Summer is moving fast, and we have lots to share. Tournaments, TEAMS, DJ Pure, Legends, Scatapalooza, and Visiting Day marked important milestones of summer 101!
Time during the pandemic has been an odd thing— for everyone— and as we reflected on life since March 2020, the specialness of the past weekend really began to sink in. Getting to welcome our Scatico family back to campus after two summers off; seeing campers share their summer home and introduce bunkmates; and taking in a tree-lined path abuzz with family-reunion-style energy; made us feel extra grateful and excited to embrace the rest of the summer ahead.
It’s hard to believe that we are almost halfway through the season, and we want to take a moment to recap some highlights of the past week!
TEAMS
It was TEAMS Day 2 on Thursday, a day jam-packed with action and activity. In the AM, RacingArrow (Yellow and Red) and FlyingBolt (Green and Blue) competed in a series of divisional sports. One highlight was Senior/Sooper soccer, which ended in a tie and had to go to a shootout! In the PM, it was the Track Meet with RacingBolt (Blue and Yellow… aka Channukah) and FlyingArrow (Red and Green… aka Christmas) going head to head. During the Track meet, campers compete in divisional relays, races, and one-off challenges like the softball throw, soccer kick, and standing broad jump.
The evening brought our second TEAMS campfire, where each team had the opportunity to showcase everything they’d been practicing for the past week. Week 2 Campfire highlights included: Rhythm Band (each team has a representative from each division act out a scene or concept using only sounds, e.g., one was “The Wizard of Oz”); Comic Songs (each team rewrites the lyrics to portions of three songs making fun of camp and all the things “wrong with it,” but ultimately sharing their love of Scatico); and Counselor Imitations (two campers from each team pick one of their counselors to imitate).
The places switched up a bit by the end of week two, and we have: Flying Eagle in 4th, Blazing Arrow in 3rd, Racing Wind in 2nd, and Thunderbolt in 1st. The final TEAMS day is July 22… can’t wait to see what it brings!
DJ PURE
A weekly recap wouldn’t be complete without mentioning a Scatico summer highlight… DJ PURE! This year marked DJ Pure’s 12th summer at Scatico, and the enthusiasm for him just keeps building! After a full day of activities (including some dance practice), campers got to dance the night away. The Pavilion was transformed by music, lights, and lots, and lots, of jumping. A sneak peek of the night is posted on camp’s Instagram page. Take a look!
LEGENDS + SCATAPALOOZA
Following Visiting Day, boys side and girls side split to enjoy two relatively new traditions to camp: Scatapalooza and Legends!
For Legends, boys side campers are divided into four teams: Harbingers, Guardians, Alchemists, and Seers. Once you’re on a Legends team, you are on it for the duration of your Scatico career! Each team has its own symbol, which campers spray-painted on T-shirts.
There are many components to Legends, each with their own rituals and meanings. First, there is a chess tournament with each team sending their selected “chess champion” to play while the rest of the camp intently watches. Congratulations to Lawson Davis and Greyson Nestler (the overall winner) who made it to the finals!
Following chess, everyone heads to the ball fields, which are transformed into a giant hang session, with campers gathering in the shade under trees to chat, or to play on the soccer fields, or to throw a frisbee. Then it’s time for activity 2: The obstacle course! Lower Hill and Upper Hill are divided, with the campers from each team competing in an obstacle course that is timed. The team with the best time, wins! For Lower Hill the obstacle course involves running along the gravel path from the ball fields to the A-court, pushing along a metal trash can, dodging water balloons, carrying a mattress overhead, and a tennis ball and water bucket race. For Upper Hill the obstacle course winds its way through the Sunset Trail, in the woods behind the ballfields, and involves scaling benches and dodging objects.
Following the obstacle course… it’s time to eat! Senior Staff cooks on grills brought out to the ball fields, so it can have the feel of a giant picnic.
The evening concludes with a series of stories, with a member of each team selected to tell a tale. This year’s storytellers were David Fleischner, Ishai Eshed, Alan O’Neill, and Ryan Derasse. At the end of the stories, each team gets to vote for the best storyteller with each camper on the team getting a vote. A big congratulations to Ishai— head of the boys waterfront— who won storytelling for the Seers! Ishai is the head of the boys waterfront, and lives in Ecuador— where he runs a school and tour company with his wife, and longtime Scaticonian, Laura. Ishai’s story focused on a tribe of the Amazon he came in contact with while doing an exchange program with his school. Having spent time in the Amazon, Ishai shared how this one particular Amazonian village came to be, and the oral histories of its inhabitants.
Over on girls side, a whole different set of activities was taking place with Scatapalooza! A post-visiting day festival-style afternoon, Scatapalooza may just bee camp’s most colorful (quite literally!) day. The first event is a color run, in which older and younger camp sisters line up with one another and run along the road path while dyed powder is thrown at them from counselors. The color run culminates with a giant color throwing party on back campus.
Following dinner, Scatapalooza continues with a glow in the dark dance party! The Social Hall is transformed with neon, glow sticks, and black lights! There is glow in the dark face painting, limbo, and, of course, lots and lots of dancing.
