As you can probably imagine, dispensing medications and vitamins to campers is a big undertaking.  In order to fulfill our goal of doing so in a safe manner, we are asking that all parents abide by the policy laid out here.  The following guidelines are in place in order to ensure the health and well-being of each camper.  Please adhere to them.

No medication, vitamins, or supplements may be kept in the bunk.  This includes, but is not limited to, chewable vitamins, Tylenol, aspirin, cold and cough remedies, eye drops, ear drops, creams, nasal sprays, etc…

All medication, vitamins, and supplements, must be sent to camp at least one week prior to the camper’s arrival.  We cannot guarantee that medications, vitamins, and supplements brought to camp on the day of the camper’s arrival will be dispensed on a timely basis.

All medication, including vitamins must be accompanied by a letter from a physician, physician’s assistant, or nurse practitioner or it must be in the original prescription bottle with administration instructions clearly written.  Nothing will be dispensed without written instructions from a health care professional or the original prescription bottle.  This includes both regularly scheduled medications and those taken on an as needed basis.

Medication taken through inhalers may be brought to camp by the camper and the camper may keep a rescue inhaler with him/her or in the bunk.

Medication for diabetes and growth hormones may be brought to camp with the camper or given to the person in charge of the bus pick-up location.

All vitamins and supplements will only be dispensed with doctor’s instructions and must be in their original packaging.

Please do not send standard OTC (over the counter) medications as we stock them in our infirmary and supply them to any camper who may need them.

We do not stock Claritin, Allegra, other allergy medicines, or Lactaid Pills that are taken on an as needed basis.  Please send these in advance with a doctor’s note.

With your help we can ensure the safe and efficient delivery of medications and vitamins to all of our campers.  Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Summer 2014 is right around the corner!  According to our Island Lake website and app, only 45 more days until camp begins!  Excitement builds as the thrill of summer approaches!  We move our offices up to camp the last weekend of May.  As of June 1^st, all correspondence should go directly to our summer address in Starrucca, PA.

By now, all families enrolled in summer 2014 at Island Lake should have received our spring mailing.  Enclosed were our camper, parent, and activities handbooks, our medication policy, an Open House flyer, and a few other forms.  If your child is new to ILC this summer, please return the bottom portion of the Open House flyer if you will be joining us at camp on Saturday, June 14^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 and hey, if you’re really organized, perhaps you’ve even begun the packing process!  Be sure to refer to your Packing List and Suggested Equipment List that were enclosed in your winter folder to assist you with this big ol’ fun task.  If you’ve misplaced these forms, you can retrieve them here on our website under “Island Lake Families” and then “forms and mailings”.  Don’t forget to label all items of clothing and equipment, too.

Parents, we highly recommend that you read all literature that we send to you since a majority of the answers to your questions can be found there.  Our winter folder, spring mailing, and monthly newsletters provide a great deal of important information that will help prepare you and your children for a fantastic summer 2014.  If you have any additional questions, feel free to contact us at our winter office until May 30^th and our summer office after June 1^st.

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

Claire Wilson and Sophia Howard (previously in G9) both qualified for the
Nastar National Ski Racing Championships and met up with one another in
Aspen, Colorado for the national race. Claire and Sophia both competed in
the silver division and Claire Wilson happily came in first place, winning
the national silver 12-13 year old division. The girls were joined by many
members of the US Ski Team including Ted Ligety (who served as the race
pacesetter and signed their bibs)! On the podium, Claire is joined by US
Olympians Bode Miller, Steven Nyman, and Nolan Kasper. After the days’ races
were through, both girls enjoyed exploring Snowmass and ending the day in
the hot tub.

The attached link is for a very interesting article regarding the relevance of sleep away camp and adjusting to college later on in life.  Enjoy the read!

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/smores-and-more/201112/creating-advantage-in-college

All new camp families are invited to attend our Open House at camp on Saturday, June 14th. The day will begin with group walking tours around camp at 11 am sharp, followed by a big lunch buffet. After lunch we will host a Q&A for the parents while the children play organized games in the gym and circus. This is a wonderful time for the children and staff to start meeting one another and developing friendships. Open House is an excellent opportunity for new families to familiarize themselves with Island Lake.

The day will begin promptly at 11am and should end by 3:00 pm. Please leave your pets at home. If you have a camper coming to Island Lake for the first time, an additional Open House flyer will be included in your spring mailing shortly. Please send back the bottom portion of that flyer so we know that your family will be attending our Open House.

Please use only our directions to camp. MapQuest, Google Maps, and your GPS system will put you on dirt roads and may get you lost!  Our directions can be found in your winter folder and on our website under “Island Lake Families” and then “Forms & Mailings”.

We look forward to meeting many of our new Island Lakers and their families on June 14th!  ILC U THERE!

