Month: May 2018

Hi, I’m Goodwin Burgess, Tent Row 2007 (yeaahh ‘07!!), and I was a counselor in the two-week session during my TR summer and during both sessions last summer. (That’s me on the right, with Rebecca Darling.)

I had dreamed of being a counselor ever since my early years at camp. In 5th grade, Elise Landau and I actually made plans to teach arts and crafts together someday. That didn’t work out.  Having been a camper, I thought it was a little weird to be a counselor. It’s an odd transition, especially from your TR summer. It’s also very different depending on what camp you’re in; I have been a counselor in both Junior and Senior, so I’ll talk about both.

If Camp Nakanawa were an ice cream cone (just go with it), Junior would be the ice cream, and Senior would be the cone. Junior Camp is just this amazing, messy whirlwind of laughing and screaming and silliness and juicy cups while Senior has a more serious side but with plenty of giggles thrown in. I, personally, found it easier to know my place as a counselor in Junior than in Senior. You are almost like a surrogate mother in Junior while you’re this combination of friend and authority in Senior. Also, you already have relationships with the campers in Senior. I’m not going to lie, it took me a while to feel normal again. How do you act around the girls you willed stuff to, as a counselor? From watching older camper-counselors and just over the four weeks, I realized that it’s okay to still have those special friendships and “I Spy My Tie” is a game that’s just going to happen. But, you have to remember why you’re there. You are a counselor, and camp is now your job. You have responsibilities to your own bunkies, to the other counselors, to Karen and to Ann and Pepe. It’s a lot of work.Imagine you’re working on AWR, VSP and Banquet all at once for two, four or six weeks…it’s kind of like that.

But what I particularly enjoyed about being a counselor (other than the hot tub and bowling alley in the CB) was that I formed this whole new type of relationship to camp. Yeah, it takes a little adjusting, but being a counselor is amazing. You feel like you’ve really contributed to camp and like you’ve bonded with the other counselors and with your fellow ex-campers in this whole new awesome way. And I would not trade reading The Princess Bride aloud with my bunkies, bailing canoes or late night CB dance parties for anything (well, maybe the bailing canoes one). Anyway, moral of the story, camp remains paradise on earth even when you’re done being a camper. The only difference is your role in that paradise.

I hope this has been helpful. Returning TR girls, you will also be asked to watch this 20 minute video.  It will address some of the issues you might confront.  Please plan the time to watch it before you come to camp.

Smiles and Pep,

Goodwin

Hey Everyone…… My name is Val Lambert, and I am an Ever Returning Four Week Junior Nakanawa Counselor.

My first experience with Camp Nakanawa was the summer of 1971. I had just graduated from Southeastern LA. University, had a teaching job lined up for the fall but had nothing to do for the summer. A graduate-assistant, who had been to camp, told me about Camp and got me the information.

Needless to say, I was a little on the scared side since it would be the first time for me to drive over 700 miles by myself, I wasn’t sure the best route to take, I had never driven in the mountains either, and I knew no one that was going.

After arriving at the Senior Office, I could tell that this would be right up my alley. I’m an outdoorsy type person and after seeing the cabins and lake, I was on my way to being hooked. Of course, another thing that really won me over was that there were NO Mosquitoes even when you are out on the lake at night. (For a Louisiana gal, that is a BIG PLUS!!)

The friendships, the teaching, the pranks, being a Koochie, the atmosphere and the Grace of God have all been a part of the reason that I keep returning. Nakanawa has been a fabulous experience for this small town girl.

Being a teacher, made returning to camp easy because it fit in my schedule perfectly. I loved being with children, helping them with the sharing of a cabin, learning to work together to make it livable, modeling responsibility, helping them to learn to be the best that they can be, to help one another and to be happy.

I spent 4 wonderful summers at Nakanawa. Then I got married. I continued to keep in touch with my camp friends. Twenty years down the road, I had the itching to go back. I wanted my daughter to see and love camp like I had, so with my husband’s blessing in 1994 I returned with daughter at my side. She was too old to be a camper so she came to help with Jr. campers. I’ll never forget our first phone call home to her Dad. “Dad why did you let me do this!” She was miserable. She didn’t like the food, felt out of place, didn’t like the lake, or Egypt! Three weeks later, “The Spirit of Nakanawa” got her too and I was so happy for her.

