Day Two- We woke up to another beautiful day. Clear skies, bright sunshine, and temperatures that reached the mid-80’s. I can never remember a more perfect start to the camp season. Nighttime temperatures are cool, perfect weather for sleeping. Daytime temperatures are warm, but not too hot to cause fatigue or dehydration.
We had a perspective family come visit this morning. They are considering camp for their son in 2017. As they walked around our campus, they witnessed league games on every playing field for every age level. They watched our younger campers shoot archery, our 11-year-old boys building projects on Hobby Lane, and marveled as boys got up on water skis for their very first time and sailed our new Sunfish on Long Lake. What an excellent illustration for this family to witness our program fully operational just two days after the arrival of the campers.
While structure and participation are key components to a child’s adjustment to camp, another key to success is that the children do not go to activities at Camp Takajo with their bunkmates. When campers travel by bunk, they only make connections with that core group of boys. We create our groupings for Hobbies, Skills, and Teams within the age group of the child. This allows everyone to meet each other and develop genuine friendships, which help them acclimate to camp life and become a member of the Takajo fraternity.
Because our program is so structured, especially for your younger campers, roughly five nights a week are geared towards giving our campers the opportunity to select the activity of their choice. This is called Hot Stove. Hot Stove was in full-swing this evening. We ran soccer and basketball clinics, opened the hobbies to boys who wanted to be creative, and some boys decided to fish off our docks. By the time the sun set and the sound of Taps echoed across the campus, every boy in camp could be proud that he made the most of this magnificent day.
