Happy 4th! Now Where Have You (...okay, I) Been?

5 weeks is a long time and it has been that long since I last checked in from the front lines of Pok-O. Those 5 weeks have been chock full. Nine schools came to Pok-O for day and multi-day trips in the short 15 days of June that we are open for groups. These are the clients who have been coming to Pok-O for years and always keep theses prime, early summer dates. In June you can hear the plants growing here. The nights are cool and the days are breezy and warm. It is the best time of the year and, fortunately, I am able to spend most of it outside teaching, in my natural environment, pun intended. But seriously, the days of June are not only full. Each day we are hosting nearly our maximum number of students, thankfully pulling me from behind the desk and out in front of a group of students. No year at PMOEC would be complete without the second trip of the year by Rosemary Reader and her wonderful students, a spring tradition. Since I started at Pok-O, I have seen her twice a year with the same genuine desire to make her students' experience, as well as her craft as a teacher, as deep and meaningful as it can be. She draws out the best in the PMOEC staff and we thank her for that. So do her students. As June marched forward there were many other teachers and groups who came for their annual visit but none of them has made more visits than our last client of the year, Mayfield Elementary. Historically, written documentation is not the strong suit of PMOEC but one thing is never in debate, no matter whose oral history you are hearing; Mayfield has been coming every year that PMOEC has been in existence. That's over 35 trips from the same school. This year Mayfield came with nearly 60 students and over 20 chaperones. It is atypical for a group to bring nearly more than one chaperone per every 3 students, but this school boasts a generation of parents who came to Pok-O! Few other clients can come close to matching Mayfield's civic pride and sense of duty, much less their longevity at POk-O. On this, our nation's birthday, it is nice to reflect on an All-Americal town like Mayfield. But now to the unsettling time at Pok-O for an outdoor educator. For, while students are currntly at every turn throughout the acreage of Pok-O, they are all here with the summer camp and are not under my watch. It is an eery comfort to see games, hear laughter and feel the good vibes throughout the grounds and have nothing to do with it. Still, in my little niche carved out of the summer camp phenomenon, I sit with the mission of PMOEC moving me forward. Their will be hiring, their will be programming changes, their will be grant writing, and their will be a wedding! The next 5 weeks will be as full as the last and, most importantly, the focus turns to the next school year and forming the next community of dynamic, lighthearted, hard-working, dedicated, inventive and curious instructors and staff to carry the message of outdoor education further. Have a safe and happy holiday. Until the next time...

It's On Like Donkey Kong

Memorial Day weekend always is the beginning of the end for the PMOEC spring season. The Adirondack Scholarship group comes to Pok-O over the weekend and hosts a fundraiser that jointly benefits summer camp and the outdoor ed center. Its a great gathering of the old camp family and the new PMOEC crew and, collectively, we all look forward to the future vision for Pok-O. This year was a record setting year with the group bringing in over $9000 for the beneficiaries. Thank you to all of the volunteers and organizers of this wonderful event. PMOEC came back to work the Monday of the holiday weekend and spent the day learning about the local history of the Champlain Valley through the historical reenactments at Fort Ticonderoga. As people who do our fair share of reenactments ourselves, it was a great learning experience for our staff. And now, the final push is underway. We have a long-standing client from Canada onsite right now and will have groups here every day through Friday the 8th. Yesterday I celebrated my 37th birthday with pigpen construction, hiking and an Underground Railroad simulation. If you have to work a 13 hour workday on your birthday, you couldn't ask for more. Next week will be our busiest of the spring so I'm not sure I'll have time to post. I'm sure all of you will be hungry for more PMOEC lore, so I'll try and make time. Until then...

Eye of the Storm

There is an eerie calm at Pok-O these days. Only 15 kids are onsite right now and a day group with a great history with us will be arriving later this morning. The staff has hit their stride for the spring and the weather has done nothing but agree with us for the past few days. As I write this, I worry that I am jinxing it and the skies will part, dumping thunder and lightning and buckets of rain on us as a penalty for my comfort. Nonetheless, the grass is on its spring schedule, we are out of work project days, the kitchen has been moved form the Pok-O Queen to Robinson Hall in lower camp and we are focusing solely on groups, groups, groups- with the exception of next week's SEAD day which will be recounted with humorous detail in next week's blog post. I am feeling an little underwhelmed with myself as I look at the small amount of space filled of this available block, but no news is no news. Until next week...

