Category Archives: 2012

Cruiser Day, Zoomba, Glen’s Game and More

It’s been blue skies and sunny days here in the Northwoods, and we have been taking full advantage!

Tuesday was our first Cruiser Day of the summer. Cruiser Day is a cabin day, which typically falls each Tuesday at camp. It is a break from our normal routine where each cabin plans a full day of games and activities that they will do together. Each Cruiser Day starts with breakfast in bed. We follow that up by changing our sheets and sending out our laundry, and a community pickup, where each cabin takes responsibility for cleaning an area of camp.

From there it is up to each cabin what they will do that day. Some Cruiser Day favorites include tubing, visiting one of the resorts across the lake, scavenger hunts, slip and slides and more. Kim McCormack works hard to make sure each Cruiser Day is filled with special events for the campers. This week she set up a pie-eating contest for Cabin I-5, a Minute to Win It challenge, and a cookie baking class.

Each village also has a village cruiser day. This first week was the Junior Village Cruiser Day and our youngest guys spent the day at the water park, mini-golfing, and then they paid homage to the Northwoods culture by attending a Lumberjack show. The boys learned about the logging history of the region and also were entertained by yelling “Yo-Ho” to cheer on their favorite Lumberjack. Each camper was able to take a whirl with the big saw and became an official Junior Lumberjack.

Each Cruiser Day, every cabin cooks out their dinner over a fire. For the first cookout we made Tinfoil Surprise, a camp favorite. It’s a combination of ground beef, potatoes, carrots, onions and topped with cheese. You wrap it up in Tin Foil, and the outcome is the delicious surprise! Dessert was the traditional yet scrumptious S’mores.

The Junior Village Cruiser Day ended with a cookout at Hayward Beach. But what made this cookout unique was the group of women in the middle of their Zoomba class in the parking lot. Our boys didn’t miss a beat, and they started mirroring the steps in the background. Despite their inexperience at Zoomba, the Junior Village Campers and Counselors quickly figured out the steps and made sure to work off all the eating from that day with a good healthy workout. Before long, the Zoomba class had more than tripled in size and the boys were requesting that we add it as an option for a class at North Star!

Wednesday night we played one of North Star’s favorite games – Glen’s Game. During this game, the campers are trying to make their way into four different mystery zones around camp. Once they make it there, they get a stamp on their hand to signal their success. The challenge is that the counselors are chasing them! The campers and staff alike love the game.

This evening was our first game of Green-White All Camp Capture the Flag. It was a great game to cap off another great day at camp.

Cruiser Day, Zoomba, Glen’s Game and More

It’s been blue skies and sunny days here in the Northwoods, and we have been taking full advantage!

Tuesday was our first Cruiser Day of the summer. Cruiser Day is a cabin day, which typically falls each Tuesday at camp. It is a break from our normal routine where each cabin plans a full day of games and activities that they will do together. Each Cruiser Day starts with breakfast in bed. We follow that up by changing our sheets and sending out our laundry, and a community pickup, where each cabin takes responsibility for cleaning an area of camp.

From there it is up to each cabin what they will do that day. Some Cruiser Day favorites include tubing, visiting one of the resorts across the lake, scavenger hunts, slip and slides and more. Kim McCormack works hard to make sure each Cruiser Day is filled with special events for the campers. This week she set up a pie-eating contest for Cabin I-5, a Minute to Win It challenge, and a cookie baking class.

Each village also has a village cruiser day. This first week was the Junior Village Cruiser Day and our youngest guys spent the day at the water park, mini-golfing, and then they paid homage to the Northwoods culture by attending a Lumberjack show. The boys learned about the logging history of the region and also were entertained by yelling “Yo-Ho” to cheer on their favorite Lumberjack. Each camper was able to take a whirl with the big saw and became an official Junior Lumberjack.

Each Cruiser Day, every cabin cooks out their dinner over a fire. For the first cookout we made Tinfoil Surprise, a camp favorite. It’s a combination of ground beef, potatoes, carrots, onions and topped with cheese. You wrap it up in Tin Foil, and the outcome is the delicious surprise! Dessert was the traditional yet scrumptious S’mores.

