Our awesome AWACs and ARPs!

Good morning, one and all! Olive Oyl reporting for duty with lots of exciting news for you!

Last night we had our very first camp meeting and lobster banquet of the summer season! Meg got us started with the grand reveal of her pickles and we got the interest group gang up there as well as the classics like thought du jour, weather guy, and ropes. After meeting we all chowed down on lobster, chicken parm, spanikopita, salad, and potatoes. For dessert we opted for ice cream cake in lieu of the traditional pints of Ben & Jerry’s because believe it or not, the truck got stuck in Vermont! Not to fret, we’ll make sure we get our shipment in time for the campers. And despite the change in ice cream, Meg still delivered in her cow suit along with her sidekick Sandia.

With full bellies, we made our way to the bottom of Tipi Hill to start our staff Pine Grove. We walked up in silence by the light of a torch and came together amongst the Pine Trees to do all the camp classics like bo-diddley-bop, the Jellyfish, and the Penguin song. Our former campers started us off with Rise Up Oh Flame, and then we sang some other old favorites like the Circle Game and Peter and Meg’s round, Oh How Lovely is the Evening. It was beautiful night and we can’t wait to be back up there in a few days time with the campers.

Today we’re finishing up our final training sessions and priorities before our counselors go deep into cabin prep. This morning we’ll be cleaning our cabins and getting inspections by the PDs before heading off to lunch. And then this evening we’ll have cabin prep night, where we make bunk tags, cubby tags, shower charts, and chore wheels, all revolving around our glorious and unique themes.

Here they are!

Burrow: Bunnies

Down Under: Rainbows

French 1/4: Shellakybookys (snails in Irish slang)

Paquatahnee: Aquatahnee

Gimme Shelter: Down the Rabbit Hole

Wabanaki: Under Water Wabanaki

Fiddler’s Green: Beans

Valhalla: Vines

Camelot: Camels

Shangri-La: Sea Monarchs

Taj Mahal: Theater

Haley’s Comet:  Mythical Creatures

Loons: Undercover Robots

Wombles: Dragons and Knights

Avalon: Allstars

LCH: Superheroes

Bermuda: Cruisers

Chateau Fiasco: Onomatopoeia  (ex: POW! CRASH! RING!)

Forbidden Planet: Four Hidden Prawns (a scavenger hunt that will take place throughout the session)

Deer Meadows: Oscillating names (names will change throughout the summer)

Some cabins have already acquired a camper or two and more will be trickling in throughout the day, with our international group of Korean and Japanese campers arriving late this evening. AWACs and campers who have already arrived will be helping with cabin prep just in time for tomorrow. Woohoo! Our NYC chaperones have already started their journey and we can’t wait to see them back in about 24 hours with a whole busload of campers!

As lobster banquet marks the end of staff week, our video crew has put together an AMAZING video of all our training, hard work, and fun!

Check it out right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAjjQ-BoRRI

In the meantime, enjoy lots of photos of last night’s festivities and I’ll talk to you soon!

Lovingly,

Olive

Our awesome archery staff!

Hi, friends! Olive Oyl here with some news hot off the press! It’s been a busy couple of days here at camp with staff doing their last few priorities and drills in various areas and spending time with co-counselors and director contacts finalizing cabin themes and cabin night activities.

And with that, camp is starting to feel a lot more like camp, with lots of new arrivals today (even including some kids!). Phillippe, our glass fusing pro staff, arrived yesterday, in addition to the rest of Gabe’s family (his wife Amanda and kids Finn and Augie), and Eden, our photo/yoga/shibori (and awesome Japanese tie-dye technique that we’re excited to have) prostaff, who arrived with her husband Aaron and two sons Mayim and Lavi. Not to mention our first campers coming without families attached, Mia and Yuval, who came in all the way from Israel to Maine early this morning. And possibly the most exciting of all, our fabulous group of AWACs arrived this afternoon, who are currently in the foothills with their awesome ARPs Seth and Danica getting started on their training before the campers arrive. Camp is getting fuller and we’re getting full of excitement thinking about a few days from now!

