Hey yall this is a tidbit of Zach’s new song for the summer camp 2011. Hope you will be there to sing around the campfire.
Winter Comes To Camp
Few of us get to see Swift Nature Cfamp when the leaves have fallen and a blanket of snowy white covers the ground. Here are a bunch of photos we took while at camp in early March. Look for the beaver marks, wolf and deer tracks and any other areas you might be familiar with.
Summer Camp Songs
Maybe this is a New Camp Song...Let’s all practice!
Nature Prescription
Read why todays families are getting a Nature Prescription, No pills required. Just get out and walk, explore and enjoy the outdoors. Summer camps are one place where Nature is an every day part of life, free of cell phones, ipods and the web. The only thing streaming has water in it. Learn more about the Nature Prescription.......
Here's what Matias Rojas Perez first saw on a trail walk in the Moapa Valley National Wildlife Refuge: a wild rabbit dashing past, a 3-inch-long endangered fish, soaring birds and creeping snakes.
Instead of an order for pills, pediatricians at the Children's Heart Center in Las Vegas have given Matias, his mother, who is diabetic, and his 9-year-old, 136-pound little brother, a "nature prescription."
More than 100 of the 553 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Refuges such as Moapa are part of a national consortium of federal parks and the National Environmental Education Foundation now using this prescription tactic. It's funded by a $75,000 grant to improve family health through a two-year pilot project linking the federal agencies with health care providers. The aim is to turn doctors, nurses, teachers and therapists into "nature champions" who steer children and their parents into the outdoors.
It's a whole lot more than just saying, "take a hike."
The prescription, an "Rx for healthy living," prompts families to eat more fruits and vegetables, step away from the TV or video screen and go outside to breathe fresh air, awaken their senses, and shed some weight.
Using the prescription format gives the psychological oomph of doctor's orders to simple suggestions for diet and workouts disguised as nature walks. Each prescription comes with easy-to-follow maps to nearby refuges and parks where outdoor experiences are led by rangers and volunteers.
- By Kristen BourqueFamilies hike in Moapa Valley National Wildlife Refuge during a Jan. 29 trip organized by the Children's Heart Center.
Instead of an order for pills, pediatricians at the Children's Heart Center in Las Vegas have given Matias, his mother, who is diabetic, and his 9-year-old, 136-pound little brother, a "nature prescription."
More than 100 of the 553 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Refuges such as Moapa are part of a national consortium of federal parks and the National Environmental Education Foundation now using this prescription tactic. It's funded by a $75,000 grant to improve family health through a two-year pilot project linking the federal agencies with health care providers. The aim is to turn doctors, nurses, teachers and therapists into "nature champions" who steer children and their parents into the outdoors.
It's a whole lot more than just saying, "take a hike."
The prescription, an "Rx for healthy living," prompts families to eat more fruits and vegetables, step away from the TV or video screen and go outside to breathe fresh air, awaken their senses, and shed some weight.
Using the prescription format gives the psychological oomph of doctor's orders to simple suggestions for diet and workouts disguised as nature walks. Each prescription comes with easy-to-follow maps to nearby refuges and parks where outdoor experiences are led by rangers and volunteers.
'Phenomenal difference'
Matias, once unwilling to play outside, has already lost 10 pounds since joining the fledgling program this winter, says his mother, Ma De Lourdez Perez Mata, 44. He now looks forward to the walks — and so does she.
Perez Mata says, "It's so beautiful, and you learn about nature. It's been so long that I breathed fresh air and so long since I've hiked and been surrounded by nature. The rangers tell you about life in these places, their history. It's very interesting."
Since December, the Children's Heart Center in Las Vegas, has already organized three field trips to nearby desert refuges with about 100 participants such as Matias and his family, says Angelina Yost, visitor services manager for the Desert National Wildlife Refuge Complex, which includes Moapa.
They hiked up a little hill "that definitely gets your heart racing" and visited a viewing chamber carved into the desert floor that let them get face-to-fin with an endangered fish, the Moapa Dace, Yost says.
