Category: Summer Camp

The Day Before Camp

June 26th, 2026

And all is certainly not quiet around Weequahic. A small group of us have already been on site for more than six weeks, preparing the place for our fabulous campers to enjoy. While there are still a few things I want to nail down, the physical plant is more than ready.

For the past 18 days, we’ve been leading, training and preparing our team… the most important part of our jobs. (Yes, I want the place to look good and work… but the people are way more important.)

We had our culminating moment for Orientation last night. After a great slide show of our staff in the Cove, we headed down to the (newly refurbished) Rec Hall. A few final words from Kate, myself and Dana for the team. And, a nice treat – four short talks from both returning and new staff members.

Becoming Yourself

When DH Jessie spoke, she mentioned being a ‘camp hater’ before she even arrived here several summers ago. Her boyfriend had been to camp a year prior and wouldn’t stop talking about the experience. “It felt a bit cult-like.” (I’ll take that.)

She charted her first summer’s path from ‘hater’ and someone who struggled to jump in to where she is now – doing everything in her power to get back here as a DH.

When Jessie spoke about the importance of camp to her, one line really stuck with me:  

“Camp didn’t change my life because it turned me into something new. It changed my life because it made me comfortable enough to be who I already was.”

This is what we want for all of our kiddos… and our staff.

We are excited to get everyone here tomorrow. Enough planning. Let’s go to camp.

PS: I’m pretty terrible on email when the kids are here. If you need me, call the office at 570.798.2716. I’ll get back to you as soon as I possibly can!

Past Present Future

June 19th, 2026

Past. Present. Future. These are words we know and concepts we think we know. No time like the present to talk about them.

A LONG time ago, Confucious said “study the past so you may divine the future.” Not too long ago, one of the great English writers (George Bernard Shaw) said ‘What we’ve learned from history is that we don’t learn from history.”

We at Weequahic do our best to learn. So… let’s talk about some history.

A History Lesson

Pre-1952: This was an old farm – cattle & apples. They (both the people and the cows) loved the lake.

After taking part of WW2, Mr. Art Lustig was the Athletics Director at Weequahic HS who also ran a summer day camp. When the polio epidemic really got going in the 50s, the families came to Mr. Lustig and asked him to get their to a safer, more fun place.

So, in 1953 Camp Weequahic opened with Art and Mollie as the directors… and still the AD at Weequahic High. They and their family ran camp until 2008.

In 2009, Kate and I showed up. Sue was not too far behind. In fact, we’ve worked together for 22 of our 24 years in camping.

When we started here, there were 90 kids, 45 staff, a third of whom were 17-year-old newly ‘graduated’ from Weequahic kids. It was a camp with great bones that needed a lot of work. Due the work of people like you and others who are warmly remembered though no longer with us, camp grew to what it is today.

More Important History

So… that’s the history in a nut shell. But that is certainly not the whole story.

To get that, you’ve got to talk about thousands of counselors who’ve walked this hill, built community in those bunks, taught and learned. Hailing from dozens of countries, they left their homes to live and laugh and learn and teach in the middle of nowhere.

It’s the story of massive wins – Prince William talking about how camp literally made him a kinder person, more than a dozen staff marriages, of life-long friends, of new, more exciting more self-actualized growth. It’s also the story of massive learning on all of our parts.

It’s the story of kids from dozens of countries and US states that see this place as their home, where they are their true selves. The pressures of the world fall away, the comparison trap of social media, the demands of school and activities. Instead, our campers in the past have been able to interact with new mentors in a new place with people just. Like. Y’all.

Be Here Now with Love

One of my favorite writers in one of my favorite books said: Gratitude looks to the Past and love to the Present; fear, avarice, lust, and ambition look ahead.

So, let’s talk about the present and let’s do it with love.

Look around you. Look at the person next to you. We humans have been doing this, exactly this, for millennia. Under the stars, around a fire for warmth, community, protection, love, dance, celebration, food and more.

The past echoes loudly here in the present. That’s one of the reasons why this feels so good, so comfortable.

