The Power of SLC

About eight years ago I decided that I wanted to be a camp counselor.  Once.  I was a freshman at Syracuse University at the time and assumed that I had one more summer to goof off until I had to get serious about my life.  I interviewed at several camps, including Camp Pembroke, the camp I attended as a child.  I had never heard of Surprise Lake Camp, but of the three camps that offered me a job, SLC offered me more money.  That, at nineteen, was the deciding factor.

I had no idea what I was getting myself into.  I thought I was going to New York to play in the woods for nine weeks, then I’d return to my life.  I never would have thought that Surprise Lake would change my life completely.

For those of you who know me well, you know my path in life can be described as pretty circuitous.  I haven’t followed a typical route.  I spent my time at Syracuse changing my major on a quarterly basis and being incredibly indecisive.  I took time off from school, worked, did some soul searching, had several quarter life crises and transferred universities.  At twenty six, when most of my friends are in grad schools, out of grad schools, looking for jobs, or getting jobs, I’m still finishing college.  One thing has remained constant for me through it all, though, and that has been SLC.

Surprise Lake Camp has impacted every part of my life.  My best friends in the world are people I met on my first day of orientation in 2006.  I had been in camp for a few hours when I tried to inform Jess (who had been coming to camp for years already) where the dining hall was.  I still remember the big plastic orange button earrings and white sundress that Michelle was wearing when she first traipsed into my life.  I was sure we would not be getting along – she was just too out there.  Eight years later I’m certain that I will be causing trouble with these girls at the nursing home well into my geriatric years.

I’m an only child.  I don’t have a lot of aunts, uncles or cousins.  I have two surviving grandparents of whom I don’t see nearly enough.  My parents are wonderful, loving people who care for me deeply, but the appeal of having an extended family at camp is a big part of what has drawn me back year after year.  When I return to SLC every summer and Sheryl, with a big hug, says to me “welcome home,” it’s true.  Surprise Lake Camp is a very large, (often dysfunctional) completely eccentric, glorious family.  The outpouring of love that we all have at camp for each other is euphoric.  We all know that a bad day at camp is better than a good day anywhere else, and that is entirely because of the people who populate it.

In addition to giving me friends and family, Surprise Lake Camp has made me realize what I’m meant to be doing with my life.  I need to work with kids.  Over the past eight years I have had so many ups and downs and twists and turns it has made me dizzy at times.  The most consistently satisfying challenge I have undertaken in all of that time has been working with my campers.  They have taught me responsibility.  They’ve taught me I can’t take myself too seriously – that I need to relax and have fun.  They have taught me of the promise of youth and that I still have it and will have it for as long as I choose to hold on to it.  They’ve shown me such myriad lenses through which to look at the world.  Every individual camper that I’ve ever been able to call mine has demonstrated to me the uniqueness of themselves and in doing so the beauty of humanity as a whole.

The corniness of this is not lost on me.  I just have so much love in my heart for SLC and all of the people in it that I find it hard to contain.  This is the true power of Surprise Lake Camp.  It’s what keeps us coming back summer after summer.  It’s what keeps us begging for reunions on Facebook, posting count downs, prattling on and on to our friends and family at home who just don’t get it, because how could they?  Camp is magic.  Camp changes lives.  It’s that simple.

To every past, present and future member of the SLC community, those of you I know well and those of you I don’t, I’d like to say thank you.  I wouldn’t be who I am now heading in the direction I am without you.  Keep in mind the impact that you have on the rest of us just by being a part of this rare breed known as SLCers.  We all have a home with each other, and I guess the point of this week’s blog is that that’s pretty great.

Much Love,

Dani Johnson

When I think of camp……..

When I think of camp, I don’t really know where to begin. There’s the lake that sparkles (it may or may not also contain a purple hippo), the mountains that seem too large to be real, and a sky that remains blue regardless of the weather conditions. Camp looks magical. There are the songs at roundup, the daily traditions and classic tunes that make SLC shabbat services different from all others. Camp sounds magical.

But the most important part of camp is that it feels magical. Every inch of camp is magic… Yeah, SLC gives Disney a run for its money. From the moment you turn down Lake Surprise Road, your stomach drops and your heart begins to thud so loud you can no longer hear your thoughts. You’re bouncing up and down in the seat with complete disregard for the brain cells that you are massacring as your head bashes into the roof of your parent’s car. The boxes in the seat next to you are piercing your ribcage as you try to lay across them for a better view of everything around you, but you feel no pain. Camp looks like it did when you left it just ten months before… BUT HOW?! (DISNEY EFFECT? Obviously) The apprehension that you can’t get down the road fast enough creeps into your entire being and you begin to panic. You begin to have inane thoughts, What if I die before I get signed into my unit? WHAT IF I CANT SING A NEW CHEER! but since you have lost the ability to keep your thoughts to yourself during these extremely intense few minutes, your parents start to yell at you for worrying them while also telling you you’re being irrational. And if you are anything like me, you yell back “YOU KNOW NOTHING OF CAMP! THESE ARE REAL FEARS!”. Your face starts to hurt because you’re smiling and screaming and by the time you pass Gene’s house, you’ve lost your voice, are completely out of breath and your parents have gone deaf and grey from your loud shrieks paired with a slight fear that you are truly having a heart attack in the backseat. Somehow, you are still screaming your face off. You get out of the car and just start running at people like a wild turkey. You might not even know who you are running toward, but you just want to hug everyone at the same time. Arrival day is synonymous in my mind with the sound of “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I MISSED YOU!”

