Camp Echo Weekly E-Newsletter Mar 31, 2002 ***** Camp Echo E-List Update ----------------------- The Camp Echo E-List is now at 400 members. Spread the word! Spaces at Camp -------------- There are 19 high school students signed up for the high school work weekend April 19-21. There are also 8 adult staff signed up to help. If you are not signed up, and want to attend, please let us know this week so we can plan accordingly. Family Camp is an ideal time for alumni to return to Echo with spouse and children. (In many cases, both spouses are Echo alumni, and children are Echo staff or campers!) Please consider attending Memorial Day Weekend. We're still looking for campers as follows: Main Camp boys in A (3), C (4), D (14), and E (7); CITs in AB (7); LITs in AB (4), C (4), D (4) and E (3); Birches/Outpost in C (1 boy), D (5 boys) and E (1 girl, 2 boys); Girls Trailblazers AB (have 17, will take 24); Minnesota Canoe Trip C (1 girl, 1 boy); Great Lakes Bike Trip D (1 girl, 2 boys); and Boys Trailblazers E (2). There are 10 girls' spots and 35 boys' spots in First Timers Camp. Session dates are on the McGaw YMCA website, www.mcgawymca.org, Camp Echo section. Staffing Update --------------- Over 80 letters of agreement and necessary paperwork have been mailed in the past two weeks. This number is larger than the number of staff at camp at any one time because many JCs and ACs are hired to work for just 2 or 4 weeks. Health Officers ("Nurses") paperwork will be mailed this week as long as we have a signed application and three written references. If you have not received a mailing and you want to know what's up, ask! If you want to accept the job offer, sign your letter of agreement and return it as soon as possible. Your other paperwork (tax forms, health forms, and certifications) can follow later this month. As signed agreements come in we will begin to announce the "staff list" in this newsletter. Salary was computed on the basis of information we have in hand. Changes will be made once appropriate information is received. If we have asked you to provide information about your CIT, LIT, or Trip experience, you need to write out (not email) and sign a statement indicating what you did, in what year, and who the program leaders were. We're still looking for a Health Officer for the first week of C (June 30-July 6); a Social Worker for each session; and alumni who want to return to work First Timers Camp, August 11-15. All other positions are either filled or have an applicant we are considering for the job. Alumni Notes (Send in your news!) ------------ Amy Tyksinski writes, "I'm currently teaching at Albuquerque Academy, a 6-12 grade college prep school. I support the kids with learning issues, ADHD, and so on. I moved out to New Mexico about 18 months ago. What drew me out here was an opportunity to meditate regularly with my 85-year-old Zen teacher, Justin Stone. (Justin originated the form of T'ai Chi that I teach and practice called T'ai Chi Chih.) It has been both challenging and wonderful to be working with Justin. The meditation continues to deepen and I'm glad to be here from that standpoint. "Albuquerque is a pretty small town and while the surrounding environment is stunning, I miss the sophistication and liberal qualities of Evanston and Chicago. I've committed to being here at least one more school year (2002-03) and then who knows. Maybe I'll go abroad again, or somewhere else in the States." Joan McKearnan writes, "I am teaching biology at a community college in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. Most summers I am in the field studying birds, sometimes in northern Michigan, sometimes in Minnesota. John Donohue's article in the last newsletter reminded me of a particular memorable celestial event from my Camp Echo days. "One night when I was a camper in Outpost, we were singing around the campfire having a good time, when we heard what sounded like a shot in the woods. Not knowing what was going on, our counselors Paula 'Trout' Strout and Beth "Pretzel" Brenzel ordered us to take cover in the lean-to. Our fears were further heightened by crashing we heard in the woods. Pretzel and Molly Baron started to head to main camp to inform them that something was going on, but they quickly informed us that everything was under control. "Some boys from across the lake had boated over and lit some firecrackers near Outpost. The maintenance staff was aware of their intrusion and was able to catch them before they could escape at Outpost beach. While this was a frightening experience, it was soon replaced by awe because the maintenance staff told us that the northern lights were out. We went down to the beach and saw an incredible show, which for many of us was the first time we saw the northern lights. We were seeing all sorts of shapes. At one point, someone saw an angel and we started singing "Angels We Have Heard on High." It was a very magical moment and one of my favorites at Camp Echo." Jim Weis writes, "My brother Bill and sister Lizzie both attended Echo as campers. I always came every year to Family Camp with my mom and dad (Jane and Jack Weis) but always attended Boy Scout camp in the summer so I never was an Echo summer regular. Still, I must have gone to Family Camp for 6 or 7 years. We attended during the years of Mary [Coyle] the Cook. "I remember Bill Geiger from my first year at Family camp (I must have been 9 or 10 I think) and then was so happy that he ended up being my 7th grade teacher at Haven Junior High in Evanston. I also remember getting rolled upon by Jane the horse one time after