Where have we all gone?

Well, as Molly said, the Pok-O outdoor ed staff have all disappeared it seems. But nevertheless, camp will not be quiet! Starting on Monday, all the campers will arrive and camp will be bustling again for the next 7 weeks.

Most of the outdoor ed staff you know and love through the blog will not be there however. With one exception!

Brian DeGroat has decided to extend his stay yet again by becoming a summer camp counselor. Brian will be living in the intermediate section, which houses boys ages 10-12 (or thereabouts, I can't remember the exact ages). He will be teaching drama, frisbee, and drama set construction. He is then returning to Pok-O in the fall as Assistant Director. Hooray!

Molly Smyrl has returned to the City of Brotherly Love to continue her work at the Crow's Nest Nature Preserve. She will be helping run the summer day camp there. I'm not sure exactly what she does, but I know she gets really dirty and has lots of fun doing it! Molly will also be returning in the fall as the Community Programs Manager. That means lots of cool things will be happening at Pok-O that everyone should come out and participate in! Hooray!

Liz Pierson has decided to travel the world this summer. She will be traveling to Sint-Truiden, Belgium for 5 weeks to work on an organic farm. This is all happening thanks to the WWOOF Program. That stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. Check them out, it's a really cool organization. Liz will also be returning in the fall as naturalist. Hooray!

Viv.Poit, after spending 10 years in the US has decided to move back to her home country of Brazil. We are all totally jealous and planning trips to go visit her. She leaves July 15, leaving our summer to go back to wintertime! We'll miss you Viv! But have fun! Hooray!

Ginny Tice has gone back to school to finish up her triple major. We had a lot of fun working with Ginny and hope she had a great time as well. I've heard rumors that either Hawaii or the moon (okay, maybe just Hawaii) is next on her agenda. Good luck! Hooray!

Tim Oprazdek (I probably spelled that wrong, I apologize) is back being the director of the Pioneer section of Island Lake Camp in PA. He is in charge of camp craft things as well as the high and low ropes courses, and team building areas. We aren't sure where Tim's next adventures will take him, but we hope if that path leads to the North Country he'll come back and visit! Hooray!

Mike Gast has resumed his position as chef of Pok-O Summer camps. Cooking up some good food, and announcing the rule of the day, hooray!

And then there is Stites...Stites will be working in the office everyday, booking groups and making sure we all have jobs in the fall. Lots of computer work, and lots of phone calls. At least he gets to go outside and mow the lawn for Shai once a week. Good luck Stites! Hooray!

So that's it for us! Leave a comment and tell us what YOU are doing for the summer. Maybe we can share stories when we all reconvene again!

Liz

Scenes from Our Final Weeks

We had a busy final two weeks here at Pok-O. We've had a packed schedule of school groups, as well as all the tasks that come with shutting down the Outdoor Education Center for the summer and getting the summer camp up and running. Most of the Outdoor Ed staff is scattering for the summer, so we won't be posting on this blog much, if at all, until we're back in August. We hope that you'll be back to read it then!

Before we go, however, we wanted to share a few pictures from the last two weeks...

These kids are at the top of Rattlesnake Mountain, one of 4 mountains that they hiked in 3 days to earn their Pok-O Patch. 

These girls are showing off the edible plants that they learned about in an early-morning nature walk. 

A campfire at Intermediate Point...

Snapping Turtles have been coming out of the pond to lay their eggs. This one came all the way up the hill to outside Robinson Dining Hall!

This one is of the staff at our end-of-the-season dinner. We're all wearing the t-shirts that Viv made for us as a final gift. We had a blast this spring, and we hope that everyone else who came to Pok-O did as well. 

See you in the Fall!

Bouquet River Canoe Trip

On Saturday, June 6th, we had another successful community event! People came from Plattsburgh and Jay, both in New York, to canoe on the Bouquet River.

The weather cooperated by providing lots of sunshine. There was also a little wind, which managed to make the trip downstream more difficult than the trip upstream…just enough wind to keep things interesting, though, nothing dangerous.

After canoeing down to Lake Champlain, we beached our canoes and ate our lunches. The children, and adults, played in the sand and took closer looks at the birds nearby.

As we headed back up the river to Willsboro, we couldn’t help but notice the active wildlife. There was a turtle taking its offspring for a swim and also a duck followed by 9 ducklings! It was an exciting experience!

I am moving away from the Adirondacks in a few weeks, but days like that will keep my mind here for a long time.

1812 Homestead Open House

This past weekend we opened up the 1812 Homestead for a community Open House. We had about 40 people stop by to make shingles and candles, tour the Inn, taste hearth-baked cornbread, play old-fashioned games, and attend a lesson in the one-roomed schoolhouse. We had a great time, and hope that everyone else did as well! Here's a photo of Master Carpenter Brian showing a visitor how to split a shingle out of a log:

We still have a few events left in our spring season, most notably our Summer Picnic on Sunday, June 14th! We'll have swimming, boating, hiking, games, dinner, and a campfire...if you're interested in attending, e-mail me at programs@pmoec, or just show up that day!