Hello Scatico Staff
It is my great honor to be opening our orientation campfire.
I am going to share a few thoughts with you, then Laura will be doing a land acknowledgement we hope will become part of our campfire tradition moving forward. And so, I would like talk about acknowledgement in a more general sense.
I want to acknowledge that on a normal year orientation is difficult. Many people come together, some who know one another, and some who do not, and must in a very short time become a cohesive community. It is an imperfect process, and will remain an imperfect process. I want to acknowledge that we are not perfect. But, I also want to acknowledge that we are good. I see so much goodness in this circle and I am excited for the children that are coming in less than 48 hours because I am very proud of the team we have built. Reach out to your teammates in the days ahead, and be there for one another.
I want to acknowledge our purpose for gathering. 22 years ago, I sat at one of these campfires and David Fleischner stood up and said that ‘the work I was about to do would be the most important work of my life.’ I was much younger. So, it was a great surprise to me that David was right. Working with kids is the most important work I have found, and I want to acknowledge that all the work we’ve done this week, and we’ve done some hard work, is for that purpose, the purpose of providing for children a place to connect with nature, themselves, and each other. And if we do that right, we will have a great summer.
Like many camp events this campfire will have its moments of solemnity and its moments of fun and play. This is the complex art of camp life.
During the summer of 2019, Cory Schwartz gave a speech at the first sermon on boyside. It was our 99th summer and Cory was aware that our minds might drift to summer 100 and there is nothing Cory hates more than having a summer be taken for granted. So, he inspired us to call summer 99 ‘the Great One’ not knowing the events that were to come. Summer 2019 was the best summer of my life and I want to acknowledge Cory for his leadership and wisdom.
As we look ahead at a most unexpected set of circumstances for Camp Scatico’s 100th summer I see a challenge much like Cory faced 2 years ago. But instead of the distraction coming from the future, our challenge comes to us from the past. We must decide to craft a new legend, and to face the open canvas of a summer we know will be like no other. I see a great adventure ahead and I really cannot imagine a better set of people to go on this journey with.
I want to acknowledge the Fleischner family and their efforts to move the arc of history a bit more toward justice. I want to acknowledge the heroic effort this week and the week’s leading up to this moment by Nicki Fleischner. I hope you have a day off on the schedule. And lastly, if you are a first-year counselor let us all acknowledge that the first year is harder for you, and there is no way around that. But, I also want you to know that you are needed, wanted, and celebrated in our hearts every day.
Now, my partner from Arts and Crafts Laura will share our land acknowledgement.