Happy first full day of camp! Yesterday’s Opening Day went extremely well with lots of happy campers coming off of the buses. New and old friendships are blossoming already. Campers are bonding with one another, as well as with their counselors, and they are settling into Summer 2018 here at Island Lake.   Be sure to check out our daily summer photos via CampMinder on our website. We also tweet daily, post on Instagram, and post on our Facebook page. There’s SO MUCH to check out that’s going on here at ILC.

Today’s was our 4-minor day so the kids were busy trying out activities to see what they’d like to sign up for as their majors for the session.   Campers took deep-water tests, had sports orientation, pioneering, started art projects, and were tested for their tennis levels. Auditions for the musicals went on all day today, as well. We’re excited to offer Wedding Singer for our older campers and Wizard of Oz for our younger kiddies.

Lots of other activities also took place today, too. Horseback riders and dancers were tested for levels, circus activities were in full effect, our magicians started to learn their skills, our skaters & bladers tore up the skatepark, our chefs cooked in the bistro, in addition to all of the other activities we offer here at ILC: magic, video, rock shop, gymnastics, and more!

Directly after lunch we gave out many 5-year jackets and 10-year jackets to our loyal Island Lakers, both campers and staff. In our daily summer photos through CampMinder we will show you photos of campers and staff in their ILC-wear. The hope is that our campers won’t have to wear these (rain) jackets quite so much over the course of the summer. But per usual, we experienced some rain today on and off. We had a medley of weather: sunshine, clouds, rain, cool temps, warm temps,…but don’t worry, nothing stopped our kids from running around and having fun!

After our 4 minors and snack break, we held our favorite traditional camp extravaganza,…PANIC! It’s a camp-wide game where I call things out over the PA system and our campers have to run into their bunks, find the item(s) and bring them as fast as possible to their group leaders in the middle of their campuses. It can be something as basic as a red toothbrush or more involved like 5 campers wearing 2017 ILC Color War t-shirts singing the camp alma mater. I play music over the PA in between while the kids all sing and dance with their bunks. Ok, I’m not gonna lie. The boys don’t sing and dance as much as the girls! Regardless, Panic was a hit and the kids participated and cheered their bunks on as they ran around having a fun-filled fantabulous time,…well, until the rain returned. Luckily that was a quick rain shower and we were able to continue and finish the game in style.

Tonight’s evening activity is GROUPS, which means the group leaders take charge and run different activities for their bunks. Here’s a list of what everyone is doing (weather pending): BOYS: Group 1- gaga; Group 2- dodgeball; Group 3- dodgeball (separate from group 2); Group 4- capture the flag. On the GIRLS side: Group 1- sidewalk chalking; Group 2- xtreme crazy games (in other words, getting to know you games amongst the bunks); Group 3- welcome party (a cool title for getting to know you games); Group 4- xtreme bonding (yet again, getting to know you games)

Below is an array of photos from out around camp today. Please return to this blog each day as I, Wendy, will be posting ongoing events happening here at Island Lake. I’ll hit different departments daily to show you action photos of your campers living it up here at camp. Until tomorrow, ILC U THERE!

Two more days!  The camp season is finally upon us and we just want to remind you of several important things.  This letter is for all camp families, new and returning, so please read it thoroughly.

All buses leave our bus locations on Opening Day at 11am sharp!  Please be sure to give yourself enough time to get to the buses by 10:30am, especially those of you going to our Queens bus stop. It is inevitable that there is always traffic heading to Queens, so leave extra early in order to arrive on time.

Don’t forget to pack your child a lunch for the bus ride to camp. Please do not pack anything containing peanuts or tree nuts.  For campers who are flying, it’s a good idea to send them with extra money for snacks that they’d like to purchase upon arrival at the airport.

Cell phones are strictly prohibited at camp!  Any child caught with a cell phone will be sent home from camp for a 3-day suspension.  Only campers flying to camp via airplane may travel with a cell phone.  We will collect your flying camper’s phone after your child calls home to let you know that he/she arrived at Newark safely.  Additionally, non-functioning iPhones are not allowed to be used as music players, even with the SIM card removed.