The initiative began last September with a national training program where nearly three dozen health professionals from 11 states met at the National Conservation Training Center in West Virginia, to be schooled in the value of nature prescriptions.
Dubbed "nature champions," they were charged to each train 30 more advocates. One was pediatrician Noah Kohn, medical director for Clinics in Schools, the free medical clinics funded by private donors and the United Wayof Southern Nevada. He sees this as a smart new tool to combat complex problems:
"We have a very significant obesity problem. Ninety percent of my patients have no health insurance. These are low income families with few resources. It's hard enough to convince them to eat a vegetable. And they don't live in neighborhoods where there is a safe place to go out and play.
"A prescription makes a phenomenal difference. It says, 'Rx for healthy and active outdoor living.' Once you get kids outdoors, away from the inner city, they are just completely bamboozled by the science and the natural world and they never think they are exercising," says Kohn, who will start sending out prescriptions as soon at the Spanish translations are available.
Perez Mata says, "It's so beautiful, and you learn about nature. It's been so long that I breathed fresh air and so long since I've hiked and been surrounded by nature. The rangers tell you about life in these places, their history. It's very interesting."
Since December, the Children's Heart Center in Las Vegas, has already organized three field trips to nearby desert refuges with about 100 participants such as Matias and his family, says Angelina Yost, visitor services manager for the Desert National Wildlife Refuge Complex, which includes Moapa.
They hiked up a little hill "that definitely gets your heart racing" and visited a viewing chamber carved into the desert floor that let them get face-to-fin with an endangered fish, the Moapa Dace, Yost says.
The initiative began last September with a national training program where nearly three dozen health professionals from 11 states met at the National Conservation Training Center in West Virginia, to be schooled in the value of nature prescriptions.
Dubbed "nature champions," they were charged to each train 30 more advocates. One was pediatrician Noah Kohn, medical director for Clinics in Schools, the free medical clinics funded by private donors and the United Wayof Southern Nevada. He sees this as a smart new tool to combat complex problems:
"We have a very significant obesity problem. Ninety percent of my patients have no health insurance. These are low income families with few resources. It's hard enough to convince them to eat a vegetable. And they don't live in neighborhoods where there is a safe place to go out and play.
"A prescription makes a phenomenal difference. It says, 'Rx for healthy and active outdoor living.' Once you get kids outdoors, away from the inner city, they are just completely bamboozled by the science and the natural world and they never think they are exercising," says Kohn, who will start sending out prescriptions as soon at the Spanish translations are available.
Multiple benefits
Susan Morse, a spokeswoman for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, says each region is taking its own approach to the prescription program.
In Santa Clara, Calif, Kaiser Permanente clinic pediatrician Charles Owyang has already written 67 prescriptions to the Don Edwards Preserve, an urban nature enclave in the San Francisco Bay Area. Owyang also teaches other doctors about studies that show outdoor activities have intellectual and emotional benefits, too — brightening kids' moods, sharpening their concentration and cutting down on stress.
In New Jersey, a nature champion connected health care provider AtlantiCare with a network of home schooling parents to begin forming "Family Nature Clubs" that meet every second Saturday for a walk in the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge that weaves exercise and education.
"The days when Mom could send you out the front door to play have changed," says Sandy Perchetti, volunteer coordinator, at Forsythe, 15 minutes from Atlantic City.
"Once the children come with their 'prescriptions' we stamp them and give them an incentive like a nature journal or a pedometer to track their walking," says Perchetti.
The national project includes tracking whether families visit the refuges and parks, their physical progress and whether they came back again.
The answer is in for Matias and his family. They've already been back to Moapa.
Contributing: Marisol Bello
In Santa Clara, Calif, Kaiser Permanente clinic pediatrician Charles Owyang has already written 67 prescriptions to the Don Edwards Preserve, an urban nature enclave in the San Francisco Bay Area. Owyang also teaches other doctors about studies that show outdoor activities have intellectual and emotional benefits, too — brightening kids' moods, sharpening their concentration and cutting down on stress.
