Lake Stockwell Blog

The bonds that form at camp – such a beautiful thing

By |2019-08-08T11:42:45-04:00August 8th, 2019|

by Rick Worrell, Lake Stockwell Day Camp One of the things that make my day fun is seeing the bonds that the campers form with our staff. The smiles that we get when we greet them each morning. The high fives as we pass along the trails. The moments when we are just sitting and talking about our day, or about our camp experiences. We get to experience these moments every day, week to week, and summer after summer. I also enjoy seeing the friendships that the campers make with each other. Children from all walks of life come together [...]

Our campers are gaga over gaga!

By |2019-07-30T14:22:31-04:00July 30th, 2019|

  by Jess Dicken, Lake Stockwell Day Camp In honor of Disney week, I have written a blog about something that makes our camp a magical place for a lot of campers- and that’s the game of gaga.   One camper described gaga as a game of “intense skill, determination and strategy." To play gaga, you need a foam ball (it’s better to have a ball you would use in the game of dodgeball - to prevent injury) and a gaga pit. Around camp, we have various designated areas for our campers to play their game. For many campers, gaga [...]

When it’s hot, hot, hot …. we make sure our campers stay cool, cool, cool!

By |2019-07-22T16:07:58-04:00July 23rd, 2019|

By Jess Dicken, Lake Stockwell Day Camp It’s no secret that the past couple weeks have been hot and humid. Because of the heat, we have adjusted some of our camp activities to ensure that our campers are staying cool, and having the best experience at Stockwell! "Land sports" is typically an activity involving games such as various forms of dodgeball, tag, and other events that require running and cardio exercise. To make sure that our campers are enjoying their day-to-day activities, we've made sure that the sprinklers are turned on so campers can cool down while having fun. Other [...]

Watching campers grow from session to session, from year to year

By |2019-07-12T09:25:34-04:00July 19th, 2019|

by Rick Worrell, Lake Stockwell Day Camp As a teacher, I refer to students as “my kids” because I care about them, and their growth over the year. The same holds true for camp. These are my kids, too. Recently, I was sitting with a camper who came to Lake Stockwell for the first time last year. He is a young man who struggled with many things that most of us take for granted. He struggled with reading, caring for himself, and socializing. I’ve spent some time with him over the past couple of weeks. He asked me what was [...]

Our feathers symbolize our core values

By |2019-07-11T16:53:23-04:00July 18th, 2019|

By Emily, Lake Stockwell Day Camp Every week at camp, the red feather and white feather are awarded to one camper in each tribe. Our feathers symbolize the six core values of YMCA of the Pines, participation at camp, encouragement to peers, and a positive attitude all day long. The white feather is peer-to-peer.   Campers in each tribe have the opportunity to vote for the fellow camper they think has demonstrated white feather characteristics. The red feather is awarded on Fridays at our ceremony ground spot on camp. The red feather is awarded to campers in each tribe and [...]

Meet our CIT class of 2019 at Stockwell!

By |2019-07-12T10:29:11-04:00July 17th, 2019|

by Lynn Passarella, Director of Lake Stockwell Day Camp Our CITs (also known as Counselors in Training) are our future leaders of camp. They spend five weeks with us in a challenging program that teaches them how to work with children of all ages. Our CITs will learn the ins and outs of what it means to be camp counselors. They will learn how to facilitate groups of all sizes and learn how to work together as a team. Our CITs will shadow our different age groups here at camp and learn about the different grade-level characteristics that make our [...]

Being at camp is a “life-changing” experience

By |2019-07-12T09:27:46-04:00July 15th, 2019|

by Jose Colon-Cruz, Program Director at Lake Stockwell “What do you love most about Lake Stockwell?” Last week, our staff took the time to answer this question. Most people had a tough time answering it because there is a lot to love about Lake Stockwell. Some of our newer staff said they love the people they work with, the campers, and how welcoming the camp is. Our returners had a more difficult time answering as they reflected on years of being at camp. Gina, a 3rd year staff member said, “The sense of community here. Between staff and the campers, [...]

Our core values provide the framework at camp

By |2019-07-10T15:49:12-04:00July 12th, 2019|

By Rick Worrell, Lake Stockwell Day Camp In the mid 1990’s, our YMCA and its three camps (Lake Stockwell, Ockanickon and Matollionequay) rolled out the core values of Caring, Honesty, Respect, Responsibility. As we and society have changed over the past years, so have the values that we identify here at camp. Today we also attend to Inclusion and Courage. These six values help us keep our programs focused on helping campers to be the best people they can be. These words are part of our language and culture here at camp. By encouraging campers to attend to these values, [...]

Summer camp – it’s not just for little kids. (Teens love it, too!)

By |2019-07-10T12:30:59-04:00July 10th, 2019|

by Lynn Passarella, Director of Lake Stockwell Day Camp Not everyone knows this, but camp is great place for teens, too! Our Explorers program has been a real hit this summer! This week, we have over 90 of our older campers - ages 12 to 15 - participating in this program. It's one of our biggest enrollment weeks in the history of Lake Stockwell - and we're so glad to see the program growing! Our Explorers program is designed to meet the needs of teens. Their schedule is based on choice as they, by this age, have likely already decided [...]

Even archery is theme-specific at Lake Stockwell!

By |2019-07-09T14:26:53-04:00July 9th, 2019|

by Jessica Dicken, Lake Stockwell Day Camp Our archery director, Kira, has been working extremely hard this week to make sure that our campers are having the best experience possible during Session 3! One of the ways that she has been doing this is by creating a Pokémon atmosphere at her archery range. Our campers have been having a ball trying to hit the Pokéball target, while continuing to build on their archery skills. Decorating her archery range to coordinate with our theme is just one of the ways Kira goes above and beyond to make sure that our campers [...]

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