News from Elizaville
As each Scatico summer unfolds, it reveals its own unique blend of friendships and memories.
Much of the magic of any camp experience comes through careful planning pre-season: staff to hire and train, facilities to add, programs and special events to design and implement... Then, summer arrives, and the thoughtful preparations merge with the spontaneity and joy of day-to-day Scatico life. Sometimes, the “organic” magic even evolves over the course of several days (or weeks) in a given season, providing a unique identity to the year when.....
For example, consider the two major capital projects completed for the summer of 2017: the renovation of the girls gymnastics building (an outdoor deck, a new wall-to-wall spring floor, opening up the interior space...) and the addition of a flag football field on boys’ side (relocating the existing archery range, clearing an additional 2,000 square feet of woods, bringing in several thousand tons of fill to level the surface...). The new deck on the gymnastics building became (as mostly envisioned) a wonderful place for divisions to meet—to rehearse talent show acts or Sing performances, to conceptualize and complete group projects, to generally bond with bunkmates.... The flag football field created an even more organic and spontaneous use of space to bring divisions together. For the fill to level the field, we moved dirt from a dip in the woods that stretched from the former archery range to the back of the boys tennis courts. This created a circular open “bowl” at the low point between the two spots that was surrounded by woods with a trail leading upwards to the flag football field. Over time, we assumed the opening would grow back in and “disappear”....
Fairly early in the summer (and “organically”), groups began using the space for divisional meetings. A large stone circle was slowly but surely constructed over the span of several days to create a space to build small campfires. The Crater (it now had an official name) then be-
came an activity area for the outdoor adventure program and the spot at which boys Color War was broken during the now-annual “Legends of Scatico” (this is a story for another day). It’s safe to say that the Crater (which became a beloved location in camp) received more use than the Flag Football field.
Pre-activity warm-ups in the renovated gymnastics building... Tribes plaques from before 1990 decorate the walls (overflow from the Girls Social Hall).
THE CRATER!
What does all this say about camp? Certainly, the incredible pull for divisions to find spaces to sit together, to talk, to share, to bond, to plan group projects... Equally, the opportunity for campers each year to create their own magic and then have that be embraced by the community at large—the balance between the carefully planned and the spontaneous. And underlying everything, an ethic that values simple pleasures and the opportunity camp
affords to slow down life and unplug.
Making the Trip to Camp...
Off-season and summer visits from Alumni reflect the staying power of the camp experience throughout a lifetime. A few highlights from recent visits (and not a complete list):
Gerry and Dorothy
On June 8, Gerry and Dorothy Wolf Cantor drove through the front gate to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary. They had met at camp during staff orientation in 1956 and were married the following year, just after Dorothy graduated from City College. That summer Gerry was a drama counselor and Dorothy was a division leader. When the photo to the right of Gerry and Dorothy was posted on Scatico’s Instagram account (600-plus followers on November 1 and counting), we received the following comment from Marjorie Koff Zuckerman: “Dottie Wolf was the best counselor ever! Fantastic story teller with perfect foreign accents, suspenseful. She was a great listener too! Also wore cool red polish on her long fingernails, which impressed her young admiring campers!”....
Barry and Carol Greenstein Stone also met as counselors at camp in 1956 (on July 2 to be precise) and also celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in 2017! Their walk around camp in mid-July included a stop in the girls’ dining room to see Carol’s name on a Color War plaque (Green 1953 general)....Former campers, counselors, and division leaders Hank Alpert, Roger Granet, and Peter Ehrenberg spent a morning at camp in early June to celebrate their joint 70th birthdays. They even managed to get in a few shots on the A court....
Barry and Carrol
Hank, Roger and Peter
Claudia Coenen and Zhanna Dhobkina Buzharsky celebrated the 25th anniversary of their friendship (begun in the summer of 1992 when they were roommates living on top of the canteen) with an August trip to Elizaville. In 1992, Claudia traveled from the Netherlands to work as a housekeeper. Zhanna, who was born in Russia and emigrated to the United States as a teenager, ran the canteen....Mom and daughter Eileen Fleder Kahn and Laura Kahn bonded across the generations (from the 1960s to the 1990s-2010s) when they stopped by Scatico in September....