The Junior Village Cruiser Day ended with a cookout at Hayward Beach. But what made this cookout unique was the group of women in the middle of their Zoomba class in the parking lot. Our boys didn’t miss a beat, and they started mirroring the steps in the background. Despite their inexperience at Zoomba, the Junior Village Campers and Counselors quickly figured out the steps and made sure to work off all the eating from that day with a good healthy workout. Before long, the Zoomba class had more than tripled in size and the boys were requesting that we add it as an option for a class at North Star!

Wednesday night we played one of North Star’s favorite games – Glen’s Game. During this game, the campers are trying to make their way into four different mystery zones around camp. Once they make it there, they get a stamp on their hand to signal their success. The challenge is that the counselors are chasing them! The campers and staff alike love the game.

This evening was our first game of Green-White All Camp Capture the Flag. It was a great game to cap off another great day at camp.

Getting into the Groove

One of our goals at camp is to get campers active. While we have to spend our first full day doing things like swim tests and camper physicals, we make sure that everyone is active, playing games like continuous dodgeball and all camp capture the flag. We jump right into the full program on day two. The first night that our campers arrive they complete their activity requests, and less than 36 hours later, they’re on the program climbing, waterskiing and playing. 
Day one of the activities was great. Inclement weather held off and we were able to get in a full morning of activities. We did have to go into a rainy day program in the afternoon, but we took advantage of that time to make sure all campers learned the basic North Star games like spoons, euchre and mafia. The evening was our staff introductory talent show. At North Star talent is pretty loosely defined, but our campers were more than a little bit entertained by skits, songs and other random performances. 
Today the sun was out and with the second day of our full program, our campers really start getting into a groove. Things become routine for new campers and everyone starts progressing on their first set of activities. Its so much fun to see a camper get up on skis for the first time or actually hit the target down on archery. Our evening program was a great night of field games, organized by several of our counselors. Camp was split into four groups and everyone rotated amongst four different games. For our campers, the games were just fun, but many of them had a deeper purpose. My favorite one was Alaskan Baseball, where two teams were pretty much running all over the field, but in the meantime, they were learning names of everyone else on their side. 
Over the last two days our staff has really helped get the summer off to a successful start. Organizing great evening activities is just the start. Making sure that campers are engaged and having fun on a rainy day can be challenging. Our counselors really stepped up! To say that we’re proud and impressed with our staff is an understatement.
We also have four cabin groups out on trips. Our Pine and Manor cabins left yesterday bright and early for the Canadian wilderness. They hit the lakes of Quetico Provincial Park this morning. Cabins S-1 and S-2 left today for the Porcupine Mountains in the upper peninsula of Michigan. The trips will continue with I-4 heading out on the Flambeau River tomorrow.

Getting into the Groove

One of our goals at camp is to get campers active. While we have to spend our first full day doing things like swim tests and camper physicals, we make sure that everyone is active, playing games like continuous dodgeball and all camp capture the flag. We jump right into the full program on day two. The first night that our campers arrive they complete their activity requests, and less than 36 hours later, they’re on the program climbing, waterskiing and playing. 
Day one of the activities was great. Inclement weather held off and we were able to get in a full morning of activities. We did have to go into a rainy day program in the afternoon, but we took advantage of that time to make sure all campers learned the basic North Star games like spoons, euchre and mafia. The evening was our staff introductory talent show. At North Star talent is pretty loosely defined, but our campers were more than a little bit entertained by skits, songs and other random performances. 
Today the sun was out and with the second day of our full program, our campers really start getting into a groove. Things become routine for new campers and everyone starts progressing on their first set of activities. Its so much fun to see a camper get up on skis for the first time or actually hit the target down on archery. Our evening program was a great night of field games, organized by several of our counselors. Camp was split into four groups and everyone rotated amongst four different games. For our campers, the games were just fun, but many of them had a deeper purpose. My favorite one was Alaskan Baseball, where two teams were pretty much running all over the field, but in the meantime, they were learning names of everyone else on their side. 
Over the last two days our staff has really helped get the summer off to a successful start. Organizing great evening activities is just the start. Making sure that campers are engaged and having fun on a rainy day can be challenging. Our counselors really stepped up! To say that we’re proud and impressed with our staff is an understatement.
We also have four cabin groups out on trips. Our Pine and Manor cabins left yesterday bright and early for the Canadian wilderness. They hit the lakes of Quetico Provincial Park this morning. Cabins S-1 and S-2 left today for the Porcupine Mountains in the upper peninsula of Michigan. The trips will continue with I-4 heading out on the Flambeau River tomorrow.

