Opening Day!
Finally, after weeks of excitement and preparation, Camp Scatico’s 99th summer began June 28! With bunks unpacked, white shirts on, and camp fires blazing, the Scatico community welcomed back faces old and new to the 12523. We are delighted to continue to grow our family here at Scatico as we approach our 100th summer, and are looking forward to spending the next 7 weeks sharing with you all things Scatico.
Opening campfires
A staple of Camp Scatico tradition, the opening campfires remain one of the most memorable and rewarding times within our camp community.
Girls side gathers at their camp fire site, the buzz of camp setting in. The Soopers lead the evening activity, and begin by sharing the ‘spirits’ of camp including friendship, health, laughter, fire, and tradition. As the Soopers share each spirit, the campfire burns as the girls sit together arm in arm singing Scatico songs including “Friends”, “The Circle Game” and “The Year Song”. Within no time, those new to the Scatico community begin to feel a part of the family. The campfire ends with the girls side candle tradition, which symbolizes the passing of sisterhood between old and new campers. In the candle ceremony, returning campers light a new camper’s candle. As is tradition, the girls then make a wish before blowing them out. The night ended with a live performance from counselors Kara (a first-time Scaticonian, and our ceramics head) and Sole (a third-year counselor all the way from Argentina) who played guitar and sang “What’s Up?” by 4 Non Blondes.
The boys side campfire is filled with its own set of traditions. Two games no campfire is complete without include Pillow Fights and Fool Ball. Pillow fights are self explanatory, in Fool Ball, a counselor passes a basketball back and forth between a line of campers from each division. Campers need to stand with their arms connected behind their back, and the counselor’s job is to fake them out. If your hands break, and the ball isn’t actually thrown to you— you’re out. After the games, David Fleischner regaled the boys camp with one of his classic campfire stories. In this (fictionalized) account, David told the story of the historic first landing on the moon, an event which celebrates its 50th anniversary this summer on July 20. In the story, David met Michael Collins— the astronaut who didn’t get the fame of Neil Armstrong or Buzz Aldrin as he did not get to WALK on the moon, but had to stay in the capsule while it orbited. Collins embraced his role, and became the first human to experience the dark side of the moon on his own. The lesson being— even if you don’t get the star role, you never know what special component your contribution might bring. David remembers the summer of ‘69, when all of boys side gathered in the social hall around a small black and white TV and witnessed that historic “one small step.” Longtime Scaticonians (campers and counselors) Jamie Hamburg and Zach Wayne closed out the evening, with an acoustic rendition of “Ho Hey” by the Lumineers.
First activities
It seemed that within minutes the campers were back to their routines, catching up on their months away from camp and kicking the summer off with some incredible first activities and traditions.
Girls Side
First up, our youngest (and newest!) Junior girls spent the first evening at camp making friendship bracelets as a way to connect with each other. The Junior girls experienced some new and exciting things over the last few days including shooting a bow and arrow and even getting into canoes! The Jinters kicked off their summer at Scatico with a camp favorite: Kickball! The girls headed to the hill to play in the sun and took part in divisional bonding games as the evening continued. The Inters, on Monday, headed out for the first off-site hike of the summer to Boulder Rock— finishing with ice cream at Holy Cow (of course!). The Centers spent their first few hours back at Scatico playing 9 Square with the Inters. A camp favorite, 9 Square involves hitting a ball up into the air with the aim of it landing in someone else’s square. With the sun beaming down, the Debs and Subs kicked off the summer in the best way possible with singing and dancing games to get into the camp spirit, while our Senior girls competed in the first Spikeball tournament of the summer! And our eldest, the Sooper girls, have been spending their first few days on the hill playing traditional camp games while soaking in the sun. The girls have also been hard at work with the start of Tribes (more on that below).
Following tradition, on the very first night of camp the girls side gathered together for Song Night. Led by the Sooper girls, this evening activity remains a favorite. The Soopers lead the girls side in teaching new campers a selection of time-honored Scatico songs. Each division within girls side works alongside a few Soopers to learn the songs with, naturally, some unique choreography. After spending time practicing, the girls then take turns performing their songs for the rest of camp. This tradition acts as the first stepping stone to a thrilling summer where all are included.
Boys side
Our newly-minted Freshman boys took part in a cool activity down by the lake during one of the first evenings of camp called night fishing. The boys managed to find various turtles and fish during their exploration! The Sophmores kicked off their summer with a game of downhill tennis baseball (yes it is as fun and crazy as it sounds). They then headed down to the lake to swim the lane to the inflatable obstacle course. The Sub-junior counselors organized a safari around camp for their campers to explore and joined in with a multi-division jam session (more on that later). The Juniors played a game of skippy ball (sort of like baseball, but with a larger ball). The Inter boys focused on team bonding during the first few days with a game of backyard baseball (played on boys back campus).. The Subs opened their summer with an intense game of Frisbee and ended their weekend with some deep sea fishing (in the middle of the lake!) and a flag football! tournament at a nearby camp The Senior boys began their summer with a game of dodgeball in the boys social hall (always a fan favorite). And last but not least, the Upper Seniors were key participants in jamming with Jamie. The jam session involved the upper seniors, juniors, and sub-juniors who played various drum beats while walking all over camp.
Meet the Counselors
Always one of the first evening activities of the summer is… MEET THE COUNSELORS! On girls side it’s a night filled with laughter and ridiculous song lyrics, the counselors from each division write songs, poems and raps to various popular tunes and perform their new versions to the campers as a way to “introduce” themselves ! On boys side, counselors participate in various challenge games, with the divisions each cheering on their respective staffs.
Tribes break!
Meet the Counselors on Girls Side had a SURPRISE twist! The final performance (a dance from the Division Leaders) ended with them throwing red, blue, yellow and green confetti… which can only mean one thing… TRIBES!! Screams and cheers ensued, as all of girls side split into the four teams of Blazing Arrow (red), Flying Eagle (green), Thunderbolt (blue), and Racing Wind (yellow). Over the next 3 weeks the girls will compete in various activities and sports in their four tribes. Tribes is always a stand-out moment at Scatico and the smiles on the girls faces really do say it all!
Leagues, Tournaments and more Leagues!
While Tribes kicked off on girls side, the boys embarked on all their various sports leagues! Soccer and Hoops Leagues began for boys in the Inters division and down, and T-League started for Scatico campers and counselors of all ages! T-League is one of those timeless Scatico favorites, where boys head out to the ballfields and play games simultaneously on all four fields as the sun dips below the horizon. Opening night for the season included (after a light drizzle) an enormous double rainbow that stretched the entire length of the fields.
Scatico also hosted its first tournament of 2019. 5 camps joined us for a co-ed tennis tournament for campers entering 10th grade and younger. At least one Scatico entry reached the semi finals in all 4 divisions: male and female singles and doubles!
Stay tuned for next week’s updates… there’ll be Camp Sisters, College Bowl, Fourth of July, AND MORE!