Counselors, you are now a part of the story at Weequahic. We are weaving this beautiful chaotic patchwork quilt of our moments together. We are experiencing the infinite presents of ‘now.’

Does that mean we are always the same? Heck no.  

There’s an old saying about a person and river. You can never see the same river twice. The water has changed… and so have you.

It’s the same here. You are different… even if this is your 28th summer. The kids are certainly different. Each summer is literally a new adventure.

Future

We make plans for the future. We teach you our traditions, listen and learn from you and others about new ways, we build our culture together. We do this to prepare y’all to help create amazing for the kids arriving in 8 sleeps, the UPS driver, the guys painting the courts, the kitchen and cleaning team and everyone else.

We can look to the future and be greedy or fearful or lustful or any way we wish. Or… or. Or we can quietly recognize the future with hope while remaining rooted in the present moment around each over and over and over again.

So, in the week ahead, let’s continue to build this quilt this is our 2026 summer culture. Let’s give each other grace and patience. Let’s push each other – good naturedly – to be our best selves. Let’s get ready for the best summer of our lives… together.

Trust in the Age of AI

April 11th, 2026

Ten days ago, I put an April Fools post out for everyone to enjoy. It was accompanied by an (incredibly) believable photo of an empty Sly Lake. While it looked great, there were a couple of tell-tale signs that pointed to it being a ‘fake.’

The first that comes to mind? All the green around the lake. I promise you – there is precious little ‘green’ at camp right now. The winter slumber is over… but Spring has certainly not ‘sprung’ yet.

It brings up a quesions: Why are we fooled? There are lots of reasons but a few that come to mind quickly….

We are all pretty distracted.

All you have to do is walk around with your eyes up to see the evidence. People will literally bump into you because they are walking around (or driving) while looking at their phones or listening to something in their ears or thinking about something, deeply and/or distractedly.

It reminds me of Master Yoda’s admonition of Luke when they first met: “…Never his mind on where he was. What he was doing!”

That describes us – as a society – right now. And, when our minds are distracted, we take the first clues of a message and believe it because it’s the easiest thing to do. It’s natural – our brains are literally built to make snap judgements, to find the easiest path.

This combo – our distractions and our brains – make it easy to be tricked.

We love a good story.

Let’s be honest – the picture of the empty lake and all the ‘fun things we found’ at the bottom… they combined to tell a pretty entertaining story. I don’t know about you – I really enjoy being entertained.

A good book. A good joke. A fun movie. These all give us something to talk about and a point of connection. I took my parents – who’ve been married for 54 years – to see Project Hail Mary last weekend. They loved it! We had so much fun in the theater and afterwards talking about it.

We like good stories. It makes us a little easier to trick.

You Trust Me.

Ok – this one is a little dicey but I’m going to go regardless. When parents and staff (and the few kids who read my blog or emails) review the work I put out into the world, they trust what I write.

Why? Because Kate, the team and I have spent more than 20 years backing up our words with actions that support what we’ve said. It’s also due to me normally writing about more thoughtful matters. (As Kate loves to point out… she’s the fun one.)

No one expects something that isn’t true from me or from us as a camp. And, you shouldn’t… except for April 1st. (By the way, there are a couple of examples that support this behavior. But this year’s was easily my best.)

Take Away

As the song says, ‘Slow down, you move too fast. You’ve got to make the moment last.’

It’s easy to do at camp – we don’t have our phones or tech or screens. We get to really be exactly where we are and truly with those around us.

And, when a story is really entertaining, take a minute and think, “Hmm… that’s really fun. But is it true?”

This is not to say something that is entertaining but not true is wrong. We humans have entertained (and taught) our friends and family around the campfire for tens of thousands of years through stories… which may or may not have been true.

In the end, a little bit of skepticism in this day of AI is a good thing to have in your worldview. If it’s on a screen – pic, video, zoom call, etc. – it can be doctored, made up or worse. When something matters, take the time to ask questions, especially in person.

As one of my mentors likes to say, there is no substitute for time spent together. We can’t wait to get everyone back to camp… and our (very) full Sly Lake.