The Siren

Today was a normal day at camp. And it was fantastic. The weather hit 82-degrees and the sun was shining all day. We had first time waterskiers and first time slalomers. New high scores at archery and riflery. First time down the zip line and 78th time down the zip […]

As I reflect on the last few days, I think it’s important to share the actions of our incredible counselors. From the moment we informed them about the events unfolding in Highland Park on Tuesday, they switched into another gear. Over the past few days, they have listened to the […]

My heart hurts for our kids. The shooting in Highland Park was an act of senseless violence that no child should have to wrap their head around. I am grateful that the families of our campers and staff were all unharmed by gunfire today. But we were all harmed today. […]

Welcome back Pine Manor! Our oldest boys returned to camp this evening to a tremendous greeting as they returned from their ten-day canoeing and portaging trip in Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada. The Canadian has long been the seminal experience of our tripping program, as all of the campfires […]

The Senior Village at camp holds special meaning. Being a camper in the Villa means carrying the responsibility of leadership throughout camp. Our Senior campers have additional opportunities for leadership around camp, and have the weight of knowing that the younger campers are looking up to them. Early on this […]

While it’s often hard to remember what day it is at camp during the summer, you can count on Tuesdays to be different. Tuesdays at camp are called Cruiser Days. We take a break from our typical programming and have cabin based programming throughout the day on a different and […]

Social-emotional learning (SEL) is a popular catchphrase and it has recently come under some political scrutiny, but we wanted to define what social emotional learning means for us at North Star. The idea behind SEL (according to CASEL) is to promote 5 sets of skills: Self-awareness Self-Management Social Awareness Relationship […]

North Star began in 1945 and on the first Friday night that summer the campers and staff gathered at the Council Ring for the very first Friendship Fire. 78 summers later, we do do the same thing on the first Friday of each summer. While camp is usually full of […]

The Pine Manor group departed this morning for their Canadian camping trip, a 10-day adventure of lake paddling and portaging through Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario. This trip has been a tradition at North Star for many decades, and has come to be known as our capstone experience in a […]