We’ve just completed week two of Summer 2024, and the magic of Camp Mah-Kee-Nac continues!
The second week concluded our Session 1 Mini Mak program. “Mini Mak” is a two-week exploration session for younger kids who’ve never tried overnight camp. We know overnight camp is a big step (especially for parents), and Mini Mak is a great way to offer a taste of this magical experience without leaving home for too long. We had more Mini-Mak’ers than ever this year, and the campers loved it. Mini Mak is also a great way for our other campers to switch to a “mentoring” role, where they take Mini’s under their wing and show them the ropes.
Our Stockbridge Series continued with our second event called “Watermelon”. Stockbridge Series – unlike Founder’s Cup and tournaments and basically everything else we do, is an “every camper for themselves” competition. The four-event tournament takes place over the course of session one, and we declare a big winner at the end. The first event was marathon, and this one – Watermelon – is a serious game of dodge-ball-meets-hide-and-seek-meets-wall-ball. Got it? Worry not, you’ll see the Stockbridge Series standings on visiting day.
We also held our second event for Founder’s Cup, and team Metzger has taken an early lead. To help identify your son during Founder’s Cup keep an eye on their shirt colors – Metzger is green, Lilley is blue, Rudolph is white, and Kruger is Pink.
Our inter-camp sports tournaments continued as well, with more participation than ever! We had soccer, tennis, lacrosse, baseball, basketball, and more! Many kids participate in multiple sports (because why not) and even multiple age groups if they were feeling confident and wanted to try keeping up with the kids one year older. Our teams are doing well, and we’re proud of their effort and excellent sportsmanship!
We also had our first Trip Day, which was – no surprise – a whopping success. Our juniors (TJC) went to Zoom Flume – a huge waterpark with slides, a wild river, a lazy river, a riptide wave pool and more. The seniors (USR & LSR) went to Six Flags where they did all the rides. Word on the street is that the Superman coaster was the highlight of the day!
And speaking of trips, our eldest campers – the Senecas – spent the week in Costa Rica on a once-in-a-lifetime journey. They surfed, hiked, sailed on a catamaran, ziplined through the rainforest, explored markets, and volunteered at a local day camp where they got to be the counselors. We welcomed them back – a bit tanner with a bit more life experience – on Saturday night.
Of course, the most exciting event of this week was Fourth of July, a day our campers look forward to all year long. The holiday always begins with our annual Tough Mudder – a grueling, 3.5-mile obstacle course comprised of 45 stations. The challenges include a wall climb, a tire drag, an army crawl, sprints, slack lines over the pool, and more. And the big finale entails every kid “slip-and-sliding” to the finish line. After they completed the Mudder, they all rinsed off and played in the lake before heading to our yearly carnival full of games and fun food. And, of course, the evening ended with beautiful fireworks over the lake. It was an unforgettable Independence Day!
This week’s Friday Night Huddle was all about friendship, and Jamie gave some call outs to campers who’ve displayed an exceptional dedication to being good friends and community members. We also had another brother-sister lunch with our sister camp, Camp Danbee, as well as a few socials for the older campers. Romance – in the form of kids standing around in groups, gathering the courage to talk to each other – was definitely in the air.
We ended our week on a super high note with our annual lake swim, which benefits an amazing cause – SCOPE. This organization provides children from financially disadvantaged families access to nonprofit, ACA-accredited, overnight camps. On Sunday morning, a group of 37 campers & staff woke up early, dove into the brisk lake, and took a challenging, 3/4-mile swim. We’re so proud of their efforts and their heart.
And we’re even prouder of our amazing MKN community because as of Sunday night, we beat our fundraising goal of $8,000!!! Thank you to all who donated thus far, and you can still donate to SCOPE through MKN’s exclusive page. Looks like the generous MKN community needs an even higher fundraising goal next time!
That’s it for week two. Don’t forget, you can get updated news every day on MKN Today and read about all about the daily happenings at camp!