In New Jersey, a nature champion connected health care provider AtlantiCare with a network of home schooling parents to begin forming "Family Nature Clubs" that meet every second Saturday for a walk in the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge that weaves exercise and education.
"The days when Mom could send you out the front door to play have changed," says Sandy Perchetti, volunteer coordinator, at Forsythe, 15 minutes from Atlantic City.
"Once the children come with their 'prescriptions' we stamp them and give them an incentive like a nature journal or a pedometer to track their walking," says Perchetti.
The national project includes tracking whether families visit the refuges and parks, their physical progress and whether they came back again.
The answer is in for Matias and his family. They've already been back to Moapa.
Contributing: Marisol Bello
For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to
Nature Prescription
Read why todays families are getting a Nature Prescription, No pills required. Just get out and walk, explore and enjoy the outdoors. Summer camps are one place where Nature is an every day part of life, free of cell phones, ipods and the web. The only thing streaming has water in it. Learn more about the Nature Prescription.......
Here's what Matias Rojas Perez first saw on a trail walk in the Moapa Valley National Wildlife Refuge: a wild rabbit dashing past, a 3-inch-long endangered fish, soaring birds and creeping snakes.
Instead of an order for pills, pediatricians at the Children's Heart Center in Las Vegas have given Matias, his mother, who is diabetic, and his 9-year-old, 136-pound little brother, a "nature prescription."
More than 100 of the 553 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Refuges such as Moapa are part of a national consortium of federal parks and the National Environmental Education Foundation now using this prescription tactic. It's funded by a $75,000 grant to improve family health through a two-year pilot project linking the federal agencies with health care providers. The aim is to turn doctors, nurses, teachers and therapists into "nature champions" who steer children and their parents into the outdoors.
It's a whole lot more than just saying, "take a hike."
The prescription, an "Rx for healthy living," prompts families to eat more fruits and vegetables, step away from the TV or video screen and go outside to breathe fresh air, awaken their senses, and shed some weight.
Using the prescription format gives the psychological oomph of doctor's orders to simple suggestions for diet and workouts disguised as nature walks. Each prescription comes with easy-to-follow maps to nearby refuges and parks where outdoor experiences are led by rangers and volunteers.
- By Kristen BourqueFamilies hike in Moapa Valley National Wildlife Refuge during a Jan. 29 trip organized by the Children's Heart Center.
Instead of an order for pills, pediatricians at the Children's Heart Center in Las Vegas have given Matias, his mother, who is diabetic, and his 9-year-old, 136-pound little brother, a "nature prescription."
More than 100 of the 553 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Refuges such as Moapa are part of a national consortium of federal parks and the National Environmental Education Foundation now using this prescription tactic. It's funded by a $75,000 grant to improve family health through a two-year pilot project linking the federal agencies with health care providers. The aim is to turn doctors, nurses, teachers and therapists into "nature champions" who steer children and their parents into the outdoors.
It's a whole lot more than just saying, "take a hike."
The prescription, an "Rx for healthy living," prompts families to eat more fruits and vegetables, step away from the TV or video screen and go outside to breathe fresh air, awaken their senses, and shed some weight.
Using the prescription format gives the psychological oomph of doctor's orders to simple suggestions for diet and workouts disguised as nature walks. Each prescription comes with easy-to-follow maps to nearby refuges and parks where outdoor experiences are led by rangers and volunteers.
'Phenomenal difference'
Matias, once unwilling to play outside, has already lost 10 pounds since joining the fledgling program this winter, says his mother, Ma De Lourdez Perez Mata, 44. He now looks forward to the walks — and so does she.
Perez Mata says, "It's so beautiful, and you learn about nature. It's been so long that I breathed fresh air and so long since I've hiked and been surrounded by nature. The rangers tell you about life in these places, their history. It's very interesting."
Since December, the Children's Heart Center in Las Vegas, has already organized three field trips to nearby desert refuges with about 100 participants such as Matias and his family, says Angelina Yost, visitor services manager for the Desert National Wildlife Refuge Complex, which includes Moapa.