I am approaching my 30th summer as a Nakanawa Counselor. I continue to come back because Ann & Pepe let me and because I feel like a special person when I’m here.

I came to camp as a counselor at age 18 (for eight weeks!), and did not know one soul at Nakanawa. I am proof that you don’t have to be a former camper to decide that spending summers at Nakanawa is not just a summer job, it is a lifestyle. Now in my 60s, I look forward all year to my time at camp. It is a Neverland where your age doesn’t matter. Everyone is young at heart.

After teaching horseback riding and Arts and Crafts in Senior Camp, I had two daughters of my own and started a whole new chapter in Junior Camp. My special passion is teaching Nature, and I am sure I have more fun than the girls do at the Nature Hut. It is my goal to have each girl become more attuned to the world of nature, more appreciative of the creatures and the beauty of the lake, more excited about hiking and adventuring, less worried about getting muddy or getting a tick; more excited about holding a snake for the first time or feeding baby ducks, less worried about germs and spiders.

I can’t wait to meet all of you!
Margaret

Hello everyone….

My mother, Sarah Hunter from Mobile boarded a train full of New Orleans girls back in the 1920’s for Nakanawa. She always talked about her love for Colonel Rice-the discipline he gave the girls and the expectations he had of them. She loved the dance program the most along with the pageants and her Valkyrie team. She began a legacy that is unbroken to this day…

4 Generations:  Lots of Lotts

My oldest sister, Sally arrived at Nakanawa in the early 1950’s, followed by my sister, Annette. They spent many happy summers at Nakanawa. They were both in Tent Row and Annette was Valkyrie Captain. Following in their footsteps, my sister, Lillis began her summers at the age of 9 in 1961, and finally I came in 1965 as the youngest (and smallest….thus the name “Tiny”). Lillis was Valkyrie Captain in Junior camp and went on to cross the lake for a few years. I spent 10 summers at Nakanawa through the late 60’s and early 70’s when camp attendance was slim. We went through the changes of 8 weeks to 7 weeks, then 6 weeks. I was in Tent Row two times-1974 and 1975. Meanwhile four of my nieces (Sally’s children) began coming to camp. My sister, Annette, sent her 2 adopted girls to camp also.

Flash forward to 1990 when I returned with my girls, Sarah and Catherine, to Nakanawa-one as a camper and one only 4 years old! My daughters went all the way through Tent Row and served as counselors also. Catherine is on the staff to this day. I have been back at camp every summer since 1990. Other nieces have also come and many great-nieces as well.
Nakanawa is part of my life and always has been. I grew up there. My friendships are long lasting and meaningful at camp. Nakanawa is where I regroup every year.  It is my retreat (though a working retreat!), my summer home in heart and soul!

Every summer when I crawl into my freshly made bed, I sigh a peaceful sigh knowing that I have once again come home.
Nakanawa is a tradition in my family that I hope continues long after I am gone. I have one granddaughter that was born last year. I hope that she will find her place at Nakanawa as have I and the other women in my family. The tradition continues!
Love,
Tiny

Casey Colwick Fisher

Camp Nakanawa Camper and Counselor

My life has been full of adventures and opportunities, especially at Camp Nakanawa! I was a Senior camper at Nakanawa for three summers, 1953 through 1955. Summer 2016 will be my 44th summer to be a Nakanawa counselor. How fortunate I am!

I first heard about Nakanawa when I was an eighth grader in Midland, Texas. Helen Hood, a good friend of Director Elisabeth Mitchell’s and a Canoeing counselor at Nakanawa, told me that she thought I would like being a Nakanawa camper. Boy, was she ever correct! After my family moved to Dallas and I met Highland Park High School friends, some of whom attended Nakanawa, I decided to give Nakanawa a try during the summer after my sophomore year. Life was great in Cabin 8! The next two summers I was a Tent Row girl and was Captain of my Amazon team in 1955. I learned so much as a camper, not only about athletics and cabin life but also about leadership. Nestled in my mind even then was the desire to pay back what had been given to me so lovingly by camp’s directors, the caring counselors, and my close friends.  Here I am with my good friend Nan Chamberlain in 1955.