First Keylog of 2012

In about an hour or two our quiet gathering on Spider Lake will begin to grow significantly. What is currently about a dozen or so grows by 15 as our trip leaders return from Wilderness First Responder and Wilderness Water Safety training. We’ll also get about 10 staff rolling in to begin lifeguard training as well as several more members of our kitchen staff. Tomorrow an additional 15 or so will arrive. What was one table in our dining hall last night for dinner will become four.
Before we welcome all of these folks, we’d like to take a minute to throw in the first keylog of 2012. For those who don’t know what a keylog is, during the summer, we have a Friday night service where, amongst other things, we take the opportunity to thank others. This is symbolized by throwing in a piece of wood that we call a keylog. The keylog is a tradition that many of the northwoods camp hold dearly. The area that we’re located was well known for its role in the lumber industry. Lumberjacks would take down trees, float them in the river, down to the mill. At times, however, one log would get stuck, leading to a real logjam, stopping flow of logs down to the mill. One courageous lumberjack would have to go and log that started the jam. Unsticking the “key log” would fix the jam and get everything flowing downstream once again.
In recognition of our hard working crew that has spent the past several weeks getting camp ready, we throw in our first keylog of the summer. Tom Brokaw is our lead caretaker and he spends all year tirelessly working to make camp look amazing. He’ was joined in the spring by Dorothy Briggs and Noah Lattin, our maintenance assistants. They’re awesome! Greg Merckx, our driver, came up in May to help with the set-up process, and about a week or so ago, tripper Jason Mann came up early ahead of trip leader training. We’ve had others that have come in over the past week who have helped with the set-up, along with their other responsibility. This includes village directors Scott Goldberg and John Sheehan, Matt Sirles from the kitchen and new counselor Tyler Ray.
We can’t believe how great camp looks ahead of our pre-camp orientation and we’re truly thankful for all the hard work that has been put in to make it happen!

First Keylog of 2012

In about an hour or two our quiet gathering on Spider Lake will begin to grow significantly. What is currently about a dozen or so grows by 15 as our trip leaders return from Wilderness First Responder and Wilderness Water Safety training. We’ll also get about 10 staff rolling in to begin lifeguard training as well as several more members of our kitchen staff. Tomorrow an additional 15 or so will arrive. What was one table in our dining hall last night for dinner will become four.
Before we welcome all of these folks, we’d like to take a minute to throw in the first keylog of 2012. For those who don’t know what a keylog is, during the summer, we have a Friday night service where, amongst other things, we take the opportunity to thank others. This is symbolized by throwing in a piece of wood that we call a keylog. The keylog is a tradition that many of the northwoods camp hold dearly. The area that we’re located was well known for its role in the lumber industry. Lumberjacks would take down trees, float them in the river, down to the mill. At times, however, one log would get stuck, leading to a real logjam, stopping flow of logs down to the mill. One courageous lumberjack would have to go and log that started the jam. Unsticking the “key log” would fix the jam and get everything flowing downstream once again.
In recognition of our hard working crew that has spent the past several weeks getting camp ready, we throw in our first keylog of the summer. Tom Brokaw is our lead caretaker and he spends all year tirelessly working to make camp look amazing. He’ was joined in the spring by Dorothy Briggs and Noah Lattin, our maintenance assistants. They’re awesome! Greg Merckx, our driver, came up in May to help with the set-up process, and about a week or so ago, tripper Jason Mann came up early ahead of trip leader training. We’ve had others that have come in over the past week who have helped with the set-up, along with their other responsibility. This includes village directors Scott Goldberg and John Sheehan, Matt Sirles from the kitchen and new counselor Tyler Ray.
We can’t believe how great camp looks ahead of our pre-camp orientation and we’re truly thankful for all the hard work that has been put in to make it happen!