Meanwhile on camp, we’ve been busy in our danger areas practicing emergency drills. Mountain biking, ropes, and archery all completed their drills successfully over the past few days. Woohoo!! The archers have been especially busy finishing up their tests on the course today to get their certification. Awesome!

We’ve been busy down in the art world as well, with Phillippe doing training in the fusing studio, as well as glass bead and blowing teachers honing in on their skills before classes start. We also had our first shift meeting after lunch today where staff began to plan for the first few evening programs and Lazy Days of the summer. In the animal world, we also had a few new arrivals today, with ducks and bunnies magically appearing on camp just an hour or so ago. Check out the pictures to see the cuteness! Did I mention our batch of kittens arrived the other day as well?! It’s adorable city down at the animal barn.

This evening we’ll be having our very own staff Lobster Banquet (complete with delicious non-seafood options as well like Spanikopita, Chicken Parm, and pasta). And no lobster banquet would be complete without the ice cream. We can’t wait! After digesting a little bit, we’ll head up Tipi Hill to our beautiful quiet spot, Pine Grove. There, we’ll sit around the campfire, share stories, sing songs, and come together and reflect our time here during staff training. It’s one of my favorite nights on camp and I’m looking forward to sitting amongst the trees and next to the fire.

Well, that’s all for now. Be sure to check out the awesome pictures and check back soon!

Adios,

Olive

The Ropes staff doing the limbo!

Happy first day of summer, everybody!

It’s Luna Bug here reporting on this breezy, blue, and beautiful day at HVC.

Busy, busy, busy here, but does that even surprise you? Phone calls to folks at home are happening, Weather Guy is busy preparing, and we’ve all been practicing on perfecting the horns section for Meg’s Planet.

Yesterday was a jam packed day. The lifeguards completed all of their drills, which means that the pool (FUN) and the lake (FUNNER) are open for the staff to use, provided a lifeguard is with us! Just in time, because it’s heating up over here.

Last night our evening program was the staff talent show. Olivia, Lucy, Rob, and Taylor were our wonderful MCs for the night, picking up where they left off from a promo when Rob scandalously proposed to Olivia instead of Taylor. See photos below and see if you can puzzle out what’s happening!

The talent show was so fun, and there were over 15 acts! Tanya told us her Otis the Llama conspiracy theories, there was a performance of Valerie, and the PDs performed a campified version of Sunday Morning. Aaaah, Olive Oyl and I are still not over all the amazing acts!

Today, everybody has scattered off to our different corners of camp for morning priorities, and this afternoon the whole staff will enjoy a bit of off time before we’re back on tomorrow.

Ciao for now!

Luna Bug

Fire away!

Hey you guys! Olive Oyl here with lots of news for all you lots of people back home.

Yesterday was a busy day with our lifeguards down at the lake working on their drills, the final ropes group going up for a climb on the course (and our ropes staff getting a little more practice), and cabin groups starting phone calls home to speak to campers and families about the summer. Speaking of which, all staff are moved into their first session cabins and super excited to meet their campers in just four short days. We all came together in the afternoon for a first aid meeting before enjoying a delicious dinner of BBQ chicken, corn bread, and cole slaw…yum!

Today we woke up to clouds and schvitz, but by lunchtime the sky had cleared and we’ve been enjoying a warm and sunny afternoon. Perfect for another day of drills down at the lake for our lifeguards and the rest of staff all over camp working in their various areas– archery, printmaking, glassblowing, and interest groups are all up and running. We’ve also been doing “mock lessons” the past few days to give counselors a chance to practice their teaching and other counselors a chance to ride a horse or shoot on the range or make an art project. Awesome!

This morning we met with different PDs to discuss the challenges of our particular age groups– splitting into younger and older boys and younger and older girls to have a discussion and “build our toolbox” with games and strategies to use throughout the summer in our cabins.

We had a delicious lunch of gyros, with a choice of falafel or lamb with all the sauces and fixings. After lunch we got together for the Program Program (formerly known as the details meeting), where various areas of camp got a chance to talk about their programs. Moses served as the host of our talk show, complete with a house band backed by Sara, Jacob, and Rob P., and we heard from Seth our ropes director, Ciera in horses, Alive, Community, and Adventures counselors, plus the Tipis counselors and Phillie with the waterfront. It was lots of info and lots of fun!

