“The cabin trips are what Sam is all about, pushing yourself and getting to know people really well all at the same time” – SAM Camper, Okemo Cabin
The three-day cabin trips made it back with obvious success. Campers came back soaked and pretty awestruck by just how much rain can fall from the New England sky. However, camp was filled with stories of fording streams, swimming in waterfalls in the rain, and persevering in building rainy-weather fires. The elements paved the way for making friends, learning to take care of yourself, and that peaceful feeling of just looking up at the sky and appreciating the rain. Luckily, it was a warm rain.
Some more words from SAMmers during trip debriefs:
“We saw how much our counselors are there to look out for us.” – Shrewsbury Camper
“Pico did Silent Meeting on the summit of Pico Mountain. We felt so connected” – Pico Camper
“We did Silent Meeting grouped up on canoes on the lake. It was really special” – Glastonbury Camper
It’s a beautiful thing to watch the campers reconnect after trips. Having the opportunity to return to each other and actualize their growth just solidifies it that much more. Upon return campers express appreciation and affection for SAM as a community and SAM as a place.
This connection to SAM has made it more reasonable to talk about the issues that affect our community. Discussions about how we treat each other, the language we use, and how we treat the place, have a wonderful feeling of compassion and ownership. These topics and more were covered in detail during an evening facilitated by two of our amazing cabin staff. The entire community was able to create a contract around what they would like to add to our pot of “SAM Soup”; a spoonful of enthusiasm, 1 lb of forgiveness, 4 ounces of fun, 3 gallons of respect, 1tbsp of honesty, 4 pinches of appreciating the hard times, and a ton of love were some key ingredients added by campers.
By Saturday we were back at it again! Day trips went out with much excitement as campers signed up for their choice of full-day adventures including caving, summiting Saltash Mountain, rock-climbing at Deer’s Leap, and a hike to tour Tamarack Farm and face some challenging ropes-course initiatives.
As an evening activity “Three-way Camp-wide Capture the Flag” speaks for itself, pretty loudly if you’ve ever heard it, but evening activities such as “Rap Groups” could use some explanation. This is the only time as a camp we take the opportunity to meet as separate groups determined by the campers specified gender. Both groups were very productive as they discussed what it means to be male/female, how we are affected by gender stereotypes, what these stereotypes imply, and how each group would like to represent their gender in the SAM community.
After a few more healthy and delicious meals prepared by our amazing cooks, Sam Arfer and Joe Deely, SAM campers were off into the wilds once more. Campers left on Monday and Tuesday in co-ed groups for six or seven days to canoe and portage through the Adirondacks, backpack and gaze from the peaks of the Green Mountains, take on some rocky challenges through rock-climbing and caving, and many of our fourteen year olds have travelled to Flagstaff Lake in Maine for a combination backpacking and canoeing trip.
The Questors, our 15 and up co-ed expedition and leadership program, have now been out for 12 days. All reports are great, though very few! The group has taken to the “Leader of the Day” model for teaching individual leadership and is jelling as an expedition group. They have completed the seven days of canoeing in the Adirondacks and will be receiving their second resupply today as they backpack through the High Peaks region. They are going to have quite a story to tell by the end of this huge journey.
Again we thank you for this amazing opportunity.