The Best Summer of Your Life
Here’s how you start off the Arts and Crafts program with a bang!
Jaime Brodsky, Head of Arts and Crafts, figured out that if you take a small plastic container, add some color and a little Alka Seltzer, shake it up and then stand back, it will explode high into the air and leave a splash of color behind. Campers loved it!
Not only were amazing colorful art pieces created but we had an early preview of 4th of July fireworks, Arts and Crafts style!
Basketball leagues have begun.
The NBA just had the draft and so did PFC. Last night, Juniors divided into teams and began the first games of the 2018 league program. Intramural leagues were started at Pine Forest back in the 1960’s by Stan Ward, coach of Brown University and taken to a new and exciting level by our own award-winning Athletic Director Steve Chadwin. Every division is divided into equal teams and there’s all-out competition until at the end of the summer one team in each division is crowned champion. It’s fun, it’s high energy, and the winners get their names inscribed forever in Hughie Hall. (Named after Hughie Black, our own basketball star.)
It’s Hoops time in Hughie Hall!
Maybe it’s the new smell of pines trees or the first bird you hear, but when you wake up at camp it’s awesome. Look to your left, look to your right and there are camp friends right next to you. Can life get any better? (Bunk Elm had an impromptu early morning party in their bunk).
Okay, the bad news is that you still have to brush your teeth, but it’s gonna be a day like no other. You’re at camp! You’ve made it through your first night, the clouds part, the sun shines , the worries disappear, the fun starts!
It doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from or how you get here. It doesn’t matter what happened all school year long. If your destination is Pine Forest Camp in Greeley, Pennsylvania today, you are in for the summer of your life.
Our 88th consecutive summer begins today and it’s going to be the best one ever.
Leave your worries at home. When you step off of that bus or out of your car, you’re going to be stepping into a summer of Pine Forest fun.
As we sing every year on opening day, “We welcome you to Pine Forest, we’re mighty glad you’re here!”
And we are. Mighty glad.
It’s that time of the year! You forget what your living room floor looks like under all of that camp gear, you’re constantly hearing the most up-to-date countdown to camp, and you miss them already. Take a deep breath. We are here for you as always! Below are some last minute tips as you make your final preparations for PFC 2018!
What to pack:
A good flashlight
Lots of socks
Bug spray
Sunscreen
Stationary and stamps
Hopes and dreams
What not to pack:
Electronic devices (Kindle, iPod Touch, screens that play games or shows, cell phones)
Important dates:
First day of camp: Saturday, June 23rd
Visiting Day: Saturday, July 21st @ 11:30AM
Last day of camp: Saturday, August 11th
Important contact information:
PFC Summer Office: (570) 685-7141
Mountain Baggage: (570) 775-0556
R&B Baggage (for Florida families): (603) 536-2197
CampMeds: www.campmeds.com
PFC mailing address:
185 Pine Forest Road
Greeley, PA 18425
Policy reminders:
-Phone calls are not necessary, but one can be scheduled before Visiting Day and one after Visiting Day. You can schedule your first call once your camper arrives at camp.
–NO packages, please!
Photos:
Photos from the day will be uploaded to CampInTouch almost every night. You can access them using the same login you use to fill out forms.
https://pineforest.campintouch.com/v2/login
Expert tip: Mail a letter to your camper a few days before camp starts so that there’s one waiting for him or her on the first day of camp.
Follow us! @PineForestCamp
My name is Jaime and camp has always been a huge part of my life. I started sleep away camp at 5 years old, with my mom working as the camp mother. I always knew that when the time came and I had children of my own, I would also want to spend my summers working at camp. This summer my daughters, Ruby and Eden, will be experiencing their first summer at sleepaway camp, and we are beyond excited for PFC 2017!!
I work year round as a speech pathologist in an elementary school in Livingston, NJ. While I love getting to work with children in a school setting, nothing compares to getting to know kids in the unique laid back environment that camp provides. I call it the camp bubble. Now more than ever, it is so important to slow down, log off and connect with our kids. Working in a camp for the past 5 summers gave me the opportunity to expose kids to so many different types of art…whether it was leather work or jewelry making, woodworking or ceramics. Camp is full of creative outlets and everybody gets a chance to try out new mediums and get their hands dirty in a creative and fun environment. I am excited to share so many AWESOME projects with the campers this summer. For me, arts and crafts is about providing instruction and learning new skills, but then giving kids the freedom to have fun and go for it!!! It’s a time to bond with your counselors and friends while you create projects (and memories) to last throughout the year!
A cool project to be on the lookout for this summer: WATER BALLOON CANVAS ART!
Imagine a world with no TVs, no cell phones and no internet access, where…
– “Mail” is simply on a piece of paper, hand written, with a pen.
