We’ve just completed our first full week of Summer 2024 at Camp Mah-Kee-Nac, which was extraordinary! Perhaps it’s this (mostly) gorgeous weather or just plain summer excitement, but this week’s energy was palpable.
Our 275 campers rolled in – by plane, train (bus), and automobile, and got right to it – saying hello to old friends and meeting new ones, then getting settled into their bunks. For those who are learning this for the first time, our bunks are divided into three age groups – TJC (Team Junior Camp), LSR (Lower Seniors) and USR (Upper Seniors). If you need an age group and bunk breakdown, check out our cheat sheet. Each age group has its campus, which gives the opportunity to get comfortable with their bunkmates, but also branch out and play with others close in age. This happens the most during “campus time” – our daily hour of free play before dinner that takes place separately on each campus.
We opened the first night of camp with a few traditions – our welcome video played in the field house, and everyone recited the summer oath, when they promised to “have fun on the field, in the lake, and in the bunk,” to “laugh with energy, humor and respect,” and “to make this summer extraordinary.” After that, everyone headed down to our lakefront amphitheater overlooking the, “Stockbridge Bowl,” for our first summer huddle. We have a huddle every week – the campers gather around the campfire and talk about our camp values: respect, friendship, perseverance, shared pride, and leadership. After the huddle, our Senecas – the oldest campers – lit beautiful paper lanterns and sent them into the sky to officially kick-off Summer, 2024. And, of course, the night ended with a dance party!
The next day, the boys hit the ground running with activities. Everyone quickly set their Week 1 schedule in motion. Each week, campers choose one to three activities for their GREEN schedule and another one to three for their WHITE schedule + a daily elective. Green and White schedules last for three days in a row and then rotate. This allows everyone to get a taste of whatever they want to try around camp, then change it up! And of course, there’s always plenty of time to play at the waterfront – particularly on everyone’s favorite slides and inflatables.
Week one also always includes two very important benchmarks – the Founders Cup draft & Green & White sorting. Founder’s Cup is our yearly session one “camp league”, whereby kids are placed onto one of four teams, Lilley, Kruger, Rudolph and Metzger. Campers are on a new team every year, so keep an eye on the pictures and you’ll figure out which team your son is on (then you’ll see his team t-shirt, beat up and dirty, at the end of summer). Throughout the first session, continuous Founder’s Cup events take place until one big winner is declared. Our first Founder’s Cup event was an exciting obstacle course, and it was great to see the campers working together as teams. Metzger took the big win that night.
On the flip side, we also hosted the “Green & White” sorting. G&W is our version of color war, and unlike the Founder’s Cup, once a camper is Green or White, they are that team for life. The sorting is when the new campers pick of a sorting hat to determine their team and are welcomed by all the existing team members, dressed in their matching colors, and cheering like crazy.
Speaking of cheering, we were doing quite a bit of it ourselves as we watched our campers excel athletically. First came this year’s annual Stockbridge Marathon- a 1.7-mile race that weaves through the woods and up and down hills. The boys pumped each other up and cheered each other on, and everyone completed the race. We also started our tournaments – where campers can sign up for any sport that interests them (within their appropriate age group), and either head off campus to play other camps or welcome other camps here. This week we had soccer, baseball, and tennis tournaments. Everyone played hard and showed good sportsmanship!
At the end of the week, our Senecas left for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Costa Rica. We’ll provide plenty of details throughout their journey.
And on a very exciting note – we have our first podcasts produced and posted for the summer. Our media team and enthusiastic campers have been hard at work. Hear behind-the-scenes discussions on hot topics like the Founder’s Cup Draft & first event, E-sports, and “in the dugout” – a baseball podcast. Listen to them here!
That’s it for week one. Don’t forget, you can get daily MKN news every day with MKN Today. Be sure to create an account and read about all about the daily happenings at camp!