The Island Lake Feeling

When I was first hired at Island Lake, I didn’t know what to expect. I was told of this certain feeling that nobody could explain when headed to camp. It was repeated over and over, “Until you’ve been to Island Lake and the connection you feel to the kids after a summer here, you will not understand what that feeling is like.” So I was eager to find out what that feeling was. I’d never been to America before. It was my first time hundreds of miles away from Liverpool, UK. But as I stepped off that bus after a long journey from Newark airport, there was a huge culture shock that hit me, and I was completely out of my comfort zone, but the overwhelming niceness and greetings I got from returning staff and new staff as well really made me feel at home. I started off in B-15 with other fellow Group 4 guys, and although I stayed quiet for the first two days, the guys really got me out of my shell. At the end of orientation week, I know I had made my first set of friends in Will, Duncan, B-Rad, Tom, Ben, James, Rocky, Joe, Christian, Nick and Dan. Orientation week as a whole was a really good learning experience for me, because for somebody who isn’t that confident, it puts you in a very “out of comfort” situation, where you either suck it up and get on with it or go home. And I did, and the first thing Island Lake did for me was make a more confident person and Orientation Week really brought me out of my shell and then I was ready for the weeks that followed with the kids, It was not going to be easy, but I expected that.

The kids finally arrived, and us Group 4 guys were constantly questioning what the kids were going to be like, and how prepared we all were! When the kids from First Session first arrived, I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but I had support in knowing that Tom and B-Rad could not better people to be paired with as they knew their stuff when it came to these kids. As the weeks went on, and since I was a Lazy Day Counselor, I spent a lot more time with the kids than I originally thought I was going too, really opened my eyes to beginning to realise what camp was really like, that feeling was soon becoming understandable. Lazy Day’s for all three sessions were incredible, and what Island Lake puts on for those children is something special, I loved Lazy Day’s, whether it was seeing one of the best theme parks in the world (Dorney Park) or whether it was just chilling out at Skate Estate, they gave me a chance to bond with my kids in B-13, and gave me the chance to spend some one on one time with a few of them, which was really helpful because I thought I had finally built a connection and friendship but also a role model persona amongst them.

One of the hardest days for me was the end of each session, 1st 2nd and 3rd. All three where hard because I had developed such a bond with some of these kids, whether it was spending time with them on my minors off, or just simply sitting and chatting to them on bunk OD, you get this sense of care for them that you simply cannot explain. As I witnessed from other counselors around me, the emotion hits you so hard you cant help but cry when they leave, because they have been a part of your life for just 3 short weeks, but it feels like so much longer, and when you develop that role model persona and realise “these are my kids now, and I need to make their time here amazing regardless, they come first!” then there is no going back on that.

In the end of it all, the bond you develop with the kids and also the counselors and other fellow staff, is a feeling that I now can’t explain. I was told it at the start and until people experience Island Lake for themselves, you wont know. But the best idea I can fathom from all this and the best way I can explain it to you reading this, is that you are put in a daunting but exciting situation that you didn’t think would hit you on all emotional levels. From Day 1 to the final day of camp, Island Lake is a different world outside of all the excitement of real life and the normal routine. I urge you to experience this “Island Lake Feeling” yourself, because before I did, I didn’t understand it and now, I cant explain it, but i know one thing since returning to the UK…

 .. Is that I cannot wait to prepare for next summer, and I am already doing my best to get myself back to Island Lake as soon as possible. Thank you to everyone who made my Summer 2014 one to remember. Thank you to Matt, Wendy, Dustin and Trip, The Theatre Department, my group leader Tyler, and for all of my friends for life who stuck by me through every single memory at this amazing place. 

IL(hopefully)C you next year!

Mike Bainbridge

Michaella Beatty, one of our counselors, is a blogger for her university and she wrote a fantastic article all about her experience at Island Lake this past summer.  It’s a wonderful article and we’re so proud to have been a part of Michaella’s memorable experience at camp this past summer.  Enjoy this amazing read!

http://www.weareiu.com/blog/what-they-didnt-tell-me/finding-love-at-summer-camp

Good news!  We’ve extended our September 1^st rates deadline until September 15^th!  If you have not yet registered your children for camp but would like to do so now, we will still offer you these early rates.  Please mail, fax, or scan/email your children’s registration forms to our New York office since we are no longer at camp (tear!).  If you’d like to scan/email the form, just send it to info@islandlake.com.

The following is our winter address:

Island Lake Camp     175 Tompkins Avenue     Pleasantville, NY  10570     914-769-6161- FAX

If you have any questions regarding enrollment for summer 2015, feel free to call us at our NY office at 914-769-6060 or 800-869-6083.  Don’t forget, we will send a special edition ILC t-shirt to all campers who register before December 1^st.  Another good reason to sign up now!

Cancellations can be made through January 1st and we will refund all of your money less the $100 enrollment fee. You will save more than $100 if you re-enroll now, so financially it makes sense to hold a spot and be guaranteed another summer of fun. Remember, there is another rate increase on November 1st.