My chance to become a Nakanawa counselor came in the early 1970s. Mitch and Scooter traveled to Dallas, invited me to dinner at the Dallas Country Club, and proposed that I come to Junior Camp in the summer of 1972 as one of the Head Counselors. My children, Sharon and Scott, were old enough to be campers, and during the weeks I was working in Junior Camp Scott attended Camp Hy-Lake and Sharon was a Junior camper at Nakanawa. That first summer began a long tradition of summer camp adventures and opportunities for all of us.

I was Head Counselor of Junior Camp from 1972 through 1985 and then again in 1991. After I “retired” from being Junior’s Head Counselor in 1985, I went to Senior Camp until I was asked to be Junior’s Head Counselor again in 1991 for the Two-Week and the Six-Week Sessions. Since 1991 I have counseled in Senior Camp and have had opportunities to teach classes, write the Newsletter, run camp errands in Crossville, work as a secretary in the Office, and help in the Commissary. The classes actually assigned to me have been Handbells, Golf, and Canoeing. I have assisted from time to time in Swimming, Diving, Glee Club, and Tennis. In Junior Camp my first summer as Head Counselor I was also Head of the Waterfront.  I love this picture of Lou Lloveras from 1991.

 In Junior Camp some of my favorite moments included walking through the cabin area before Taps sounded and listening to the cabin counselors tuck in their bunkies by reading to them, singing to them, playing an instrument for them, and praising them for a day well spent. I remember trying to retrieve a $500 orthodontic retainer from Lake Aloaloa after a young camper threw the retainer away in a fit of aggravation. I remember saying “We wuv you, Wug!” when it began to rain as well as allowing the children on the “Little Side” to leave the Dining Hall after lunch, put on their raincoats and rainboots, grab their umbrellas, and come to the Games Field to do their dance routine to “Singing in the Rain”! I remember spending time every night with the counselor staff as we worked on the Operetta sets in the Council House, and I remember flipping those sets during the show and getting tempera paint in my eyes! I remember the days of the small Coca-Colas which flew out of the red machine if I put a quarter in the slot. We used to get one of those Cokes, take it to the barn, and ask the horse Sundance if he would enjoy having a Coke. He would tilt his head back, give us a loose bottom lip, and down would go the Coke, complete with Sundance’s tongue trying to lap up every drop. That in itself was a singular adventure!

In Senior Camp some favorite moments for me are preparing the morning snacks so the graham crackers, apples, and yogurt will be ready for the campers when they line up at the door after third period. Hearing the Evening Entertainment laughter during Double Trouble and Human Bingo warms my heart! Listening to camp songs, blowing the starting whistle during a swimming relay race at a Water Meet, watching the fire at Council Ring and being proud of the campers who receive Recognitions in their activity classes, munching on a hamburger during a camp cookout, admiring the friendly competition and good sportsmanship of the Valkyrie and Amazon teams, oohing and aahing over the handiwork of the campers who take Arts and Crafts and Pottery, enjoying a tight tennis match, wishing I could be as good in the water as our form and distance swimmers, loving the harmonious blend of young voices when the Octet sings—all have happy niches in walls of my memory. Knowing so many Nakanawa girls as young campers, then watching them grow into Tent Row girls and eventually become members of the counselor staff, and then seeing them as young mothers with their own children beginning their lives as Nakanawa campers are among my fondest memories.

Etched above the auditorium at Highland Park High School are the words “Enter to learn, go forth to serve.” Those words have been crucial to my philosophy about how to live life, and they have been part of my personal prescription for my roles at Nakanawa. Opportunities to serve others and adventures which spark imagination await us at Camp Nakanawa this summer. I look forward to seeing you there in June!

Love,
Casey