Category: News from Weequahic

AI at Summer Camp

March 31st, 2025

As we all know, AI is no longer ‘fast approaching’ but already here. And, while camp will remain the traditionally awesome place your kids have loved, full of GAC and the life lessons which can only be taught at camp, we need to move along (a bit) with the times.

Kate and I have spent a lot of time researching AI to figure out how it can best help us at Weequahic. We are excited to let you know about how we’ll be using this new tool at camp.

Improved ordering and inventory control

We’ve got a LOT of t-shirts and gear we use each summer. Keeping tabs on our current inventory and placing the correct orders has been a challenging to this point. AI will help us tighten up and streamline the process.

Improved Workflows for Program

While the campers love our daily program – they get to pick but enjoy the activity only with their age groups – it takes a lot of work to set up and run on the backend. AI has already reduced the workload on our programming team and we expect the time savings to continue.

The Nightly News from Cole

Yes, this has been a wonderful labor of love from Director Cole, let’s face it – he’s getting old. So, we’ve trained an AI bot on all of his during the summer ‘nightly news’ posts. The new bot will do the majority of the writing, taking into account the meals, Evening Activities and more. Cole will review it before posting… but we’re sure it’ll be close enough.

Photos and Videos

We are expecting the ‘image engines’ to be powerful enough this summer to create great photos and videos of your kids playing, waterskiing and laughing together. So, rather than hiring videographers and photographers, we’ll just let AI create images for you. You’ll never know the difference! Lastly…

Office Management & Phone Calls

Yes, Office Manager Morgan is a superstar. She’ll get to shine even more as we’ve moved to an automated answering service that will be able to handle the vast majority of your questions during the summer. We’ve even trained it to sound just like Morgan! Anything the system cannot answer adequately will be passed on for Cole to answer… when he’s not waterskiing.

PHEW… so much new tech and we feel we’ve only scratched the surface. Perhaps we’ll be able to run camp with an AI staff? We’ll see. Can’t wait to see everyone at camp this summer!

Oh, and enjoy tomorrow… April 1st.

(PS – if you’ve not already figured it out, this is an April Fool’s post like a few before it…. Hope we got you for a little bit!)

Sad News about Camp Dog Mac

October 22nd, 2021

Kate and I have sad news to share. After 10 glorious summers at Weequahic, Camp Dog Mac has passed on. Unfortunately, the last trip to the vet revealed multiple, inoperable tumors. After a last few good days with us at home, we put Mac to rest this afternoon.

Camp was easily Mac’s happiest place. He’d start each summer excitedly sniffing the air as we pulled onto Woods Road following the 13-hour trek from Georgia. He’d bark and howl and run all over camp. All of the animals who had called Weequahic home for the previous few months took notice – the “alpha” was back.

Once the kids arrived, Mac spent each morning waiting patiently at the flagpole for the day to start. As soon as we dismissed, he headed straight for his favorite spot: the fishing dock.  He loved to challenge the campers to see who’d get the fish off the hook first. Sadly for the fish, Mac won a few of those contests.

He was a big fan of the UPS driver who delivered treats along with the boxes and an even bigger fan of Chef Daniel and his crew, especially when they forgot to put the trash up into the ‘Mac-proof’ bins. His true love was the attention the campers provided in buckets.

A few prospective families refused to come to a camp with dog allowed to roam.  With a smile on my face, I’d always reply that I understood and that, considering Mac was way more popular than me, he’d be staying just as he was: free and trusted. Why didn’t he ever leave camp? There was too much love and too much to do.

When not traipsing around camp, Mac would be found in Kate’s office or my own. He was the first to give a tail-wagging greeting to any camper or staff who walked in, instantly putting everyone at ease. Many a free play, he was found in the company of a home-sick camper, barking at the video drone, or, more recently, gallivanting around with the Nugent’s dog, Gus. At flag lowering, he was ready to ‘help’ any camper who miss-judged their birthday cupcake catch.

At Lights Out, Mac would follow Kate through the younger girls’ bunks saying goodnight. What could be better than a high-five from Camp Director Kate followed by a sniff and nuzzle from Mac?

While he started camp with a huge grin, he ended it each summer by hiding from us, refusing to leave. Just like our campers, he spent the first few days back home moping, mourning the loss of the connection and community of Weequahic. He truly loved being at camp.

We’ll be sad to miss our four-legged friend. He’s been a big part of our family for a long time. Rather than mourn too long, we’ll do our best to move to the ‘celebration’ phase of remembrance. We’ve so many memories to rejoice over and will remain ever grateful for his time with us.

God speed, Augustus McCrae Kelly. You were a damn good dog.