Category: Alumni News
Who is writing all those great blog posts????
Our very own Kim Wenzl Aycock has been writing all those fun and creative blog posts over the past few weeks. Check out more about all the fantastic things Kim does for camp during the year in her own words:
I had the fortune of spending 12 consecutive summers at Camp Woodland from 1986-1997 as a staff member (hard to believe that I was never a camper!). During the summer of 2011, I found myself once again in the Northwoods of Wisconsin following a fourteen-year hiatus. This time I chose to return to Woodland to lend a hand and give back to a place that gave so much to me in my formative years as an educator. After finally having the opportunity to have a classroom of my own, I found that I was always trying to make school more like camp and NEVER trying to make camp more like school.
As it turns out, spending that first summer at Woodland over 25 years ago changed the course of my life, and I am fortunate now to be able to work professionally as a consultant to summer camps around the country. I especially enjoy working with camp staff for orientation or mid-summer training and developing innovative camp program ideas. In the fall and winter months, I speak at various national and regional camp conferences on topics pertaining to staff recruiting/hiring/training, program planning and development, and youth development. I also serve on the Local Council of Leaders for the American Camp Association’s Southeast Region and help plan educational events for camp directors and staff in Florida, Georgia, and North and South Carolina.
Since my return to camp in 2011, I have been able to use the knowledge and expertise I have learned from working with a variety of camps to help with various camp projects for both Woodland and Towering Pines. It has been fun to be in a “behind the scenes” role and volunteer my time in ways that will ultimately benefit the experience of future campers. One such project was creating and managing on-line evaluations for both parents and staff following the recent summer in order to gather valuable feedback that will then be used as preparations are made for the summer of 2013. Developing Pinterest sites for both camps is another endeavor I offered to help with so that we can connect with current and future campers, staff, and alumni in as many ways as possible. I am also in contact with someone from Trout Unlimited in hopes of adding fly-fishing to the program offerings at both camps this summer!
In closing, I would like to challenge you to join me in this effort to give back to such an amazing place that has had a huge impact on my life and the person I am today. Thanks in advance for finding ways to utilize your connections and resources or contribute your time and talents to further enrich the Camp Woodland/Towering Pines experience for others!
Kim (Wenzl) Aycock
Augusta, GA
Give the gift that keeps on giving…Camp (posted by Lee Biear)
Happy Holidays!
When I was a little girl, my parents always knew what I wanted every year – a week at residential camp to spread my wings and try new things. The problem was a week just was not enough. I craved one more week to master my dive, be the star of campfire, and spend time with my new friends. Luckily, we found Camp Woodland and I was able to do all of these things and much, much more. Today, my parents and I look back and wonder where I would be today if it was not for camp.
- Would I have been adventurous enough to travel to Costa Rica and improve the lives of local farmers?
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| Lee Building water pumps for farmers |
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| Lee teaching about Water Sanitation |
- Would I have been ambitious enough to meet the President of a developing country?
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| Lee and President |
- Would I have been confident enough to get Masters Degree and consult for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency?
I know I would have many regrets, if it was not for my extended experience at Camp Woodland. The Jordan Family provided an environment which allowed me to dream big…and fulfill this dream as an adult.
As your celebrating the holiday with your family and close friends, we hope you can keep giving the gift of camp to your family this summer, and keep dreaming big!
Enjoy this great camp article: http://www.pennlive.com/editorials/index.ssf/2011/11/best_gift_for_kids_send_them_t.html
Camp Woodland Love,
Lee Biear
Holiday tune to "The Ship Titantic"
Tune: THE SHIP TITANIC (please sing along!)
Oh, the holidays are here, there’s no need to be blue;
The blog is back, Lee will update you it’s true.
Maddie’s no longer in the sand, but a new sister will be grand.
We’ll be glad for camp next year!
Chorus:
We’ll be glad,…We’ll be glad…We’ll be glad for camp next year.
We really want to see our friends, and the fun will never end.
We’ll be glad for camp next year!
Oh, the winds are so high, and winter is so cold.
We want summer to come before we all turn old.
Kim will put math aside, and to Wisconsin she will fly.
We’ll be glad for camp next year! (Chorus)
JoAnne turned around as she watched her dogs drop down;
Zoe and Jake made the strangest sound.
