95 Summers!

Camp Agawak’s year round staff wishes to extend our appreciation to you for your support and loyalty throughout the years. It is you, the campers, staff, parents and alumnae that make Camp Agawak the magical place it has been for 95 summers!   I hope all of you had a festive and memorable Holiday Season.

Chicago Reunion and New Camper Orientation

There are a few upcoming important dates I’d like to remind you about.  On January 11th we are hosting our annual Chicago reunion at Pinstripes bowling alley in Northbrook, IL at 12:45am. If you plan on attending the reunion you need to respond to your invite sent via email if you haven’t done so already.  This will help us coordinate lanes for camper bowling. As always we will showcase our 2014 summer highlights video created by Claire Whittle. Bring $15 if you want to take a copy home with you.  Beverages and snacks will be provided. Bring your bowling socks and a giant Agawak smile. 

A little more than a month later (February 8th @ 11am) we’ll host a new camper orientation at the Northbrook Renaissance Hotel on Skokie Blvd for campers and rookies coming to Agawak for their first overnight camp experience. You will have an opportunity to meet other new campers and leave feeling excited about the summer ahead. New campers and rookies should report to the Skokie room located on the lower level of the hotel directly across from the stairway. Parent’s this is a great chance for you to meet with me again & to help calm your nerves. I will go over some information that you will find helpful to get your camper ready for a fun and exciting camp adventure.

Everything Summer Camp

Many of you are already aware that the CLOZ Company, who in the past provided our camp clothing, has gone out of business. I have decided to go with a company in Boyd, Wisconsin called Everything Summer Camp. We are currently working together on clothing designs and camp gear. Please feel free to go on their website www.everythingsummercamp.com and have a look around. We will soon have a link on our website that will take you to the Camp Agawak - Everything Summer Camp homepage.  They will be open and up for business year round and ship orders out in a timely manner. You will be able to order Agawak t-shirts, sweatshirts, camp gear & other fun Agawak merchandise from them beginning in February…. if not sooner. I will send out an email to all our camp families when they have completed and approved our designs. I’m hoping for flawless customer service this time around.

Traveling

January and February are busy travel months for me. I will be heading to Australia and Mexico to reunite with staff and conduct interviews’ with potential new staff.  If I would have known I would have so many of my international counselors returning this summer I could have saved myself a very long plane ride.  However, I’m looking forward to reconnecting with current and former counselors. What a great feeling to know Agawak has close to 900 former counselors living in the land down under who love this place just as much as all of you. Agawak has friends from across the world and it warms my heart when I think of how much Agawak has impacted not only the lives of our campers but also the lives of our staff.  In fact, my former waterfront director, “Safety Sue” Halle recently reunited this past summer with former counselor Sharon Russell from Sydney.  Sue shared with me that they picked up right where they left off….. 20 years ago. Camp friendships are meaningful and significant and the reason why so many of us come to camp year after year.  When we are younger I think we often have little insight into just how important these camp friendships are until we grow older and head off to college.  So nurture your camp friendships during the winter and reach out to your cabin and camp friends to let them know you’re thinking of them. Always feel free to call or email the camp office if you are in need of an email, home phone number or email address of camp friends.  We are here to happily connect you.

Hip Hip Hooray!

I am happy to announce the following staff have already turned in their contracts.  More are on the way!!
Kiera Abramson     Heather Adolph     Danielle Bassock     Alana Bercu          Taylor Cohen     Sophia Coplan        Kim Emmerich       Jamie Granick         Emily Gurner        Angela Gutman      Sydney Hirsch         Jessica Hosey        Kiley Isaacson        Nicole Kleifield      Melissa Kramer   Meredith Leon      Samantha Levin      Laura Meadows       Sarah Mossler       Gabrielle Pascal   Skylar Prizant       Gabby Proeh          Sydney Salit             Lindsay Saltzberg    Emily Saturno        Nikki  Sheinkop     Sylvia Siegel           Sam Soloway           Julia Turner           Spencer Weiss Chloe Weiss         Julia Zazove

