The Canadian Returns
Two nights ago we welcomed back our Pine Manors campers from Canada!
Our ten-day canoe trip through the Canadian wilderness is one of the most storied traditions at North Star. Rugged, remote, and relentlessly challenging, for almost all of our campers, it marks a major turning point. For one camper in particular, it meant everything.
This boy—who’s been coming to camp for years—has always been kind, thoughtful, easy-going, funny, and well-liked by all. A great kid. But he’s always been nervous about the trips, a totally normal experience for campers here. Trips are supposed to be challenging, and it’s only natural that they play with your nerves. Spending your days canoeing on rivers and lakes, your nights beneath tents atop unforgiving earth with just your sleeping bag––it’s completely out of anybody’s comfort zone. This is no more true than on the Canadian. Every summer, this camper would come into the office in the days leading up to his cabin’s departure, hoping for a way out. He wasn’t dramatic about it, just anxious. Of course, he always ended up in one piece with the rest of his cabin back from whatever trip he came from, but for a long time, he was certain he’d never make it all the way through Canada and back. That changed this week.
The other night, when Pine Manor came off the bus, as they are from ten days of nothing but the wilderness, looking in all the ways rain-warped, wind-kicked, mud-slapped, and dirt-tired, there he was––grinning ear to ear like he had never thought possible. The first words out of his mouth were: “That was incredible.” He told his counselors and tripper that he’d do it again in a heartbeat. It was hard, of course, but not only did he get through it, not only did he survive––he thrived. Beaming, he said proudly, “I never thought I could do something like that. But I did.”
Moments like this are what all of camp is about. It’s why we do what we do.
The Canadian puts our oldest campers in canoes with everything they need on their backs and nothing else. They paddle across wide-open lakes. They carry their canoes across rocky trails. They swat mosquitoes, filter water, build fires, and navigate by map and compass. The meals are cooked over fire out of single-serve in dehydrated packs. When canoeing and setting up camp is finished, the boys are rewarded with the most relaxing of all swims in the crystal-clear boundary waters, one of the few places in the world still unspoiled by man. At night they interrupt the quiet hush of the wilderness with laughter and games around the campfire and sleep amidst the elements beneath the stars. It’s beautiful, it’s hard, and it’s unforgettable.
Nobody comes back unchanged. For the rest of their lives, they stand a little bit taller. They know something about themselves that they didn’t know before. They’re proud. And they should be.
When they stepped off the bus today, they were greeted with hugs, cheers, pats on the back, and the indomitable feeling of returning home after overcoming something that once seemed impossible. Friends from other age-groups rushed to hear stories. Their counselors handed them clean laundry. They got to indulge in their first hot shower in a week and a half, something they never expected to be so grateful for. Nothing is taken for granted. More so than anything, they did it all together.
In other news, we announced our UN Day captains and teams today! Twelve campers were selected by their counselors, four from each age group, due to their abilities as exceptional leaders and role models in their cabins and throughout the rest of camp. In a week from today, each will represent the nations of Morocco, Sri Lanka, Brazil, and Croatia on UN Day in fun, friendly competition. We can’t believe we’re almost there. How time flies!
Last night, the newly returned Pine Manor called an all-Villa meeting in Mike Hall for a camper-led discussion about the behavior they expect to see out of each other, setting the tone for the rest of the summer. It’s one thing to hear these kinds of words from your counselors or members of the leadership team, but to hear it from your fellow cabin and village-mates, to be held accountable by your peers, it makes all the difference in the world. It was also a great chance for our oldest campers to establish themselves as the leaders they want to be remembered as.
Afterwards, their counselors surprised them with an all-village pizza party with pizza, soda, and great tunes, prepared for them by our delightful kitchen staff who stayed up all night cooking, slicing, and plating 45 pizzas! It was the perfect way to send off a productive night and celebrate the return of our oldest campers with a great time.
Tomorrow’s forecast of 74 degrees and sunny will cap off our second week of programming as we head into the midpoint of our session.
“How we spend our days is of course, how we spend our lives” – Annie Dillard
