Children

October 3, 2017October 3, 2017 by Camp Mason

Stewardship, Sustainability & Service

By Nikki Reiff, Outdoor Center Program Director

Sometimes you need to stop and smell the flowers, and sometimes you need to stop and save the flowers. Here at Camp Mason, we do both. What I mean by this, is that when visitors come here-they are immersed in a culture where stewardship and sustainability take the forefront. Sometimes it’s in the form of litter picking as you head to an activity, often times in the form of an environmental education class that creates an understanding of why protection of the environment is so important, and sometimes it’s palpable.

This past week, the French American School of New York brought their 6^th grade class to Camp Mason for a unique outdoor experience. Aside from zip-lining through the trees, orienteering themselves through the woods, and forging group bonds in our Low Ropes course—they built bat boxes from scratch as a service project to our camp, and to the entire north east. Bats in the north east are important animals that help maintain an ecosystem and are of great service to humans. One colony can consume more than 250,000 mosquitos a night, and they also predate on pesky invasive species, such as tent caterpillars, that threaten a forests’ health or farmland. These bats are threatened for a few reasons- fungal infections that gets spread in some hibernacula (or habitats), the installation of wind turbines, and destruction of habitat in forests. All of these reasons can be summarized as unsuitable habitat. So in a matter of 3 days, a team of naturalists and a couple dozen students addressed this problem and created new habitat for 5 colonies of local bats.

Facilitation of activities like this are not uncommon here at Mason. The Outdoor Center team incorporate sustainability and stewardship into nearly every program here. Giving back to the earth or to one another is a recurrent theme across team building, recreation, and environmental classes all the same. In the fall, NJ District Circle K help Camp Mason with litter picks along nearby roads and streams. In the spring, United Nations International School visited and created water-awareness murals with the same idea in mind–to make a difference. St. Lukes School helped us remove invasive species along our trails. We are always looking to unite with schools and groups to complete more projects like this!

So whether it’s composting our brown napkins, maintaining trails, or physically creating animal shelters When you take a moment to look around at our guests and staff alike, its’ easy to see that stewardship and sustainability are key values we hold dear to us at YMCA Camp Mason. And if you don’t see that, you’d have to be blind as a bat.*

*Bats actually are not blind, they however, use echolocation to hunt rather than their vision. But you get the point!

December 16, 2016December 16, 2016 by Camp Mason

Winter Fun at Camp Mason

By Sally Wright, Outdoor Center Program Director – Retreats

Many people visit Camp Mason throughout the year. In the spring and fall we welcome over 100 different schools and groups, and in the summer we have around 300 campers on property every day. But fewer people get to see Camp Mason blanketed by a beautiful layer of snow. We have a number of groups that come to camp to enjoy the beauty of winter and participate in all of the fun activities winter can offer.

Winter at Camp Mason is just as fun as any other season. We do close down some of our program areas in the winter such as high ropes and boating; however, when the snow falls camp becomes a wonderland of exciting cold-weather activities. When the weather is right you are able to sled ride down Sioux hill, ice skate on the lake, and cross country ski along our hiking trails. You should be sure to bring your own ice skates, but all equipment for cross country skiing is provided, even a brief lesson at the beginning of the activity. We also provide sleds, but a lot of participants like to bring their own as well.

If skis and ice skates aren’t for you that’s ok! We still offer many of our classic activities like archery, riflery, and the climbing wall. Other camp activities get a little bit of a winter twist. During Winter Eco-Art you are able to use colorful dies to bring your creations to life. Animal tracks can be followed much more easily in the snow than on a hot summer’s day if you choose to participate in Tracking.

We do have a few bitterly cold days each winter, but don’t worry because we have lots of indoor activities too. Participants can work on their aim at our indoor BB gun range, or make a pretzel while enjoying some hot chocolate in the dining hall. A visit to our Algonquin Rec Lodge will allow you to make a baked apple to snack on, or a craft to take home.

