The Wall Street Journal posted an article posing this question, “You are shrunk to the height of a nickel and thrown into a blender. The blades are about to start, what do you do?” The title of this article, How to Ace a Google Interview is ironic because the answer is not just a click away.

The answer to this question relies on the ability to critically and creatively think about the situation. It requires seeing the whole picture, brainstorming and making hypotheses. In some instances, it requires letting logic and rationale go and thinking without any confines. It requires being uncomfortable as you grapple with a situation and the many possibilities.

In her book, How to Teach Thinking and Learning Skills,  C.J. Simister, education expert, writes about how “critical thinking and creative thinking are, in many cases, interrelated as situations depend on gathering and absorbing information (critical thinking) leading to the transformation of this knowledge to generate new ideas (creative thinking)“. Promoting critical and creative thinking appears to be at the forefront of school’s agendas. Camps, on the other hand, have been developing these kinds of thinking for decades.

Imagine, a group of campers looking at the spider’s web low ropes course element; how are the campers going to get to the other side? Will they pick each other up? Crawl around? Each and every time this element is completed, a new strategy arises. Now imagine, a group of campers given a bag of non-related items such as a toilet paper roll, tennis racquets, bathrobes and flashlights. What can those campers make from all those items given a little bit of time and the freedom to think?

At camp, children are not able to Google the current wind direction, the elements of a ropes course challenge, the sounds of nature they are hearing, or the different ways to construct fairy houses. The answer is not a click away, and therefore they must rely on and develop the ability to think critically and creatively.

For more ideas on how to promote critical thinking for your camper at home, check out Parents Magazine’s article Inspiring Creativity: Raise a Trailblazer and the University of California’s article 7 ways to Foster Creativity.

Rachel Kelly, Intermediate Unit Director and Program Development Coordinator

The iconic, magical image of camp, is one in which children are outside, carefree and laughing; away from the stressors of school, homework and technology. Yet, with October being National Bullying Prevention Month, even camps are turning their attention to the problem of bullying and how they can help their campers to prevent it. Bullying is an intentionally hurtful act against another, typically done for power acquisition or social dominance. In 2006, the Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights initiated a week long affair to raise awareness of bullying prevention. The event gained support and recognition and has grown into the month long event that it is today. Bullying incidences continue to occur at an alarming rate with twenty to thirty percent of children reporting being bullied last year. Simply reflect on your own experiences, or that of your children’s, regarding bullying. It is a ubiquitous problem not limited to any definitive time or place.

Bullying incidents can happen in any variety of environments. However, camps promote environments that emphasize respect and inclusiveness. Camps nourish the emotional and physical growth of a child recognizing that this is grounded in the basic need of feeling safe. Just as we put a safety helmet on when a child rides a horse, camps teach and model kindness, tolerance, inclusion and advocacy skills which in turn help campers learn and strengthen the skills required to prevent bullying. At camp, campers learn to make connections with others, respect differences, and speak up if the need arises.

At the closing of one of our sessions, campers reflected upon what they were most proud of. Girls shared stories of learning to swim, making new friends, overcoming their fears of spiders, and sleeping out in the woods for the first time. One comment particularly resonated with me, “We were the most different cabin, but we were definitely the closest and I am most proud of that.” That statement reflects all that is embedded in and all that camp works towards in preventing bullying. Creating an environment that embraces differences, reduces bullying.
PACER’s message for National Bullying Prevention month is “the end of bullying begins with me.” Think about how this message pertains to your child and specifically how camp modeled and supported inclusiveness, tolerance and kindness. How can we continue to teach these characteristics?

Rachel Kelly, Intermediate Unit Director

There’s no list that can encompass the gift of camp. But…

There’s the budding realization of the existence of true friendship that occurred late one night on the steps of the CIT cabin where I first shared my true self. Aware of my true self only just then as it came spilling out- somehow fully realized only in the act of sharing.

There’s the feeling deep in your gut that you are needed by another human being that brought tears to my eyes when I walked into my first cabin as a counselor to find 5 teenagers, asleep in a tangle of arms and legs too large for their bodies…all on my single camp cot, caught in the act of waiting for me to come home so I could hug them goodnight.

There’s the knowing that I had found “the one” and that the only thing left to do was to bring him to camp so that “place apart” would be not mine, but ours.

