Dear Campers, Parents, Staff, Alums & Friends,
Greetings from the very green Northwoods of Wisconsin!!! Not only is it green compared to the desert southwest, it’s green compared to the way we found camp only one year ago. Last year, we arrived and the lake was just barely thawed, and not until June did the bushes and trees start to bear leaves. THIS YEAR, the lake thawed before April 15th, and as we rolled into camp that first day on
May 11th, already the buds were on the branches, and the forest was greening up. We have 3 weeks till the official start of summer, and about the same amount of time till the buses roll in, but already it looks like summer up here! That’s great news!
More great news? Sure…we have that. It has been a very wet April and May in the Northwoods, and the big benefactor is Lake Towanda! The past decade saw several years of drought, and while it never got to be critical, the water level in our friendly lake had declined annually. The last two years saw some modest gains, and that was really fantastic! Well, this spring has contributed mightily to Towanda’s recovery, and we’re happy to report that the lake is up to near historic high levels. So much water to play and swim in!!
Camp is slowly starting to stir to life as more and more people arrive. Our great cook, BILL MILLER and I were the first to join our year ’round resident caretaker, GREG FUS, back on May 11th. It was quiet around here but as the days have gone by, more and more people have trickled in, starting with our Associate Director, JAKE REUTER, and followed by trippers arriving for the WFR class, and others. Camp is truly in the best shape ever, but there are always things to be done to clean up after a long winter, and get the place ready for you campers. So everyone has been busy! At the end of this month, we had four hearty souls head up to the UP of Michigan to scout out a few rivers we’re hoping to add to our Trips Program this summer. As a result, we are planning to add a trip or two down the Firesteel River, which is near the Ontonagon. We only learned about the Firesteel after I read a novel about two guys who ran the river together when they were kids back in the 1940s, and then again as adults many years letter. It sounded like an intriguing river, so what the heck? Let’s have a look. And it looks good!
We still have some space in our 2nd Session! If you know of any prospective campers who may believe that camp is already full, please pass the word. Welcome back to ETHAN SCHWARTZ of Carol Stream, IL, after a one summer absence. Welcome aboard to the following first-year campers: EZY STARR of Chicago, IL; CALEB GERSTEIN of Evanston, IL; AL-AMIN ANDERS0N EL and AKIL DICKERSON of St. Louis, MO; and ZAVION STEELE of Cleveland, OH. We can’t wait to see you all rolling in soon!!
This particular issue of “Timberlife!” is the last one we’re going to write you for a while. Once the campers arrive, we’ll start posting our “Directors’ Journal” online every 3 days or so. We’ll use that to catch you up on the happenings around camp, and also to fill you in on anything important you should know. But don’t worry….if there’s important stuff like Travel Info or anything else, we’ll send you a notice via email too. Maybe we should get right to that now:
YO PARENTS: If your son is a first-session or 8-week camper, we have mailed you Travel-to-Camp
information via US Mail. It is also posted on your Keylog Page. You will find specific instructions about your son’s trip to camp, so please read through it carefully. If your son is riding a bus to camp from Chicago or Milwaukee, we’ve also mailed you two baggage tags that you should fill out, and then attach one to each of his duffel bags. If your son is flying en route to camp, we have added two vinyl baggage tags to your packet. Each duffel should get one vinyl tag, and one paper tag, both of which filled out with your home address information. If your son is coming up 2nd session, we will mail a travel packet to you at the beginning of July.
If your son is flying to camp, and is an Unaccompanied Minor on Delta, we have learned they may no longer accept “Camp Timberlane Representative” as sufficient info for the person meeting the flight at the gate. So a few days before the flight, we will email you with the name of the staff member we will have meeting your son’s flight.
How about a few reminders of our policies regarding things the campers should leave at home this summer: Please….DO NOT SEND MATTRESS PADS SUCH AS “EGG CRATES” TO CAMP! Folks, we mean it. They’re totally unnecessary. Our mattresses are not the “typical” 4” cot-style mattresses you think about when you think camp. No, no. Ours are 8” mattresses with springs! They’re super comfy. When kids have the mattress covers, most of the times their bottom sheets won’t fit over the cover and the mattress. So what happens? When they lie down or put any weight on the bed, everything releases from around the mattress and bundles up in the center of the bed. Not pretty, and also not comfy. And guess what happens when camp is over? Those non-bio-degradable petroleum-based foamy, yucky things end up in our garbage cans and ultimately in the land-fill. No more. Don’t buy them, don’t send them, we will NOT permit the boys to use them, and we will ship them back to you at your expense. Thanks.
