Lots of early risers at Skylemar, especially the first day -- we call them the “Sunshine Squad”. Beginning at 7 AM, campers have their choice of an assortment of activities like Tennis, Basketball, Gaga, Soccer, Mini Golf, Yard Games and Dog Walking. Meanwhile, others still have an hour left to sleep.
Pancakes, yogurt, oatmeal, cold cereals, peaches and bananas for breakfast. Along with the buffet comes the morning paper. Just like The New York Times, this paper is packed with all you need to know, and it changes every day.
It’s called “The Daily Schedule” - and determines where each person at Skylemar is to be, at any one time. As you see on today’s that’s posted below, across the top are the bunk numbers (1-30). Down the left side are the seven periods. It reads that Bunks 1-12 had Waterfront for first and second period, while Bunks 13-15 were at the Challenge Course. Bunks 16 and 17 had Soccer followed by Baseball, 18 and 19 had Hockey followed by Volleyball, and so forth.
Third period is our weekly elective called Clinic Period. This is the opportunity for each camper to independently choose an activity that they’d like to focus on for a full hour, for a five-day cycle. Today, the whole camp gathered in the shade to for the Clinic Sign-ups. That’s when the counselors get a chance to advertise what they’re offering this week -- performing skits we call “Commercials”.
For example, there was "Slapshot" Hockey, "Shoot the Juice" Soccer, "Bump Your Skills" Volleyball and "King of the Court" Tennis. There's plenty of offerings where skills and fundamentals will be sharpened with the help of individualized attention from our amazing Football, Baseball and Basketball staffs. There's "Splish Splash" at the Waterfront, where you get to play on all the inflatables... plus "Pirates of the Caribbean" Sailing, too. We saw ads for "Intercamp Prep" Lax Clinic, "3D Tech" Golf, "Master of the Challenge" Course, "Fire Building" at Sky Pines, and even making a "Skylemar Sports Center" video. At "Take Me Out to The Ballgame" Crafts, kids can make signs and t-shirts for the upcoming Seadogs Baseball Game trip. SkyDeck Cooking will focus on cuisine from the Mediterranean culture. The "Ski Dock Will Rock" as always, with wakeboarding, skiing and surfing. If you want to slow down, there’s "Reading Rabbit", when you just get to relax with a good book.
The Schedule may look confusing to an outsider. But it’s easy to follow for us because every period change is announced over the camp-wide PA system. What makes the paper version especially important is that it provides pertinent information for the counselors. Their names are written by every activity that they are teaching, both on and off the field. For instance, staff are assigned Foot Patrol periods. Foot Patrol is part of our security program, which divides our 200 acres into “zones of awareness”. Extra sets of eyes go inside and outside buildings, making sure everyone is safely where they’re supposed to be.
7th period is another part of the schedule that the boys are excited to see. It comes after dinner and is typically a more casual time. Campers can choose any one of at least 15 activities each and every day.
Tonight’s Evening Activity was a Skylemar favorite…The Ring of Champions Campfire.
The night featured lots of traditional tunes, chants and repeat-after-me songs. “60’s Party” and “The Burrito Song” are Skylemar classics that everyone loved. The “Dating Game” and “Mama Bear” skits had all of us laughing. Adventure Man made an appearance as he does every Campfire, teaching us survival skills in his own unique way.
While we enjoyed s’mores, Nick introduced “Cool2Care”. It’s what we call the Skylemar vibe, focused on caring about ourselves, others and the world around us. Members of our oldest Division, the Stars, shared with all what Cool2Care means to them. It’s super inspiring to listen to 15-year-olds who truly are outstanding gentlemen.
9 PM and it’s time to turn in. Phew…a whole lot goes on in a Skylemar day. When the sun rises, we’ll be back at it again. Thank goodness we have our Program Director “Barney”. He’s the one who spends many hours creating this daily masterpiece. He accomplishes what no computer can do, taking into account factors like the distance to walk between activities, personalities of the counselors, an equal distribution of staff duties, a variety of activities for campers, and the weather of course. It’s a much harder puzzle than any Sudoku or crossword. By midnight, the paper is published, just in time to come hot off the press and into our hands once again!