There’s the day of the first ultrasound, when the knowledge was ours alone- when the life trajectory seemed to spill out into unknown years…baby names, playgroups, school, graduations. What year can he start camp?

But above all that, there’s the sense of stewardship that is so ingrained in me that it provides the bedrock for all the important choices in my life: how I create a partnership with my husband, how I raise my children, my career choices that keep drawing me back into educating teenagers, and the time I reserve each summer to return to the shores where this sense of stewardship taught me how to be an adult.

Uncle Al gave so much to my family over the years- but the greatest gift to me was the understanding of stewardship. “The Uncle” showed through his actions how to be a steward not just to the land and the camp, but most importantly…to the people. He showed us all how to honor each other, truly respect the differences that make us all unique characters (and admit it, we have a lot of character), and value the contributions that each person brings to the greater Winona family.

I am so proud that my sons are Winona Boys. I watch with joy from the sidelines as Spencer and Laura take the helm, leading this incredible group of people, mentoring the next generation of men. I look forward to the connections and sense of stewardship that my children learn as they realize the value of this special place and amazing family.

Brix Brax and KiYi, Katie Brown

Chris Wentworth, Operations and Trip Coordinator

On Monday March 11th, I will be participating in the 2013 Wildcat Mountain 100k Vertical Challenge which is a benefit for the Make-A-Wish New Hampshire Foundation. I will be attempting to ski 100,000 vertical feet in under nine hours. I will need to make 48 runs down the Lynx Trail on Wildcat Mountain. As I started my fund raising for this event, I received a message from Barb and Jeff Hollis. Barb is a former Wyo Unit Director and Jeff is a former Winona counselor. They are the parents of Jenn Perkins, who has been at Wyonegonic for over 25 years,  and the grandparents of Linda, Cameron, Topher and Lauren Perkins who are Wyonegonic and Winona campers and staff members. They wished to support the Make-A-Wish Foundation by donating to my event.

It was then that I found out that Barb and Jeff, along with their family and friends, have been long time supporters of Make-A-Wish. For over ten years, they worked very hard to raise over $600,000 and made 100 kids’ wishes come true. They did all this work in honor of their son, Christopher Hollis, who had his wish granted in 1993. Chris was in Pooh Corner at Wyonegonic from 1976 to 1985 while Barb was Intermediate Unit Director. Below is the story that Barb shared with me about Chris’ wish.

Chris suffered from neurofibromatosis and suffered a massive stroke after some neurosurgery back in 1990. The wish volunteer team came to Chris’ house and asked him what his wish would be if he could have a wish. Chris explained that he wanted to meet “David Knight” (David Hasselhoff) and sit in the car “Kitt” from the show “Knight Rider” which was on display at Universal Studio in California. The team went back to Make-A-Wish and his wish was approved. It would take about six months to set it all up. In the mean time, the family, and his medical team decided this would be a great opportunity to challenge Chris to complete some goals from his physical therapy & speech therapy teams. He had been totally paralyzed from his stroke and was wheel chair bound, could not speak or breathe on his own and he had reached a plateau with his therapy. He was told that if within six months he could learn how to stand, pivot & transfer from his wheelchair, start breathing without his trach tube, and speak clearer he could meet David Hasselhoff and sit in the car “Kitt” . He immediately was motivated and started working harder. Within three months the entire medical team was amazed Chris had reached his goals, but the wish details had not been completed. We had to come up with some more goals!

Then another hurdle was thrown our way when it was discovered that David Hasselhoff was not going to be available to meet with his because of a conflict with his schedule. So the wish team came back and told Chris he could still go sit in the car “Kitt”, but David was not going to be available. They asked what else he might want to do while in California. He decided he would like to see a taping of “Wheel of Fortune” and meet Vanna White, go to the taping of “Price is Right” and a show called “Supermarket Sweep”. These were three other shows that Chris watched daily. These requests were set up immediately and we were all set to travel to California. (Make-A-Wish sets up all the details, pays for everything from tips, airfare, lodging, meals, rental car, souvenirs – there is no cost to the family.) Chris was able to invite his best friend Kris Doucette to go along as well.