They hiked up a little hill "that definitely gets your heart racing" and visited a viewing chamber carved into the desert floor that let them get face-to-fin with an endangered fish, the Moapa Dace, Yost says.
The initiative began last September with a national training program where nearly three dozen health professionals from 11 states met at the National Conservation Training Center in West Virginia, to be schooled in the value of nature prescriptions.
Dubbed "nature champions," they were charged to each train 30 more advocates. One was pediatrician Noah Kohn, medical director for Clinics in Schools, the free medical clinics funded by private donors and the United Wayof Southern Nevada. He sees this as a smart new tool to combat complex problems:
"We have a very significant obesity problem. Ninety percent of my patients have no health insurance. These are low income families with few resources. It's hard enough to convince them to eat a vegetable. And they don't live in neighborhoods where there is a safe place to go out and play.
"A prescription makes a phenomenal difference. It says, 'Rx for healthy and active outdoor living.' Once you get kids outdoors, away from the inner city, they are just completely bamboozled by the science and the natural world and they never think they are exercising," says Kohn, who will start sending out prescriptions as soon at the Spanish translations are available.
Multiple benefits
Susan Morse, a spokeswoman for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, says each region is taking its own approach to the prescription program.
In Santa Clara, Calif, Kaiser Permanente clinic pediatrician Charles Owyang has already written 67 prescriptions to the Don Edwards Preserve, an urban nature enclave in the San Francisco Bay Area. Owyang also teaches other doctors about studies that show outdoor activities have intellectual and emotional benefits, too — brightening kids' moods, sharpening their concentration and cutting down on stress.
In New Jersey, a nature champion connected health care provider AtlantiCare with a network of home schooling parents to begin forming "Family Nature Clubs" that meet every second Saturday for a walk in the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge that weaves exercise and education.
"The days when Mom could send you out the front door to play have changed," says Sandy Perchetti, volunteer coordinator, at Forsythe, 15 minutes from Atlantic City.
"Once the children come with their 'prescriptions' we stamp them and give them an incentive like a nature journal or a pedometer to track their walking," says Perchetti.
The national project includes tracking whether families visit the refuges and parks, their physical progress and whether they came back again.
The answer is in for Matias and his family. They've already been back to Moapa.
Contributing: Marisol Bello
For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to
Nature Prescription
Read why todays families are getting a Nature Prescription, No pills required. Just get out and walk, explore and enjoy the outdoors. Summer camps are one place where Nature is an every day part of life, free of cell phones, ipods and the web. The only thing streaming has water in it. Learn more about the Nature Prescription.......
Here's what Matias Rojas Perez first saw on a trail walk in the Moapa Valley National Wildlife Refuge: a wild rabbit dashing past, a 3-inch-long endangered fish, soaring birds and creeping snakes.
Instead of an order for pills, pediatricians at the Children's Heart Center in Las Vegas have given Matias, his mother, who is diabetic, and his 9-year-old, 136-pound little brother, a "nature prescription."
More than 100 of the 553 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Refuges such as Moapa are part of a national consortium of federal parks and the National Environmental Education Foundation now using this prescription tactic. It's funded by a $75,000 grant to improve family health through a two-year pilot project linking the federal agencies with health care providers. The aim is to turn doctors, nurses, teachers and therapists into "nature champions" who steer children and their parents into the outdoors.
It's a whole lot more than just saying, "take a hike."
The prescription, an "Rx for healthy living," prompts families to eat more fruits and vegetables, step away from the TV or video screen and go outside to breathe fresh air, awaken their senses, and shed some weight.
Using the prescription format gives the psychological oomph of doctor's orders to simple suggestions for diet and workouts disguised as nature walks. Each prescription comes with easy-to-follow maps to nearby refuges and parks where outdoor experiences are led by rangers and volunteers.
- By Kristen BourqueFamilies hike in Moapa Valley National Wildlife Refuge during a Jan. 29 trip organized by the Children's Heart Center.