Jack put up a stink because in school he has to think.
We’ll be glad for camp next year! (Chorus)
Oh, the moral of the story as you can plainly see,
Is to plan ahead for summer – where else would you rather be?
Oh, this song is through, and we do miss you!
We’ll be glad for camp next year!
Early Enrollment has been extended to JANUARY 1st, 2013.
Send in your application form TODAY!!
Alumni Perspective – 2nd week of Camp!
Alice Lurain went to camp as camper/counselor in the 80’s though the late 90’s. Alice is a successful Chemistry teacher at a private school in New York City.
Read below about her camp memories of the 2nd week of Camp!
All told, I spent 10 summers at Woodland – 7 as a camper and 3 as a counselor. While the first week of camp was always a whirlwind of nervous excitement – finding out which cabin I was in, catching up with old friends and meeting new ones, basking in the sense of freedom that came from being far from parental control, far from the daily academic and social pressures of school life, and in such a glorious place – the second week of camp was when the fun really started. By the end of the second week, it felt as though we had been there for years and my cabinmates felt like the lifetime friends that many of them still are. Week two was the time when we all settled comfortably into the routine of camp life.
Although my last Woodland morning was well over a decade ago, I can still remember it like it was yesterday – waking to the morning bell in the cool North Woods air, shuffling to and from breakfast snuggled in sweatpants and sweatshirts, finding my name on the job wheel (and cursing that it was my turn to sweep), racing to clean the cabin for inspection, watching the flag being raised at morning assembly, running across the still dewy grass to the stable to tack up my horse or down to the waterfront for an icy swim in Sand Lake.
I remember that rest hour felt like an eternity as I waited eagerly to jump from my bunk and sprint down the steps to water ski or sail. By week two, my “letters home” usually went something like, “Dear Mom and Dad, I am writing this because I have to. Camp is great. I never want to leave. Love, Alice.” I remember arriving at dinner with the glow of the day upon us and begging Alice D to eat faster so that we could get dessert (see last alumni post). Week two was when even the new campers started to know the songs that we “sang” in the dining hall with joyous enthusiasm that more than made up for our lack of musicality.
Week two was the time when you learned who in your cabin was a hilarious ham when performing skits, who had a knack for creative lyrics for songs, who was a killer “spit” card player, who was good at uncapsizing a canoe, and who could whistle the Star Spangled Banner after eating a Saltine cracker to give your team the edge in 4th of July games. We went to bed each night, after our counselors read aloud from Danielle Steele or V.C. Andrews, already feeling the excitement of the next new day ahead.
Last night, I sat on my roof deck in New York City watching a fireworks display in some far-off New Jersey town, and I could almost hear the collective chorus of campers and counselors around the TP-Woodland 4thof July campfire on the shores of Lake Nokomis – “Ooh…aah…wonderful!”
Alumni Tidbits!
We are fortunate to have guest writers contribute to the blog this summer. This Week’s Alumni Tibits comes from Alice Decker Burke. Alice currently lives in Chicago with her family and clerks for a federal Judge. Alice wanted to let parents know if this is your daughter’s first summer or 5th summer, they are having a blast!!!
“I first went to camp when I was ten years old. With ten more summers to follow, that first summer is now a blur of happy memories. I went to camp that first year on recommendation of a girl friend who was returning for her third summer at age ten – so everyone knew her. But she was the only person I knew. An only child, I was terribly worried about whether I would make friends, and whether I could live with other kids. I needn’t have worried. I loved my cabin from the minute I walked in, even though the returning campers groaned that they got hilltop. I loved the bunks – an only child never gets bunks! And there were lots of new kids, all nervous just like me.
And from there, we were off and running. I remember loving riding. I remember the envious sighs that I passed out of swimming in just one session, followed by the giggles that anyone could be as bad as me at tennis. I remember sliding down the hilltop hill in a rainstorm, hilariously muddy. I remember my cabin mates begging for me to eat faster so we could get dessert, so my counselor Rachel drew awesome cartoons to distract everyone while I ate. I remember group groans for woodland wear – the infamous yellow and brown. And I remember my parents coming up at four weeks, and asking if I wanted to stay the last three (yep, I’m old enough that I was in the seven-week generation). Did I want to stay? Who wouldn’t want to stay? And stay I did. For year after happy year thereafter. “