Camp Echo Weekly E-Newsletter Mar 3, 2002 ***** Camp Echo E-List Update ----------------------- The Camp Echo E-List is now at 369 members. Spread the word! Who's Applied For Echo 2002? ---------------------------- From previous years: Gabe Bass, Jessie Becker, Will Fitzpatrick, Josh Newman, Nate Plotkin, Meredith Stevens, and Jessie Waller. From Indiana University: Jordan Faut and Matthew Garrett. From Central Michigan University: Tony Marshall. 2002 Hiring Timeline and Staff Training --------------------------------------- March 3-24 JC and AC interviews with James Kinney resume March 3-24 senior staff interviews with RG continue March 11 letters of agreement to senior staff begin going out March 25 letters of agreement to high school staff begin going out April 19-21 optional work weekend for LITs, JCs, ACs senior staff invited - email RG to reserve a bus seat May 5 or 19, 3-9 pm - pick one - mandatory JC training at the Y May 28 trip/wilderness staff at Echo by late evening June 7-8 WFA certification for all trip/wilderness staff June 8 CPR & First Aid certification for main camp staff who need it June 8-9 all non-JC staff arrive by 2 pm Sunday June 9 Alumni Notes (Send in your news!) ------------ Ryan Behrends writes, "I am living and working in Billings, Montana as an Environmental Scientist. I graduated in 2000 from Rocky Mountain College, here in Billings. My dog, Duke, and I have a house and get to travel all over the west for asbestos, lead, and a variety of other hazardous materials. Lately, about the last three months, I have been in Washington DC working on the anthrax remediation in the Hart Senate Office Building. Now I am back home in Montana loving the three inches of fresh snow from last weekend." David Tristram writes, "I first came to Echo in 1976 with a bunch of emigres from the East, including Rob Grierson. I was a counselor in the Pioneer Unit for three years, and ran what was then the LIT program. After college, I was away from Echo until 1986 when a work sabbatical allowed a long summer break. That year I did town run and acted as general program assistant, including a memorable appearance as Chief Medicine Man at Campathalon. "While away from Echo, during the 80's I worked at the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, CA. I had two great jobs there, first in space operations for Project Pioneer commanding real space- craft on interplanetary flights, and later as a computer graphics researcher at Ames' supercomputer center programming the fastest computers in the world. "In 1990 I left the civil service and took a job with workstation manufacturer Silicon Graphics. It was the heyday of this Silicon Valley pioneer that grew from 1000 to 10000 employees in five years. I worked on an engineering project and then got involved with video technology. I wrote some software to create animation for live perform- ance and used it to demonstrate Silicon Graphics hardware in some pretty unusual ways. In 1993, I toured with the Grateful Dead making cool computer graphics that were displayed on giant screens for hundreds of thousands of fans. Later I worked with some other famous musicians, including Graham Nash and Herbie Hancock. "I met Claire Oshetsky in 1992, and the next year we married and bought a little house in San Jose. Claire was just finishing up a management career at Pacific Bell, and has since become a successful freelance journalist covering the business of technology. She is also a published fiction author. Claire and I have two children. When Lucy was born in 1995, I took 18 months off from work to be with her while Claire "I am now working at a high-tech startup company, called iVAST, building software for delivering multi-media. It's a demanding and challenging job that takes too much time, but I still read to the kids every night and get to be with my family on weekends. It's great to hear about what's going on at Echo and I'm very happy that Rob has taken the Director role. Who knows, I may even show up around a campfire at camp sometime this summer!" Fuzz Foster, who worked Outdoor Ed at Camp Echo for nine seasons, is living in the northwest corner of the lower Michigan peninsula, near Cedar. He works mainly as a Gardner at Watervale Resort near Frankfort. This past year he taught Outdoor Education classes for six weeks each in the Fall and Winter (including cross-country skiing, snow-shoeing, and animal tracking) at Camp Leelanau-Kohahua, and will do so again this Spring. Summers he continues to garden during the day at Watervale Resort while also working as Evening Program Director at Camp Lookout on Lower Hering Lake near Frankfort. Camp Lookout is on a peninsula; campers arrive by pontoon boat and many of them think they are attending camp on an island. Those wacky Dutchmen. Seems every time I send out one of these E-newsletters I get a reply from Hans Woudman. I received this reply within just a few seconds of sending out the last E-newsletter: Guten Tag, Ich bin vom 25.02.2002 bis 28.02.2002 abwesend. Ihr Mail wird nicht weitergeleitet. In dringenden Fallen, wenden Sie sich bitte an: Herr Wilhelm Stadelmann Telefon 061 - 289 33 17 Besten Dank für Ihr Verstandnis. Johan Peter Woudman I just can't imagine what he's trying to say! [Just