flying through 'the Velvet Corridor' atop her. I had decided to go bareback (I think this was verboten) and she wanted to get a scratch on a favorite tree/bush; I just happened to not get out from under. "Fellow families at camp in those years were the McKearnans, the Donohues, the Fishls, the Tramels, the Cassidays (I had a huge crush on Connie in those days and my fondest memories are of square dancing with her ... wonder where she is these days...) Oh, and 'Take Five and Revive.' "I remember Rob Johnston as Wrangler and staying our first year down in the "Fragrant Valley". I spent all day either hunting for salamanders and frogs and turtles and snakes or just hanging out at the rifle range. I seem to remember some guy named Pete [Kinsey -- Editor] who ran the range that year. The staff vs. campers softball games were the best. I remember Jerry Smith putting one fly ball atop the dining hall roof one time. What a blast that was! I had to chase it into the woods behind ... "Great to read the stuff John Donohue wrote - it really brings me back. Hopefully one of these days I'll make it back in person." What's Happening At Camp? ------------------------ Brian McGinn, Echo Alum and Builder Extraordinaire, is assisting Rob Johnston this week with various projects at camp. They are creating an enclosed office on the screen porch of Lakeside; refinishing the wall by the fireplace in the Dining Hall; installing additional counter space and electric outlets (for computers) in the Program Office; and refurbishing the Trading Post. Song of the Week ---------------- BOOM, BOOM, AIN'T IT GREAT TO BE CRAZY (CHORUS) Boom, boom, ain't it great to be crazy? Boom, boom, ain't it great to be nuts like we are? Silly and foolish all day long, Boom, boom, ain't it great to be crazy? A horse and a flea and three blind mice Sittin' on the curbstone shootin' dice. The horse he slipped and fell on the flea, "Whoops" said the flea, "There's a horsie on me!" Way down south where bananas grow, A monkey stepped on an elephant's toe. The elephant cried, with tears in his eyes, "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?" Knee-high knee-high knee-high sox, A dollar a pair and a nickel a box, The longer you wear 'em the shorter they get You put 'em in the washer and they don't get wet. [Does anyone else besides me remember it as, "Enoch, Enoch, he sold sox"? -- Editor] Echo History ------------ From the May 3, 1956 Evanston Live 'Y'er Newsletter: "CAMP ECHO -- A GREAT ADVENTURE. BOYS ... GIRLS ... You hear about Camp Echo, read about it, wish for it. This summer, dreams of this exciting out-of-doors adventure can come true. At Camp Echo you will love the swish of a canoe paddle, the singing of a fish line, crackle of the campfire. Can't you just smell that outdoor cooking, hear the crack of a bat on the ball, the splash of the waters. You'll hike, paddle a canoe, sail, dive and swim, learn the secrets of nature and woodcraft. You'll have fun living and competing with real pals, sitting beside a glowing campfire, watching the sparks shoot upward, until they are lost in the silent stars of the heavens. "Camp Echo is a permanent and unusually beautiful camp site. It is on clear, spring-fed Long Lake, which is about two miles long, with a beautifully wooded shoreline. The campsite covers 47 acres of land [now 472 -- Editor], partly wooded, partly cleared. Twenty-seven acres jut out into Long Lake, forming a wooded peninsula, where the dining lodge, social lodge, cabins, athletic fields, and council rings are located. The camp is fully equipped with clean enclosed cabins, modern plumbing, special shower buildings, and a new craft shop building. "Leadership, equipment, location are necessary qualities of a camp. The greatest of these is LEADERSHIP. From the campers' standpoint, the most important and influential persons in camp are the leaders and counselors. Camp Echo leaders are carefully chosen, mature, clean living young people that boy and girls campers look up to and admire. Each of the staff is selected not only for wholesome personality, but for abilities to teach certain skills as well. "The counselor assists and supervises the campers in their activities. He or she sees that each camper gets into special instruction classes as well as group projects, where they meet other counselors and campers, and develop new skills. Every camper has the opportunity to participate in programs with others of his or her own age and abilities. Each lives in a cabin with the counselor and eight [now eleven -- Editor] cabin mates. Each cabin family has its own found pine and cedar table in the dining lodge. "Cliff Maxwell, City Boys' Secretary, Evanston YMCA, will direct Camp Echo again this summer. This is his 10th year as Camp Director. Zenol Moore will be Girls' Camp Director. Mimi Gibson will be Program Director. Zenol Moore served as a Program Director for 10 years at Camp Tecumseh, Indiana State YMCA Camp. "CAMP ECHO RATES to members, $25 per week [now $375-$475 -- Editor]; non-members $28.50. Round trip transportation and baggage fee $15 additional. Rates include $1500 insurance coverage of sickness and accident, including polio. Minimum period two weeks." [The Crafts Director is listed as Larry Mayer, a student at Southern Illinois College. Larry went on to be Camp Director and a YMCA Exec.] Wish List --------- If you, or anyone you know, have any of these items to donate, let me know. Laptop Computer (Pentium or G3) iMac, any generation, any color - even Dalmation! Feel The Spirit! -- Rob Grierson Camp Echo Director rg@mcgawymca.org 847-475-7400 x259