We have a lot of fun sledding, shooting archery, and drinking hot chocolate and we hope you will join in our fun this winter. You can bring you family for our Winter Family Camp Weekend on February 17-20, 2017 or come with a group of your friends. Register for Family Camp here or call the office on 908-362-8217 for more information or to book a retreat.

We wish everyone a happy holiday and hope to see you all in the new year!

September 7, 2016September 13, 2016 by Camp Mason

What a Summer!

By Anna Bilton, Summer Camp Director

It feels like just yesterday that welcomed our first campers of the season and yet I can’t seem to find the counselors, I haven’t heard the hand stomp lately and no one has showed up for flag raising for weeks! It can only mean one thing: Summer Camp 2016 is over. While it’s hard to believe that another summer at Camp Mason has been and gone there is no shortage of memories to keep it alive for a whole lot longer yet! This year was my fourth summer at Camp Mason and genuinely the best one so far. Each and every summer the community at camp continues to amaze me with their compassion, care and downright silliness! To help me to overcome the post-summer camp blues I’d like to share a few of my favorite moments from this year.

Occupy Mason

As a part of our Masonstock Theme Day, the whole camp held a march on the camp office to protest all manner of major camp issues including sloppy joes, getting that bell outside the dining hall to ring and of course, more time to spend with my dog, Buseok. Some protesters had set up tents, the security team had sirens and a hose to cool down the masses, and everyone came dressed for the occasion. It doesn’t get funnier than watching our CEO, Keith, all dressed up for a day at the office try to calm down the crowd and move them on. It was a great start to the weekend!

Anything at Day Camp

Every time I strolled down to the Day Camp area I was instantly entertained. If you are ever in need of a pick-me-up then our fabulous day campers are the people to help you out. From getting messy to playing creative games, singing songs to pulling faces – Day Camp does it with the most enthusiasm and energy they can. This year the day camp staff went all out for their theme days and every Friday morning I looked forward to seeing their costumes and characters as I strolled over to flag raising. They can slip and slide like nobody else (it’s an art form) and most importantly, they make a mean rice krispie treat and are always willing to share!

Algonquin Iron Chef

Sunday Funday will never be the same after witnessing (and smelling) this Algonquin afternoon activity. I’ve seen iron chef activities before but this one was like no other. The rules might sound familiar; each cabin was given a set of ingredients and a time limit to make a meal. In a regular iron chef activity the teams would then present their creation to the judges who would choose the tastiest one but here’s the twist for this game: the campers had a foul array of ingredients and the challenge instead was to see which counselors could handle the taste test. The campers had a riot coming up with combinations that would freak the counselors out and watching them try their handiwork. Sure enough, in good Camp Mason style the counselors were troopers who tried them all and had a hilarious time doing so. They are much braver than me!

It was not easy to pick just three highlights to share. There were so many I could continue listing great moments from this summer for days! Thank you to all of the campers, families and staff that made summer 2016 unforgettable. It would not have been the same without each and every one of you. I hope you all have fantastic memories to keep you going until next summer when we’ll be doing it all over again at Camp Mason. See you in 2017!

July 22, 2016July 22, 2016 by Camp Mason

A New Kind of Energy

By Hayley Harrington, Summer Camp Apache Cabin Counselor

Summer camp staff have one of the hardest jobs in the world: making sure that every parent’s most prized creation has an amazing time away from home. Our jobs get even harder when we have to reset every two weeks and recreate the magic for a new group of campers. The impossible task seems to be giving session four a session one; we have already spent at least seven weeks preparing for this group of campers. New staff have more confidence, and returning staff have fallen back into the rhythm that makes camp run smoothly. We work tirelessly around the clock, and exhaustion begins to set in. How do we continue to keep the energy up when all we want to do is take naps? How do we continue to create magic every single day of the summer?