Three days before we were ready to leave, the Make-A-Wish team called to tell us that David Hasselhoff was going to be available to have brunch with us after all! Needless to say Chris was so excited I don’t think he slept much before we left. He basically got two wishes as they didn’t cancel the other events. The first event was going to see a taping of “Wheel of Fortune”. Vanna White met us and gave us a VIP tour of the studio and introduced us to Pat Sajak and they had a tote bag of goodies for all of us. Chris loved watching how they produced the show and what happened behind the scenes. The next event was to see a taping of Price is Right and once again we were treated like VIPS and he was introduced to Bob Barker. The next morning was the taping of “Supermarket Sweep” where the producer and host met us with a sweatshirt with Chris’ name on it. Chris was told he could come back when he could run and be a participant on the show someday.

Now it was finally time to meet David Hasselhoff and I had not seen Chris so excited for years to meet his TV hero. The hotel had set aside a private area for us to have brunch. David Hasselhoff arrived by himself and knelt down beside Chris’ wheelchair for about the first 15 minutes talking to Chris eyeball to eyeball. At that time “Baywatch” was just taking off and David told Chris all about that show as well as Knight Rider , but the main focus was the show “Knight Rider” Hasselhoff had brought Chris souvenir items from both Baywatch and Knight Rider and had brought pictures which he autographed personally to every child and teacher in his school.. He stayed about 1½ hours with us and had brought his own camera with him as he keeps a file with a picture of every child he meets. During brunch David asked where we were going after that and Chris told him to go see “Kitt”. David asked Chris to say “hi” to Kitt and also picked up his phone and called his favorite restaurant “Gladstone” on Malibu and asked them to give us his favorite table and Hasselhoff would pick up the tab.

So, now we headed off to sit in the car “Kitt” not knowing that “Kitt” would talk to you (not sure where they hid the person). Kitt said “hi” and asked Chris’ name. Chris immediately told him that Michael (David Hasselhoff) had said to say hi when we had brunch with him. (I immediately said Chris was a Make-A-Wish child and that person immediately picked up on it and ran with the conversation). Needless to say Chris was totally blown away.

One of the best things that happened during the week we were gone was that Chris and his family were just a “normal family” on vacation – no treatments, no physical therapy, or no doctor appointments. This is one of the major goals of Make-A-Wish; to provide a break from all the unpleasant activities that children and their families deal with while dealing with life-threatening illnesses.

When Chris returned to his medical treatments and appointments the doctors and physical therapists could not believe what a new lease on life Chris was displaying. Two years later Chris passed away and one of his doctors told me that he thought Chris’ wish had probably helped extend his life for those two years. As a family it was hard to accept his death, but we have such fond memories and tons of pictures that we can look back at and remember a “special week” that the Make-A-Wish had given us.

Because of such a positive experience, we decided to start a benefit golf tournament in Chris’ name with all the net proceeds to go to the Make-A-Wish of Massachusetts to grant “wishes” to other children and their families. We were fortunate to have many friends and Boston Celtics great K.C. Jones who helped us. We had set a goal of granting 100 wishes and we reached our goal of raising $600,000 dollars over a period of ten years to fund those 100 wishes.

Please consider donating to the Make-A-Wish Foundation but clicking on this link to my event fundraising page. I hope that I can continue to support this event each year in honor of Chris and the Hollis family, and all they have done for some many deserving kids.

On my return home for the Christmas holidays, my sister and I found ourselves in the basement of our house rummaging through boxes of things that my mother had stored away. Among precious old photographs of when we were younger, I happened to stumble across an old piece of paper, which to my surprise turned out to be one of my letters home from when I was a 12 year old camper. Sitting on the floor of my basement I was immediately transported back to some of the happiest memories of my life: as a camper at Wyonegonic. I laughed at the simple things I had written about, like cabin overnights and advanced sailing, and then realized that nothing has changed. As a counselor, I still enjoy trips as much as I did back then and I now take my campers to the same campsites that my counselors took me to years ago. I also now teach sailing at camp, and I got to teach the advanced sailors that were as enthusiastic about sailing as I was as a camper. I even sent two twelve year old campers to a regatta, which were some of my fondest memories at camp. The letter I found was hilarious to me especially with the excessive amount of abbreviations and scribbles, but also very comforting because camp hasn’t changed at all, this summer, seven years later I was still struggling with the broken watch dilemma. Camp life for me was fun and easy, and most importantly, it was safe. At camp, you could be who you wanted to be, and gladly nothing has changed. This letter was just a small reminder of how much camp means to me now, which is just as much as it meant to me back then as a twelve year old camper.