It Continues to Spring (or Sprung?)

Thunderstorms came. Yesterday, another notch on the post of "what defines spring" was violently slashed as lightning dotted the turbulent skies in the middle of the afternoon. As we began our afternoon activities, we heard the first rumblings and quickly acted switching one group's class and altering three others. Of course, this is not a unique situation (have you ever been in the North Country in May?) and being prepared for severe weather is part of our M.O. But, just like the first two-inch snowfall in November gets everyone anxious enough to go out and buy-up all the milk and bread in the North Country, the first spring storm literally gets my hair on end. By the end of the afternoon, the clouds had parted and the sun began to quickly dry out the fields. BY early-evening the immediate forecast looked solid and we were able to get the students up Bare Mountain to watch another beautiful sunset. Last Saturday we had the second annual yard sale and it was a great success. THe weather was amazing and the signs that Abby created were noticeable and persuasive. All day long we had a steady stream of customers; true yard salers looking for the ultimate deal mixed with locals just out on a beautiful day. Also on Saturday we welcomed two new interns, Molly and Daniel. We have expanded the internship program for the first time in a while and are happy to welcome Molly back into the Pok-O family and welcome Daniel for the first time. They have already made contributions and will be a valuable resource for the rest of the month. Enjoy the warm temperatures and we'll talk next week. Until then...

YARD SALE!!!!

Its our last week of work project days for the spring season. Starting Monday we have day and overnight groups every weekday for the remainder of the season- and some weekends! But this week, we are focusing on animals and cleaning and preparing for the rest of the season. There are a couple of notable occurrences that you should know about if you want to keep up on those happenings that truly give you an eye into that which is PMOEC. First, today a handful of Instructors went to Seton Academy to recreate some of the programming that they had originally designed for the "Shine On!" Conference in Plattsburgh in late April. Although our mission creates a vision of our center being rooted in the outdoors, our ability to talk to students and reach then through debrief sessions crosses all kinds of borders. Thus, the staff members went to Seton to perform some skits pertaining to topics that encompass the struggles of being a twee-aged student. Tomorrow, we will once again take our show on the road- this time to Corinth New York. A long time supporter of PMOEC is a teacher at the High School in Corinth and whenever the students need to build teambuilding skills, we are called into service. Lastly, on Saturday we have our second annual yard sale. I just unloaded the most recent carload of goods donated for this wonderful event and you have to come over to see what we've got. Until then...

Nature- It's All Around Me

This past week was our busiest of the early season at PMOEC and, thus, I was able to spend more time with kids then I normally do. While the kids were the focus, there was no denying the beauty of spring creeping into our acreage. Walking up to the sensory course, the students and I marveled at the multitude of deer tracks along the side of Reber Rd. We talked about the way to identify these distinctive prints and the kids found more and more. In the forest we saw evidence of over-zealous plants. It was clear that some of the trillium had come up in the week of 80-degree temperatures early in March only to be thwarted by the nights of snow and frost that followed. Other, more shy plants that hadn't been comfortable enough to show their leaves at the first sign of warm temperatures are now standing proud and true. I spotted my first fiddleheads and learned that the translation to French is nearly direct, where they call them violin heads. This of course was an 'aha moment' for me, realizing that the word fiddle refers to the instrument, not the action that it appears the plant is performing as it unfurls upward. Red Efts are everywhere, derailing all of our class introductions because nothing is more interesting than a bright orange salamander walking across a dark asphalt road. This week we have another wonderful group down from Canada and are continuing to watch the leaves on the trees thicken the forest, changing the look of all of our picturesque views at PMOEC. Don't forget that on Saturday the 12th we are going to have our second annual PMOEC Yard Sale. We have a plethora of items; from housewares to clothes to sporting goods to I don't know what. All proceeds will help to ensure that we are able to continue to share wonderful spring moments with groups for years to come. Until next week...

Time for One Breath, But No More!

