Another big week at Camp Scatico! Service Day, the start of Big Trips, Art Show and Open Mic, the Upper Hill Tennis Tournaments, Divisional Sing, Girls Color War Break…. and more! With only 10(!) days left of summer, we’re ready to soak in all things 12523.
SERVICE DAY
July 28th marked a special first at Scatico… our first-ever Service Day! The idea behind Service Day was to have each division work on a project that somehow gave back to the local community, and brought Scatico’s 4th Value “From the 12523, To the World” to life. The projects for each group were:
SITs— Made DIY dog toys for the Columbia-Greene Humane Society! They even got a visit from one of the puppy recipients.
Pixie and Junior Girls and Soph Boys— Made Dream Boxes for SCOPE, a nonprofit organization that provides children from low-income families opportunities at overnight camps. SCOPE has provided 25,000 “camperships” and counting! For their project, Pixies, Juniors and Sophs created Dream Boxes for SCOPE campers at Ramapo for Children, a camp in Rhinebeck that offers direct services and professional development. Each “Dream Box” contained new school supplies (all donated by Scatico parents!) that were decorated for each kid.
Jinter Girls and Freshman Boys— Ran a lemonade stand and car wash in support of the Elizaville Volunteer Fire Department. Located just across the road from camp, the Elizaville Fire Department runs on the generosity of local, volunteer firefighters. The Jinters and Freshman served up delicious lemonade and got to scrubbing cars, with all proceeds going back to the Fire House!
Inter Girls, Inter Boys, and Sub Junior Boys— Built and painted games in woodshop to donate to Kite’s Nest, a Hudson- based non-profit with the “mission to build the collective capacity of young people to bring about personal transformation, social connection, healing, and systemic change.” Kite’s Nest runs a community garden and campus to run programming for local kids and teens. The Inters and Sub Juniors created a giant Connect 4 and Corn Hole sets to donate to their space!
Center Girls and Junior Boys— Got busy in cooking, making lasagnas for Lasagna Love a global nonprofit and grassroots movement that aims to positively impact communities by connecting neighbors with neighbors through homemade meal delivery. The Centers and Juniors made a combined 20 lasagnas, which we distributed to families in the local area. And we even got some press around it, with an article about the Lasagna Love/ Scatico partnership appearing in the Daily Freeman!
The Deb Girls— Headed to Hudson to work alongside Kite’s Nest’s ReGen Teens! Among their many programs, Kite’s Nest’s ReGen Teens collaborate as a team to run money-making businesses that uplift environmental justice and community connections. The ReGen program is also a paid employment opportunity that prioritizes youth ages 14-18 who are interested in building independent workforce skills and experience with a focus on the natural world and social justice. The Debs worked alongside the ReGen Teens in their community garden and participated in environmental workshops with them!
The Sub Girls and Boys— Made no-sew blankets for Soul Ryeders, a non-profit that provides personalized resources, innovative programs and community support to anyone in the New York Tri-State area impacted by any type of cancer. Lead by Head Counselor Kerri, who serves on Soul Ryeders’ board, the Subs put together fleece blankets that will become part of gift baskets that go towards cancer patients receiving hospital treatments.
The Seniors, Soopers and Upper Seniors were on their trips to Lake Placid and New Orleans!
DIVISIONAL SING
Always a highlight night at camp, the boys held their Divisional Sing on the 31st and the Girls on the 1st!
Campers work for several weeks on their Divisional Sing, learning and perfecting their songs. It’s a night filled with camp spirit, and that brings bunkmates together, as campers often remember their sings for years to come.
On boys side, each group presents one “Fake Song” (a song that they rewrite the lyrics to in order to make it about them as a group and camp) and one “Real Song” that is a slower, folk song type that they sing in earnest. Congratulations to the Sub Juniors and Upper Seniors who walked away victorious!
On Girls Side, each division has a theme, which is a play on words of their division name. This year’s themes were: Pixie Hollow, Disney Junior, the Jintstones (like the Flintstones), Interllectuals, The Acentgers (like Avengers), The Bar-DEB Bellas (a Pitch Perfect reference), Stranger Subs (like Stranger Things), and KC and the Senior Band (instead of Sunshine Band). Each group performs a medley of “fake songs” all connected to their theme, and one folk song. Congratulations to Centers (3rd), Inters (2nd) and Subs (1st)!
BIG TRIPS
The Soopers, Upper Seniors and Seniors returned from their overnight trips… and this week every other group is headed out! Big trips are always an exciting opportunity to have a different kind of experience with your bunkmates, and explore beyond the 12523. This summer, each trip ends with Sal’s at camp, a trip to Kay’s Kones (the new establishment down the road that has replaced ICESCREAMS!) and a movie. Making up for a lost trip year in 2020, a few groups went to the same place (but on different days). Trips included:
Catamount—The Inter boys and Deb girls headed to Catamount where they zip-lined and enjoyed the aerial adventure park!
Howe Caverns- Soph and Frosh boys, and Junior, Pixie and Jinter girls all put on their spelunking hats at Howe Caverns, where they explored a giant underground cave a tried their hand at “mining.”
Sacadanga- Sub boys and girls gave white water rafting a try along the Sacadanga River!
Zoom Flume- Center and Inter girls and Sub Juniors and Junior boys splashed the day away at Zoom Flume water park.
GIRLS COLOR WAR BREAK
1, 2, 3, 4… we HAVE girls Color War!! Following the Divisional Sing girls headed down to the HC for milk and cookies (as they do nightly), but this time they were in for a surprise! Down the road came an illuminated green and grey golf cart, and Teddy’s Kawasaki decked out in flashing lights! It was COLOR WAR!!
After introducing the Judges— Lauren and Emma Rosh (an unbeatable sister combo!)— reading the Color War Pledge, and announcing the Generals and Lieutenants… all campers headed up to the tennis courts to find out their team splits!
After the break, the first step is always that Lieutenants and Generals play a doubles tennis match against one-another to determine which color they are (with the winner getting to pick the color of their choice). Then, each division goes up one at a time to play a game of “dodgeball”, where counselors have the balls to throw at campers and as campers are eliminated they go to the Chief Judges to find out their team. The last camper standing for each group gets a point!
Once all of the divisions have gone and everyone knows their team, the Soopers lead everyone in a giant AL VIVA! It is officially Color War, and girls are already busy planning for the Sing (the first Color War event), which will be on 8/7!
What team is your camper on? Here are the splits!
Much more… including Boys Color War… to come!