We also remind you that “flip-flop” shoes are only for inside the cabins. The boys cannot wear them outside the cabin at any time. Sandals with a heel strap that keeps the foot in place are allowed up until we gather around the flagpole before dinner. At that point, everyone must be in closed-toe, athletic shoes.
Electronics? Not much use for them up here. As stated on our “Unplugged Policy” document on your Keylog page, we do not permit the boys to have phones or Internet/Wi-Fi devices of any type. If they
wish to bring a music device, it must not be capable of playing games or videos. Inexpensive MP3 devices are sold at Best Buy and Wal-Mart. Music devices are for use in the cabins only.
GLUTEN-FREE? If your son is gluten-free, we’ve got ya covered. (Mike is gluten-free too!) We will provide all of our gluten-avoiding campers (and staff) with gluten-free bread, pastas, pizza crusts, cereals, and any other staples. There is no extra charge to you for this. What we ask is that you NOT send any of these things up to camp for your son. We know that each of us may have our favorites in the gluten-free world of foods, but it has just become too big for us to manage so many separate preferences.
YO OLD GUYS: If we assigned you a camp Little Brother, you should have spoken with him already. If you have not, please pick up the phone! We also want to remind you that we sent you an email indicating which trips you are eligible for this coming summer. We have pre-signed up several guys on the Apostle Islands, BWCA, Quetico, and Isle Royale trips already, but there is still room! So, if you are qualified for any of these trips and you wanna go, please have your parents email or call or email us. With this awesome group of trippers we have this year, you’d be crazy to miss out on these fantastic wilderness trips!
After all the applications, all the interviews, the reference checks, and the decisions, we have completed our staffing for the summer. And it looks AMAZING! Say hello to the following great guys who will join us this summer:
 SAM GYONGYOSI
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Sam joins us from Albuquerque, NM and he has just completed his junior year at Cornell College in Iowa where he majors in International Relations and Business. Sam just returned from Spain where he was studying and traveling. He has worked as a lifeguard, and grew up playing tennis, soccer, and mountain biking. He will be a cabin counselor and help out at all of those activities, as well as Swimming. Sam is 21 years old.
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 IAN WOOD |
From Niskayuna, NY., 21 year old Ian join us this summer. Ian completed his junior year at SUNY Plattsburgh where he is a Marketing Major. He is an Eagle Scout, and he has grown up with a love of waterskiing. He will be a cabin counselor and will help with Skiing as well as Archery, Basketball, & Fishing. |
Not much to report this month. People are busy wrapping up their school years, so we get it…y’all are studying. We did learn that two of our Jacks played a little competititve lacrosse game against each other recently in St. Louis. That would be CITs JACK LYNCH and JACK ROSENTHAL. All smiles after the game, of course. And congratulations to DAVID PAWLAN who is the recipient of multiple awards from his school including most outstanding Peer Group Leader . Congrats are also in order for newly deemed “old-timer” SCOTT MAYER who was accepted into the medical school at Tulane University. BEN SPIER will spend part of his summer in Tanzania working at an orphanage teaching math and English and running soccer clinics. He’s also going to go for a little jog up Mt. Kilimanjaro.
Warm up those vocal chords, y’all! Birthday Bravos are going live in just a few weeks!! BRAVO TO OUR JUNE BIRTHDAY BOYS & GIRLS: Karen Mc Kelvey – 6/1/1949, Drew Spiegel – 6/6/2005, Luis Prieto – 6/8/2003, Ricky Jacobson – 6/10/1996, Ari Kaden – 6/10/2003, Ben Kaden – 6/10/2003, Alex Peck – 6/10/2001, Grant Kibel – 6/12/2001, Cameron Hardegree – 6/13/2001, Ryan Hearst – 6/15/2000, Lisa Salaway – 6/17/1964, Drew Mutchnik – 6/18/2004, Jackson Schneider – 6/18/2005, Emmet Wilder – 6/18/1992, Chris Sajdak – 6/19/1993, Darren Mitchell – 6/22/1995, Jared Settler – 6/22/2005, Mike Cohen – 6/23/1961, Charlie Lovett – 6/23/2003, Ellen Scharfenberg – 6/23/1995, Parker Dawson – 6/24/1999, Max Kaplan – 6/24/1994, Patric Raftery – 6/26/2004, Alex Freedman – 6/28/1999, Avi Hiken – 6/28/2001, Tyler Newmark – 6/28/2001, Joey Rosenblum – 6/28/2001, Sam Henson – 6/29/2003, Henry Levy – 6/29/2002, Joe Levy – 6/29/2002, David Wine – 6/29/2001, Noah Goldblatt – 6/30/2004.
We are so excited to get things started up here! Everyone PLEASE stay healthy, and get ready for the best summer in recorded history!!! C’mon…let’s go!!
Benches up,