– The only “gaming’ is on a field or a court.
– “Chatting” is done verbally: in a cabin, on a walk, over a meal or around a campfire, the purest form of “FaceTime.”
– You can only “like” something or someone by giving a real compliment, a smile or a hug.
– A ‘wink’ is done with eye contact and a grin, and ‘laughing so hard you cry’ is not an emoji but rather the funniest late-night bunk conversation that will live on for decades.
– The biggest news of the day is whose birthday it is, what evening activity will be or what’s for dinner.
– You don’t need to have hundreds of “friends,” instead you strive for a quality handful of the best, truest friends you could ever imagine.
– A “snap” is simply a hand gesture.
– Silly costumes are homemade or brought up in trunks not created with apps or filters.
– The only “tweet” comes from birds and being one with nature.
– A “house party” is getting to hang out in your cabin with your favorite people, bunk mates.
– The latest songs and videos come out of a bunk skit, song or cheer rather than top 40 radio hits.
– And, the only photos you take during the day are ones that live in your mind, providing you with lifelong memories.
This world is Pine Forest Camp. It was this way for me as a camper at PFC, and it’s the same for my own children. Kids need camp, now more than ever. I am tremendously thankful that my children get to turn off, unplug and disconnect every summer. Where else in the world can that truly happen? And, although they may not always admit it, I know that my kids wouldn’t have it any other way.
Registration for our 2017 Optional Activities is officially open! Click here to register!
Superstar Tennis: Private and group tennis lessons, USTA tournament play, individualized stroke analysis and strategy sessions.
Personal Fitness Training: One-on-one personal training with a certified pro, including a take-home, year round exercise plan.
TOP Cooks: Farm-to-table experiences, gourmet cooking classes with professional chefs, trip to the Culinary Institute of America.
Superstar Golf: Private lessons with PGA pro, weekly golf outing to beautiful private courses, USGA membership.
Professional Tutoring: SAT, English, Math, Bar and Bat Mitzvah. Individualized plan, hourly rates with experienced educators.
TOP Ranch Riding: Small group riding lessons, grooming and competition on our beautiful private 250-acre ranch. Beginner to advanced.
TOP Basketball: 4-day intensive program for campers interested in taking their skills to a new level.
Private Gymnastics Lessons: One-on-one lessons with skilled instructors for all ages and skill levels.
Senior Trips!
7th Grade: The Adirondacks
July 25-26, 2017
Highlights include: Six Flags Great Escape, dinner on Lake George, Cooperstown, Baseball Hall of Fame, Howe Caverns.
8th Grade: Vermont
July 25-26, 2017
Highlights include: Church Street Marketplace, Bromley Mountain Adventure Park, Ben & Jerry’s Factory, Dinosaur Bar-B-Que.
New additions for 2017 to follow!
9th Grade: New England
July 24-26, 2017
Highlights include: Historic Boston, Fenway Park, Old Orchard Beach and Palace Playground, Portland, Maine and Newport, Rhode Island.
New additions for 2017 to follow!
10th Grade: Montreal
July 24-26, 2017
Highlights include: Jet boating on the Lachine Rapids, Laser Quest, La Ronde amusement park, Lake Placid Olympic Sports Complex.
In addition to mastering the zip line and perfecting the butterfly stroke, the intangible lessons of camp know no bounds. In fact, it’s these more abstract takeaways that make the biggest impact on our campers. When we talk to families about camp in their living rooms, when we walk touring families around our grounds, we tend to focus on schedules and special programs; the most important thing about camp, though, is its people, the community, and the gifts we take from it.
We often say that camp teaches you to be the best version of yourself, but that doesn’t always come easily. Nothing great does! It takes work to practice living away from your parents! It takes work to live with people from different neighborhoods or even countries who might have different views! It’s not easy to have face-to-face conversations instead of sending a text or email in camp’s tech-free zone!
So, what will your child get out of camp? We hope team-sport skills are perfected and yoga is given a real chance, but it’s so much bigger that. Your child will come home more confident for having stood up for a friend, happier for having spontaneously burst into song and cheer, more comfortable in his or her skin for having navigated both big and small tasks independently. Oh, and your child will have a group of friends and community for life that are sacred, that are all his or her own, that they can always come back to and rely upon.
Camp takes a sense of adventure and grit and stick-to-it-ness and empathy and goofiness and a zest for life that we all wish for our kids! Those are the true gifts of camp, and what gifts could be more important?
We invite you to schedule a one-on-one, interactive family tour of camp, led by one of our awesome camp leaders. You'll meet our owners/directors and learn more about our amazing, 95-year camp history and traditions. Come feel the love and warmth that Pine Forest Camp has to offer! Email hillary@pineforestcamp.com to coordinate!