Zhanna and Claudia
Eileen and Laura
On a very cold November morning, former bunkmates Emily Berger, Nicki Stuttman, Sydnee Fried, and Julie Miller trekked around camp, sharing memories of their 2009 Sooper summer.... Julia Jaffe (2002-07) was in the Hudson Valley on an October weekend and on a detour to camp was thrilled to connect with her 2006 Sooper Division Leader Laura Gold Eshed. For Laura, who spent 10-plus summers as a camper, counselor, and division leader in the 1990s and 2000s, it was her first time back at camp since her last summer in 2006. In the interim, the Queens native married, had two children, and had been living in Ecuador and Israel. “Being back at camp has the craziest effect. While it’s been just over 10 years since I was here last, walking through the gate it’s felt like I never left. I guess that’s the true meaning of something staying with you forever. Scatico has definitely made me the person I am today and I am grateful for every moment spent there.”
Nicki, Julie, Emily and Sydnee
If you want to visit camp, just call (845-756-4040) or email (info@scatico.com) beforehand. We love welcoming alumni as they re-live Scatico memories and each season in Elizaville (from winter snows to fall foliage) provides a unique perspective.
Vintage Scatico
When Dave Kushner (1965-66) visited camp in July, he shared the “Camper Evaluation” written after his graduating summer by Irwin “Flick” Fleischner. It was clearly an era of typewriters and handwritten corrections. Dave also provided the photo above—with Don Cohen and receiving the Nat Holman Basketball Tournament team trophy from head counselor Stan Silverberg (left)
and Uncle Nat (with his signature straw hat).
Sylvia Simmons Sanders worked as a Scatico nurse for several summers in the early 1940s. Her son, Joe Sanders, shared the pictures below (with original descriptions). Included is a photo of Fred Peterson, who was the Scatico caretaker from 1934 to 1966.
We Will Miss You
Trudy Palinsky Solin passed away on June 27. She attended Scatico from 1945-53 and was a lifelong fine artist. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, she studied painting and sculpture at the Skowhegan School in Maine, the Art Center of Northern New Jersey, the Art Students League of New York, and the Sarah Lawrence Extension in Lacoste, France. During her career, she was featured in many solo and collaborative exhibitions in the Northeast and taught art to senior citizens for two decades.
Staying in Touch
Send submissions for the Spring 2018 issue to info@scatico.com.
As always, we like to start off with RSSes (Random Scatico Sightings)....
Andrew Rubinson (1969-79 and then 2000s) met Michael Grenadier (1960s-70s) at a New York City fundraising event for Green Guerillas. Andrew was attending as a resident of Washington Heights; Michael was there as the owner of Windy Farm Garden Center in Yonkers (which provides supplies to the nonprofit community gardening group)....When boys head counselor Cory Schwartz (1988-2017) attended an October performance of Springsteen on Broadway he spotted Doug Herzog (1967-78) and then his former campers Zach Reiner and first Nick Joseph (both 1990s-2000s). Also in audience that night was Doug’s former bunkmate Jeff Abrams (1968-77), although Doug and Jeff didn’t make that connection until posting “reviews” on social media after the show....
Orthopedic Surgeon (and current camp doctor) Eric Strauss (1986-1999 and then 2010s) didn’t realize the “M. Weisman” on his patient list was actually his former camper Michael Weisman (1990s) until they met for a pre-op examination....When Andi Arnold (1980s-2010s) represented her Riverdale apartment complex at a recent event sponsored by the Council of NY coops/condos, she was wearing a “Scatico” vest. Josh Goldman (a camper in the early 1980s) was also in attendance, presenting information about his company, which constructs storage units for buildings. Although, Josh and Andi did not overlap summers at camp, they quickly embraced the Scatico connection. Andi owns Lifesaving Enterprises, a business which provides first aid and lifeguard training (and now similar training for pet owners) ....
Eric and Mike
Andi and Josh
And for other non-RSS news.... A November dinner in NYC brought together 12 boys side alumni from the 1980s-1990s. In the photo to the right (from left to right): sitting—Scott Strauss and Greg Mazarin; standing—Matt Popkin, Eric Kleiner, Jeff Araten, Todd Fass, Eric Strauss, Charlie Bernard, Michael Vickers, Andrew Tannenbaum, Jon Cooper, Lawrence Thaler, and Jon Jacobs. All spent summers at Scatico as both campers and counselors....
