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<\/p>\nThe day following the Olympics finale is always low-key. Coming down from 3 full days of physical activity, intense competition, noisy cheering and chanting, and the emotional rollercoaster of rooting for your team to win, can be exhausting in and of itself! Thus, today’s late sleep could not have come at a better time.<\/p>\n
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Following breakfast and inspection (we still have to keep those cabins in tip-top shape), campers launched directly into a double-SFA period. Campers scattered across camp, enjoying the leisurely pace of the day. Some played pickleball, others shot hoops in the HBC. Many just wanted to play table top games and chill.<\/p>\n
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After 3 days of blogging about Olympics, from the break-out all the way to the closing ceremony, it’s a nice change of pace to write less about the details of the camp day and more about the general vibe at camp! In lieu of details, I’m going to tell you a story.<\/p>\n
In the summer of 2016, a rising 3rd grader attended an Explorers weekend at Owego. Back then, Owego offered overnight “try-it” weekends for prospective campers, in addition to what we now call play days. The boy arrived at Owego with his parents, and eagerly ran off with the Explorer counselors and campers while his parents toured camp with Kyle. Within the first 2 minutes of that tour, the parents were ready to sign on the dotted line. When Kyle described Frontier Week as an opportunity for the campers to go out into the woods, cook food, and build shelters, the boy’s parents knew that Owego was the best camp for their son. Further evidence in favor of this conclusion emerged at the end of the weekend, when the boy talked about what an amazing experience he’d had even though it RAINED THE ENTIRE TIME HE WAS THERE.<\/p>\n
Fast forward 9 years.<\/p>\n
That boy became an Owegan as a rising 4th grader, while his Mom joined the staff two summers later and his 6-year-old brother tagged along for the experience. All 3 of us are now Old-Timers.<\/p>\n
The boy is now a second-year counselor in his 9th summer at Owego. As boys tend to do, he has grown into a man and graduated from high school. He will leave for college in a few weeks. I can say, without hesitation, that he would not be the person he is now had he not spent his summers at Owego. Owego has been a place for him to hone his sense of humor, to push himself beyond his comfort zone, to navigate challenging friendships, to advocate for himself, to stand up for others who are different, to learn how to pick out his own clothes, and to have the opportunity to be a leader. All of these gifts from his time at Owego will serve him well as he leaves the nest and starts the next chapter of his life in college.<\/p>\n
Why did I share this story? Well, for the first time in 7 years, I’ll be spending the second half of the summer away from Owego. There is packing and moving and lots and lots of crying to do. The blog will continue, though it will go from being posted daily to whenever I can see well enough to type through my tears! As we transition to the next half of Summer 2026, I hope you’ll continue to follow along for the ride. There are so many exciting things still to come!<\/p>\n
But we’re not finished with First Session just yet! We had a social tonight, campfires tomorrow night, Scotty’s show on Saturday, another sibling visit on Sunday PLUS the World Cup final, and divisional awards and a closing slide show on Monday. There is still so much to say, and you can count on this blog to be the place to say it!<\/p>\n
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The day following the Olympics finale is always low-key. Coming down from 3 full days of physical activity, intense competition, noisy cheering and chanting, and the emotional rollercoaster of rooting for your team to win, can be exhausting in and … Continue reading