Welcome back to “The Blog: 2013”! We have a lot of exciting events coming up in the next few months and we will be sharing all the ‘scoop’ with you here.  This past Sunday we had our annual Group Scoop Orientation Session for new campers and their parents at the Double Tree Hotel in Fort Lee, NJ. We always say “you’re only new until the next person shows up”. And it proved to be true again; as many of this summer’s new campers showed up.

It did not take long for our new families to fell comfortable, welcomed and part of the Camp Towanda Family after being with us for just two hours! Each camper was inaugurated with an imitation unofficial Chef Jonesy chocolate chip cookie (of course, also available in Gluten-Free) and assigned a buddy from the older group campers of the Club or Dorm. The room was transformed into Camp Towanda-land. Buddies gave their campers a kind of virtual tour on our life-sized camp map and you could already feel the connections everyone was making. After meeting some new faces (and even new groupmates), we all enjoyed a fun, informative and interactive orientation by Mitch! Then Matt Miller led us in a Camp Towanda icebreaker favorite “Bear- Fish- Mosquito”. Cheering, smiles and silliness were everywhere. Before you knew it, we had declared a winner (go Maxwell) as he was carried on the shoulders of the Club boys. As always, our Dorm girls led Girls’ camp in the cheer “We had fun. We had fun!” Towanda spirit at its best.

Overall it was a very special day. We are so excited about the new members of our family (campers and parents). We also received so much positive feedback about our Dorm girls and Club boys and were so impressed by their care, concern, attention, interaction and love of Camp Towanda. They really helped welcome the new campers and reassure the parents. They are already making a big difference and impact on camp as our eldest campers!

Group Scoop was yet another big kick off to the Summer of 2013. We cannot wait to get to camp and begin to see our new campers start their journey. We also cannot wait to watch the Dorm and Club continue to lead the camp with their spirit, respect, camaraderie, maturity and love of camp and each other. A great sisterhood and brotherhood…which is what Camp Towanda is all about.

Check out the official Group Scoop photo album here! Enjoy.