So, do you have any old letters or pictures hidden somewhere in your house? What does camp mean to you? Leave a reply below.

Written by Olivia Gebelein
Camper 2002-2008, 2010, Staff 2012
Currently a sophomore at  University of Southern California

“Discover, Share, Preserve” is proudly displayed at our camp welcome gate and in Wyonegonic’s dining hall. My father, George Sudduth who was director from 1965-1991 was passionate about educating campers and staff regarding their relationship with the environment.  January 7th would have been his 75th Birthday. It is a great day to remember George and his commitment to camping, the outdoors, and these three meaningful words.

Spending a summer at camp in Maine is the perfect way to help instill a deep appreciation for the outdoors in kids who spend so much time inside. They can “Discover” through camp programming in outdoor living skills, ecology and overnight camping trips in Maine and New Hampshire. Girls learn to build a fire and set up a campsite using Leave No Trace Principles. They identify trees, collect frogs from streams and learn about the ecosystems that surround them in the Maine trees that are hundreds of years old. These programs weave naturally into the Wyonegonic camp culture and campers develop a bond with the earth that they can bring home with them and “Share” with others. For many of our camp alumnae, staff and campers, this passion for the outdoors becomes a lifelong journey. woods. Other camp activities enable kids to enjoy the beautiful clean waters of Moose Pond and the towering pines.

The question on how to “preserve” is constantly evolving. As a camp we can reduce our waste, recycle materials and minimize our energy consumption. In 1988, George had a simple idea of preserving the waters of Moose Pond. He invested in a septic system that eliminated leach beds along the shore by pumping effluent uphill and away from the pond. This was the one of the first systems of its kind in Maine and we continue to use it today. George would be proud to see the new solar panels on the Cobb Lodge dining hall and learn how they supply 110% of the energy needs for that building.

Counselors-in-Training maintain the Southwest Ridge Trail on Pleasant Mountain in partnership with Loon Echo Land Trust. This was George’s favorite trail on the mountain and his mark is left behind in the form of the wooden tipi and rock cairns along the Southwest Ridge he constructed with the help of Wyonegonic campers.  George hiked and maintained this trail 12 months of the year.

In the 1980’s, George’s volunteer services for the summer camp industry included serving on the Executive Committee with the American Camp Association New England Section and also for the American Camp Association (ACA) National Board of Directors. He was part of the committee that revised the ACA Accreditation Standards, which camps continue to use to this day. George believed strongly that service went beyond our camp and local area.

Each Sunday, at Grove Services, the entire camp community shares thoughts on a chosen theme each week. “Discover, Share, Preserve” is a theme used historically each summer. I love hearing what everyone has to say; from the youngest Junior campers who are discovering camp and friends for the first time, to the veteran staff who have spent so many summers on Moose Pond helping us share the beauty of camp with others.

We are proud to continue on George’s path to sustainability by furthering the mission of “Discover, Share, Preserve”  to the camp community. What do the words “Discover, Share, Preserve” mean to you?  Reply below with your thoughts.

Susie Sudduth Hammond

Assistant Director Wyonegonic Camps

Miles of trails and woods roads, unparalleled scenery next to the Saco River, and 1,846 acres of floodplain forest and wildlife habitat in Western Maine are now protected for recreation, wildlife habitat, and sustainable forestry, the Upper Saco Valley Land Trust recently announced.

After more than four years of collaboration with Maine’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and The Nature Conservancy in Maine, the trust finalized its largest land protection project to date. Conservation easements on several properties in Fryeburg, Denmark and Hiram comprise the project, which is located at the center of nearly 10,000 acres of intact habitat near the Maine-New Hampshire border.

This preserve will continue to be managed for wildlife habitat, public recreation and benefits such as flood protection. The property includes mature silver maple floodplain forest, wetlands and 11,000 feet of frontage along the pristine Moose Pond Brook.  Moose Pond acts as the headwaters for the brook that spills into the Saco River.

We are very lucky to have the Upper Saco Valley Land Trust, along with Loon Echo Land Trust, working hard to preserve the open spaces here in Western Maine. We utilize several of their preserves and easements for our tripping program such as Pleasant Mountain and Bald Pate Mountain Preserve.