Time is a funny thing at camp. While it has only been 4 full days of Scatico, we cannot believe all that has happened. For returning campers, it may feel like they’ve never left, so seamlessly do they slip back into the rhythms and routines of camp life. For first-timers, the strength of connections formed with bunkmates is supercharged! Bunkmates you’ve only known for a few days already feel like old friends.
Instead of trying to summarize all that has happened in the 12523 in the last few days, we’re going to transport you to two special camp moments… our Opening Campfires.
On the second night of camp the entire boys camp and the entire girls camp gather at their respective campfire circles and participate in a night of tradition and wonderment. Campfires start around 7:30 PM. The sky is still light, a reminder that summer has only just begun…
A shared new tradition… both campuses read aloud Scatico’s Land Acknowledgement, which we wrote during the summer of 2021. The Land Acknowledgement shares how Scatico’s name comes from the tribe Schaghticoke First Nations, because the land where Scatico was originally founded was their ancestral home. The Schaghticoke are a tribe formed from the merging of several Algonquian language-speaking people, and the word Schaghticoke actually means “mingling waters,” a reference to both the joining of rivers and the unification of several once-disparate tribes.
And now a shared old tradition… on Boys Side we do the “Calling of the Years,” in which Head Counselor Mark says aloud the years in which Scaticonians started at camp, beginning with the longest-tenured (David in 1964), and ending with 2023. As your year is called you stand, so that by the end the entire circle stands together. On Girls Side, this tradition comes in the form of the aptly-titled “Year Song.” We start with Head Counselor Kerri in 1981, with the lyrics… “1-9-8-1 at Scatico, no other year the same. Every girl a comrade true. Whatever year, or name, or fame.” As we count down the years and more and more Scaticonians stand, we reflect on the unifying experience of Scatico… one that transcends any single year, or time, or generation. Something we all can share.
Each campfire also involves a good amount of storytelling. At the Boys Campfire, David opened a pack of baseball cards from 1987, and told the story of each player. The message being— each player brings their own unique skills and perspectives to comprise the pack (just like campers in a divison). The pack of cards also had entry to a sweepstakes… a free trip to a Spring Training sight of your choice in 1988. So, naturally, we entered! David penned the letter asking for submission to the sweepstakes (we chose the Yankees), printed it on Scatico stationary, and had members of camp sign. One counselor even sampled the gum contained inside the pack… he swears it retained its flavor.
At the Girls Campfire, the Sooper girls (the oldest campers) run the show… explaining time-honored traditions and highlight moments we can expect from over the summer. At the campfire’s close, as campers rose to sing the Alma Mater, a flutter of wings was heard overhead. One of Scatico’s resident bald eagles had landed on the highest perch of a pine located directly next to the campfire circle. This eagle seemed to be one of the younger ones (its white head of feathers not fully grown in), and it just hung out on its branch, unperturbed by (or maybe listening in on?) the singing below.
On the walk back to milk and cookies groups of campers stopped along the campfire path to peer up, friends pointing out the unmistakeable silhouette to those who could not spot it. “Ah, yes, I see it now!” Small moments of triumph and awe. A perfect start to summer…