Instead of an order for pills, pediatricians at the Children's Heart Center in Las Vegas have given Matias, his mother, who is diabetic, and his 9-year-old, 136-pound little brother, a "nature prescription."
More than 100 of the 553 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Refuges such as Moapa are part of a national consortium of federal parks and the National Environmental Education Foundation now using this prescription tactic. It's funded by a $75,000 grant to improve family health through a two-year pilot project linking the federal agencies with health care providers. The aim is to turn doctors, nurses, teachers and therapists into "nature champions" who steer children and their parents into the outdoors.
It's a whole lot more than just saying, "take a hike."
The prescription, an "Rx for healthy living," prompts families to eat more fruits and vegetables, step away from the TV or video screen and go outside to breathe fresh air, awaken their senses, and shed some weight.
Using the prescription format gives the psychological oomph of doctor's orders to simple suggestions for diet and workouts disguised as nature walks. Each prescription comes with easy-to-follow maps to nearby refuges and parks where outdoor experiences are led by rangers and volunteers.
'Phenomenal difference'
Matias, once unwilling to play outside, has already lost 10 pounds since joining the fledgling program this winter, says his mother, Ma De Lourdez Perez Mata, 44. He now looks forward to the walks — and so does she.
Perez Mata says, "It's so beautiful, and you learn about nature. It's been so long that I breathed fresh air and so long since I've hiked and been surrounded by nature. The rangers tell you about life in these places, their history. It's very interesting."
Since December, the Children's Heart Center in Las Vegas, has already organized three field trips to nearby desert refuges with about 100 participants such as Matias and his family, says Angelina Yost, visitor services manager for the Desert National Wildlife Refuge Complex, which includes Moapa.
They hiked up a little hill "that definitely gets your heart racing" and visited a viewing chamber carved into the desert floor that let them get face-to-fin with an endangered fish, the Moapa Dace, Yost says.
The initiative began last September with a national training program where nearly three dozen health professionals from 11 states met at the National Conservation Training Center in West Virginia, to be schooled in the value of nature prescriptions.
Dubbed "nature champions," they were charged to each train 30 more advocates. One was pediatrician Noah Kohn, medical director for Clinics in Schools, the free medical clinics funded by private donors and the United Wayof Southern Nevada. He sees this as a smart new tool to combat complex problems:
"We have a very significant obesity problem. Ninety percent of my patients have no health insurance. These are low income families with few resources. It's hard enough to convince them to eat a vegetable. And they don't live in neighborhoods where there is a safe place to go out and play.
"A prescription makes a phenomenal difference. It says, 'Rx for healthy and active outdoor living.' Once you get kids outdoors, away from the inner city, they are just completely bamboozled by the science and the natural world and they never think they are exercising," says Kohn, who will start sending out prescriptions as soon at the Spanish translations are available.
Multiple benefits
Susan Morse, a spokeswoman for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, says each region is taking its own approach to the prescription program.
In Santa Clara, Calif, Kaiser Permanente clinic pediatrician Charles Owyang has already written 67 prescriptions to the Don Edwards Preserve, an urban nature enclave in the San Francisco Bay Area. Owyang also teaches other doctors about studies that show outdoor activities have intellectual and emotional benefits, too — brightening kids' moods, sharpening their concentration and cutting down on stress.
In New Jersey, a nature champion connected health care provider AtlantiCare with a network of home schooling parents to begin forming "Family Nature Clubs" that meet every second Saturday for a walk in the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge that weaves exercise and education.
"The days when Mom could send you out the front door to play have changed," says Sandy Perchetti, volunteer coordinator, at Forsythe, 15 minutes from Atlantic City.
"Once the children come with their 'prescriptions' we stamp them and give them an incentive like a nature journal or a pedometer to track their walking," says Perchetti.
The national project includes tracking whether families visit the refuges and parks, their physical progress and whether they came back again.
The answer is in for Matias and his family. They've already been back to Moapa.
Contributing: Marisol Bello
For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to
Summer Camp Songs
Maybe this is a New Camp Song...Let’s all practice!
