How is it Week 6 already?!!
Another week has flown by here at Schodack and what a week it has been! We have had lots of activities, a special Tex-Mex themed dinner, the annual Carnival presented by the LTs and tons of daily activities…we even had a Middle Camp Spike Ball tournament arranged by campers Sam Schiavo and Josh Perle. We had an awesome BMX stunt show performance put on by the ‘Perfection on Wheels’ team who came to wow our campers (and do backflips over our staff!). There was also the Messiest Day Ever, even more activities, private tennis lessons, Casino themed games, the LTs went on a ‘day-off’ and yes, there were even more activities!
As always this newsletter is packed full of photos, our latest weekly video and division write-ups with a special spotlight on our Super Juniors. We hope you like everything you see (and aren’t too jealous of all the fun we are having here!).
VIDEO
Special Events
The Carnival Presented by the LTs
The Carnival is always an amazing day, and this year didn’t disappoint. With game booths set-up all over the Playhouse and the Garden, there was so much to entertain our campers and staff. Classics like the Dunk Tank, Wedding Booth, Western Union and Cookie Decorating were spiced up with a Fortune Teller, Freeze Dance, and brand new this year…a Petting Zoo!
Messiest Day Ever
The Middle Camp Division was in for a treat this past week as DHs Kit and Jess planned a very special event…the Messiest Day EVER!
All of Middle Camp gathered together on Tuesday afternoon to see what they had planned. Games such as Flour Bears, Human Ceasar Salad, Oil Slick and fan favorite, Edward Syrup Hands were all set-up with one goal in mind- get as messy as possible!
You’ll see from the pictures below that the title of the event did not disappoint and everyone had a great time!
BMX Stunt Show
As part of this summer’s program of special events, we really went big this week and welcomed the ‘Perfection on Wheels’ BMX stunt team to put on a show. The 2 riders and MC (Kyle, Andrew and Chippy) put on 3 shows throughout the afternoon, showcasing their talents by doing technical tricks and impressive stunts and flips over a variety of ramps.
Once they had warmed the crowd up, staff volunteers were called out by the crowd so Chippy could perform a full backflip over the top of them all!
It really was a very special afternoon and one that we are not likely to forget in a hurry.
Division Spotlight – Super Juniors
Super Junior Boys
Hello Everyone! The Super Junior Boys have had another riveting week here at the 12123. From water skiing to BMX shows to Bunk Plaque Night practice, all of the campers have been keeping so busy!
This past Sunday all campers had a spectacular time running around enjoying the Carnival hosted by our oldest campers, the LT’s. Campers enjoyed a soap filled slip n’ slide, face painting, and a petting zoo. They had some super sweet treats, like cotton candy, cookie decorating and yummy popcorn. So many boys said it was their favorite day at camp so far!
This week for a special activity we had a BMX stunt team come and put on a special show for all of camp! Campers got to enjoy watching special tricks- some counselors even were used as part of the acts! Also several lucky campers got to take back a special BMX autographed poster. We also had a fun casino event where campers got to play different card games with their entire division.
All bunks are working diligently to create their plaque and their song for Bunk Plaque night this Saturday. Each bunk has to come up with a name for their bunk and a special song along with it.
The Hawthorn boys have created a brand new game called “Porch Tennis.” They enjoy playing during rest hour and have even started a championship bracket. They headed off to the lake again and enjoyed a lot of water sports and small boat activities. Several Hawthorn Boys took part in Camp Schodack’s Variety Show with an original skit titled “Ad breaks.”
The Elm boys have had a fabulous second week! They got to tie-dye shirts in the art shack this week and are now walking around sporting some brightly colored tees! They’ve also enjoyed cooking- getting to make some super yummy french toast with lotttts of maple syrup!
The Maple boys got to experience of fun dance class this week! They learned a new dance to “Foot Loose!” They also played a fun game of freeze dance. They also created their own roly poly habitat. They have had a lot of fun at Schokarts driving around their bunk mates and counselors too!
All around campers are finishing up another week with big smiles and memories!
-Katie and Reagan
Super Junior Girls
Another amazing week has flown by here at Schodack! The Super Junior Girls have been making the most of every possible minute that we have. We started off the week with the amazing LT carnival. Not only were there waterslides and cookie decorating, the LT’s also brought in an entire petting zoo right on camp!! The bunnies were most certainly the high of so many of our days, they were the cutest and fuzziest little guys ever. The LT carnival was one of the many exciting events of the week, we also had a nighttime pool party with all of super junior camp. The girls did division-wide hush buddies and had so much fun writing clues and giving gifts to the person they got… then we did a large hush buddy reveal during our bonfire!!