Tonight illustrious staff talent show, where our fine staff will get a chance to showcase their amazing talents and skills. They’ll be some music, some funnies, and maybe even some juggling. Can’t wait to tell you all about it tomorrow!

That’s all for now…check out the pictures and talk to you soon!

Lots of love,

Olive

Proposal in the dining hall? Bizarre costumes? Smells like a promo to me…

Good morning everyone! Luna Bug here to tell everyone about the big day yesterday and the big day that’s unfolding today!

Yesterday began with the beautiful reunion of our art poobah’s Max and Elise. Don’t know what poobah means? We don’t either, but we like it. Max and Elise are in charge of all of the visual arts programming here at HVC, and they’ve been doing it for a few years together so they were really excited to both get back on camp after Elise had been running the show for a few days on her own. After a brief paint party, the two got to work organizing things like screen printing at the buckhorn and the darkroom.

I guess yesterday was a day of arrivals, actually. Juan arrived yesterday, and settled into his cabin Poo (as in, Winnie the) before getting to know everybody during red barn time. He’s a great guy and we’re lucky to have him join our always excellent nursing staff.

Our priorities continued as usual yesterday, with our sports and dance staff meeting for the first time to discuss what needs to be done organizationally in those areas. Our second group of staff got a chance to complete the ropes course, and we heard that Mitch climbed the cargo net on the backside with JUST HIS ARMS! No legs! Do you understand?! Wow! Olive Oyl doesn’t seem quite as excited as I am, but all l know is my arms hurt just thinking about doing that.

At 4pm the whole staff met in the front yard for the big reveal of what we’ll be teaching in the first two weeks of camp! Everybody was super eager to see what was on tap. Some fun classes to start getting excited about are acapella, basketball fun, How to Be a Popstar, and sooooo many others I could go on and on so I’m stopping myself right now.

During dinner, the shift heads performed their promo to introduce the staff talent show. Olivia, Lucy, Taylor, and Rob played a southern grandma, a no-nonsense mom, a moody granddaughter, and a ridiculous businessman, respectively. We’re not entirely sure what happened, but all we know is that there was a proposal in the dining hall last night and that for the “wedding” they need at least 15 performers, which is why the staff talent show needs to happen. A strange and funny setup for what should be a great night! See photos below if you have no clue what I’m talking about!

After dinner, the whole staff rotated through a series of four stations to learn about effective teaching styles. Peter brought us through a mock lesson about how to properly clean a toilet, we learned about how its important to explain, demonstrate, and allow a camper to practice when learning a new skill, and finally we wrapped up our discussion about how to navigate differences and talk respectfully towards one another. Oh, and Paul also took us through a lesson on how to start a fire. Three key words: Kindling, tinder, and fuel. Boom, fire created, I think. Don’t try this at home, folks.

After these stations everyone went in to the dining hall where we worked on our lesson plans for the classes we’re teaching. Returners led the new counselors through what was effective in past classes, and everybody got a chance to really talk about the new classes coming up!

Talk to you all later!

Over and out,

Luna Bug

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s just Kaytee and Taylor in the trees!

Howdy, folks! Olive Oyl here with lots of news for you all! It’s been an exciting few days on camp with with lots of trainings, meetings, and drills as we get ready to welcome campers in one week exactly! Woohoo!

Let’s play some catch up…

Thursday we had a drill at the pool in the morning to get our staff acquainted with our emergency procedures. All went well and we can safely say our counselors are feeling confident and ready! In the evening was the unparalleled Contra Dance, where we gathered in the Rec Hall and danced the night away to the foot-tappin’ tunes of Smokey and his band. We did the Grand March, the Road to Boston, and finished off with a classic Square Dance. It’s a staff training tradition to celebrate our hard week of training with some good music and moves. It was awesome as always and I sure worked up a sweat! Be sure to check out all the great pics. After a good night’s sleep, we got ready for our fun Friday in Camden, a town about 45 minutes away from HVC.