The bunks are all finalized and campers will receive their bunk numbers on their bus ride to camp.  We can no longer accept new bunk requests for the 1st session.  We try to honor all bunk requests to the best of our abilities.

If you have not yet sent in extra spending money for out of camp trips, you may send some money up with your child to place into his/her bank account. Although all trips out of camp are paid for, our campers like to have extra money for snacks and souvenirs, especially for Dorney Park in the 2^nd session. We recommend approximately $25/week ($100 for session 1 and $75 for session 2) but feel free to use your own discretion.

SOCIAL MEDIA
We will post hundreds of pictures to our website daily so be sure to go to islandlake.com and login to your CampMinder account to view the photos and send your child emails. We will attempt to post weekly videos on CampMinder but if our internet does not allow for this then we’ll have links to the videos on our Facebook page.

You can read our daily blog right here on our website at islandlake.com. Scroll down and click the yellow “B” at the bottom of any page on our site to read the latest regarding what’s going on in camp and to see some extra photos.

We will continue our practice posting to our Facebook page.  You do not need to have a Facebook account in order to view our posts.  You can just visit facebook.com/islandlakecamp.

Last, but definitely not least, we will be tweeting daily.  Once again, you do not need to have a Twitter account to see what we are posting.  Simply go to twitter.com/islandlakecamp to know more about your camper’s daily life at Island Lake.

We can’t wait to see all of our first session campers roll in on the buses this Saturday, June 23^rd!  ILCUTHERE!!!

This past Saturday was our Open House here at Island Lake for new campers and their families and it was a FANTASTIC DAY for all!!! We had a great turn out with lots of excited new campers. They all met one another, meet our staff, they toured camp, and they play games together in the afternoon. We loved meeting our rookie Island Lakers and we are that much more pumped for June 23^rd to arrive. We hope all of our campers are, as well.

With only 12 days until our opening day of camp (as of today, June 11^h), many of our staff members are arriving for training in their specific departments. Circus, waterfront, ropes/pioneering, horseback riding, and group leaders are amongst the departments that are already in training. All counselors and staff will be here by June 15^th for our staff orientation week.

We are sure many of our parents are now in full “camp mode” as you pack and prepare your children for their amazing ILC experience. Just a reminder that our packing list and equipment list are right here on our website under “Families” and “forms & mailings.” Any outstanding Medical Forms must be completed, signed, and returned to us ASAP, prior to your children’s arrival at camp.

By now you should have received your luggage tags and bus stop information packet. Place your children’s tags on each of their 2 duffel bags so we can transport them to their appropriate bunks upon arrival. All luggage will travel to camp on the buses with our campers.

REMINDER: ALL BUS STOP DEPARTURES WILL BE AT 11AM (other than Newark Airport)! Please arrive at your assigned bus stop by 10:00-10:30am on June 23^rd for a prompt departure at 11am.

Today you can start calling camp to set up your children’s phone appointments for summer. The phones are closed the first week of the session and then each child can call home once per session. See your Parent Handbook for more details. Once you have dates and times in mind, just give us a call here at camp at 570-798-2550.

If you have any last minute camp questions, feel free to give us a call. Until camp begins, our office is open daily until 5pm with a break for lunch from 12-12:45pm. Once camp begins we’re open daily until 9pm.

Enjoy these photos below from our Open House this past Saturday. Lots of new, excited, happy campers are joining us this summer. We CANNOT WAIT for everyone to arrive for an amazing, fantastic, out of this world ILC summer! In 12 more days, ILCUTHERE!!!

We’re BAAAACCCKKKK!!!!! It was with heartfelt excitement that I drove down Island Lake Road and entered my home away from home a few days ago. The past few days we’ve had amazing weather with the green grass and blue skies radiating the ILC landscape. 33 summers here at my home away from home and it never gets old. The thrill and elation associated with pulling into camp feels the same as it did when I was a kid.