We find a new kind of energy. This sort is seldom found anywhere else in the world other than summer camp. Our energy comes from nothing other than the love of campers. There is nothing more powerful than the unconditional love of children, because for two or four or more weeks, we become the biggest influences in their lives. The collateral exhaustion that comes with our jobs is nothing in comparison to the gratitude received when a child comes to you and thanks you for learning a new skill. When we reflect on our days during cabin chat, there is nothing more powerful than hearing that the best part of a camper’s day was an activity we led or a time we went out of our ways to make a child happy. When we say “the campers come first”, we are not saying it because we do not want to put ourselves first, but because we, as staff, have that new kind of energy. We love what we do because we love our campers more than anything. Regardless of when in the summer our children arrive, we want to show them the world.

July 1, 2015July 1, 2015 by Camp Mason

Summer Reflections

By Jackson Patterson, Summer Camp Director

As I enter my third summer at Camp Mason I find myself reflecting about the people that led me here. At some point that remains a mystery to me someone saw a potential within me. More than likely a few different people saw it at different points along the way. A train of people come to mind, teachers, coaches, my own camp counselors. Each of them helped me to recognize a part of my capabilities that I didn’t even think to look for.

When I was 18 I worked at summer camp for the first time. I watched my Village Chief work hard to lead our group of boys towards an amazing summer experience. I had a great time playing and working with kids and at the end of the summer I told myself that I’d never be the Village Chief; being a counselor was just too good of a job. Over the next two summers I was often “volun-told” for various responsibilities. I was a returner and knew the ropes. After six summers of working at camp I found myself the Assistant Director. I went from never wanting the responsibilities of leadership to now craving it. I had become something entirely different.

I have had the absolute privilege of seeing many staff step up this summer. Former campers are now running camp. Last year’s CITs are now putting their experience to the test by leading cabins and campers of their very own. Today I witnessed a camper move up to the senior villages after years of being in the junior villages. I’ve never seen a wider smile.

It is small moments like this that change us without us even realizing it. I believe that this world could fundamentally change for the best if more people had these opportunities. Opportunities to learn. Opportunities to travel. Opportunities to expand their horizons. A single moment can make a difference and put a child on a life changing path.

May 28, 2015November 20, 2015 by Camp Mason

The Importance of Sleeping Under the Stars

By Anna Bilton, Summer Camp Program Director

For one night every two weeks, each cabin group adventures out into the woods with their sleeping bags and food in hand to spend a night in the great outdoors. As a camp counselor, I loved nothing more than putting my backpack on and leading my campers along the trail knowing that soon we would be cooking over an open fire, telling stories, and finally falling asleep under the stars. Today as a Summer Camp Program Director, my most cherished moments are welcoming cabins back to camp after an overnight. I delight in hearing campers’ stories of their experiences, the challenges they overcame and most of all, their excitement and pride about the adventure they had. The power of this traditional summer camp activity should not be underestimated. Perhaps spending a night outdoors is something we should all do more often.

Reconnect: Getting away from the grips of technology and getting outside, even for one night, can make all the difference. Campers and staff share stories of becoming closer over the course of an overnight. Taking the time to talk, share and listen to one another without the usual distractions helps groups connect and bond tightly together. That these meaningful interactions take place in beautiful, natural surroundings serves to make them even more powerful.

Marvel: Campers often tell me about the deer they saw or the sound of a babbling creek that they fell asleep listening to. Think back to the first time you saw a frog, bird or other critter. Try to remember the excitement and intrigue you felt. If the kind of feeling I’m talking about could be bottled up, it would be labeled wonder. Spending more time outside in nature creates opportunities for us to rediscover our sense of wonder. We are lucky to live in a world with such beauty.

Accomplish: For an overnight to be a success groups need to work together to carry supplies, collect firewood, clear out a sleeping area, build a fire and cook meals. Teamwork is paramount and achieving your group goal is a fantastic feeling. For many campers and staff spending the night in the woods without electricity and other comforts is an enormous achievement. I cannot begin to count the number of campers whose overnight experience has given them the courage to try other new things.

Where will you go on your next outdoor adventure? What will you discover?

This post was originally written for the Y’s “This Week in Young Leaders” blog. You can see it by clicking on the link below.

http://www.ymca.net/blogs/week-young-leaders/importance-sleeping-under-stars