Dear Parents and Friends,
We had such an incredible time with our 1st session campers and are so very grateful for the opportunity to witness their growth, challenges, successes and friendships. This final 1st session blog post is written by our photographer, Scott Minard – a former Nor’wester camper and the man behind the lens and all of the wonderful photos you’ve been seeing. I think you will enjoy reading about his wrap-up of the session.
We hope you’ve had a lovely reunion with your camper/s over the last two days, with them telling you stories, singing you songs, and filling you in on all of their adventures. We will be in touch in the next few weeks with a final packet outlining the unit’s activities and your camper’s final report.
Thank you for allowing us this time with your children. We value the role you play in our community and know that it is not an easy to be away them for this amount of time. We enjoyed every minute! Have a wonderful rest of your summer and we very much hope to see your camper again next summer in our little slice of paradise…
In the Spirit of All that Camp is…
Sheila and the Nor’wester Team
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Blog post by Scott Minard, Photographer
I think I can speak for staff and campers alike when I say that we’re all just sitting here scratching our heads trying to figure out where the time has all gone. It’s been an incredible session. We’ve been taken on a time traveling Bro-venture across some of history’s finest moments with the Mountaineers, we’ve stepped into and talked to some of history’s most famous paintings with the Voyagers and we’ve stopped a zombie apocalypse with the Pioneers. And all that was just what we accomplished at our Saturday night campfires.
We’ve seen warm sunny days, fantastic sunsets, battled rough seas and won, summited Mt. Baker, witnessed Native American Dances, captured flags, been chased by ‘raptors’ in the marsh, archered, sailed, climbed, crafted, canoed, and each of us even managed to find time to shower…occasionally.
But the one thing that each and every person here has done, staff and campers alike, is grown. Not every second of the session for every person has been good, and not all of it has been bad. We’ve all grown up at least a little as people in our time here.
At the beginning of the session each unit ranging from 7-17 campers came together. Some of us new each other beforehand, and some of us were strangers, but as I look around the lodge on one of our last meals together, I don’t see a single unfamiliar face. Now, it wasn’t all easy. Friendships were formed and friendships were tested, but we all managed to come out smiling at the end having figured out how to learn and have fun together. We learned how to form a community together.
The culmination of this was the Olympic Games. The campers were divided, half were put on the Red team, and half on the Blue team. Campers then partook in challenges of not only physical feats, but creative and cooperative challenges as well that allowed each and every camper to shine in their own moment. The events were as diverse as the campers, from a tug of war challenge at the ropes course, to drawing an image blindfolded as your teammates directed you at the craft shop, to rewriting a camp song with the music department. On the second night each team as a collective then prepared a song out of the camp book, as well as one of their choosing to sing.
There is no denying that each camper rallied to support his or her team and did the best they could to put their team on top, but it was all in the name of community and good fun. Red and Blue team members alike cheered just as hard as they watched their opponents as well as teammates complete in the awesome array relays and challenges hosted by the staff.
Though at the end the Blue team rose to be the victors, there wasn’t a sad face to be seen in the lodge as everyone congratulated each other on their victories own personal victories.
I can honestly say that it was a hard day for me as I said goodbye to these amazing kids and helped put them on a boat back home to their families. Frankly, I wish we could have kept them. We have all formed an amazing community in our short time together, and I hope to see each and every one of them back next year to do it all over again.
