Handball this week, battling it out on the field, but shaking hands afterward. Stay tuned for a Middle Boys handball tournament next week. This week at trip they rolled around the rink and watched a movie. It was a good thing the concession stand was open, as we made sure to make good use of it!

We were so excited to welcome back the Harlem Wizards and were in awe of their ball-handling skills- we were reminded of the Middle Boys DH in the visiting day game (I only scored 3 points). During camper’s choices, the boys got to cook up some egg-fried rice with Chef Alex and Hectar. Get those pots ready at home, the boys can cook dinner now! They also know how to make some honeycomb ice cream dessert too! We’re excited to see what the rest of the summer brings us!

Toodles!

 

Max

Senior Girls

We were all so excited to welcome our second session friends back to camp this week and catch up on everything they have been up to this year!

  • Senior 1 girls played a 9-square tournament with the Senior 3 girls and Junior Camp.
  • Senior 2 girls had a great time doing flips on the trampoline in gymnastics and making pottery in arts and crafts.
  • Senior 3 girls enjoyed diving to the bottom of the pool and tie-dyeing shirts in arts and crafts.
  • Senior 4 girls perfected their culinary skills by making vanilla ice cream in cooking.

We had a great time at our Senior camp trip day. After a leisurely morning, our division gathered for a walk down to the old lake where we enjoyed lunch and time with friends. Upon returning to camp, we headed to Crossgates for a change of scenery.

At Crossgates, campers split into teams for an exciting escape room challenge followed by a choice of food from the food court. We then settled in for a night at the movies, having the option to watch “Fly Me to the Moon,” “Twister,” “Despicable Me 4,” and “Inside Out 2.”

Thursday afternoon featured a special event with the Harlem Wizards showcasing their best skills and tricks. This was followed by a friendly basketball game between staff and the Wizards, along with a fun “Wizard Never Forgets” memory game. For those seeking more adventure, some campers enjoyed extra time at the lake, trying their skills at wakeboarding, waterskiing, and kneeboarding.

We can’t wait to give you more updates on what we get up to next week!

Georgie

Senior Boys

Senior

Boys

Are

Back!

What an exciting and fun week for the division! A fun filled week that included fun on and off camp!

We had an incredibly exciting trip day that included a hike to the old Schodack lake. We then went to the mall and enjoyed the festivities that come along with. We explored escape rooms that brought us into outer space, a medieval castle and an ancient tomb. We enjoyed the food court before ending the day with a movie!

We’ve had fun filled days on camp as well. The boys and the girls combined for a high action game of bombardment!

The boys have had a great time at the Schodack pool and, of course, are taking advantage of the beautiful lake.

We got a visit from some familiar faces in the Harlem Wizards, a traveling basketball entertainment group!

LTs

An amazing week for the LTs! It began a few hours after our last update went to press. Both the Waiters (Back To The Future) and the CITs (The Greatest Showman) were part of an unprecedented 3-way tie at Lip Sync. The standard was absolutely breathtaking – the Waiters with a video innovation showing a cardboard DeLorean car speeding around camp while the CITs splendor and color was matched only by lightning quick (like – 3-4 seconds) scene changes. To see the LTs’ unity, teamwork, dedication and sense of accomplishment was wonderful.

The LTs were front and center greeting the new campers on Sunday – six of them took buses at 2:45 am to greet campers in NYC and Westchester while others helped arriving campers find their bunks, and everyone unpacked the new arrivals so that the transition to meeting new camp friends was as smooth as possible. After that we had the Big Little event at Camper Choice where the LTs met with their ‘Littles’ to help welcome them to camp! Since then, we have had a hotly-contested third challenge day which leaves the overall standings very close heading into the final event.

We were ice skating (and roller skating) for Trip Day on Tuesday followed by (at time of writing) a scheduled trip to the Tri City Valley Cats minor league game, followed by LTing yesterday and the second visit of the Hope 7 Day Camp earlier today. In the imminent future, the LTs will compete in the annual Rock, Paper, Snerson tournament tomorrow night, before presenting the second Carnival on Sunday afternoon! And that’s before we even get into Canada week!!

More From The Week

Earlier this week, our first session campers got to spend a Camper Choice with their LT ‘bigs,’ wherein the duos toured camp or partook in a number of different activities from making friendship bracelets in Arts and Crafts to running through sets on the tennis court. Our ninja warrior course has been a big hit for the second session campers, with a decent sized group turning up whenever the course is open. At arts and crafts, our hands have been temporarily stained rainbow from all the tie dyeing that has been going on. Fried rice has been on the menu at cooking this week and it is just as mouthwateringly savory as it sounds.

On Tuesday, our campers ventured off camp for a day at the roller rink before coming home to a big tortellini dinner. That evening, junior campers played a game of Change Your Counselor– delving out manicures, tutus, and hairspray until counselors were made over into unrecognizable versions of themselves. Middle campers were in the Playhouse with their best jokes ready to move their counselors to laughter in a game we call Make Me Laugh. Upper camp went on a hike out to the cite of our old lake with lunch in tow and ate out on the lawn amongst the company of bunkmates. Then, they shuttled over to Crossgates for movies!

Thursday was magical. Magic of the wizard variety to be exact. It started with a visit from The Harlem Wizards. Wizzing through the air, sinking ball after ball and showcasing their impressive array of skills and tricks. They played Camp Schodack staff in a game full of music, hijinks, and a halftime dance presented by all of the Acorn Girls. It was a splendid afternoon!

 

UltraLeagues + Inter Camps

The past week at Camp Schodack has been packed with exciting intercamp events, highlighting the talent and sportsmanship of our campers. At the Co-Ed Chess Tournament at Camp Scatigo, we brought ten players and saw remarkable success. Scarlett Oliphant, in particular, won 1st place in her bracket, securing victory in all eight games.

Our 9th and 10th-grade boys played an intense home basketball game against Greylock, demonstrating great teamwork and determination. Jesse Small led our team and did everything on both ends of the floor but we ultimately fell short to a tough Greylock team. The 8th-grade boys’ basketball and girls’ soccer teams also had notable performances at Scatigo. Peter Ohta excelled as a point guard, while Manny’s defensive plays and rebounding stood out on the basketball court. Olivia Gaines provided two crucial assists in soccer, and Madison Gordon scored a fantastic goal.

These events have underscored the competitive spirit and dedication of our campers. We are proud of their achievements and look forward to more thrilling intercamp competitions ahead.

It was an exciting week for Ultra Leagues as it marked the opening day of basketball and soccer for our Junior and Middle Division for our second session Ultra League teams, kicking off the season with energy and enthusiasm. Preparations are in full swing for the upcoming Ultra League Special Event, a Middle Camp gymnastics competition set for this weekend. Our mixed doubles tennis tournament showcased impressive skill and teamwork, while the middle and upper girls’ volleyball game highlighted the competitive spirit and talent of our campers. We are looking forward to another exciting week of Ultra leagues ahead.

The Schodack Scoop

Here are a few excerpts from this week’s top Schodack Scoops!

____________________

And with that, you are all caught up on everything that happened this week at camp! Stay tuned for next week’s newsletter, including Broadway Beats, and Schochella!