Yesterday morning we had a meeting after breakfast talking about identity– what makes us different and in what ways we’re the same. We all came together to share our thoughts about our experiences in life and how to deal with these issues once campers arrive. We then switched gears and got ready for the day off, starting off by caravaning to nearby Camden for a picnic lunch in the beautiful state park. We enjoyed the view while munching on sandwiches, and then staff were free to explore downtown and have the day to themselves. This morning we’re back on the grind, with a discussion about gender this morning at breakfast and our adventures staff, Brad, Ashley, and Mila, leaving early this morning for their Maine Wilderness Trip Leader certification trip. We can’t wait to hear all about it when they get back! And of course, another group of staff is up on the ropes course today getting a chance to leap and climb and jump through the trees!

By around dinnertime tonight we’ll know our class schedules for the first two week of first session (exciting!). To help us prepare for our classes, tonight we’re having a workshop on teaching styles– with stations talking about classroom management, diversity, and how to start a fire 101 (so everyone can feel prepared to lead a s’mores cabin night). After that we’ll gather in the Dining Hall for lesson planning night, where we brainstorm ideas and projects for our classes and get the chance to share, discuss, and pick the brains of new and returning counselors.

Well, that’s all for now, folks! Stay tuned for more updates as we continue with our danger area drills, our staff gets to experience the ropes course, and we continue with training and lesson planning!

Ta-ta,

Olive

Melissa takes the wheel

Good morning, everyone!

It’s a bit cooler today at HVC, but Olive Oyl and I dug to the back of our cubbies and got our 5 year vests out, and we’re all set to go for the day.

Last night we had a beautiful Big Circle Night, led by Meg and her crystal bowl. The entire staff sat in a big- and I mean big- circle around the Old Dance studio and we had a night full of bonding and getting to know each other better. After that we hung out at the red barn for a bit, but everybody went to bed relatively early because we had to be up today for an early breakfast at 8am!

Our day got started in a similar way to yesterday with the showing of 2 short videos. We watched Disney’s Pixar Short called “Piper” about a small bird and the fears and challenges he faces. Peter also showed us a clip of Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, a cartoon that he watched every Saturday when he was a little boy! It was really cool to imagine how even something like cartoons have changed over the years. We also talked about the clips and how we might deal with problems or fears, and it was interesting to talk about different strategies for how to deal with these problems.

After the clips, the whole staff jumped into a workshop led by returning staff. In the workshop, the new staff had the opportunity to partake in different scenes to learn how to deal with different counseling situations. After that it was on to our morning priorities, where everyone is now! We scattered to our different areas whether it’s sports, archery, the pool, or working on the teaching schedule for first session!

Our first group of counselors, Ropes Group 4 (confusingly not Group 1) is on the ropes course right now, getting to climb the course in the same way that all the campers will have a chance to once they get here.

Tonight we have the Contra dance which is a folk dance made up of long lines of couples. It’s fairly common in New England, but it’ll be plenty new for the majority of us!

Updates on our dancing skills and the rest of the day to come tomorrow!

Keep on fluttering!

Luna

Hanging out on the roof!

Top of the morning to ya! Luna Bug and Olive Oyl here reporting on the latest and the greatest at HVC.

The craziest thing happened this morning…. it was egg bar AND we had waffles! With whipped cream! And strawberry sauce! And blueberry sauce! So much to choose from, so little time, so I did what any normal person would do and got both waffles and eggs. PLUS the sun is out and the breeze is blowing and we can’t complain because it sure beats the 90-degree humidity. Weather Guy is in good spirits at the moment and we have to agree this is a 10/10 day.

Towards the end of breakfast we watched a video on empathy and talked about our role and impact as camp counselors. PK shared an email from a camper’s family and the impact that HVC has had on this child’s growth and we talked about how special camp can be in one’s life. This was a lovely segue into our morning meeting about camper counselor relationships. We then went off into our various priorities– llamas, pottery studio (headed by the awesome Gabe who just arrived), the animal barn, and of course, PK crossfit. This afternoon they’ll be an emergency drill on the ropes course to get our staff prepared for anything that may come their way this summer.

