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Session 2 has always been my favorite here at camp. As a camper it was the session I normally attended. To me, session 2 always means one thing: Olympics! The Ocky Olympics forged a special day in my heart my first summer on camp in 2004 as an Algonquin camper. That summer I was one member of the two member German Bocci team. We went on to take the gold that day. My partner was none other than Donny Palmer, one of the current Ranger Directors. It's a memory that Donny and I talk about to this day. That day [...]

One of my favorite camp traditions is on the first night of summer camp when Matolly girls sing a song that starts, “Are you ready for the summer? Are you ready for the good times?”  We've been getting ready for summer with two weeks of staff training (and months of prepping before that!) and now we’re FINALLY ready to have some fun with our campers. We’re already halfway through our first session here at overnight camp and we've squeezed a lot into three days. Our Matolly photographer, Diana, has been zipping around camp capturing all of the fun program campers [...]

Each summer some of our oldest camper's embark on the adventure programs here at Camp known as Rangers. Our traditional Boots and Boats campers navigate the Delaware River and hikes the Appalachian Trail while our newest addition, Rocks & Rafts, will spend a week in Stover State Park whitewater rafting, climbing, and rappelling. Over the last few weeks the instructors for these programs have participated in a variety of training events. Some spent time with our challenge course staff working on their rope skills while others worked with longtime canoe instructor Art Kleinspehn to perfect their strokes on the water. [...]

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 [...]

The snow from the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics has long been melted and Rio 2016 is still two years away, but here at Camp Ockanickon and Matollionequay, we are getting ready for our own Summer Olympics. The Saturday of two-week sessions at overnight camp is Special Events Day. On these days, regular programming is put on hold and replaced with a co-ed inter-camp contests that last the entire day. Both camps come together for a day of friendly competition, teamwork, and sportsmanship. The day concludes with a closing ceremony when the winning team is announced and an all camp barbeque [...]

Hello all... This past Friday night, Camp held it's first Bingo Night event... Coach Bingo to be exact. Yes, Coach as in the brand of handbags, clutches and such. A total of 10 Coach items were up for grabs in each of the 10 rounds of Bingo. Approximately 230 people packed into the Ockanickon Dining Hall on Friday for an evening full of games, fellowship and fun! Tables full of food, friends and Bingo cards spread as far as the eye could see. The Camp staff was busy handing out cards, calling the games, running a 50-50 raffle, monitoring a [...]

I am currently working on a feature article about camping that I plan to submit to a couple different camping magazines. The article is about my experience in camping, working with counselors and campers, and my experiences performing improv comedy in college. ​Writing it has afforded me the opportunity to nerd-out and read articles by my favorite comedians. Comedians like Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Will Ferrell, and Conan O’Brien all have some truly insightful and funny things to say. Whether or not the article gets published is yet to be seen (fingers crossed) but reading words of wisdom from my [...]