We are in the midst of the type of week that we always want to have at PMOEC. On Monday we had a group of French Canadian students come for 5 days. The school is Seminaire St. Marie and they come twice every year. This group is making their first trip to our center and will be back at Pok-O next year when they are in the next section of the english language program at their school. Then, on Wednesday morning, another 52 kids came from another school, also from the province of Quebec, who will be staying through Friday. So now, we are hosting nearly 100 clients at PMOEC; the dorms are full, the dining hall is rocking and the staff is full out. I've said it before and I'll say it again: this staff is wonderful. They are getting to work at 7AM and leaving at 10PM every day. They are helping out in the kitchen, even when they aren't supposed to, they are helping each other and are still delivering amazing lessons morning, noon and night. But that's all I've got time to say. I'm headed back to PMOEC in a few minutes to teach a great orienteering class designed in-house by Leah and can't wait to get back in and see these appreciative kids. See you next week...

The Super Bowl of Pranks

In High School pranks were status symbols. In the days leading up to graduation in the spring, the seniors were given a lot of freedom at nights. Many days, the student body started the day admiring the previous night's work; a teacher's car filled with shoes in the courtyard, the headmaster's office meticulously reset on one of the floating docks, a false arrest orchestrated with the assistance of the local police department. The list is endless and hilarious. I'm sure you can tell that I revel in these tricks and love to tell the tales, perhaps even to a fault.
Apparently, the staff had gotten wind of this obsession and decided to set-up a prank of their one. Alas, in the planning of this one, I was not able to share in the excited anticipation because this particular prank was going to be at my expense. Apparently the original plan was for April 1st, but the actual execution was on this past Monday morning, a perfect day as the staff all started work a few hours before me that day. When I arrived at work and came up the stairs, I came into my office and, where my desk chair normally sat, was a toilet. No the water was not hooked up and, no, there was nothing in the bowl; but there it was. It was as clean as an old toilet that has been living underneath of one of the barns onsite can be. Quietly, brightly and stoutly, it mocked me.
So what did I do? I sat down. I checked my email. I considered this effort. And I laughed. Out loud. How could I just let this pass without really enjoying it. I was touched to be pranked. It was truly hilarious.
I hope that you work in a place that: a) will not look poorly upon a friendly prank being played that does not take away from your work productivity and b) has a team of people that have the kind of relationship I have with my staff where a toilet in your office brings you to tears.

Here We Go!

Yes, I know; I missed a week. I am sure one's of you are disappointed. But, the spring season was dropped into 4th gear, as it always is, on day one. The entire instructing staff and Krista spent a few days in the woods last week bonding, eating, hiking and getting to know each other in a way that you only get to know each other when you are sleeping shoulder to shoulder with your co-workers on a sub-zero night. After two glorious days of hiking on Nun-da-ga-o and the backside of Hurricane Mountain, we woke to an inch and a half of snow on the third day that cancelled our plans to do some rock climbing, but the trip was an amazing success. We all came back worn out, but extremely happy about the time we spent together. Emily swore that she would never go back inside again. A great success for all. The time we spent on the top of Hurricane Mountain the first afternoon was as calming and fulfilling as any hike I have done as an employee of PMOEC. We all took time by ourselves pondering the horizon, mentally mapping our whereabouts relative to the local mountains nearby Pok-O and filling our internal tanks, readying ourselves for the spring.
And this week? Well, those full tanks are running smoothly as we host Spring Break Camp. Thus far, the weather has held and the kids have had a great time. Today is a full day hike with all of the groups heading out to various points in the High Peaks to get a taste of the phenomenal feelings that we were all able to experience as a staff just a few days ago. Get yourselves out there too. Its a great time of year. In the meantime, enjoy this photo that Emily took from the top of Nun-da-ga-o and don't worry; she did come back with us. Until next week...

Welcome Krista!

The staff of PMOEC is starting to get back to work at Pok-O. Work projects that were left undone at the beginning of the month are getting finished. The feeling of an impending snowfall is thankfully overshadowed by the inevitability of warmer spring temperatures. Even the plants that got an early start during last week's un-seasonally high temperatures are fighting the good fight, knowing that today's snow and this week's dip in the mercury are only short lived. Spring is blooming and so is our next season at PMOEC. All of the staff, save Denise, are back on site and we are shaking off the rust before we begin spring training, officially, on April 2nd. This week we also welcomed our newest employee, Krista Goodman. Krista joins us as our Chef for the spring and she couldn't be a better fit for PMOEC. She has spent her first few days in the kitchen cooking scrumptious lunches and crunching numbers to create a local, healthy and varied menu for the spring. Its going to be a great season.