The "Secret Sauce" of the WLC Experience

If I asked my boys what they love about Camp, they would mention many things: the food, making new friends, overnight hikes and canoe trips, the food, Olympic Day, Goldrush, the food, riflery, archery, and the FOOD! However, most certainly, the first answer they would give is the counselors and staff.  These relationships are what keep the boys coming back and what makes each year’s camp experience so very special, memorable, and unique.  What is it like to be a Leader in Training (LIT) or staff member at William Lawrence Camp?  We asked some two seasoned counselors to let us in on what it’s like to be the “secret sauce” of the WLC experience.

 

One is eligible to become an LIT as long as he is in 10th grade or, if International, is age 17.  The LIT Internship is often a natural progression for campers who have come up through the ranks and have completed their Senior camper years. Adam Muhith, who was a camper for five years before becoming an LIT and remains a valued staff member to this day, says the choice to become a counselor was easy. “My last year as a camper I knew that I wanted to keep coming back, and that I wanted both to see what it was like as a counselor and to ensure that future generations of campers had just as good an experience as I did.” LITs and staff hail from not only the U.S., but also all over the world. Says Kyle Schophaus about his decision to become a WLC counselor, “I have worked in the camping industry in South Africa and always wanted to know what it would be like to work at a proper summer camp.” 

In addition to receiving a world of experience in managing and molding the lives of younger campers, there are many practical benefits to the Internship, including trip leader, belay and American Red Cross lifeguard certifications, and even writing opportunities in the form of drafting your college essay and publishing a blog post on the WLC website. LITs gain all of this training while continuing to enjoy the traditions of camp and sharing them and making memories with experienced and new campers alike. To this point, Schophaus adds, “You are free to be your own person and you are encouraged to be that person all the time.” In fact, Muhith explains, some of the greatest lessons are less tangible. “Being an LIT taught me that it’s okay to say that I don’t know how to do something and how to ask for help on a project. Knowing when to stop and acknowledge that you don’t know, or when to ask for help, or when to bring in a second set of eyes for a project is a simple skill that really goes a long way. It was something that I had to do almost daily as an LIT. The entire program is a learning experience like no other, and its value can’t be overstated.”

Being a WLC staff member not only trains young men to be leaders in the camp environment, but it teaches them skills that can be applied much later on and throughout their lives. Says Muhith, “Most of all though, working at WLC has helped me further my love for the outdoors – in the off-season, I work as both a camping trip guide and at a climbing wall. I never would’ve learned the necessary skills to do these, the two things I love best, had it not been for the bounty of knowledge passed on to me from so many different leaders and co-counselors.”  Schophaus adds, “It has helped me to be more confident and think way more out of the box then I normally do.”

Weathering the COVID-19 Storm

We wondered what our campers have been doing during the pandemic, so we asked a few of them for an update.  Included below are comments from four campers:  Nick Rimalovski; Brady Johnson; Gabe and Russell Aitken.

Nicolas “Nick” Rimalovski will be 16 in May, and he is a sophomore at Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in New York City.  His school is in Queens, but he is a life-long resident of Brooklyn.  His first year at WLC was 2017, and he will be back for his 4^th year in the summer of 2021.  He recently completed his LIT essay.

Nick has been attending classes remotely since March of 2020, and he is okay with online learning.  He is pleased to report that the New York Regents Exams will be canceled in January due to COVID, and the decision on the spring and summer exams is TBD.  He played on a travel baseball team last fall, and he plans to play baseball this spring.  He has been bicycling all over New York City with friends.  Family activities include a two-week vacation on the Maine coast last summer. 

Nick’s favorite activities at WLC are the hiking and canoe trips.  He also likes baseball and tennis.  The things that he missed when Camp was closed are daily ping pong, the apples at Free Swim, spending time away from home with people his own age, and the view from the Knoll.  He is excited about returning to Camp in 2021.  His brother Xandy will be returning, too!

 

Brady Johnson is 12, and he is a 7^th grader at the Hingham Middle School in Hingham, MA.  His first year at WLC was 2019, and he will be back for his second year in the summer of 2021.  Brady has been attending classes on a hybrid basis.  On Monday and Tuesday, he is in the actual classroom, and Wednesday through Friday he participates via Zoom.  He does almost all of his homework assignments using Google Classroom.  Last fall, Brady played football on a “7 on 7” basis with no contact, and he is playing hockey this winter.  Despite COVID, he has made a lot of new friends on his sports teams.

Brady reports that family activities have been limited due to the pandemic, but they like to watch family movies and play Mexican Train Dominoes together.  He and his dad have been hooked on multiple seasons of particular shows such as The Mandalorian.  Brady also plays video games with his friends.  One of his favorite games is Oculus Quest, a virtual reality product.  The new member of the Johnson family is an Australian Labradoodle named Murphy, and she takes family members on walks frequently.

