Arrival Day!
Monday, July 11, 2011 at 4:32PM by Hilary Ritchie
A.C. Unit Leader
Today the second session of twelve-day Residential camp starts, and anticipation is building as the buses are on their way full of campers. What happens on arrival day may seem like a veiled secret, one of those secrets of HoneyRock that is heavily guarded, much like the recipe for our delicious oatmeal bake. Well, if that’s what you think, I want you to know that the oatmeal bake recipe is easily accessible if you approach the kitchen window with a smile, and that the inner workings of arrival day are much less mysterious than you might think.
Being a Unit Leader, I can only speak to the Res Camp side of arrival day, which involves a lot of bikes, walkie-talkies, meetings, crafts, and cheering. It is a fascinating process. We begin the day with 7:15 breakfast and devotions followed by a short meeting in the staff cabin to tie up any loose ends that we failed to mention the night before at the pre-session planning meeting (which, unlike arrival day, is shrouded in secrecy, and few are able to experience its greatness.) At this point, I believe, the counselors are still working off the grogginess that comes with an off-weekend, which is an odd mixture of a lot of planning and preparation as well as a lot of sleep and rest. But this all changes very quickly as the morning is spent sweeping out cabins, finishing up standards, decorating the cabins, and perhaps putting the finishing touches on Bible studies.
The morning often seems to fly by much too quickly, and as soon as lunch comes, the counselors are “all systems go!” because the campers’ arrival is imminent. After a satisfying meal together, the counselors move to the Staff Cabin. This is one of my favorite times, because the staff cabin is filled with an almost-tangible anticipation and excitement that reverberates around the little room. In the staff cabin counselors await the arrival of the campers who are getting dropped off by their parents. When a camper arrives, the Unit Leader will announce the cabin number to the counselors gathered in the Staff Cabin, so that the counselor can go meet the camper. The announcement of each camper is usually met with raucous cheering as the counselors hurry up to make the hand-off from parent to counselor. Counselors are usually fairly anxious at this point (as I imagine parents are too), but what’s amazing is that as soon as they meet that camper, some deep-seeded counseling instinct kicks in, and all those weeks of training make sense and relating with the camper comes as naturally as the motions for Days of Elijah.
Picture the scene above going on for about two hours or so. It is a beautiful, controlled, chaotic energy. However, all things must come to an end, and when the bell rings the counselors know that they must leave the staff cabin soon because the buses are coming! All the cabins move to the field to welcome the campers that are coming on the bus. They line up in number order, clearly labeled so that even the most bewildered camper can locate his or her cabin. After being welcomed with lots of cheers and hugs, the cabins get to know each other and head up to the tent where they are introduced to the summer theme. While there, Buck Wheat Billy and his gang (who look suspiciously similar to Dan Elsen and the Unit Leaders) tell the campers that in order to save the HoneyRock Ranch, they must complete the swim test!
The campers get into their swimming gear and head to the water to take their cabin photo and take the swim test – girls first, and boys after a boisterous game on the playing field. The swim test really deserves a whole blog post in itself, due to the many intricacies required in order to make it a success. After every cabin has finished the swim test and taken its picture, we head to dinner. Following dinner the activity staff has a program on the waterfront where the each activity is introduced. This is an exciting event for the campers, many of whom are anxious to get to activities and earn awards. The activity staff plays an essential role in ensuring that the campers have a fun and challenging experience at their activity, and let me tell you, activity staff is particularly stellar this summer.
Are you exhausted yet? Well, the campers aren’t! They’re just getting started. After the activity intro, all the cabins head up to the tent where they perform a short skit to introduce their cabin to the rest of camp. As a counselor, I was often concerned about making sure that our skit was at least somewhat entertaining and that my girls were having fun, yet now being able to see it at a distance, I realize there is a deeper meaning to why we do it. At HoneyRock we implement what is called a 24-hour curriculum, which means that everything we do has a purpose. The cabin introduction skits are no different. I’ve realized it’s not about how funny the skit is, but about getting campers excited just to be in their cabin. It is so exciting to see seventh grade boys shouting their names with confidence and getting together to cheer their cabin name. Cabin unity is being forged even through these little skits.
After each cabin has introduced themselves the Unit Leaders perform an amazingly moving Solid Rock skit to get the campers excited to wake up and run and swim every morning as well as do service and memorize John 15. After this we sing some songs together and Dan Elsen shares the Gospel with the campers, which is always accompanied with a powerful story of how Jesus has moved and worked in his life. Then the campers head to their cabins to go to bed and get ready for another big day of camp!
Reader Comments (4)
Thank you, Hillary, for such an incredible explanation of the plans and purposes behind everything you do.
I know you all go by faith in being so totally prepared and creating such a meaningful time for the children,
even if they do not appreciate it at the time. We are so thankful our daughter, Suzanne, could work there
last summer and our son, Jeff, can attend again this summer. We so appreciate all you do and pray God
will honor all of your hard work. Thank you for giving all you have and all you are for the glory of God.
This is my first year in 5 years NOT going to camp! Honey Rock has become a part of my heart and a part of my household as I am the 3rd stevens kid to go to camp. I am so grateful for this post, it makes me feel as if i'm really there with the campers. This post brought back SOOOO many memories, one in particular would be last year's cabin skit we were the nalgene's lead by Kim Vohs and Shmo Milikan, and by the end of our two weeks together, we were insepratable. Something like this would ONLY happen at camp, it's almost like a dream come true for me : ) I am so thankful for all the camp staff and counslers and unit leaders and even kitchen staff for making my last year at camp unforgettable, and for all the first year parents out there, your kids will LOVE it! : )
My husband and I are seasoned camp alumni. My husband, his brother and father all attended HoneyRock in their youth while I attended Skipstone, a Christian based camp in Georgia. However, even as a first year parent, I believe I was just as nervous as my daughter!
When we arrived, we were greeted by a young guy counselor who was very welcoming. He quickly marked our daughter off the list. You could hear the genuine excitement in his voice as he told her how much she was going to enjoy the next two weeks at HoneyRock. I could see the relief in her eyes. This also brought comfort to me too. (I guess we first time parents even have a little first time camper in us too!)
Before we knew it, we were whisked away to a field of colorful campers and counselors. Some were dancing around, while others nervously chatted amongst themselves. One thing I quickly noticed was that there wasn't a single tear; it was all smiles. It must of been infectious, because I stole a glance in my daughter's direction and her grin was from ear to ear.
After we dropped her off the same camp rep. escorted us via bike down to her cabin so that we could view her cabin and drop off her luggage. My husband was ecstatic when he realized her cabin was number ten; the same number of his first-year cabin! (As a mom, I was more ecstatic to see the chore chart inside!) I think this was the last tiny piece of comfort that he and I both needed. We piled her belongings on the front porch and took a moment to ooo and ahhh over the gorgeous lakefront view and then headed back out feeling at peace with our daughter's first experience at camp.
Hilary, thank you so much for your time in writing his blog. It was so nice to pull up the HoneyRock site today and read about our daughter's first day after we left. We were even lucky enough to even see her in one of your pictures! We are excited to have a third generation attend your camp and blessed that God has provided the opportunity.
I loved the first blog! Thank you! It was very detailed and informative. I am very disappointed that there has not been an update since the first day though. I would love to hear about what has been going on this week. This is our first time at the camp and we want to hear about the activities since we can't talk to our children. Thanks!