Reunited (And It Feels So Good)

We’ve been counting down the days until we reunited. There is no better feeling than reconnecting and catching up with our camp family.

We started off the weekend with our current 5th through 7th graders bouncing around the room at Bounce Trampoline Sports. Campers and staff came from near and far to jump, flip and master the obstacle course. Some lucky raffle winners walked away with great Trail’s End gear and bunk prizes for the upcoming summer including an A La Mode ice cream party for Reese Rosenblatt’s bunk and the opportunity to run line-up for Michaela Bersh’s bunk.

On Sunday, our current 1st-4th graders joined us at Syosset Lanes for the boys and girls bowling get-togethers. These events are designed help transition our new campers to TEC and get them more comfortable as they prepare for their upcoming summer adventure. The Lower Rangers, Upper Rangers and Pioneers started off the day with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. This was followed by a spirited girls event in the afternoon where our Lower Buddies, Upper Buddies and Middies had so much fun together. The girls ended their day with the TEC “Hey Burrito” cheer. Just like Saturday, these get-togethers ended with amazing raffle prizes, including bunk golf cart rides for Emma Gould and Marco Sukkar, late wake-up for Olivia Wilbert and Nate Damashek’s bunks and milkshake parties for Zoe Spector and all the Lower Buddies and Ben Gleeson and all the Upper Rangers, to name a few.

This incredible weekend has us so excited for Summer 2018. Only 26 Saturdays left until Opening Campfire.

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Green & Fright – Halloween 2017


Pumpkins and costumes and candy tied up with string – these are a few of TEC Campers’ favorite things!

It’s no surprise that our Trail’s End family did not disappoint with their creative, funny, spooky and amazing costumes. We had plenty of practice with our first Halloween at TEC this past July. Each Halloween costume contest submission was better than the next. But there can only be one winner of the raffle…

Congratulations to Avery Sherman and Jeff Donaldson, our camper and staff contest winners!

There’s nothing scary about the Halloween prize packs Avery and Jeff won. Boo!

See all the incredible 2017 costume submissions below.

 

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Left My Heart in Beach Lake

It’s only been 6 weeks since the buses pulled away, but it feels like forever since the sun set on Summer 2017. It was an amazing 7 weeks of friendship, spirit and fun, making it even harder to say goodbye to our summer home. But if you close your eyes and listen closely, you can still hear the sounds of summer that instantly transport you back to Trail’s End. You can hear the crackle of the campfire at the Axelrod site, the opening notes of “Waving Through A Window” and the splash of lake water as you jump off the Aqua Park. If you concentrate hard enough, you can even smell the cookout cookies, feel the wind in your hair as you speed down the zipline, and see the smiling faces of your bunkmates and counselors. 

As your school year kicks off, and the sounds of reveille are replaced by the buzz of your alarm clock, we hope the memories of this incredible two months don’t fade. And when you miss Trail’s End, put on this playlist, turn up the volume and dance like no one’s watching you in the dining room.

As we patiently wait for Summer 2018, we hope you keep the TEC spirit alive throughout the year: Write a snail mail letter to your bunkmate. Schedule a family line up after dinner. Wear a tutu to school. Plan a lip sync battle for your friends. Insist on s’mores for dessert (even if you make them in the microwave).

Only 36 Saturdays until Opening Camp Fire!

Sue and Lou Flego!

The Wild West came alive at Trail’s End Camp last night as Lou and Sue Screen Shot 2016-08-04 at 1.54.22 AMFlego came to town. Every summer TEC hosts Lou Flego square dancing which campers and staff alike look forward to year after year.

Each age group on girls campus gets partnered with the same age group on boys campus, thus creating a “square.” The group leaders carefully work together to form these squares, pairing up campers to form new friendships and to ensure a night of fun, dancing and camaraderie.

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Each square creates a special clothing theme, such as plaid shirts, pajamas, dance attire or girls dressing up as guys and vice versa. The Varsity campers go all out making Lou Flego an excuse for a second Halloween. This summer, some of our varsity squares included a sibling square, which forced siblings to hold hands and dance!

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For two days, campers are taught a sequence of different dance moves, which will hopefully lead them to be the winning square of the evening. Last night, the Pearl Pavilion turned into a western square dancing hall filled with catchy tunes, great vibes and colorful dance moves. A fun time was had by all as this yearly tradition is one of the highlights of the summer. See y’all in the next post!!

 

Sports-A-Thon 2016

 

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As Marc Honigfeld once stated, “ What’s better than kids helping kids?” For the 11th year in a row, Trail’s End campers took their athletic skills to the fields and the courts to make a difference and to give back to the Pediatric Cancer Foundation, as well as Sunrise Day Camp at their annual overnight Sports-A-Thon. During visiting day, the LT’s had a booth where many TEC families made donations to sponsor the members of the Sports –A- Thon.

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Each leadership trainee is a captain to a different colored team comprised of campers in 8th grade and above. The campers’ energy and excitement was reflected in their decked out outfits that were colorful and vibrant from head to toe. The teams are on the go, playing different sports against other teams, including soccer, mini tennis tournaments, euro, egg toss and much, much more. Each team has a schedule, and different events happen every half hour to keep the night going and the energy alive and vibrant.

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The spirit of every camper was truly shown through out his or her involvement in every hour of the sports-a-thon. Each camper played an important role in this special event and they were able to show how vital their participation was in supporting cancer research as well as Sunrise Day Camp.

Our campers live ten months for two and being part of the Sports-a-thon enables them to give back to their communities and children with cancer by enabling these children to also participate in the wonderful experience of summer camp.

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After hours of competition and seeing a smile on all the participants’ faces, it was amazing to experience the sense of accomplishment and teamwork felt throughout the camp.  This event has already raised over 100,000 dollars to date, and we will continue to participate in this rewarding event in the coming years, with the hope to find a cure to childhood cancer.