“The only way to have a friend is to be one.”

Good evening everybody, and what a beautiful evening it is at camp. We just capped off another near perfect day in the Northwoods with our first “campfire” of the summer. “Campfire” in quotes because this is what we call our night time programs, regardless of the presence of an actual campfire. Tonight we had a skit night – World Cup Night, appropriately timed given that we are in the throws of the actual World Cup. Each cabin was randomly assigned a country from the pool of World Cup participants. Their task was to come up with a skit that introduces the country and then perform a post-goal scoring celebration. This is an advanced version of one of our favorites, Soccer Celebration Night. Every cabin performed a skit tonight, and even our most timid campers and counselors conquered a fear tonight and participated with their cabins. The highlight of the evening was cabin 8 (England) scoring a goal and performing a Royal Wedding celebration.

We also started our 2nd annual King of the Camp competition this afternoon. This is a new take on our Leagues format. The campers are split up into 4 teams and are on that team for life. Each week they are able to sign up and compete in over 20 different activities from team sports like basketball, to individual activities like a waterski event. This gives our campers so many options when it comes to leagues and gameplay. We will keep the total score the entire summer, and the winning team will take home the coveted Goblet. One special part of the KOC event is that our CITs from 2017 have now “graduated” and are coaching the teams that they played for last year.

In the morning, the boys were out for our 3rd and 4th round of Big Ten Instructional activities. Throughout the day, we saw 3 new waterskiers, a new sailor and another new fisherman. Menominee Firsts are happening all over the place!

The sun has been shining and we are making sure the boys are drinking plenty of water. Today we were well fed with eggs and sausage for breakfast, chicken patties for lunch and a very healthy dinner including grilled chicken, rice and peas.

I think we did enough to fill a couple days, but when it stays light until after 9pm, why stop? The boys are all in their cabins now, resting and recharging in anticipation of another glorious day at Camp Menominee.

If you’ll allow me one moment to share something personal: today marked my parents 36th wedding anniversary! When I was 9 they gave me the freedom to choose Menominee as my new summer home. Every day since they have provided me with the love and support I needed to conquer all of life’s challenges, and achieve my goals. We have a truly incredible staff at camp right now, and with their help, I hope to deliver the same love and support to your boys each day this summer.

All is well. Safely rest. Goodnight everybody.

For the Love of Camp – Jason

PS – don’t forget to read the Megaphone!