Here’s a fantastic article that we recommend all parents read.  Enjoy it!

http://sunshineparenting.wordpress.com/2014/03/28/five-reasons-great-parents-send-their-kids-to-camp/

If your children are coming to camp via the airport, this is important.  We must coordinate all of our campers’ flights to ensure an easy travel day for everyone.  All South Florida campers should travel together on the same JetBlue flights to and from Fort Lauderdale & Newark.  South Florida Jet Blue flights are as follows:

TO CAMP:  Fort Lauderdale to Newark:  Jet Blue Flight #306:  Departs at 9:40am & arrives at 12:35pm

FROM CAMP:  Newark to Fort Lauderdale:  Jet Blue Flight #505:  Departs at 1:30pm & arrives at 4:28pm

All campers traveling from Paris to Newark should fly strictly on United Airlines UA56/UA905 to camp and UA904 from camp.

Campers traveling from St. Louis will fly on United Airlines #4099 to camp and #4628 from camp.

For all other flying campers, please contact Wendy prior to booking flights in order to confirm arrival and departure times.  She can be reached at 954-688-9527 or wendy@islandlake.com.  Please don’t wait much longer to book your children’s flight.  Prices escalate as the travel dates approach.

Once you’ve confirmed flights with Wendy and you book them, please email her a copy of your children’s flight information.  If your children are flying to/from Ft. Lauderdale, please forward her a copy of those tickets, as well.

When booking your flights, please make any necessary “unaccompanied minor” arrangements for both inbound and outbound flights.  If your child will be taking the group flight from Ft. Lauderdale on opening day (June 28^th), then there is no need to arrange for an unaccompanied minor for that trip.  We will have a staff member meet you at the airport in Ft. Lauderdale and fly to Newark with the kids.  Please make sure that you do make unaccompanied minor arrangements for the return trip back to Florida.

For all other flights, please make any necessary unaccompanied minor arrangements to/from Newark.

If you have any additional travel questions, feel free to contact Wendy at 954-688-9527 or wendy@islandlake.com.

Are you following us on social media?  Island Lake is everywhere now, so be sure to join us on all of our social networking pages.  We’ve recently joined Instagram and a great deal more will be added to our account in the next few months.  If you aren’t already following us everywhere, here’s a list of social media that ILC is a part of:

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/IslandLakeCamp

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/islandlakecamp

Pinterest:  http://www.pinterest.com/islandlakecamp/

Instagram:  http://instagram.com/islandlakecampofficial

Blog:  http://www.islandlake.com/camp-news-blog/

All Summer 2014 Island Lake families should have received their annual camp folder by now. There is a great deal of information in this folder to help prepare your child for a successful camp experience. Please take some time to read through everything thoroughly and fill out and return the required forms. We cannot emphasize enough the importance of filling out the forms in a detailed, timely manner. These forms provide us with extensive feedback regarding your child so that our staff can have thorough, accurate knowledge about each camper in order to provide him or her with a safe and successful summer. Profile, Medical, and Transportation Forms must be submitted by May 1st. These forms are necessary for us to finalize plans for the summer. The Profile Form helps us guide your children when they choose their activities and put together their schedules. The Medical Form must be completed by both a parent and a physician, as required by Pennsylvania law. Please note that incomplete Medical Forms will be returned to you. The form must have your complete insurance information and a credit card number for any out of camp medical expenses. Every Medical Form needs to be signed by both a parent and a doctor.  The Transportation Form lets us know which bus your children will be taking to camp. If we do not receive the Transportation Form in our office by May 1st, we will have to assign a bus to your children. In June, we will send you detailed information on the bus locations, along with luggage tags that you will use to mark your children’s bags. If you have any questions or need any help filling out your forms, you can always give us a call in the winter office at 914-769-6060 and we’d be happy to help you! We encourage you to use our online system instead of paper forms. If you have not already done so, go to islandlake.com and click on “CampMinder Login”. You will be prompted to enter your email address and password. If this is your first time using the CampMinder system, just click on “First Time Users – Create Account.”

Chad Abbott spent some time up in Vermont with the Hausman family.  Great photo of them together.

Here’s another one of Chad and Justin taking a snowboarding lesson together.  Hope you all had a blast (or as Chad says, “ya’ll had a blast”)!

Emma Stravitz competed in her very first horseback riding competition and placed 1st in her level.  Great job, Emma!

Logan and Colby Kusinitz showing off their new ILC tshirts.  Looking good guys!

We received this photo of some of our campers but don’t yet have the details as to what kind of competition they were in.  Gymnastics?  Regardless, we hope Sydney Shulman, Paige Wasserman, Barbara Gilman, and Annabelle Fine rocked it!

The Stravitz Family got together with the Gevisenheit family in Miami Beach just yesterday.  Lexi and Mikayla had some fun in the sun!