NYC Dinner- 1980s-1990s
Under the heading of Best Scatico Memorabilia Discovery for 2017, Rob Solomon found in a box in his basement two Maxell c-60 cassette tapes with the play-by-play of the 1977 under-13 softball tournament—with broadcasters Doug Herzog and Hillel Italie. The game and award ceremony coverage includes interviews with Ben Krull and Marc Lupa. Rob was the tournament MVP....
Former divisionmates Katie Hecker and Dani Josephson spent a spring semester abroad in Prague (as college Juniors), where they sent in the photo to right from the John Lennon Wall (an ongoing and evolving work of art and protest). Dani writes: “We shared the experience of a lifetime and we would have never been able to do this together if it weren’t for Scatico.”....
Mike and Elisa Segal Madorsky met Robyn Kahan at a June Grateful Dead show at Citifield. Connected through social media, they hadn’t seen each other since the summer of 1981. Mike reports that he has also been in touch with former bunkmate Andy Markoff, who runs a pond in Austin, TX, where children learn how to fish....
Nate Loewentheil (1995-2000) is running in the 2018 election for the Maryland General Assembly....Adrian Bennett checked in from the United Kingdom, where he is the founding Director of Broadwater Training, organizing unique experiential training for individuals and corporations. Adrian headed the boys’ Outdoor Adventure program in the early 1980s and had reached out about possibly hosting a future event at Scatico for clients in the United States. Adrian is married with four children, lives in a small seaside town (“everyone says ‘hello’” on the street”), and coaches and umpires field hockey in his free time....
Pam, Melissa, Josh and Nealie
Josh Camhi and Pam Caldara Weiss (both 1980s-90s) are neighbors in Scarsdale, NY, and have a son (Ryan Camhi) and a daughter (Parker Caldara) who are hockey teammates. When the team traveled to Massachusetts for a tournament, aunt Melissa Camhi and sister Nealie Caldara joined Josh and Pam to cheer them on. Parker and Nealie are current Scatico campers....
Keith Barbarosh traveled to Roswell, GA, to visit his former bunkmate Mark Goldstein (both 1970s). The long weekend not only was about sharing Scatico memories, but also golf and taking in the first game at the Falcons’ new stadium.... A July dinner in New York City brought together camp friends Sue Skollins Friedman (1945-59), Dennis Rinzler (1950-62), Carol Rubinson Strauss (1947-56), and Joan Haskell Berlly (1950-60)....
Barber and Goldy
Sue, Dennis, Carol, and Joan
Jake Sussman (2005-11) and Jeff Bukantz (1974-79) may not have overlapped at Scatico, but they were both representing the United States at the Maccabiah Games in Israel and sent in a photo from the Western Wall in Jerusalem.... Annelie and Steve Hanft (1955-74) visited Joanne and Bob Seebacher (1962-73 and then a second stint as a Scatico doctor in the 1990s-2000s) on a recent trip from their home in Bielefeld, Germany, to New York....
Buk and Jake
Annelie, Joanne, Bob, and Steve
Craig Fichtelberg (1977-90), co-founder of AmTrav, was interviewd on the Today Show in July, commenting on the Trump Travel ban. Craig was spotted on air by Adam Krulewitz (1980s-90s). Adam and his wife Monica Weiner met at Scatico in the 1990s as staff members and now live in Germantown, TN....
Argentinian Sergio Rojas Tessel first joined the Scatico tennis staff in 2008. From 2014-16 he headed the girls’ program. He wrote recently from Australia, where he lives with 2016 yoga instructor Alexandra Byrne: “I have a job working as a tennis coach at the Frensham School, a prestigious private school for girls.... I would like to say to all of girls side, thank you for so
much love for Alex and myself, and for all of our magical summers together. I love and miss you all. My heart will always have a tint of green and grey.”
Thanks for staying in touch. E-mail news and photos for the Spring 2018 issue of the Alumni Newsletter to info@scatico.com.
Scatico Honor Roll
When it comes to finding arcane and random Scatico memorabilia online, Bert Holman (1960s-70s) clearly establishes the gold standard. In the past, he has shared images of Nat Holman Wheaties boxes from the 1930s, a matchbook cover from the Sawdust Trail (a nearby restaurant closed 40 years ago), and vintage pictures from the Scatico Wingdale era (before the camp’s move to Elizaville in 1934). To the right (an EBay purchase)—the back of the postcard received by June Patron’s parents when their daughter made the Honor Roll as a first-year camper in 1955 (“for the second time this season”). In her final summer in
1966, June was the girls assistant head counselor.