Old Fashioned Summer Camp
We all have memories of our childhood. For many these include times at Summer Camp. As we reflect on those Old-Fashioned summer camp days, void of Iphone, Ipods and youtube they bring back fond memories, when times were simpler. Recently I was recalling with some friends and we both had the same Ole’ summer camp story, “Our camp director pulled a little 19 inch black and white TV on the beach as we all gathered around to watch the Apollo 11 crew take their first steps on the moons suface. What were your most treasured camp memories? Did you like/hate camp? Do you feel that attending summer camp taught you any valuable life lessons? Do you still have camp friends that you keep in touch with? Do you send your own kids to camp during the summer? What was your favorite/worst craft activity? Below Heidi Kelly of Weltman, Weinberg and Reis Co asked her fellow workers to share their Old Fashioned Camp Memories. We hope you enjoy these stories from the WWR staff!
“My coolest memory from summer camp was the year my sister and I both went to Girl Scout camp. My troop did a “dream play”. We waited until the other troop (my sisters) had gone to sleep, then we woke them up in the middle of the night and performed a short version of The Wizard of Oz and then sent the other troop back to bed. In the morning they were supposed to get up and think that they all dreamed it. Of course they knew ahead of time what we were planning, so none of them went to sleep but we got them out of bed and did our play anyway and it was lots of fun for both troops. The rest of that camp stay wasn't much fun because I fell the second day running through the woods (yeah, there's a reason why they told us not to run through the woods!) and fell across a tree stump. I scraped my belly really badly and couldn't swim or canoe (of course the two things I wanted to do more than anything while I was there) so the dream play really helped change what would have been a miserable week otherwise.” - Tammy L. Wilson (BRO)
“Starting at the age of 5, I was involved in the Indian Princesses with the YMCA. I was in the tribe called the Snow Owls. For those that aren't familiar, the Indian Princesses are a group of fathers and daughters that camp, attend meetings, do arts and crafts, and get involved in various nature-related activities. We did horseback riding, canoeing, roasted marshmallows over the campfire, and other such activities. I absolutely loved it! My only horrible memory was one night when I ventured into the woods alone to find the outhouse...I wandered back to what I thought was our cabin, snuggled into what I thought was my sleeping bag, and was awakened with flashlights in my face from the Fox tribe girls. Yeah, I wasn't in the Owl tribe cabin, I was in their cabin, and in someone else's sleeping bag. Other than that slight moment of horror, camping was nothing but good memories.” - Terry Newood (DET)
“When I was 10, my parents decided they were tired of us sitting around and causing trouble during the summer, so my Dad had the brilliant idea to send my brother and I to 'computer camp' at a local university. We arrived at camp with a sour attitude- I mean really- how much more nerdy could your summer vacation get, right? But it turns out that going to computer camp was one of the best things that I ever did. We spent half the day taking computer classes (which strangely enough, have been helpful as we moved through college and into our careers-- maybe our parents were on to something?), and the other half doing sports, playing outside, and attending culture classes. The neat thing was that the counselors were from all over the world. A lot of people from Trinidad and other international students spending the summer in Pittsburgh. I continued to attend camp for another four years and then went on to work as a counselor for another six summers. I made some really close friends working at that camp and had so many wonderful experiences. I even visited a friend in Trinidad for Carnival. I keep in touch with lots of people even today. Going to camp definitely gave me more independence and the confidence to do things on my own. It also gave me a more multicultural outlook on life and the desire to learn as much as I can about other people/places in the world.” - Mala Mason (PIT)
“I grew up in the inner city and my father had to work two jobs so we only took some day trips as a family. My grandmother, who was widowed and had the patience of a saint would have 10-12 boys from her sons’ and daughters’ families stay on her farm for two weeks during July. It was like a Huck Finn novel. There was no TV, just a block farm house, 10 bunk beds, and outdoor facilities. We didn't wear much more than shorts everyday, played in the fields, made rafts to go down the creeks and swam in ponds. On July 4th the parents came up (or down) and we had the biggest fireworks display you could imagine. Except one summer when it was pouring and they greased up little piglets and we had contests in a muddy pen. If we still had the 8mm film it would be on America's funniest home videos.” -Anonymous
“My parents would send my sister and I to Hiram House Camp every summer growing up. Most kids would cry because they didn't want to leave their parents, my sister and I would cry because we didn't want to go home.” - Carol A. Higgins (CLE)