When you finally get to the main office, your bags are half out of the car, your favorite stuffed animals are scattered on the dirt road and your parents are trying to coral you for a picture… but alas, they fail. At camp you are your own “grown up” person. You cannot be subjected to embarrassing photography at a time like this! You have important priorities that could change the course of your entire life- like meeting all of your counselors first, or unpacking your “cup-a-noodles” before lunch.

To anyone who is not a “camp person”, this appears ludicrous. But for hundreds of kids (and their newly deaf parents), this is reality.

The english language cannot do camp the justice it deserves. There are not enough words to explain each summer, or even the feeling of true belonging that is birthed each time we “nestle”. Each member of the SLC community is more than a camper, or staff member; they are part of a family.

I miss the magic that that begins on day one and carries through until the very last fraction of a second that you are on camp grounds. I miss waking up and absolutely loving every second of every day, no matter what is happening. When I am home, I even miss cleaning the bunk!

Feeling “full” of SLC enchantment is what draws you back each summer; what you thirst for as soon as you are released from school. That feeling of exploding as you venture back “home” to the 10516 is incredible. Camp runs deep in your entire being just after one summer, and when you’ve been there for years – it is a major part of who you have become.

I, like many others, miss camp because it is more than a place to spend the summer, it is home.

Rachel Wells

Surprise Lake Camp’s Bar and Bat Mitzvah Program Sets New Record!

The best story about Surprise Lake Camp this year may not be that it is celebrating its 110^th Anniversary.  The best story may be that a record 24 campers and staff will celebrate their bar or bat mitzvahs at the camp over the course of the summer.

For 110 years Surprise Lake Camp has been providing a haven for Jewish children in the picturesque mountains of Cold Spring, NY.  SLC is renowned for the beauty of its site, the richness of its people and program, its sense of history and tradition, and the magic it creates when the whole thing comes together.

But now it is building a reputation for something else:  an alternative b’nai mitzvah program that is inspiring and readily accessible to a wide range of Jews for whom a simple, outdoor service with an emphasis on spirit and meaning has special appeal.  The camp has provided at least a dozen such simchas for each of the past 15 years, and often as many as twenty.  This year, however, the program has reached new heights.  19 campers and 5 staff members will stand before the 700 member Surprise Lake Camp congregation over the course of the summer and recite the torah blessings, read from the torah, and give a d’var torah about the meaning of what they have read.  The candidates will receive gifts from the camp and certificates of bar or bat mitzvah, their families will be there for the occasion, and they will enjoy a lovely kiddush afterwards.

The program is supervised by the Camp Rabbi and Jewish program staff.  It gives young people an opportunity to develop their own material for a ceremony that is unique to them.  No formal religious training is required.  The camp gauges the skills and background of the participants and prepares them for whatever they are comfortable and capable of doing.

The cost for this priceless rite of passage?  Nothing!  The program is fully funded by the camp as part of its Jewish mission.

For more information or to make an appointment to cover a Saturday morning bar/bat mitzvah, please contact Jordan by phone (845-265-3616) or Email jordan@surpriselake.org

Once again we are having Verizon issues.

Once again we are having Verizon issues….and they are ignoring us…PLEASE EVERYONE…CALL…POST…TWEET or FB!!! It is the only way they respond……#verizon @verizon

Good Morning SLC!!! The campers are comi

Good Morning SLC!!! The campers are coming !!!!

Staff 2012

The summer is “creeping” up on us!  Pre camp staff begins arriving today…..A little preview of who is working this summer. Staff 2012.

Homeward Bound…

Hard to believe in roughly 50 days campers will be boarding buses, parents will be loading cars and camp will be filled with song and laughter.  On May 17 our pre camp staff begin to arrive to prepare for our May Shabbat program that is being held on May 19.  As I sit here by the gazebo looking at the lake in a light rain….I am in awe of the beauty that we call SLC.  The lake is rising, the sun is setting and the rain….is just the icing on the cake….pure and simple bliss!

This past Sunday, we had Parent Camper Orientation.  I had the pleasure of meeting many of the new families as did the staff.  The kids had an opportunity to play gaga, do relays and experience playing in the fields.  Those who arrived nervous about coming this summer left here having made new friends and put in bunk requests!  It was an incredible day.  A special thanks to my staff and the volunteers who gave 110% !

If you have friends who are still not sure of their summer plans, we have spots available in some areas in session one and two.  Please have them call the office at 212 924 3131 and someone on staff will be happy to assist them.

Our 110th Anniversary year will be one to remember.  Get Your Feet Wet, our 5 day introductory program at the end of August has 96 campers and a waiting list of 30!  This summer we will have fireworks not just on the 4th of July but we will also have it an additional time in session 2.  There will be parties, give aways, and special theme events including the always memorable Olympics……You don’t want to miss this summer.

I am going to head in so I can post this, but truth be told I could probably sit here until the first bus pulls in.  We live 10 for 2…we can’t wait to see all of our returning camper and look forward to showing our new campers the “MAGIC” of SLC!

I hope to see you all soon.  Until then, if you have any questions, suggestions, or just want to say hello…call us at the office.

See you when you come home….

The Crew at SLC