Congratulations
Weddings
- David Morrison and Robyn Polansky on September 3, 2017. Robyn and her sister Cindy were campers in the 1980s-90s. Joining in the celebration, were 9 former bunkmates (and they were also celebrating the 25th anniversary of their Sooper summer in 1992). From left to right: Alison Goodman Ecker, Allison Fass, Dusty Fox, Amy Paul Tunick, Caryn Ecker, Robyn Polansky, Debra Sloane, Brooke Kalick, Amy Rosenblatt, Cindy Polansky, and Jenn Kornreich Geller. (On the next page of the newsletter, you can see them all as 15-year-old Soopers in 1992.)
- Alexander Foster and Ali Levine on September 2, 2017, in Midhurst, England (Alexander’s home town). Ali was a camper and counselor in the 1990s-2000s. Scatico friends JoAnna Datz, Jaime Hollander, and Alexa Naas traveled overseas for the wedding. Other Scaticonians in attendance included a slew of Levines— dad Andy, uncles Peter and Chas, aunt Ellen, and cousins Jenni and Jason. The party was re-convened in Brooklyn on November 4, 2017, with two generations of Scaticonians (friends of both the bride and the father of the bride).
The Next Generation
- Colbie Madison on 8/12/17 to Alexis and Matt Popkin (1980s-2000s)
- Olivia on 6/8/17 to Michael Shafrir and Ally Luck (1990s-2000s)
- Camilla on 10/27/16 to Katrina and Jared Dansky (1990s-2000s)
- Ezra on 3/10/17 to Andrea and Jon Braunstein (1980s-2000s)
- Braelyn on 5/25/17 to Jenn and Teddy Lydon. Teddy started as a member of the Scatico maintenance team in 1997 and has been the on-site caretaker since 2015.
London Calling
A few recent Scatico reunions to report on from the United Kingdom....
When Chas and Ellen Levine traveled to the England for their niece Ali’s wedding, they couldn’t resist making a few Scatico connections. First, with their daughter Jenni and her fiancé Geoff Michener they met up with sisters Maggie and Liz Cohen (both abroad on business). A few nights later, (and joined by Ali’s former bunkmates also attending the wedding—see above) they got together with recent staff members Tom Stevenson, Jim Hosking, and Matty and Kael Au Carroll....
On a May trip, Scatico media director John Hickey (1982-2017) coordinated an Edinburgh reunion with (left to right in the photo) Nicola Rowbotham (2010), Susan Bell (1994), Morven Young Cadell (1997-99), and Mateusz Chojnowski (2010). While in England, John also visited separately with Guz Matthews (1980s), Becky Hall (star member of the office staff in the 1990s-2000s), Neil Seligman (1990s-2010s), and Andy and Vicky Bowdon Tarry (who first met while counselors at Scatico in 2011 and have since married). John “observed how (in general) people’s fondest memories were not the big [events].... But always moments of getting caught in a rain shower...”
Calling all sunset photos!
We're currently collecting photos of the all-time best Scatico sunsets for a countdown
to be featured on our Instagram! If you have any shots (can feature any location at
camp, and include people or not) please send them along to info@scatico.com, or send them as a Facebook message. If you don't already, follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to stay up to date with camp news all season long!
Twitter: @CampScatico
Instagram: @campscatico_official
Facebook: @campscaticoofficial
1940s: The Driving Range without tee boxes and the A Court without stands. Plus, the woods haven’t grown in yet.... You can see the buildings across the road beyond the end of the driving range and there are no trees yet blocking a view of the A Court when approaching from the ballfields.
Survey Says
We wanted to share a few results from our end-of-summer camper survey, just to show how much camp has changed (and not changed) through the years. Many of the this year’s favorite special events and evening activities are easily recognizable to campers from previous generations; some, not so much!
Favorite Special Events
Boys Side Girls Side
Color War Color War
College Bowl Divisional Sing
MiniCamp MiniCamp
Divisional Sing Carnival/ Tribes/ Birthday Ball
Favorite Evening Activities
Boys Side Girls Side
Human Stratego Miss Ugly Contest
Twilight League Family Feud
Soccer League Camp Sisters/ Lip Sync
Downhill Tennis Baseball SCATO