I spoke too soon when I said the gang’s all here! We’ve got another baby pig to keep Hamilton company who’s on his way in the next few days. Jury’s still out on names…Piggie Smalls? Notorious P.I.G.? So many good options to choose from! We can’t wait to meet the little buddy.

Tonight’s another special evening with Big Circle Night, a staple of staff training week, where counselors get the chance to open up about themselves and their time at camp. Speaking of evening programs, Booth Night last night was a big hit, where new staff got to learn all the ins and outs of the job. Be sure to check out lots of fun pics, plus some cool light painting shots from electives, as promised!

Lots of love,

Luna & Olive

The M&M Game and Shrinky Dinks not pictured!

Another day, another egg bar! After a delicious morning of soft yolks and toasted bread, I, Luna Bug, am here ready to share all that’s been going on at camp since we last gave an update!

In the past two days, our final 12 staff members arrived on camp, which is super exciting! It’s been amazing getting to know everyone, and now that we’ve completed our ~danger area~ trainings, we’re moving into more general trainings in the many other different areas camp.

After a fabulous taco night, our returning counselors, colloquially known as returners, led the Cabin Nights that they had been planning for the past few days. Each staff training cabin did completely different activities, ranging from scavenger hunts to shrinky dinks to basketball to glass blowing. Check out all the photos below and see if you can figure out what everyone was up to!

Today has been busy, busy, busy! After an earlier-than-usual 8am breakfast we jumped quickly into meetings, trainings, swim evaluations, trips to walmart, tours, and everything and anything in between. Our lifeguards and new staff were particularly happy about the swim evals today because, after another hot and sunny day here at HVC, the pool was the perfect refresher!

Our evening program tonight is booth night! Essentially, booth night is a fun and easy way for our new staff to get familiar and up to speed with aaaaall the camp lingo, and everything about camp that campers and returning staff already know. Our returning staff runs different stations and the new counselors will be able to go around asking questions and getting all the info they need.

We’re doing our best to stay cool and hydrated over here at HVC, and wherever you are reading this we hope you do the same!

Until tomorrow!

Luna

Mmm… cookies!!

Hi there, friends! Olive Oyl here with an update on this beautiful Bagel Sunday!

That’s right…we woke this morning to smell of toasted carbs and artisanal cream cheeses as we inaugurated this famous camp tradition (all that was missing was Meg and Tom’s dulcimer playing). We had a choice of sesame, plain, cinnamon raisin, onion, and poppy bagels, plus the amazing lox cream cheese, garlic and chive, and classic plain. After our bellies were full, we headed off to our respective areas to finish up our “danger” trainings (ropes, horses, and waterfront). We’ve also started priorities– speciality trainings in various areas across camp as most staff dabble in more than just one area. So, ropes instructors are getting time in the glass beads studio, video staff is getting time in the woodshop, lifeguards are checking out the rock band studio. What a unique and multifaceted group we are!

A point which brings me to our dynamic and diverse evening program last night…electives! Counselors had choices ranging from baking cookies, friendship bracelets, wood tag art, jam session, glass beads and blowing, a creek walk, light painting (photos to come), basketball fun, and a dance party. We ended the night in the Rec Hall with a few camp singalongs, like baby shark and “where oh where has my dog been?”, which are sure to be repeated many more times before the summer’s end.

We’ve been blessed with another warm and sunny day for our lifeguards down at the lake and our ropes staff on the course, plus all our other friends running all over camp in their various areas. Tonight we’ll have an early dinner in preparation for Belfast Bus Night, a celebration of the end of our trainings this week and a moment to get off camp and relax.

Tomorrow we’ll be back to another workday and welcoming in our final round of new staff. We’ll have the first cabin night of the summer on Monday in our staff training cabins and start working on more general counseling issues and the day-to-day basics of HVC life.

Be sure to check out all the awesome electives photos plus more! Some especially cool shots of our horse staff trotting all over camp.

Hugs and kisses,
Olive