To date, this was by far the best day of the camp season. We had the most magnificent and picturesque weather, the kind that we always pray for during visiting day weekends. (I hope that’s not a sore subject…) Eighty degrees, bright sunshine, no humidity, exactly what we needed to jumpstart our week.
This morning, I met with the staff for a brief huddle, I wanted to compliment them on helping us launch camp during the most challenging opening I could ever remember. I felt it was important for the staff to appreciate and be reminded that our boys came to us under the most extreme circumstances, having had their normal routine ripped from them for fifteen months prior to joining us. Many of our younger campers are away from home for the first time and are thrust into this new environment with no access to their usual lifelines. While some of you parents may still not have touched your child’s room since he left, looked at the unmade bed, and occasionally smelled his pillow for that familiar scent, I can assure you, we have your son happily distracted. He’s not thinking about you as much as you’re thinking about him.
Activities were run until the afternoon with all age groups co-mingled, no longer traveling to activities by bunk. This gives all of the boys within that specific age group a chance to bond and connect. We are no longer wearing masks during outdoor activities, and we’ll only use face coverings when we enter the dining room in a “cluster.” All campers returned back to their bunks in the late afternoon and waited to be greeted by the head of their camp family, our fifteen-year-old seniors referred to as our Okees. Each Okee camper was given a list of the boys in his family and in unison went to the bunk of a fourteen-year-old boy to invite him into his family. The two campers made their way to a seventh-grade bunk and a sixth-grade bunk. They picked up one camper in each age division until seven campers in the family made their way to our youngest boys, our Crows, to invite our little guys to join their family. Each Crow camper waited with excitement in their bunk to be greeted by a host of campers, one from every age group, which creates a constant thread of community throughout our campus. Each family made their way to the Senior baseball field where they sat as a group. The Okee engaged everyone in conversation. He shared with his family the traditions of camp, mentioned the special events that we will be having this summer, and answered questions from our youngest boys. After this incredibly warm, heartfelt reunion, each family made their way down to the Commons Deck adjacent to our dining room, where we had an all-camp cookout. The boys enjoyed delicious hamburgers right off the grill as they sat together as a family, enjoying the scenic view of beautiful Long Lake.
If this wasn’t enough for one day, the boys made their way back to their respective quads and lined up for our opening campfire. This event symbolizes the opening of our camp season when we come together as one family and introduce our new members to the Arch Ideals. One camper from each age group was selected for our traditional candle lighting ceremony when each ideal was introduced for all to embrace. I had the opportunity to address the camp at large, introduce our seven, eight, and nine-year campers, pay homage to our Okees, forty-seven fifteen-year-old boys, who are here with us for their final summer as leaders of the camp. I took a special moment to talk about our CITs– those that unfortunately lost their Okee summer last year due to the pandemic but returned this year to capture some aspects of what was lost.
Before the campfire came to an end, I took a long-awaited opportunity to dedicate our council ring to my eighty-eight-year-old father, Don Konigsberg. My dad was the very first camper enrolled at Camp Takajo in 1947. When Takajo’s founder, Morty Goldman decided to purchase the defunct girls camp, Camp Kearsage, he went to my grandfather’s home and recruited my father and my uncle Bob to be his first two campers. Morty’s vision was to run a boys camp and he founded Camp Takajo. When my parents enrolled me at Camp Takajo in 1970, never in my dad’s wildest dreams would he ever imagine that I would have had the opportunity to follow in Morty Goldman’s footsteps. My father idolized Morty and considered him a second father. The Council Ring symbolizes all the important, intrinsic values that stem from a loving, committed family. I grew up in that kind of loving environment and do my best to instill those family values that I learned in my home every summer when we come together in the Council Ring. It is for this reason that I dedicate this facility in camp to my dad.
After this heartfelt experience, all campers and staff made their way down to the beach where we were entertained by an incredible display of fireworks. As Warren blew the sound of Tattoo, the entire camp community stood in silence, looked out to Long Lake, and took a moment to reflect on this special day. This was the day that our community became one, that we celebrate all that we had to endure, and embrace all that’s in store.