Our pre-camp staff are already working hard to make sure camp looks beautiful for this upcoming summer. We are so incredibly pumped for a fantastic summer 2018! The only thing missing,…our campers!!!

Now that we are here in Starrucca, the office is currently open Monday through Saturday from 8:30am-5:00pm with a lunch break from 12:00-12:45pm. Once camp begins the office will be open daily from 9am-9pm, 7 days a week.

Our packing list, equipment list, handbooks, policies, and in general, all important summer information can be found right here on our website under “Families” and then “Forms & Mailings.” Be sure to print them all out and read them to make sure you are well prepared for summer.

As always, if you have any questions about packing or anything else related to camp, feel free to call us here at camp at 570-798-2550. As of today, only 24 more days until camp begins! ILC U HERE!!!

Summer 2018 is right around the corner! As of today, May 14^th, according to our Island Lake website we have only 40 more days until camp begins! Excitement is building as the thrill of summer approaches! We move our offices up to camp the last weekend of May so as of May 29^th all correspondence should go directly to our summer address in Starrucca, PA.  Feel free to start mailing forms to camp prior to that date to avoid the extra time it takes for the postal service to forward it from NY to PA.

By now, all new families enrolled for summer 2018 at Island Lake should have received our spring mailing. This entire mailing is available for all of our returning families here on our website under “Island Lake Families” and then “Forms & Mailings.”   In this mailing and online are our camper, parent, and activities handbooks, medication policy, social media policy, Open House flyer, and travel itinerary.

Our Open House flyer is for all Island Lake families with a new camper attending this summer. If your child is new to ILC and you’d like to join us for this exciting day of fun, please return the bottom portion of the flyer. This will let us know how many children and adults will be joining us at camp on Saturday, June 9^th at 11am. We’re very excited to meet many of our new Island Lakers and their families that day.

With summer right around the corner, many of you have probably started your camp shopping. If you’re really organized then hey, perhaps you’ve even begun the packing process! Be sure to refer to your Suggested Items for Camp (packing list) and Suggested Equipment List to assist you with this big ol’ fun task. Don’t forget, all camp forms can be retrieved any time right here on our website under “Island Lake Families” and then “forms and mailings.” Remember to label all items of clothing and equipment, too.

If you’d like to purchase Island Lake clothing and camp gear, you can do so by going to the Bunkline website. There’s a direct link from our website and here it is for your convenience: http://www.bunkline.com/category-s/125.htm. You can always find this link under “Island Lake Families” and then “Camp Store.” Remember, Island Lake is not a uniform camp so all ILC clothing is optional. We will also give every camper an Island Lake t-shirt when they arrive at camp.

At the “Camp Store” we also have customized Island Lake Islides that you can order for your child. Just click the link for more info about them at the store. We are also working with a wonderful label company called LabelDaddy.  Their link is islandlake.labeldaddy.com and be sure to use the promo code, IslandLake, to receive a 10% discount.  They make great camper labels for all of your children’s clothing and equipment. Here is a direct link to the Camp Store: http://www.islandlake.com/current-camp-families/camp-store.php

Parents, we highly recommend that you read all literature that we mail to you and post on our website at the forms & mailings link. Many answers to your questions can be found there. Our handbooks, packing lists, variety of forms posted on our website, and monthly newsletters provide a great deal of important information that will help prepare you and your children for a fantastic summer 2018. If you have any additional questions, feel free to contact us at our winter office until May 24^th and at our summer office as of May 29^th.

We are looking forward to the most amazing, fantastic, spectacular, wonderful, awesome, unbelievable, exciting, memorable summer ever at Island Lake! ILC U THERE!!!

