Every summer at “The Heart” is special in its own right, and this summer was no different! Each day brought something new to laugh about and here are just a few of our stand out moments from the summer:
First of all, our very own version of the STEM program! STEM here stood for Scotland-Texas-England-Mexico! For the first time ever 75% of your head staff was made up of international women!
I loved that each of us was able to bring something a little different to the program office this summer.- The first-ever opening ceremonies was held in the Village! During First Term, just as we were gathering in our meeting locations for the ceremonies, the skies opened to an absolutely torrential downpour! Needless to say we were all a wee bit damp for the event, but nevertheless we blasted through the rain and got our new campers into their tribes!
- This summer brought the first-ever competition with Camp Mystic! Our neighboring camp invited us over to have tournaments in both riflery and tennis and we gladly accepted their kind invitation. Our teams gave it their best effort and one of the doubles teams in tennis batted their way to victory!
Our “Goddess of the Guad,” Caetyn Jones, sure did shake up the waterfront this summer, and brought so much fun with it! There were synchronized swimming competitions where we got to see some truly magical interpretive routines between the Pawnees and Shawnees. We also had jumping and diving competitions where campers got to leap as gracefully as possible (some more graceful than others) into that beautiful Guadalupe River! Belly flops counted for extra points and believe me there were a few of those from our fearless campers.- GIVE ME ONE! Our dining hall was alive with the sound of singing, cheers and rhythmic banging on the table this summer. We loved seeing campers and counselor alike having fun everywhere and all the time at camp! It took us a while, but by the end of the Second Term, we eventually mastered the ‘1,2,3, BOY!’ cheer.
- The Heart war canoe boat made an appearance at counselor vespers! A few of our counselors, both former campers and new counselors, couldn’t help themselves from getting into the war canoe spirit of camp! They surprised us by having the Heart war canoe boat show up at counselor vespers, complete with them in full war canoe get up, face paint and headbands included!
- Those pesky pranksters! From canoes in the cabins to caution tape being plastered all over the program office, the pranks were in full flow this summer. During the Second Term, 16-year-old campers brought their own 10-man tent that the got after reading these tent reviews, to camp and spent their last night in it inside the heart just to show how much they would miss their ‘in-tents’ camping days! Probably the most noticeable prank this year was when the Second Term 15-year-olds collapsed all the tables in the dining hall and hid all the benches in the heart and Cypress Hollow. Eating breakfast “Japanese style” and singing “get your knees off the table” sure was something we’ll remember for years to come!
All these favorite moments and tons more wouldn’t have been possible without YOU campers! So thank you for giving us another summer of a lifetime, and we cannot wait to welcome you back home next year! <3
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