Well, there goes Second Session. Where it went, who knows. How it went? Perfect.
We ended Second Session with another amazing banquet in every way. The decorations were exquisite and other worldly as we stepping into the world of How To Train Your Dragon. In the land of Berk, dragons and vikings co-exists and live together as dragons and dragon riders, and at Crystal Lake Camps we had some extraordinary dragons and some energetic riders alongside them.
Our Arts & Crafts Director, Margie, worked all session with the campers to create a larger than life dragon completed by each camper decorating scales that went into the body of the dragon. Some of the campers even painted the wings and created fire out of a selection of materials to come out of the dragon’s mouth. The banquet committee was able to hang the dragon from the rafters of Alford Hall, so it seemed as though the dragon was flying above us all night as we ate dinner.
Masks, scales, viking helmets, capes, and a whole lot more were worn to enjoy our viking stew and bread beautifully prepared by Michelle and our kitchen staff! Once dinner and dessert were complete, and the slideshow had been presented, we took to the Game Field to play some viking and dragon based games. One looked suspiciously like some sort of tag, while the other was a blindfolded game to keep away from the dragons (much like the infamous shaker game if any of you know that wonderful activity).
At the end of the night, we all came back into Alford Hall (or should I say Berk?) to finish out the night with some thank you’s and hand out the little pins the Alumni Association provided for campers and staff. You know, once you’ve come to camp just one summer, you’re now an alumni of CLC. So to commemorate the number of years you’ve gone, campers and staff now each summer receive a small pin with the number of years they’ve come to camp.
We had campers and staff receiving pins for their first year, along with the commemorative lanyard to hold all your future pins, and we also had a staff member reach his fifteenth year pin!
It was a wonderful session packed full of fun activities, overcoming challenges and stepping outside our comfort zone, achieving new goals and setting future ones, and always growing in Christian Science and our relationship with God. Nathan and Becca asked at the end of the session a couple questions – who had fun this session? Who made a friend this session? Who learned something new about a culture other than their own? Who was able to feel closer to God in their daily activities? Who gained a better understanding of Christian Science?
Though these questions are important to each session, because they are the key goals for each activity we facilitate, these questions are also important to question constantly in our daily lives. One of the greatest lessons I remember learning when I started coming to camp as a young camper was that this concept of using Christian Science in our daily life isn’t something I can only learn at camp and utilize whenever I’m at CLC. Instead, it’s a tool and lifestyle that can help me to promote Christian Science and my relationship with God in my daily life in school, work, and all throughout the year.
By asking these questions at the end of the session, there’s always a huge chunk of campers who reflect on their time at camp and realize that they’ve been able to answer ‘yes, I did’ to each of those questions. Truly a great experience for all to see the growth they’ve made!
We’re now in the process of prepping for Third Session! We’re so excited to round out the summer with our final session before Family Camp with a wonderful group of campers from all across the globe! Thank you to everyone who has made this summer so special already!
– Zoë
Social Media Director/Camp Photographer
zoe@crystallakecamps.org
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