FEATURED CAMPER POSTS!
We’re continuing an exciting new feature of the Scatico blog this week… campers as contributing writers! This week the Scatico blog optional moved to boys side, and we have three new contributors: Grayson Klein, Crosby Synnott, and Alex Callahan.
HC PORCH
by Grayson Klein
The HC Porch is a great way to be calm and reset from all of the energetic activities. For example, chess is a calming sport, right? Well, there are four chess boards to play. There are also comics to read and cards to play.
Another reason is there are sometimes events happening there. For example, one time, the art teacher, Ken, brought a TV to the HC porch. He showed us when scientists made a super telescope to see the stars made so far away, and as old as 13.1 billion years ago.
And since Scatico loves and cares about baseball, there is a baseball bench and a speaker above it, and you can listen to the Mets and Yankees games.
But there is another side to the HC Porch. The HC Porch gives snacks, and everybody loves the snacks. For example, one of them was pop tarts, but s’mores flavor. The HC changes like bing, bang, bong!! Everybody is screaming, and the HC is crowded with people.
The HC is my happy place and the place I would spend my time at.
FULL CAMP CAPTURE THE FLAG
by Crosby “Bing” Synnott
Full camp capture the flag is a very fun game. It is part of College Bowl, which is where there are four college teams on boys side. They split boys side in 4 teams and do activities. One of them was capture the flag.
Two of the teams, team up on the other two. We go to the golf course and we draw one line in the middle. Then we take each side and divide it into two parts. The two parts are for different ages. One part is the Freshmen, Sophs, Sub-Juniors and Juniors. The next part is for Inters, Sub-Seniors, Seniors, and Upper Seniors. You cannot pull a flag off a person who is in a section younger than you. And you cannot steal a flag (frisbee) from a section younger than you.
The flags are numbered on the bottom for how many points you get. The team(s) who got the most points win. And if you come to Scatico next year you will see how fun it is!
MAKING FILMS
by Alex Callahan
Filmmaking at camp is a lot of fun. They come up with the idea of the movie. They write scripts. When the scripts are finished you get to audition for parts.
The fun part about the movies is that they’re horror.
Once you get your part you start filming scenes. This is when you really get to act. It’s a lot of fun filming scenes, and there are a lot of them. You shoot scenes in parts.
After filming you edit, and then you’re done with the movie!
DIVISIONAL SNAPSHOTS
GIRLS SIDE
Pixies - Have been busy with a few creative projects! They made delicious merengue cookies in Cooking, and have been hard at work on their “Hot N Cold” music video in Media.
Juniors - Got in the zone for DJ Pure with a DJ Pure bootcamp! Part of the activity? Mastering the worm.
Jinters - Had a “Behind the Scenes” tour of the Admin with David Fleischner! The Jinters got to see secrets of the main house, including the basement and the Fleischner pet turtle… speedo!
Inters - Put on their wizarding hats and played an intense game of Quidditch complete with three-ringed goals and a sprintingly fast Snitch to capture (aka Audrey and Katie, running around).
Centers - Got creative with a co-ed Scavenger Hunt in which they had to find unique items, and complete trivia, around camp.
Debs - Had their treasure hunt! The Debs were tasked with completing a puzzle and finding the missing items, which were scattered around the campus. In the end, the final prize was hidden in the office, and it was a trip to Holy Cow! Another highlight of the week? A “sip n paint” party with Ken, complete with sparkling apple cider.
Subs - Stole a favorite activity from boys side and made it their own … greasy watermelon! The Subs donned their white tees and hopped in the lake to play what is essentially water polo with a watermelon covered in vaseline.
Seniors - Couldn’t pick just one activity, and listed both their Volleyball tournament at Romaca and their first-ever “battle ships” as two weekly highlights.
Soopers - Prepared for their upcoming trip to New Orleans with a special period of cooking in which they made NOLA staples such as shrimp po boys and jambalaya!
BOYS SIDE
Freshmen - Headed out on their hike to Mills Mansion, followed by a stop at Holy Cow! Another highlight of the week? Night fishing for evening activity!
Sophomores - Also embarked on their hike, to Millbrook, followed by ice cream. The Sophs were also excited to share tales from their first-ever game of Human Stratego, a Scatico favorite.
Sub Juniors - Had an intercamp with Kinder Ring in which they played basketball (we won) and soccer (they won!). They also couldn’t help but mention a particularly spirited game of water polo, which took place yesterday!
Juniors - Participated in an NFL Combine, a special activity in which campers put their football talents to the test in a series of drills and skill displays (a la a true NFL combine).
Inters -Headed to Mah-Kee-Nac for a football tournament, where they played their hearts out (even if they were not victorious)! Holy Cow on the way home always softens the blow.
Sub Seniors - Headed to Kenmont for a baseball tournament! A highlight tournament of the summer, the Subs won by 16 runs!
Seniors - Enjoyed a co-ed “wellness” theme day, complete with yoga, card games, and waterfront hanging.
Upper Seniors - Hosted Camp Kinder Ring for an Ultimate Frisbee tournament… and won!