The Siren: June 21, 2023
Our oldest campers left this morning on their Canadian camping trip, embarking on a 10-day adventure. They will paddle on beautifully preserved lakes, portage through amazing trails, and experience the challenges and the fun that comes with spending time in Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario. The park is so beautifully preserved that it remains one of the last places on earth that you can safely drink straight from the lakes. This trip is a long-standing tradition at North Star, and it’s a capstone experience for our campers’ final year. The boys even got to enjoy a legendary night at Canoe Canada Outfitters, sleeping in their famous 4-level bunk beds. The halls of the bunkhouse are filled with paddles from Pine Manor groups of the past, signed with their names to commemorate their accomplishments. And tomorrow morning, they’ll hit the water and head into the backcountry to write their own story.
Back at camp, the adventure continues with our action-packed program. We take great pride in having all kinds of boys at North Star, and our program is full of choice to allow kids with different interests to find joy and success at their activities. Here you can see a copy of our daily schedule:
The Instructional Periods are chosen on a weekly basis. Periods 1, 2 & 3 offer opportunities to dive deep into learning new skills and improving on existing ones. Fourth period today was challenge games, where each cabin challenges another to a sport or activity of their choosing. Today we say games of soccer, football, basketball, dodgeball, tennis baseball, 9-square in the air and more.
The fifth period is the Organized Free period, where the boys get to pick an activity for just that day. Whether it’s hanging out at swim point, zipping from the top of the climbing wall, shooting hoops or just chilling with their friends in one of our designated hang outs, the choice is theirs!
By celebrating their diverse interests and their successes therein, we are working to create a community of people that learns to value people different from themselves. I’m often struck by the way that boys are grouped socially at young ages simply by the activities that they gravitate towards. At North Star, we take immense pride in being a that celebrates campers with all kinds of interests, personalities, and backgrounds, and the relationships that form between them all. We strive to be a place where boys can truly be themselves, where they’re encouraged to explore their ever-evolving passions, and where they learn to appreciate others for their character.
We capped off the evening with our Staff Show, highlighting the talents and personalities of our talented staff. There was music, comedy, feats of wit and feats of strength. All of those combined to make for a fun evening for everyone involved.
Today’s Grace:
– Muhammad Ali
“Friendship… is not something you learn in school. But if you haven’t learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven’t learned anything.”