“My most memorable moment in summer camp would take me back to the year 1970. I was four years old. At that time, my best friend’s name was Mark. He and I did everything together. When I think back, this memory never fails to pop into my head. We were lined up at the gate of the Humeville Swim Club. As we walked to the playground, in single file, Mark and I would sing the Beatles song, "Yellow Submarine". We only knew the chorus, but that was good enough for us. When we got to the swings, we would hop on and start our daily routine of singing and swinging. We would sing "Hello, Goodbye, Jell-o, No Pie." I never knew where that came from, but they were good 'ol' days.” - David L Feldman (PHI)
“I grew up as a camp kid, and also worked as a counselor for nine years and fondly remember those days even more than when I was the camper! My favorite memory is sending our new counselors through the woods asking every counselor for the "left-handed smoke shifter" when we cooked out on Fridays. Of course there's no such thing, and each counselor would tell the newbie that they thought so and so had it, or they gave it to someone else, and send the new counselor on the biggest wild goose chase... we all waited to see how long it took the new counselor to realize there is NO left-handed smoke shifter! Simple prank that never got old. - Brittany A. Dean (BRO)
“Well I didn't get to go to camp as a camper, but I did go as a counselor and was the keeper of giggling 12-14 year old girls. This was a church camp near Bedford, Indiana. On the last day of camp, everyone is tired so we have a day of games and I was counselor of the horseshoe games. (I chose it because it was in the shade). Needless to say, these girls had hardly heard of horseshoes let alone did they know how to play. One girl in particular was deadly. She threw the shoe straight up and I knew it was a bad deal. I screamed "watch out girls" and low and behold it hit me on the head and almost knocked me out. They put an ice pack on my head and made me lie down on the bunk. A little later I tried to get up and everything started moving, literally. I really thought I was hurt badly. Come to find out we were having an earthquake, wouldn't ya know it (nothing bad, just tremors)!” - Kathy Carlisle (CIN)
“When I was about 11 years old I went to this camp called NYSP, that was sponsored by Ohio State University. I did not enjoy going to NYSP at all! We stayed outside the majority of the day and had to run a lot on the track with the sun beaming down on us. All the kids enjoyed it and thought it was the times of their lives. I on the other hand thought that was abuse! However, now when I look back on that time, I am glad that I was able to do something productive with my summer even though I despised the activities we did. All kids should go to summer camp, at least once in their lives. Then they have memories, good and bad, to share with everyone.” - Champagne Braswell (GRO)
“I just thought I would throw this into the mix. I realize you are looking for summer camp stories but just as a flavor to that thought… I am of the older generation here being 59 years of age. When I was a boy, we really didn't have summer camp. I was raised on a 250-acre farm in the Hocking Valley so when summer came and all my fellow school mates in town would be off to their summer camp, I would have the joy and pleasure of spending the summer "making hay" for the following winter. This would entail getting up at 5 a.m. to do the morning chores and spending the rest of the day out in the fields either doing the hay or working the corn. In the evening there would be the evening chores around the barn and by the time you got to the house you were ready for bed. The nights were too short and the next day everything would start all over again. Summer camp? For me that would have been a holiday dream!” - Charlie Workman (GRO)
Heidi Kelly is a Legal Assistant II in the Foreclosure department of the Pittsburgh office
Nature Camp in Winter
During our winter stay at camp a local camp neighbor, Delon came by with his snowmobiles and offered to take Forrest and I on a nature tour. It was exciting we had a sunny day with balmy high 20 temps. As we zoomed past Picnic Island ( see video) our first stop was to look for the eagles. They were both their and sitting near the nest. It is about this time that eagles start to lay their eggs. So a good sign that we will see eaglets this summer. From their we went off across the lake and to a snowmobile trail system that covers most of the state of Wisconsin. As we traveled we saw many deer trails cutting through the woods. Often they would cross the snowmobile trail, they seem to like snow that is packed down and easier to walk on. As we looked deep into the woods, we saw deer looking at us being careful not to move so as not to be seen. In all we saw... click to read and see more photos
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, over 10 deer in our 20 some mile travels. We even came across a deer rubbing post, a place where deer rub their new velvet antlers. As we watched for tracks we saw many, many, many tracks of wolves. The packs near camp are growing judging by what we saw. The most interesting thing we happened across was a small dead deer. It was fresh and we could not determine how or why it died, must have been illness or starvation. Being that nothing gets wasted in the natural environment, the next day we returned and nearly 1/2 of the deer had been eaten. From what Delon says, he went back 3 days later and nothing was left but a few hunks of hide carried off into the woods. Nature is all around camp yet in winter many animals have left or are hibernating, yet the tracks of the snow make for an excellent way of story telling.
