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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As I am writing this, so many crazy camp memories are on my mind. One of my favorites is when we would spend Free Play practicing for the Talent Show – we would pick out matching outfits to wear and our counselors even dressed up with us. Practicing for Sing is another one of my favorite memories, especially when I was a Trinity and we won Sing for the first time! Square Dancing with Lou and Sue Flego has always been one of the best nights of camp – dressing up in all different costumes with my square was fun and exciting. I remember going on my first roller coaster in Hershey Park when I was in the Middies, and hiking and going on the Delaware River when I was a Deb.
While many of my friends ended their TEC days after our LT summer, I never wanted to leave Beach Lake and was determined to give back to future campers all those great things that Trail’s End had taught me. In 2009, I was hired as a counselor for the Upper Buddies. It is hard to believe that the campers from my very first summer will now be Second Years in Varsity! After 3 summers working with the Upper and Lower Buddies, I took on the role of Tour Director. Showing people from the outside world the amazing place that so many of us call home for two months of the year is something that I take great pride in and I love to do. After a summer as Tour Director, I was offered the opportunity to be a Group Leader for the Upper Buddies. As an young educator, I have learned so much from this position and I absolutely love being the person that helps get our new campers started on their TEC journey. It is so gratifying supporting them as they become part of our camp family. I will forever remember the feeling I had when Marc awarded me a Community Service Award during Friday night services. As I received the award and then looked up, all of my campers from the past couple of summers came running down the hill to congratulate me. Everyone at Trail’s End is truly my family.
As I enter my 8th summer as a staff member, this summer once again brings about a new and exciting change for me as I will be Assistant Girls’ Head Counselor as well as Group Leader for the Buddies. I am overly excited to be working even more closely with Steph Fineman, the Girls’ Head Counselor, and Lindsay Bernstein, as my assistant Group Leader. I can’t wait to be in this new role, and to continue working with the campers on girls’ campus. My love for TEC grows each year, and I look forward to spending the summer of 2015 with all of you!
TENNIS COURT RENOVATIONS – Our tennis court facility will be getting a full facelift. We will have 7 brand new tennis courts and 3 Quickstart training courts for our youngest campers. We are excited to see the courts in action come June!
campers bringing less “stuff” to camp and will create more room in the bunks!
It seems hard to believe that camp ended a month ago. Unfortunately, early morning
school buses have replaced reveille and line up. What we would do for a day at 18405 right now! Instead we spend our time remembering the sounds of boys’ & girls’ campus, the smell of camp cookies coming from the kitchen and the feelings of excitement that we experienced during our 51 days together. As we sit and reflect on the past summer, we can’t help but smile at all the great times we had as a camp family.
tions. How ridiculous was it when your counselors got hypnotized or how gross (and funny at the same time) it was to be covered in chocolate syrup with whipped cream on your head for an entire afternoon of Messy Tuesday. Have you taught your younger sibling and parents some Nancy Tucker songs like the one about One Meatball and No Spaghetti, Jellyfish or the hysterical Shower Cap Song?
