Independence Day, plus Podcast 06: Sam Barriskell and Brittany Manzano

A lot of activity has happened since our last formal post (plenty of Twitter posts have been added. You can see them at the top of the blog, or by following the GSC Twitter Feed). For starters, it rained a little bit on our Independence Day celebration -- dubbed "Spoonapalooza" -- but that wasn't enough to ruin our day. We began by celebrating Uncle Tom O'Neill's 2 year anniversary as Director of Golden Slipper Camp, then had a spirit contest, which was won by Bunk D. The day ended with an Independence Bash, DJed by Aunt Sarah Beebe.

We also recognized our the Honor Bunk in each village. The Honor Bunk is the cleanest bunk each week. The winners for cleanest bunks were:

Strauss - Bunk D
Vogelson - Bunk 6
Friends - Bunk G
Kadden - Bunk 8
Council Girls - Bunk P (Waitresses)
Council Boys - Bunk 14

Thursday night was Slipper Book of Records, and we are busy updating our record book. We'll share that here once it is ready. During the activity, I interviewed 10 different groups of campers about their first week of camp, their counselors, and anything else they wanted to share. I am working hard to prepare those files for the internet. The first one is ready and you can listen to GSC Podcast 06 by clicking the link. It features Sam Barriskell and Brittany Manzano, two campers who are having a lot of fun at GSC!


Podcast 06 - Sam Barriskell and Brittany Manzano

Until next time,
Uncle Brando

Night at the Races Recap

Last night was a GSC classic, Night at the Races. For this activity, campers and counselors are selected to compete in various races. The fun part is that each bunk tries to predict the winner of the each race, and a correct guess earns you a point. Be sure to check out the Waitresses bunk podcast, where they recap it a little bit. Here are the results from each race:

Three-Legged Race
This is a traditional three-legged race, featuring bandanas supplied by Uncles Chad and Rom. Matt Apt & Nikita Kovalenko, our champions from 1st encampment 2007, defeated Gabrielle Hunt (2nd encampment 2007 champion) & Alexis Frye, as well as Winter Dyllard & Tiffany Pienkowski.

Leap Frog
This is a traditional leap frog contest. It began with a marvelous demonstration from Uncles Tom and Tommy O'Neill, and then the race was underway! There was no defending champ, so this race was full of challengers. Justin Citron & Janae Griffin defeated Vladhimir Theophile & Michelle Kopaygorodski and Luke Valentine & Jackie Kopaygorodski.

Izzy Dizzy Bat Race
This race featured three counselor/camper pairings. The campers have to spin on a bat 3 times, then run and tag their counselors, who have to spin 7 times. Hilarity ensues. Alex Pak, the 2007 1st and 2nd encampment champ, and his new partner, Uncle Tyrone, defeated Aunt Emily & Michelle Green and Aunt Rae & Cheyenne McCollough. Stay tuned for next encampment, when Alex tries to become a 4-time champion!

Water Chug-A-Lug
This contest featured four staff members trying to down a pitcher a water as quickly as possible. The official results were:

1. Uncle Jared, the pool guy
2. Uncle Rome, the bandana bandit
   
3. Aunt Sarah B., the lakefront coordinator
4. Aunt Holly, the Council Girls Village Leader

The Dress Up Rematch
This is Night at the Races most storied and fiercest competition, with several repeat contenders. For this race, our male contestants are blindfolded and race to put on clothing. The race featured Uncle Keith (2005, 2006, and 2007 2nd encampment champion), Uncle Chris Hall (2006 champion), Uncle Leon (2007 1st encampment champion), and newcomer Uncle Mike Tosti. It was a close battle, but Uncle Chris narrowly edged out Uncle Keith. There was a fierce debate afterwards, but it will have to be settled during 2nd encampment!

The Marshmallow Feed
In another race with history between contestants, each team races to eat 17 marshmallows as quickly as possible. Uncle Brad & Aunt Darlene, the 2007 1st and 2nd encampment champions, came back on their off night to defeat Uncle Chris Hall & Aunt Ilana, Uncle Kurtis & Aunt Abby, and Uncle DJ & Aunt Staci -- who even tried to make the marshmallows more appealing by covering them with chocolate!

Free Throws
With no defending champion in camp, we had four new contestants in this race. Victoria Warne defeated Uncle Corey Davis, Kenith Lozada, and Alison Ormont, and is officially GSC's sharpshooter!

Camper Sibling Egg Toss
Brothers and Sisters teamed up for the egg toss. Drew & Austin Baggaley defeated Meryl & Julia Warshafsky, Brett & Seth Kardon (who sacrificed their egg for entertainment purposes), and Chris & Nikolas Neri.

Staff Sibling Egg Toss
This race was open to any staff members who had siblings, regardless of the siblings status at camp. Here is the final standings:
4. Aunt Elise & Uncle Randy Kravitz
3. Uncle Bill & Kristen Green
t2. Aunt Nickee & Josef Plaksen
t2. Uncle Bruce & Brooke Barlow
t2. Uncle Omar & Cindy Wade
CHAMPS: Uncle Devon & Uncle Isaiah Richardson

Over Under
This race is a traditional Over Under relay race. For this race, Bunk I defeated Bunks 7, 3 (2007 1st and 2nd encampment champions), and M.