Although next summer seems very far away right now, we’re already looking forward June 2015 when we can all reunite once again at our home away home in Starrucca, PA.  Until then, ILC U THERE!

Camp has been over for a week now and we hope all of our campers are settled back in at home.  Although camp is over, summer 2014 will always stay with us.  We hope our campers are still talking about their Island Lake experience and reliving it with our online photos and videos.

Don’t forget to keep checking this blog, too.  I’ll be posting on a weekly basis to keep our families posted on the latest.  We will also be sending out our monthly newsletters and post them here on our website, as well.

Now onto business,…September 1^st is approaching fast and with that comes our early bird rates deadline.  Be sure to register your children now for summer 2015 in order to take advantage of our early rates.  Here’s a link to the rates on our website:  http://www.islandlake.com/about-camp/dates-fees-faqs.php

Remember, if you would like to pay in full before Sept. 1^st, there’s an additional 5% discount when paying by check and 3% when paying by credit card.  If you’d like to know specific numbers, just give us a call at camp at 570-798-2550.  Our office will move back to our NY address as of Labor Day weekend.

Well, that’s about it for now.  We miss our campers so much and are now anxiously starting our countdown for summer 2015.  Until then, ILC U THERE!

Sadly, today was our last full day of camp.  Summer 2014 here at Island Lake has been absolutely fantastic!  We could not have asked for a better summer filled with happy campers and amazing counselors.  Your children will for sure come home with long lasting memories of their experiences here at camp this summer.

Tomorrow the buses should all arrive at their designated bus stops between 11:30am-12:00pm, give or take a half hour.  Please be there on time to pick up your children.  If you are not sure which bus stop we have in our records for your children, please call us here at camp before 5:00pm when the office will be closing for tonight’s banquet festivities.

Today we let the camp sleep in and we had a late wake up and breakfast at 9am.  The kids then went back to their bunks to start cleaning up.  We then had our big session 3 Dance Show in the theater for all to enjoy.  Lunch followed and then we had our 2^nd annual Color Run.  Most of the camp participated in this fun run today.  As they reached certain locations they got sprayed with paint of different colors.  They all eventually gathered at the finish line, proud of their accomplishments.  We’ll definitely post photos of the Color Run for our camp families to view on our daily summer photos.

After the Color Run we had our final Rock Concert in the gym.  Following the rock concert all of the kids went back to their bunks to pack, sadly.  We handed out all leftover money in the kids’ bank accounts and they collected all of their belongings at the different departments at camp- arts & crafts, skatepark, sports, music, etc.

Tonight we have our annual ILC banquet in the dining room.  Instead of eating cafeteria style, the kids will all sit at the tables of their choice and the kitchen staff will bring the food out to the tables.  We’ll play music and there will be some dancing, lots of picture taking, and some awards will be presented after dinner.

After the banquet, weather permitting, we will go down to the waterfront where each bunk will take a candle onto the lake and make a bunk wish together.  Following this we will burn the “Island Lake 2014” sign on the water and we’ll sing some camp songs, including our ILC alma mater.  We will end the waterfront portion of the night with a big firework display.

Once the lakeside events are complete, we will all head into the theater to watch the summer 2014 Island Lake video yearbook.  The yearbook is a compilation of the entire summer here at camp.  After camp we will make duplicates of the yearbook and send them to every ILC family.

Although it will be late, we’ll allow all of our campers to make one last trip to the canteen to eat their hearts one final time.  Based on how late the yearbook runs we will decide when everyone’s curfew will be.

And that’s about it for the Island Lake Summer 2014 blogs.  It’s been a pleasure writing for all of you every day.  I hope you enjoyed reading my blogs as much as I enjoyed writing them for all of you.  We hope your children all come home “happy campers” tomorrow, healthy, sort of clean, and with all of their personal belongings.  Our office here at camp will remain open for a couple more weeks so if you need to contact us, just give us a call here at the camp number.

It’s been the most amazing, fantastic, wonderful summer, and until next year when we can all be together once again, ILC U THERE!!!

Today is our last day of majors and minors for summer 2014. Hard to believe that camp is almost over! It truly feels like yesterday when our 1st session buses rolled into camp to drop off our campers. We are happy to tell you that the weather has improved a bit since yesterday. The temps are finally warming up again and the blankets are going back into the bunks (lol, as opposed to our campers walking around wrapped up in them yesterday).

For those of you with children here at camp for the 3rd session, please remember that camp ends on Monday, August 18th. The buses should all arrive at their designated bus stops around 11:30am- 12:00pm, give or take a half hour for traffic. Please arrive on time to pick up your children. If you do not live near a bus stop and you are picking up your children here at camp, please arrive at camp no later than 10am.

This morning our Canoe and Kayak campers left for an overnight trip down the Delaware River. It should be a fun day for them relaxing on the river and later this evening pitching a tent and camping out overnight under the stars. Our Mountain Bikers also had their end of the session race here in and around camp today.

Our camper magicians put on a Magic Show during our 3rd minor today. Campers signed up to watch the show in our magic building. This afternoon we had yet one more baseball game for our 6th-8th grade boys here at camp. They played hard and they played well.