Brady has several favorite activities at WLC, including riflery, archery, and woodworking.  He is very enthusiastic about tubing, even though Meg the snapping turtle is a bit of a hazard!  When Camp was closed last summer, Brady missed being outside and learning new things about nature.  He appreciates the fact that Camp gets people away from technology and their phones.  Brady also missed his buddies on the Knoll.  He is looking forward to the summer of 2021, and he thinks that his brother will be attending WLC, too!

 

The Aitken brothers provided an update on their activities during the pandemic.  Gabe recently turned 12, and he is in the 6^th grade; Russell is 9, and he is in the 4^th grade.  They live in Mountain Lakes, NJ.  The first year at WLC for both of them was 2019. 

Gabe’s school schedule is a hybrid arrangement.  During the mornings, he is either in the actual classroom or he is on Zoom, depending on the day and week.  In the afternoons, he is on Zoom.  He plays baseball and lacrosse, and he likes to snowboard, especially at the Mountain Creek Resort in NJ.  His hobbies include bicycling, video games, trampolining, and listening to music.  He has an app on his phone on which he can record music.  His favorite activities at WLC are fishing, sailing, riflery, ping pong, carnival night, and BROG.  

Russell is in school in-person every day until 12:45 PM, and he uses Google Meet to participate remotely in the afternoons.  He enjoys basketball, golf, and baseball, and he likes to ski at Mountain Creek.  Other hobbies include bicycling, skateboarding, and video games.  Family pets include a dog, a cat, 6 fish, and 3 snails.  At WLC, Russell likes riflery, archery, kayaking, canoeing, carnival night, and BROG.  

Aitken family vacations last year included trips to North Carolina and Vermont.  When asked what they missed most about Camp last summer, Gabe said that he missed the food, and Russell said that he missed the people!  Both boys are looking forward to attending Camp in the summer of 2021!

 

We sincerely hope that you and your families have succeeded in weathering the COVID-19 storm, and we wish you good health, good cheer, and good luck in 2021!

The Gift That Keeps On Giving

As the 2020 Holiday Season approaches, consider giving an experiential gift to your children this year. The pandemic has turned our whole world upside down and brought challenges too numerous to count. Every day is spent in a virtual world on Zoom, digital work, digital school, even digital birthday parties. Although we have become amazingly efficient and comfortable in our digital universe, we have also learned to appreciate our natural surroundings even more. Our outdoor environment has given us the ability to practice social distancing while spending time with friends and family. The constant stress of being plugged-in seems to evaporate in the serenity of a babbling brook or a mountaintop view.

So when it comes to presents beneath the tree this holiday, think about a William Lawrence Camp summer for the young men in your family. Just like adults, our children will need a "break" from their virtual world. A few weeks without computers, mobile phones, and video screens combined with spectacular Lake Winnipesaukee sunsets and starlit night skies will do unmeasurable good. Scrambling up mountain ledges with their best buddy, paddling through wind-driven swells on Squam Lake, or building a campfire for the first time at Perch Point on Lower Beech Pond will provide a lifetime of memories. Your children will return home refreshed, more confident, and independent. A William Lawrence Camp summer may be the most significant and timely gift a parent could give a son in 2020. Remind your camper to light their William Lawrence candle this holiday; his wish of another summer on the "Knoll" may just come true.

Written by a Former WLC Parent and Board Member

A Lesson in Charitable Giving

Hello Campers and Parents!  All of you can help us reach the FLWS campaign goal of $250,000.  Note that two of our campers are learning about charitable giving with the help of their parents.  Alejandro and Erik Rojas Pratt contribute a portion of their allowances to worthy organizations.  They are aware of FLWS, and each of them is donating to the campaign.  Their parents, Maija and Pepe, are matching each boy’s contribution, and then Maija, who works at State Street, will request a corporate matching gift for the entire amount.  What a great idea!

The Rojas Pratt Family lives in Cambridge, MA, and they learned about William Lawrence Camp from alumnus Chris Summersgill and his son Clemens.  They have assisted Chris in recruiting campers to WLC over the past few years.  Alejandro (known as Ale) is in the 8^th grade.  He is 13 years old and will be a first year Senior in Summer 2021.  Erik is in the 5^th grade.  He is 11 years old and will be in his last year as a Junior in Summer 2021.  Both boys attend a bilingual school in Cambridge, and they are currently taking classes remotely, due to COVID-19.  They both enjoy sports, especially soccer, baseball, basketball, and football.  Erik plays the piano, and Ale plays the trumpet and likes to create music on his computer.  In their spare time, they like to play video games, and Erik says he’s done a lot of reading when he has been quarantined.