Balloon Burst
Pairs of counselors have to pop four balloons each without using their hands. Aunt Jen, defending champion, & Uncle Adam Eisman defeated Aunt Sarah Frankwich & Uncle Jake, Aunt Ellen & Uncle Sean, and Aunt Courtney & Uncle Devan Shimoyama.

Pictures of the event are available in the Night at the Races set on flickr.

Podcast 05 - The Waitresses at Arts & Crafts

I decided to visit Arts & Crafts today and had the opportunity to talk with some of our waitresses as they worked on their projects. We discussed being a waitress, last night’s evening activity, and Olympics, which you can hear in our GSC Podcast 05: Waitresses at Arts & Crafts.


Click here to listen to GSC Podcast 05

I hope you enjoyed listening to Ariella, Jackie, Kristen, Fallon, and Julia. I have a few other pieces of camp sounds that will be in a future edit, and Aunt Jen is working hard on editing the week 1 morning electives podcast, created by campers!

In the meantime, check out the Golden Slipper Camp blog and the pictures on Flickr, which you can access through the blog!

A message from Uncle Tom, Director of GSC

CAMP 2008

The camp season of 2008 has finally arrived and I am glad to report that we are off to a strong start. The staff spent 5 days at orientation getting to know each other, training, and preparing themselves for camper arrivals. Now that the campers have arrived, the knowledge they gained during orientation is being put to good use.

The campers have been here since June 24th and on the first day noticed changes within the camp program. Our Wiffleball Stadium has been a great success, along with the lacrosse program. Our upper ball field has not seen so much action in a long time. Of course, the campers are enjoying all the activities we have to offer here due to the hard work of so many volunteers throughout the years. It is a joy to see our campers making new friends and bonding so quickly with their counselors.


We are sending 4 bunks of campers to the Holocaust Museum in DC on July 3rd. I have met with these campers and they are very excited and look forward to this trip. Once they get back, check out our blog for their stories. Speaking of our blog, I hope you take the time to visit our website. There are literally thousands of pictures already posted from this summer. Some of the pictures are being taken by campers in our photography elective.

Thank you for the opportunity to share the summer of 2008 with your children.

Tom O’Neill
Director GSC

Tuesday, July 1 recap

Today is the first day of July and we are in full swing. William Ladynak is on pace to shatter records at the lake, as he has caught 26 fish so far with 2+ weeks left in the summer! Last night was Leagues Night, with a round robin of activities hosted by Uncles Spoon and Chad, and it appears to have been a huge success. Tonight is Night at the Races, where our campers and counselors compete in various races and the rest of the camp tries to predict the winner of each race.

Meals have been hearty: yesterday we had french toast for breakfast and chicken strips for lunch, and today we had eggs for breakfast and chili for lunch. I can't wait to see what we have for dinner tonight!

We're working on editing some more podcasts and will post them as soon as they are ready. In the meantime, check out our Golden Slipper Camp pictures or follow our Golden Slipper Camp Twitter feed!

Sincerely,
Uncle Brando

Counselor Hunt & First Weekend (and Podcast 04)

Hello Family, Fans, and Slipperites!

The weekend is behind us, and it was full of fun times! Saturday's Welcome Back Dance lived up to its hype, with lots of good music and dancing. Some highlights include Uncle Tyrone and the Bleacher Choir singing "All My Life" by K-Ci & Jo Jo, Uncle Corey Davis beating a waiter in a dance-off, and Uncle Greg leading the whole camp in the "Listen To Your Heart" dance, a relatively new Golden Slipper tradition! All in all, it was a great start to a summer of dances!

Uncle Bill Kovnat, a former counselor and spirit award winner and our current photographer, came on Sunday to take bunk photos. I had the opportunity to sit down with Bunks 8 and 9 and talk to them about The Welcome Back Dance and camp in general. The podcast of that conversation is available by clicking on GSC Podcast 04.

Last night was the Counselor Hunt. For this activity, many counselors hide throughout camp and the rest of the camp tries to find them. Each counselor is worth a different amount of points (Uncle Spoon will announce the point tallies today at lunch). Uncle Jack Ross, who declared himself the greatest hider in Golden Slipper Camp, offered a prize to any bunk that could find him. Bunks I & J found him and will be receiving a prize; Uncle Spoon also shared last night that Uncle Jack was the only counselor worth negative points! The general feedback from campers and staff is that the Counselor Hunt was a lot of fun. As Nate in Bunk 2 said: "That was so much crazy fun...and we didn't even find anyone!!!"

The hunted counselors

It was a perfect weekend...almost. We were able to hold off the rain all weekend until about 11pm last night, but that ended Bunks 5 & 6's campout a little early =( Today is beautiful so far, with a clear blue sky and temperatures in the mid-70s.

Finally, we have created an email address for you to send ideas regarding the podcast, blog, or camp program. For all other inquiries -- like if you have questions about a specific camper or staff member, or camp business -- please call the camp office at 610-660-0520 (Bala Cynwyd office) or 570-629-1654 (Stroudsburg office).


Podcast 04 - First Weekend First Encampment

Until later...
Uncle Brando