One more exciting event that went on here at camp today- our Skatepark Competition! Campers of all levels, beginners to advanced, on skateboards and rollerblades, participated in this competition and had a blast doing so. Fun events for campers with all different activity interests here at Island Lake!

Today’s special feature,…a MISH-MASH VARIETY OF ACTIVITIES! Enjoy the photos!

Tonight’s evening activity is our musical performance of “Big”.  We’re looking forward to seeing our younger and older campers perform on stage for all of their friends.

We have only one more full day left for summer 2014 here at Island Lake.  Our blogs will continue, even after camp ends, and will run all year long on a weekly basis.  Be sure to continue reading them throughout the fall, winter, and spring months.  If any of your children have written anything about their summer here at Island Lake that they’d like to share with their camp family, I’m happy to post it in the blog.  Just email the info to me at wendy@islandlake.com.  I’ll remind you later on about this, as well.

Enjoy your last full day of peace and quiet in your homes before your children invade it,…uh, I mean return to you on Monday.  We have one more blog to go while our campers are still here for this Island Lake camp season.  Until then, ILC U THERE!

Hi Island Lake families!  Our teen trip campers are all back safely and they had the time of their lives in Canada this past week.  Now they’re back to their majors & minors again with the rest of our campers.

Today’s weather is freezing cold.  Temps not needed, it’s just plain cold.  Lol, no really, it was supposed to hit a high of the mid 60’s today but it didn’t feel like it.  Where did the summer weather go because we want it back!

Regardless of the weather, we prevail and camp still goes on.  Today was COUNSELOR SWITCH DAY!  Yes, you heard me correctly, our counselors all switched bunks.  The boys went over to the girls side and the girls went over to the boys side.  Jeez, you should see what these female campers did to their male counselors.  Dans became Danielles, Michaels became Mikaylas, and Jons became Janes.  I’ll spare you the details and refrain from showing you photos of what these poor male counselors look like today.  Let’s just say, Miss ILC magnified by about 100!

Today we also had a special treat for our magic kids as they took a trip to the Houdini Museum.  They enjoyed seeing special Houdini exhibits and they took a magical tour around the museum to check out all of the special collectibles that they have there.  A famous magician put on a fantastic show for our campers and even made one child levitate!

Special feature of the day,…THEATER,…on stage and behind the scenes!

Tonight’s evening activity is our third and final summer 2014 Circus Show!  We’ll have lots of photos for you to check out tomorrow on our daily summer photos.  Until then, ILC U THERE!

Hi ILC family and friends!  I just want to let all parents of kids who went on the teen trip know that we returned to camp safely last night a little after 8pm.  Our campers had the most AMAZING, SPECTACULAR, FANTASTIC, FUN, FAB, INCREDIBLE (Did I get my point across yet?) 4 days they could ever ask for.  From Canada Wonderland Amusement Park to the Toronto Aquarium to Jet Boating in Niagara to the Maid of the Midst, everything was a lot of fun, and why?  Because our campers were amongst all of their camp friends!  And anyone who knows anything about summer camp knows that there is nothing out there in the world like camp friendships.  Inexpiable unless you experience it, but camp friendships are just so dear and special to so many for the rest of their lives.

More to come about today at Island Lake in this evening’s blog, especially about our Counselor Switch Day here at camp today!  I just wanted to let our families know that we returned to camp with the same number of children that we left camp with.  Lol!  We will post photos from the trip in our daily summer photos later today.

Lastly, although your children may not bring home any leftover money from the trip, they’re sure to bring home some great souvenirs and memories of our days in Toronto and Niagara Falls.  Until later this evening, ILC U THERE!

Happy Thursday, everyone! Today was our final Lazy Day of the summer. The weather was perfectly mild all day; not too cold and not too hot. We went through a touch of rain during the early evening but nothing that interfered with our activities.

Our campers slept in for the final time and enjoyed a wonderful brunch prepared by our fantastic kitchen staff. As a special treat for the last Lazy Day of the summer, we took our Group 4 and 5 campers to Nathaniel Cole Park located in Binghamton for a day of swimming, beach volleyball, ultimate Frisbee and a cookout prepared by our one and only, Matt Stoltz. Groups 1, 2 and 3 all went to the movies and feasted on popcorn and candy. Our film of choice was Earth to Echo and the general opinion around the bunks this evening was that it was a fantastic film.

Tonight’s evening activities are groups:

Group 1 Boys & Girls: Video Scavenger Hunt; Group 2 Boys & Girls: Dodgeball Tournament; Group 3 Boys & Girls: Gaga Tournament; and our Groups 4 and 5 didn’t make it back from their fun-filled Nathaniel Cole adventure until almost Canteen time!!

And finally, this evening at nearly 8:00 on the button we welcomed back our Teen Trippers. I have heard nothing but rave reviews on the trip, and equally as important, we heard nothing but rave reviews on our campers behavior! Two more days left of majors and minors before Banquet Day!!! Where did the summer go? Until then, ILC U THERE!