Camp Echo Weekly E-Newsletter May 5, 2002 The Camp Echo E-List is now at 413 members. Spread the word! ***** Staffing Update: Signed, Sealed, and Delivered ---------------------------------------------- Since last week's newsletter, the following have signed their letters of agreement and became official Camp Echo staff members for 2002: CIT/LIT Director: Tom Zwergel SCs: Dan Ettinger (AB) JCs: Eliza Gilford (CD) If you have not seen your name listed in recent weeks, but you think you are signed, I apologize; email me and I'll check my records. Alumni Notes (Send in your news!) ------------ No notes this week. Notes From Camp ---------------- The week opened with a small but dedicated group of staff arriving on Monday for Outdoor Ed Training. Chris Hart and Fuzz Foster were the "old pros" on hand; Dawn Summers, Tom Zwergel, Kiersten Rippeteau, Josh Newman, and James Kinney were here to learn as much as they could and to share ideas. Wednesday morning our first of four school groups arrived -- the fifth grade from Grand Rapids Christian Schools (Creston and Rockford) -- for three days and two nights. It was chilly all three days and wet for most of Thursday, but we never skipped a beat. We took the kids through Archery, Arts & Crafts, Orienteering, Canoeing, Sports, Fishing, a Scavenger Hunt, a Campfire, Night Hikes, Low Ropes Initiatives, a Nature Walk, and the Echo Records. Florence Allen and Laurie Marshall handled most of the meals; Rob Johnston filled in to cook the pizza lunch on Wednesday and the French toast on Friday. Friday night (actually, around 2 am Saturday morning) the bus from Evanston rolled in with the group from Project Soar. Soar is a program at the McGaw YMCA in which eligible youngsters are paired with college-age mentors for the entire school year; this outing to Camp Echo is a highlight for them all. Katie Tucker Trippi joined the staff, and to everyone's delight the weather got warmer and warmer as the weekend went on. The group enjoyed a program similar to that of the school group, with plenty of time for bonding and reflecting on the merits of Project Soar. After the cabins and Kybos were cleaned the staff who had worked so hard for the week headed to Grand Rapids for dinner at the Olive Garden and a movie ("Spiderman"). Meanwhile, Tony Marshall, a new staff member who finished exams at Central Michigan University on Friday, arrived on Sunday. Tony had joined us earlier in the month for the High School Work Weekend, so he was ready and willing to jump right in (literally) and help Rob Johnston dig a four-foot deep hole for the new flagpole, which will go up this week. Back in Evanston, Sunday afternoon and evening were devoted to the first of two identical JC Training Workshops. James Kinney Main Camp Director, and Bob Ettinger, recently back from Costa Rica and soon-to-be Aquatic Director, ran the training with the assistance of Peter Frankel. Katie Tucker Trippi, who may someday surpass the number of miles John Donohue has put on his car driving to and from Camp Echo (equivalent to nearly three times around the Earth at last estimate), led the JCs in lap swimming and surface dives in preparation for the Lost Swimmer Drills we practice up at camp. Song of the Week ---------------- DOODLY-DO [Hand motions: Slap knees twice; clap hands twice; horizontal hand wave with right hand on top twice, left hand on top twice; right hand to nose, then left shoulder; left hand to nose, then right shoulder; tap shoulder on same side twice; hands up with fingers wiggling] Please play for me that sweet melody, Called doodly-do, doodly-do. I like the rest, but the part I like best Goes doodly-do, doodly-do. It's the simplest thing, there isn't much to it; All you gotta do is doodly-do it. I like it so, wherever I go, It's the doodly-doodly-do. Come on and Wottaly-otcha, wottaly-otcha, doodly-do, doodly-do, Wottaly-otcha, wottaly-otcha, doodly-do, doodly-do, It's the simplest thing, there isn't much to it; All you gotta do is doodly-do it. I like it so, wherever I go, It's the doodly-doodly-do. Woo-woo!! Letters to the Editor --------------------- Dear Editor, I was at the work weekend last week and Rob Johnston called B&C the "Small Craft" area. I'm curious why it got renamed. Jamie Steel -- Dear Jamie, First I asked Rob Johnston. He said, "B&C is still Boating and Canoeing ... check the sign in the area. Small Craft is just another way of saying it ... similar to referring to the Old Shop as the Barn." Then I asked Katie Tucker Trippi. She said, "It used to be Small Craft. It changed to B&C because everyone kept mixing up small crafts with small arts and crafts like bead work and shrinky dinks." Later, Katie added, "Your question has been ruminating in my head. The more I think about it the more I believe that Small Craft refers to the area and B&C refers to the Camptivity that is taught there." As I thought about this more, I realized that the abbreviation B&C leaves out kayaks. Shouldn't we call it B&C&K? This makes me think ... we teach Windsurfing at the Sailing area. Maybe we should be calling that "S&W" or, even better, the Large Craft area. Remember, the sign on the P.O. says Doug Monahan Center, and Optimist Staff Lodge is called Moon. Maybe everything at camp has two names!??! The Editor Echo History Tidbit of the Week ------------------------------- From the "Camp Echo Adventure Trip Newsletter" September 1992 By Steve Newman, Todd Israelite, and Mike McMahon "Each trip leaves us with many memories for those moments of whimsical daydreaming; The dawn pedal across Mackinaw bridge; sleeping on the shores of Lake Superior under the Northern Lights; late night pow-wows; shooting the last set of rapids into Sand Island; after lunch naps; M&M pancakes; biking the oh so challenging cherry pie; paddling the crystalline waters of Georgian Bay; and finally suffering through a severe bout of cabin fever at shelter #3. These memories will warm our hearts as another winter begins to settle over our part of the world. Biking, canoeing, kayaking, backpacking, we did it all. But what will stay with us longest are the friendships we made and the thoughts we shared." Feel The Spirit! -- Rob Grierson Camp Echo Director rg@mcgawymca.org