Environmental Education in Wisconsin!
As you may have heard, the Wisconsin Association for Environmental Education (WAEE), in partnership with the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters (WLCV), is advocating for EE by way of a "Wisconsin Children's Outdoor Bill of Rights".....read more what you can do
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This resolution, if passed, will help pave the way for environmental education, clean water, soil and air, and help foster environmental stewardship in today's children.
Now is a good time to show your support for this effort - here's how:
1. Attend Lobby Day - March 16th, 2011
The Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters (WLCV) has declared the Wisconsin Children's Outdoor Bill of Rights a legislative priority for 2011-12. You can show your support and speak directly with legislators about this issue at WLCV's Lobby Day on March 16th. For more information and to register for this exciting and empowering day, visit: Lobby Day 2011.
You are also invited to attend:
WAEE's Lobby Day Breakfast
Immediately preceding WLCV's Lobby Day
9-10am March 16th, 2011
Monona Terrace Room M/Q
Madison
RSVP to WAEE Advocacy Chair,
There's more you can do:
2. Sign on as a Children's Outdoor Bill of Rights Supporter.
3. Contact Your Legislator to let them know EE is important in Wisconsin and mention the Children's Outdoor Bill of Rights.
4. Forward this information to your colleagues.
What is the Children's Outdoor Bill of Rights?
Children who have the opportunity to explore, learn and play in Wisconsin's outdoors are more likely to be healthy, to do better in school, to experience improved creativity and concentration, and to discover the rewards of outdoor stewardship. To that end, we believe the children of Wisconsin have the right to experience each of the following (draft) activities during their youth:
Every Wisconsin child has the right to:
• Follow a trail, whether by hiking or biking.
• Visit a working farm.
• Eat healthy and sustainable food.
• Splash, swim and play in a clean Wisconsin lake or river.
• Catch and release frogs, fireflies, and insects.
• Tap a maple tree.
• Explore wild places close to home.
• Eat a fish they catch.
• Discover Wisconsin’s diverse wilderness – prairies, forests, wetlands, and beaches.
• Share a hunting experience with a great mentor or teacher.
Why is it important to get involved?
In order to pass this resolution, we need your help! Over a thousand bills and resolutions come across our legislators desks each year but only about 30% are passed. Those that pass do so thanks to people like you. Legislators tell us they are significantly more likely to consider a bill or resolution if they've heard about it from their constituents.
Is the timing right?
Now is a great time speak up for EE: the Children's Outdoor Bill of Rights is a non-budgetary resolution and may be just what legislators are looking for to stand behind (rather than the politically charged "budget repair" bill). However, in order to be heard above the current turmoil and get legislators' support, it's critical the EE community comes forward to declare "EE in our state is important".
Questions?
Need more information or want to learn more about how this venture got started and where it can take us? Visit the Wisconsin Children's Outdoor Bill of Rightswebsite or contact us - we're happy to discuss this exciting project with you:
WAEE
Betsy Parker, Networking & Advocacy Chair
(608) 209.2909
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