Where would I be without camp? If I really think about that question, I’d have to say that my life would be so entirely different that I can’t imagine what it would be like. I obviously would not be a camp director if I had never attended Ockanickon as a boy. I wouldn’t know how to do a J-Stroke in a canoe. I would know very few of my dearest friends since I met most of them at camp. I would not have given my mom a jewelry box for Mother’s Day when I was 10 or 11 that I made out of popsicle sticks in Arts and Crafts at Spring Camp. I never would have married my wife and had 2 beautiful daughters since MaryAnn and I met as staff members here at camp. I would not have such a deep respect for the 4 Core Values had I not come to camp. I don’t know that I would be very good at making or keeping friends since I really learned how to do that at camp. I wouldn’t know how to sing “Titanic.” I wouldn’t have such a love and appreciation of nature and being outdoors. I would be much more afraid of heights had I never gone through Challenge Course Training. I would never have stepped foot on the Appalachian Trail if I hadn’t been a Ranger. I would not have woken up my father at 2 O’clock in the morning a few weeks after graduating college and announced that I was going back to camp for “one more summer” (that went over well!). I wouldn’t have friends from other continents. I wouldn’t have gained an appreciation for “helping the other fellow.” I wouldn’t have looked up to the right people or known what it is like to be looked up to. Camp has given me character, values, friends, family, love, and about a million more things that wouldn’t fit into this blog. I would have been a lesser human being had it not been for camp. May camp continue to bless its campers, staff, and family for many years to come. Summer is right around the corner!

Brent Birchler

Boys Camp Director