Only 100 more days until the Island Lake buses roll into camp with all of our happy campers upon them!  You may see lots of snow right now but we envision only sunshine and good ol’ times to come in our near future.  We cannot wait to experience what lies ahead for all of our campers at ILC this summer.  Below is a slideshow of a variety of special activities from last year.  We’ll have lots more to  enjoy this upcoming summer.  Stay tuned and until then, ILCUTHERE!

Hey Island Lakers!  We hope all of our northeast families fared well through the past 2 snowstorms.  Although Starrucca, PA wasn’t hit too hard by Quinn, camp still looks beautiful with a fresh blanket of snow upon it.  Enjoy these photos below.

We can’t wait to see your campers this Saturday!

Camp is looking beautiful this time of the year and we’re happy to share the following photos with all of you.

Warning: The following photos may heighten your desire to move to the 18462!

Hey Island Lake families! Although summer 2017 at camp is over and you’re probably concentrating on the school year once again, we’re already thinking about summer 2018. We thank you for all of your valuable feedback from this past summer and we will apply some of your great suggestions for next year.

Now it’s time to reminisce this recent fantastic summer. We changed up Color War quite a bit to offer a greater variety of activities, and the response to this was very positive. We added lip sync battle and music videos as an evening activity. We also added cooking, fishing, science, theater, and much more to our daily sports. We brought back an old favorite, the bucket brigade, which included every single camper on each team. Of course, we kept many traditional events such as the rope burn, swim meet, tug o’ war, trivia game, battle of the bands (a few years old at ILC), the apache relay, and of course our final night sing. We were very happy to see more campers than ever involved during these 3 days of fun.

We kept your children very busy during each of our Lazy Days during the 2 sessions. Our first Lazy Day was spent at Dorney Park and Wild Water Kingdom, which is always a camp fav. We split up the camp during other Lazy Days and sent them to a variety of places such as Sky Zone, Ithaca, bowling, movies, and Montage Mountain Water Park. Perhaps we didn’t allow your kids to be so “lazy” during these special days?

Our annual teen trip to Cleveland, Ohio was a huge success. Our oldest campers actually got history lessons at the Football Hall of Fame and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. They even enjoyed hands-on experiences as well as an IMAX movie at the Great Lake Science Center. Let’s not forget the Cleveland Indians game when our whole group made it onto the jumbotron at the stadium! Lots of fun was had at Cedar Point Amusement Park, Dave & Busters, and Splash Lagoon indoor water park. Very soon we will start planning next summer’s teen trip to Toronto and Niagara Falls. Get those passports updated!

Evening activities varied for every group, boys and girls, day to day. We had our share of group evening activities as well as full camp evening activities. Group activities varied: pool parties, giant messy twister (amongst our girls’ favorite!), campfires, gaga, ugly fashion shows, photo scavenger hunts, Island Lake Game Night, and many, many more. Full camp evening activities that our campers loved the most were the big annual hoedown (see the blog from July 30^th and photos from July 31^st), dance socials, and ummmm, I think that’s it, right? Ooohhh yeah, I almost forgot,…Revival Night!

Other summer 2017 memories include prank wars. Many bunks (and Matt, Trip, & Dustin!) got involved in this, some praks were better than others, but they were all in good fun. Should I even bother mentioning the wild weather we experienced this past camp season? Although the temps were cool it didn’t stop our kids from staying active. We did have quite a bit of rain but only 1 day at the end of the summer was a total washout where kids had to do indoor activities all day. The rest of the days had pretty quick rain showers that came and went. Those of you with girls, they definitely got some good wear on their rain boots this past summer, huh? On a positive note, we saw a great deal of Island Lake 5-year jackets throughout the summer!

I’m sure you’ve heard even more camp memories from your children since the season ended. We hope your kids continue to talk about camp and see their ILC friends throughout the school year. Our annual camp reunion at Sportime USA will be here before we know it. It’s on Saturday, November 18^th at 10am so be sure to mark it on your calendars. Details are in your monthly Island Laker newsletters. Until then, when we can see your children’s smiling (cleaner) faces once again, ILCUTHERE!