Yearly Archives: 2017

Our quiet but oh-so insightful young Teen Program Coordinator, Kelsey Henry, recently shared one of her favorite quotes - from the spiritual teacher Ram Dass. We thought it was worth passing along - and certainly worth contemplating as we move through this complicated world of ours. Thanks, Kelso, for the wisdom and insight, especially from this beautiful place in our corner of the world, where trees are so prevalent: “When you go out into the woods, and you look at trees, you see all these different trees. And some of them are bent, and some of them are straight, and [...]

Dan Rozov was recently selected as the new Assistant Outdoor Center Director at YMCA Camp Ockanickon, Inc. Dan spent several summers at Ockanickon as a camper and eventually led adventure trips and teen leadership programs for the boys summer camp. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Parks and Recreation and a minor in Business Administration from West Virginia University. He spent the last two and a half years working for Australia’s leading outdoor education provider, the Outdoor Education Group, most recently as program coordinator at Camp Maryville. While working at Maryville, he oversaw the development of programs and [...]

by Greg Keresztury, Director of Operations One of the reasons camp is so great is that at camp, #MagicMoments occur. Most of them, of course, are unscripted and happen naturally as campers interact with one-another, and with their counselors.  However, a good camp director is always thinking about what he/she can do to help facilitate or create those moments – in fact, a lot of our staff think this way! This summer, I had the opportunity to eat lunch with various villages at Lake Stockwell Day Camp, and ask the campers what they loved about camp, and for an idea [...]

Here at Lake Stockwell Day Camp, all of our campers are special to us. As the summer camp season came to an end this week, we decided to honor a group that we call “Stockwell Superstars” – campers who attended all 10 weeks of camp (from late June until early September). Each of this year’s 22 “superstar” campers received a Lake Stockwell Day Camp blanket – something that will surely remind them of the warmth and coziness of camp when the weather turns chilly. Congratulations, Stockwell Superstars! We can’t wait to see you again in Summer 2018!

by Susan Miller, Director of Marketing/Communications Joe Bertolino has a prestigious position in the world these days; he’s president of Southern Connecticut State University and prior to that, he was at the helm of Lyndon State College in Vermont. But before he rose to acclaim in academia, Joe started out as a reluctant camp counselor. In fact, it was here at YMCA Camp Ockanickon, Inc. where his leadership skills were honed. Joe – known fondly as “Spiffy Joe” during his tenure at Ockanickon (more about that later!) - came to our camp in a most inauspicious way. Here’s how he [...]

Imagine what it’s like to get out of your comfort zone: no running water, no bathrooms, no access to showers, no TVs, no tablets, no cellphones. That’s just what a group of teens did this summer, as part of our Boots & Boats Ranger trips. The co-ed trips took place three times this summer – the most recent one happened in early August. It involved spending five days backpacking part of the beautiful Appalachian Trail and four days canoeing the Delaware River. The trips are single gender, but both boys and girls participated. (The way it works is, the boys [...]

A camp alum wrote to us (at info@ycamp.org) a few months back, asking if he could buy a water bottle from camp's famous Trading Post. Since he was deployed with the US Navy, we sent him the water bottle (along with a complimentary camp T-shirt) free of charge. We only asked that he send us a photo of him and the camp water bottle. Below is his letter. Just another example of camp's good reputation being spread far and wide! Hey there, camp friends! I received the water bottle you guys sent me a couple weeks ago, but we've been [...]

by Suzette Belz, VP of Development and Major Gifts Last week, I mentioned that my daughter Isabella (Izzie) was attending Matolly for the first time. I remember the anticipation preparing for this experience. I was so excited for her to go to Matolly. It is an experience of a lifetime - and my girl was going to experience it all. Izzie kept going back and forth on whether I should come visit her at lunch time or not. She was afraid that she was going to be homesick if she saw me. The best was when she told me, “Mom, [...]

I was at our last overnight camp checkout, prior to our co-ed week of camp, and I felt moved to share some of my thoughts and observations. I saw crying children. They were crying with the joy for what they had just experienced. They were crying with melancholy at leaving behind new and lifelong friends. They were crying because there is something indescribable in the camp experience that they couldn’t articulate but knew that they would miss. I know this feeling, I felt it many times in my youth and continue to experience it in the faces of children all [...]

…Because I Don’t Want to Leave!   By Greg Keresztury Last Friday, during checkout at Lake Stockwell Day Camp, the Director Lynn Passarella, and I were helping to facilitate the pickup process when we both focused immediately on a younger camper who we saw crying her eyes out as her counselor walked her up to the road to go home. This was quite abnormal, so we both went over to her and asked what was wrong, as did her mother who saw her coming over as well. The camper looked at Lynn and me, took a deep breath, and then [...]