The Maple Girls have continued to have blast, during cooking they all learned how to flip some delicious pancakes. They have been crushing it on the handball field and always look forward to when they have it on their schedule.
The Hawthorn Girls have been loving playing card games and whenever they are in the bunk, they have at least 3 decks of cards in use at the same time. All of the girls had so much during the “minute to win it” night activity where they were competing against the rest of the Super Junior division.
The Oak Girls have so much fun at all of the activities, during campers’ choices they usually can be found in the music room, out on the softball field or flipping around in gymnastics. They loved spending meeting all the other girls in the division during the bonfire!
The Elm Girls had so much fun playing ‘Simon says’ during low ropes trying to balance on the log. They had the best time when their CAIL Vico was on OD for them, during flashlight time they were having the best dance party ever!
All of the Super Junior Girls are so happy that they have been able to hang out with all of the bunks and get to know everyone in their division. The bonfire was so much fun (all of them continued to beg for more s’mores until I gave in and gave them another one… and another one). Listening to music, dancing, and singing around the bonfire will never get old. We have an exciting week ahead of us, including a SURPRISE pop-up Super Junior Girls Spa afternoon.
Xo – Morgan
Division Write-Ups
Juniors
Middle Boys
The Middle Boys enjoyed another bumper week at camp, starting off with the long-awaited LT Carnival on Sunday. For two gloriously sunny hours, the boys decorated their own cookies, visited the petting zoo, crashed down the slip’n’slide, dunked long-suffering LTs in the water tank and even got married! Later in the evening, the boys enjoyed Flashlight Sing, with fierce competition to come up with songs that included the words ‘dance’ and ‘love’ as the flashlight lit up each bunk in turn – Dancing in the Moonlight was a natural first choice!
Special events have defined the week, as the whole of Middle Camp was buzzing with excitement for ‘Messiest Day Ever’. The goal? To get as messy as humanly possible. Once the afternoon finished up and the debris settled, it was clear that the goal had been fully and chaotically accomplished. Everyone began with an egg toss, where pairs had to toss an egg back and forth, taking a step backwards after every throw. The winning pairs, after egg-cellent performances and not a crack to be seen in their eggs, got to crack eggs over their Division Heads’ heads! Next up, ‘Edward Syruphands’ saw teams race to dunk their hands in gigantic bowls of maple syrup, then into buckets of cereal, aiming to collect as much cereal as possible. The winners got to empty syrup and cereal all over the Division Heads! Next up, the kids had to run to platters of flour and retrieve gummy bears buried within… all without using their hands! An oiled tarp proved a slippy challenge, with all teams skidding across to try and collect coins for their team. Finally, the oiled tarp turned into a makeshift kitchen of sorts, used for ‘Make Your Own Caesar Salad’, where the teams had to collect constituent elements of the salad and construct the messiest salads of all time. By the end, counsellors and campers alike were covered head to toe in flour, syrup, eggs and mess of all sorts, and were generally united by grins and relief at being cleaned off!
Whispers have started to circle through the Middle Boys that another large event might be under way… Tribals can’t be far off now. But what will the theme be for this last crusade of camp 2021?
Middle Girls
The Middle Girls had another great week here at Schodack. We started the weekend off strong with the return of the LT Carnival! The girls had a fabulous time eating snow cones, sock wrestling, visiting the petting zoo, and so much more! For night activity the entire middle division headed to the playhouse for a fun game of flashlight sing, where so many types of songs were filling the playhouse.
The start of the week saw more activities for the middle girls, full days with good weather and fun. The Spruce girls had a great time at Soccer playing an intense game of chicken or hero; followed by a close scrimmage. All the girls showed their brilliant soccer skills and had a great time. The Sycamore girls learnt a fast-paced Dance routine this week to the song Valerie. All the girls learnt the dance in record time and managed to nail it before the period had even finished. They proved yet again that they are amazing at dancing and can crack any routine. The Pine girls headed across to Arts and Crafts and made some great projects out of felt. The girls got very creative and made some really cool things. We had hockey jerseys, flags and some really cool pictures.