Staff Spotlight: Dylan “DJ” Jacobs

Returning for summer number nine is Dylan Jacobs. After a few year absence he returned last summer and we’re glad to have him back. DJ hails from Buffalo Grove, IL and returns this summer as a cabin counselor and waterfront instructor. 
He does a great job with our campers who have so much fun with him. DJ is currently a sophomore at Bradley University in Peoria, IL, where he is a computer science major and hopes one day to design apps and games.
More About Dylan:
Favorite TV show: Whitest Kids U Know

Best place you’ve ever traveled to: Aruba

sports team that you root for: White Sox
Favorite camp meal: Burgers
Favorite spot at camp: The Council Ring at sunset
Favorite all camp/special program to do at camp: Glenn’s Game
earliest camp memory or notable camp memory: Cedar Rapids with cabin I-4

If you had a super hero power, what would it be: The ability to control time
Best Hanukkah present that you’ve ever gotten: My first guitar
Preferred chicken nugget dip: BBQ sauce

Staff Spotlight: Dylan "DJ" Jacobs

Returning for summer number nine is Dylan Jacobs. After a few year absence he returned last summer and we’re glad to have him back. DJ hails from Buffalo Grove, IL and returns this summer as a cabin counselor and waterfront instructor. 
He does a great job with our campers who have so much fun with him. DJ is currently a sophomore at Bradley University in Peoria, IL, where he is a computer science major and hopes one day to design apps and games.
More About Dylan:
Favorite TV show: Whitest Kids U Know

Best place you’ve ever traveled to: Aruba

sports team that you root for: White Sox
Favorite camp meal: Burgers
Favorite spot at camp: The Council Ring at sunset
Favorite all camp/special program to do at camp: Glenn’s Game
earliest camp memory or notable camp memory: Cedar Rapids with cabin I-4

If you had a super hero power, what would it be: The ability to control time
Best Hanukkah present that you’ve ever gotten: My first guitar
Preferred chicken nugget dip: BBQ sauce

Staff Spotlight: Jose Hernandez

Jose Hernandez joins us for his first summer. Coming from Mexico City, he’s a student at Instituto Politecnico Nacional where he’s studying international business. One of his favorite jobs was working at Six Flags Mexico where he was in charge of operating roller coasters and providing safety rules to visitors.
Jose loves sports and has won national chess championships. He can look forward to Leb challenging him to a few games over the course of the summer. At camp Jose will be one of our kitchen assistants.
More About Jose
Favorite TV show: Dr. House
Best place you’ve ever traveled to:  Merida, Yucatan
Sports team(s) that you root for: “Pumas”.- Soccer team from México
How did you learn about North Star and why did you apply: I learned through the campleaders  program and I apply to learn about different cultures around the world, also to have a great expirience with Northstar.
What did you do last summer: I went to Oaxaca,México on vacations.
What noteworthy/menial/random job(s) have you previously held: I worked in Six Flags México
If you had a super hero power, what would it be: Teletransportation.
Best Christmas present that you’ve ever gotten: Last Christmas, cause i saw my sister after a long time.

Staff Spotlight: Jose Hernandez

Jose Hernandez joins us for his first summer. Coming from Mexico City, he’s a student at Instituto Politecnico Nacional where he’s studying international business. One of his favorite jobs was working at Six Flags Mexico where he was in charge of operating roller coasters and providing safety rules to visitors.
Jose loves sports and has won national chess championships. He can look forward to Leb challenging him to a few games over the course of the summer. At camp Jose will be one of our kitchen assistants.
More About Jose
Favorite TV show: Dr. House
Best place you’ve ever traveled to:  Merida, Yucatan
Sports team(s) that you root for: “Pumas”.- Soccer team from México
How did you learn about North Star and why did you apply: I learned through the campleaders  program and I apply to learn about different cultures around the world, also to have a great expirience with Northstar.
What did you do last summer: I went to Oaxaca,México on vacations.
What noteworthy/menial/random job(s) have you previously held: I worked in Six Flags México
If you had a super hero power, what would it be: Teletransportation.
Best Christmas present that you’ve ever gotten: Last Christmas, cause i saw my sister after a long time.