When asked about Camp experiences, Ale said he misses his campmates, and he wonders about his Bill Larry Boy status.  Good news for Ale:  Since he was enrolled for last summer (which would have been his fifth year), he will be a Bill Larry Boy when he returns to the Knoll next summer!  Erik said he really likes Wilderness Skills, and he misses the conversations in the cabin at night after Taps.  Both boys said that they enjoy singing the national anthems in the Dining Hall.  They have roots in Mexico, England, and the USA, so they sing all three anthems, but they don’t have a favorite!

Thank you to the Rojas Pratt Family for their donation to WLC and for demonstrating how to teach philanthropy at home.  And thank you for securing a corporate matching gift!

P.S. to the recent college grads out there:  If an 8^th grader and a 5^th grader can donate to the FLWS campaign, you can, too!  Remember that participation is important.  Every dollar counts!

Written by Board of Trustee Member and Alumni Camper Parent, Lucy Hancock

Overnight Summer Camp is a Win-Win Situation for Families

As parents, we all want what is best for our children. From the day they are born, we spend countless hours considering the right foods, activities, schools, books, and even friends to help them grow into confident, compassionate adults. We want to keep them close and protect them, but sometimes what is best for our children is to let them go.

Let them go to a place of new adventures, new responsibilities, new friends from all over the world and a new-found opportunity to take risks and get to know themselves better. Where could such a place exist, you ask? Why summer camp, of course.

Summer camp is more than just campfires and s’mores. Summer camps strive to provide their campers with a community where they are encouraged to step out of their comfort zones and take healthy risks. For some boys, that risk might be making new friends. In the Boston Globe Magazine (2/22/2019) article entitled “At Summer Camp, Friendships Blossom Without Technology”, author Meaghan O’Neill says, “Camp is a controlled but fun environment purpose-built for making friends.” Given the communal nature of overnight camp, boys learn quickly how to live with each other, cope with different personalities, and discover what qualities they value in a friend. They hone their interpersonal skills without even realizing what an “interpersonal skill” is. O’Neill continues, “Friends from school or the neighborhood are known quantities. At summer camp, whether day or overnight, kids are freer to bond without parental intervention. And that’s good for their development.”

For other perhaps more seasoned campers, that risk might be challenging themselves to master a new skill or experiment with activities they have never tried before. William Lawrence’s Honor Society program challenges campers to master and complete 18 skills ranging from building and successfully lighting a fire in front of the whole camp (nerve-wracking) to spending a night alone in the woods after felling a tree, building a fire, and setting up camp for the night (even more nerve-wracking).

Have you ever played Australian rugby, shot an arrow through the bull’s eye, sailed a boat on your own across a pristine lake, used woodworking power tools, reached the top of the climbing tower or learned to slalom waterski? These are just a few of the activities to explore, be challenged by and eventually feel a sense of accomplishment whether the skills were mastered or not. Sometimes just trying something new gives a boost of confidence and willingness to try again.

At summer’s end, campers return home transformed into more independent, compassionate, confident and helpful young men (they have to clean their cabins and sort their own laundry!) ready to put their newly-discovered abilities to work for the rest of the year.

A strong, independent, confident, compassionate child. Now that is a win-win situation for any family.

Written by Board of Trustee Member and Camp parent, Seana Crellin

For Lawrence We Stand Donor List

Thank you to all our donors! Every dollar helps us reach our goal

Updated September 13, 2021

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In The Words of 2019 LIT, Griffin Wilson: Moving Through the Years

In my years here at William Lawrence Camp, I have had the joy of experiencing just about everything. When I first arrived as a Junior, I knew a little about camp because of my brother but I was amazed at how close the community was. I was nervous at first but I met somebody just like me. After the first day, I was too excited to go to bed. I tried tons of different activities and all the counselors were fun and encouraging.

Grif Wilson enjoying a period of tennis!

I spent two year as a Junior and then moved on up to a Middler. It was almost as if the new, exciting things were just refreshed. There were new cool counselors, cabins and trips. I went on the Squam Lake trip and there was a massive thunderstorm. Me, Ethan and Charlie were all stuck in a tent with rain pouring all around us. Suprisingly, it was one of the best times I had on a trip. We stayed up until about 1am just talking and fooling around.

As I became a Senior, I was close with the kids all the way back from Junior year. The counselors were more relaxed and you were independent. We had a dance with the girls of Fleur De Lis. I went on the Androscoggin River trip and ended up tipping the canoe but it was still very fun. Being a Senior also allowed me to try out skeet. Overall, my experience was a great one.