This week we had some really fun night activities, starting off with a middle girl’s bonfire. We all compared marshmallow toasting and saw some brilliant S’mores skills. Safe to say all the girls really enjoyed their evening eating S’mores and talking with friends. On Monday we enjoyed a middle camp pool party; there were glow sticks, beach balls, pool noodles and so much fun.
Tuesday saw a special middle camp afternoon, with the return of Messiest Day Ever! The girls really got into the spirit of mess and threw themselves right in. We started with the egg toss, moving onto syrup and cereal and then flour and gummy bears. All the middle campers and staff had a great afternoon; and enjoyed a quick dip in the pool afterwards. The night activity carried on with all the middle campers in the playhouse for a Movie Night, which was the brilliant film of Matilda. Everyone loved the movie and enjoyed their night snack after an exciting day at Schodack.
Special activity day found us all hanging out for a blister day morning, with good weather and fun in the pool the girls had a wonderful time. Following on in the afternoon was a super cool BMX stunt show, with impressive moves and lots of excitement. To finish off the day we all got to watch the Variety Show with several Middle Girls representing the division.
We had another action-packed week here at camp and can’t to see what we get up to next week!
Super Seniors
What a week for the Super Seniors! So much happened for this incredible division both on and off camp and I am so excited to share their events and activities with everyone at home! These campers know how to have fun everywhere they go!
– The Super Seniors had an exclusive night out at the legendary Lyons Lake Restaurant. Enjoying a night of pizza and soda, the Super Seniors hung out, danced, played pool, and took some amazing photos in front of a beautiful sunset over the lake as they laughed about memories from the beginning of the summer.
– At soccer, the Super Senior Girls played an amazing game of World Cup where every camper proved to be a pro-athlete. After pairing up with their friends, the girls attempted to score on Facundo, the soccer counselor, while shouting out their country’s name to win the round. They are really getting into the Olympic spirit!
– This week started Super Senior Hushbuddies, a game where each Super Senior is given a name of someone in their division and must leave clues and small gifts for them over the course of a week. At the end of the game, everyone guesses who has them and there is a big reveal day. The campers have been hard at work in the Art Shack making cards, bracelets, and other trinkets for their hushbuddies!
– The Super Senior Boys started their Quadball Tournament this week, a game that shares many similarities with baseball. The boys have made uniforms and signs for their respective teams and have gained the attention of the Super Junior Boys who watch almost every game. Soon there will be Super Senior Quadball Celebrities walking around camp!
– The whole Super Senior Program had their first serving experience while the Leadership Trainees enjoyed an offcamp trip this weekend. Each Super Senior found a buddy and the pair set up, served, and cleaned the tables for a bunk. Many Super Seniors served siblings, cousins, and other friends, which was a very exciting experience for everyone involved. A highlight of the meal comes from the Head Staff table where the servers offered extremely fast service and other amenities on top of the food.
There is almost nothing these Super Seniors cannot do, and they are not slowing down at all over these final weeks in the 12123. The division is looking forward to some staple camp events in the coming days and the campers cannot wait for what’s to come! – Eli
LTs
The LTs were seen to amazing effect in this past week. It all began with the seven stages of putting on a major event – The Carnival….or, The Carnival presented by the LTs as we like to say! It starts with the conception of the idea, moves through planning, purchasing (supplies) and set up of equipment – then costuming, execution (of the event itself) and never forgetting the clean up so that an hour afterward there is no trace that Carnival even happened save for the smiles on the campers’ faces and the satisfied glow of an occasion brilliantly realized by the LTs. This was followed in short order by the 4th Challenge Day – Gamblers’ Day – which was keenly contested and leaves the destination of the overall title still in doubt! These have been a massive success all summer. Throw in a trip to the local mini-golf, go-kart, batting cage Funplex (late at night where we were the only people there) and you’d think there was no time for LTing or sitting OD at night for camper bunks – and yet that is what has taken place in the last day. This all followed by Community Service this afternoon as our LTs meet virtually with local day campers from Troy. Lots more to be packed into the last two weeks – but I am thrilled with the attitude and performance of this amazing group of teenagers.
What else has been going on…
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It has been another fun-filled week here at the 121223 and we are excited for these final 12 days to be absolutely incredible! We have Bunk Plaque Night, Tribals, Carter’s Challenge, the Marathons, the final Celebration of the summer, and much, much more!
All we can say is…bring it on!