kidding, folks.] Openings at Camp This Summer ---------------------------- As many of you know from having worked at camp, many of the college age staff have to leave after the regular camp sessions end on April 9. In order to ensure that our participants in First Timers Camp have the best possible experience, we need a dozen or more replacement staff to work August 11-15. We need both cabin counselors and program area heads. What a great opportunity for Camp Echo alumni who can't take a whole or half summer to return: Arrange for these five days off and join us! Why, we even have a GRANDFATHER* who works at camp each summer at this time! You must have an application and three references on file to work during a camper session. I can send you same via snail mail or email. Winter Projects --------------- The 1983 "Big Black" Chevy Pick-up Truck has received a new lease on life in the form of an entirely rebuilt engine. Fearing the loss of the services of the truck and especially the snowplowing services that it performs, the decision to put in a "new" engine was made. Rob Johnston and volunteer friend, "Tall Paul", worked evenings and weekends to pull the engine out of the truck, completely tear it down to the block, rebuild it with new and re-machined parts and finally re-install the "new" engine. Paul has had experience at an endeavor of this magnitude but it was all new for Rob. It was very exciting to see ... after the crank, heads and valves were ground; new bearings and rings installed; new seals and gaskets applied; carburetor rebuilt; starter, water pump and one piston replaced; everything reassembled back under the hood and a final tune-up performed ... the old truck fired right up! Long story short, don't be fooled this summer when you see that "Old" truck doing heavy duty around camp ... it has a "new" engine under the hood with very few miles on it! Song of the Week (Knee-slapping optional) ---------------- MOUNTAIN DEW Chorus Oh they call it that good old mountain dew And them that refuse it are few. Well I'll hush up my mug if you fill up my jug With that good old mountain dew. My Uncle Bill had a still on the hill That puts out a gallon or two. Well the birds in the sky got so high they couldn't fly Just from sniffin' that good old mountain dew. My Uncle Hank has a U.S. army tank That isn't exactly new. When it runs out of gas he just pours in a glass Of that good old mountain dew. My Uncle Mort he was sawed off and short. Measured about four foot two. But he felt like a giant when you fed him a pint Of that good old mountain dew. My Auntie June had some sweet smellin' perfume. It let off an awful pew. Well she sure was surprised when she got it analyzed It was nothin' but good old mountain dew. Echo History ------------ From the 1972 Camp Echo Staff Manual: (and still 100% applicable 30 years later) "As Counselor at Camp Echo you must accept the greatest responsibility that you have undertaken thus far in life. You will face no greater responsibility or challenge until you experience parenthood yourself. "Entrusted to you will be the health, welfare, and over-all experience of ten young pliable lives. Each one of your ten campers represents the most precious possession of some mother and father. Parents' willingness to place the lift, limb, and spirit of their child in the sole care of Camp Echo and her counselors is an expression of trust that you, as a Counselor, must accept with the solemnity that approaches reverence. "The task of translating the philosophy and objectives of Echo into the individual campers' experience rests almost completely with you, the counselor. To do this you must accept each camper as you find him and recognize his worth as an individual. The measure of the success of our camping is not in what we do, but in what happens within the life of each camper. "Your role will be a most complex one. Firstly, you automatically become a substitute for your camper's mother and father. His cabin group his family, and Camp his community. You will, at all times, assume the role of teacher, friend, disciplinarian, comforter, coach, protector, and many more of every kind and description. "Being a sensitive, effective Counselor is an art rather than a science. If you approach your job with a true love and appreciation for kids, a firm sense of responsibility which is yours, a willingness to work extremely hard, a conviction about the purpose and philosophy of Camp Echo, and a dedication that tolerates nothing but the best that is in you, then you will have fulfilled the tradition of a Camp Echo Counselor." Wish List --------- If you, or anyone you know, has any of these items to donate, let me know. Dodge Caravan or equivalent 'minivan' for Town Run Laptop Computer (Pentium or G3) iMac, any generation, any color - even Dalmation! Request ------- We're collecting photocopies or scans of the emblems/logos from Staff shirts over the years. We have 1976, 77, 78, 94, and 97. Can you provide others? We're only talking about Staff shirts, not camper shirts. Coming Soon (Honest!): ----------- Computer, Website, and Internet Plans * The GRANDFATHER is, of course, our very own John Dononue. Feel The Spirit! -- Rob Grierson Camp Echo Director rg@mcgawymca.org 847-475-7400 x259