CHECK OUT ALL THE INTERNATIONAL RETURNEES!!
Olivia Ambrose     Dani Baez          Alice Brown       Kat Loiacono       Mel Murray
Rachel Oakley       Bianca Woods    Amy Worth      Zara Ostrom        Erana Parker

Agawak Alumnae

Please make note the Agawak Alumnae Foundation will be hosting a luncheon on Saturday, January 10th from 12:00-3:00 pm at the Harp Inn in Northfield, IL.  Please contact the camp office for more information.  We’re hoping for a good Alumnae turnout. I’ll be raffling off some good Agawak gear and giveaways!!

New Equipment

Bouncy, Trouncy, Flouncy, Pouncy - fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, but the most wonderful thing about Agawak is … our new 40’ Tumble Track for gymnastics.  I know it doesn’t rhyme but it’s Bouncy & Fun!

Last of the forms

The first week in March you should be on the lookout for your annual pre-camp packets to arrive via snail mail.  It will contain important forms, packing list, health forms and much more to get your camper(s) ready for the summer ahead.  It looks like this spring will be our last mailing of pre-camp packets.  Currently we are strongly considering offering on-line registration where you can fill out forms and send information electronically through CampMinder. Some of you are familiar with CampMinder and I’d welcome any feedback positive or negative from those of you who have already used the system.

 A little remodeling

Last week, I peeked my head into cabins D and J and I barley recognized them after the new flooring was laid and the bathrooms were redone.  We did such a nice job on them that I think they may be too nice for camp!  Brandon and Tyler are now off to tackle the old lodge floor that needs to be leveled, refurnished, varnished and polyurethaned.  The floor is uneven and our friendly chipmunks are finding creative ways to enter the lodge via the thin floorboards. Although camp is dormant right now, you can see we certainly are not.

Welcome!!

I have yet more wonderful new campers to announce before the end of the year.  I can’t wait to share with them the magic of Camp Agawak.  Make sure to seek out our new campers this summer to welcome them to our camp family.

Yvonne Dillard       Gabriele  Bridgen         Daisy Handmaker         Sadie Handmaker    Jada Jacobson               Emma Jacobson         Quincy Katz          Sophie Smithson          Amelie Smithson

NEWS FLASH

Have you heard that Camp Agawak’s Family Camp has added a

SECOND SESSION – August 22-29th

Well, here’s even better news, any Agawak Alumnae reserving a cabin for our second session post camp will get a 30% discount on their stay for 2015.  Please contact the camp office for registration information.

Camper & Staff January Birthdays

Natalie Newmark-3   Noa Cooper-4          Hannah Levitz-4         Georgie Seifman-5
Julia Turner-6           Annabelle Mass-6       Dylan Levine-7           Katherine Makarska-7        Danielle Bassock-7    Alana Bercu-8            Nicole Segal-9           Grace Kalmin-9
Julia Johnson-9         Emily Koroneos-9       Ashley Strauss-11     Wes Gabel-11
Silvia Flores-12         Nicholas Garcia-13     Jessica Schulhof-16     Samantha Himel-16
Claire Lister-16        Jillian Giller-18           Lyla Adelstein-21        Lindsey Bellowe-21
Zoe Levitan-21        Kayla Morris-23          Mira Adelstein-23       Haley Sachs-23
Stella Kessel-23       Samantha Soloway-23  Dia Chaimovitz-24      Casey Luchs-25
Jessica Zelen-25       Aliza Zelen-27            Lily McSheffery-30

I guess that’s it for now. Camp is at rest & taking a long winter’s nap until another camping season arrives.  I continue to count down the days.  Please email us any off season pictures you want us to post on Facebook and Twitter. Hope to see many of you at the Chicago reunion in a few weeks.  May 2015 be filled with happiness, love and good health for you and your family.

All the best

Mary