Welcome everybody to the fourth and last entry of the 2022 CRS Times! This week was full of events, memories and emotions, which we are about to unpack here.

Meet the Editors

Leaders of the Week

Taking on the last week are our final first-year leaders of the season. This week they were challenged with many different tasks, as both campers and counselors rushed to get everything done in the final days. Read below about the themes and activities planned by the leaders of the week!

Saturday - Ori (Israel) & Laila (US-NY)

• Theme: Chaos ensues 

• What was your favorite part of your day?

  • Having fun on the makeshift slip and slide! - Ori

Sunday - Megan (US-NY) & Daniela (US-FL )& Anja (Greenland) = kill them with kindness 

• Theme: Kill them with kindness

• What was your favorite part of your day?

  • The camp wide spoon game - Daniela

Monday- Noa (Israel) & Amy (US-NJ) 

• Theme: Squid Games

• What was your favorite part of your day?

• Leading morning assemblies and revealing the theme of the day - Noa

Tuesday/Vigil day - Evelyn (US-FL) & Zoe (US-NY)

• Theme: Don’t Die 

• What was your favorite part of your day?

  • Preparing for vigils and bringing everything to our sites! - Zoe

Wednesday/Council day -Annie (US-GA) & Maha (Morocco) & Eliana (Germany)

• Theme: Burning cultural passion

• What was your favorite part of your day?

  • Ghost Stone Council! - Maha

Thursday/ last day - Julia (Ecuador) & Sigrid (Denmark) & Sora (US-CA)

• Theme: Cry A Lot 

• What was your favorite part of your day?

• Seeing everybody coming together for one last time to clean Tent Hill! - Sora

Completed Projects

This season at CRS, campers finished a number of projects around Camp, the biggest one being the main building mural! According to Helmi (Finland), who worked on the mural, “It was really rewarding when we began painting the actual mural. The most difficult part of the mural was the gridding since it was super difficult to work with and really annoying but eventually we were able to continue through.” 

Another really important mural was the pool mural. Silje (Denmark) said “My favorite part was starting to paint and seeing the painting come to life. Two challenges we faced were that we had a lack of people and lack of paint.”

Some projects that happen every year are the t-shirts and yearbook. This year, our t-shirt was designed by Mira (US-CA) and second-year Tai (US-CA). Mira said “My favorite part was brainstorming with Tai. They were fun and easy to work with, and it didn’t feel like a challenge because we were just drawing and building off each other's ideas. I also enjoyed how we were able to finally pull it together in the end. It made me so happy to see everyone wearing our creation on the last day!”

For the first time in several years, we also got to have a physical copy of our yearbook! The yearbook editors were Ashley (US-GA), Irene (US-CO), and Daani (The Netherlands). According to Ashley, “Part of the experience working in yearbook that I enjoyed the most was striving to meet the responsibility I was given and expectations of my peers. Working with my fellow editors to create a product that campers could look back on and reminiscence was both rewarding and fulfilling. It was difficult to create a yearbook that captured the entire camp experience. It seemed like we had done so many things that it was impossible to fit it all into a mere 22 pages.” 

Evening Programs

Prom:

• On Monday, first-years Keira (US-CT) and Molly (US-MN) led a prom themed meal. All throughout the day we got to see the whole community coming together to “prompose” to each other, sing and dance during this week’s theme dinner in the dining hall. Being able to share one more special moment with each other was a magical and heartwarming experience.

Trivia Night:

• Trivia Night was hosted by first-year Zoe (US-NY) and counselor Michaela (Slovakia). Campers were split into teams and asked trivia questions in several different categories, including geography and pop culture. When asked about it, Zoe said, “While it was difficult to organize excitable people into manageable groups, it was a fun and challenging experience that allowed me to grow my leadership and amiable qualities.” 

Sustainability Evening Program:

• This week we had an evening program led by counselors on the Sustainability and Action team. Spearheaded by Emilia (Finland), campers went on rotations to learn about regenerative culture, sustainable practices, and finally planting trees! We planted three new trees on the Clinton Campus, named Abby Appletree, Bartholomew, and Beyonce

Tent Switch:

For the first time in Camp history, campers from the first session decided to use some of the tent names from the second session. If campers wanted, they could flip over their rock at the assembly circle and go by the other name. Each tent also came up with a new chant for tent check. 

Vigils:

Vigils are a special event for campers where they get the chance to reflect on their entire camp journey and think about the incredible memories they have made. Second-year Sarah said,

“We usually don’t get time alone at Camp so I really appreciated the opportunity to look inward and reflect on my experiences and friendships here. I wrote for so long and thought about some really important things and just had a great time alone and in nature.”

Polls:

This week we had two polls to see what campers were interested in around Camp. First we asked them to vote for their favorite animal on campus. Here are the results!

• 1st place: Chipmunks/squirrels & frogs & fireflies

• 2nd place: Geese

• 3rd place: Chickens

• 4th place: Bunnies & Jills Dog

• 5th Place: Turkeys & Bugs & Turtles & Fuzzy Caterpillars 

Secondly, we asked campers to submit their favorite memory from the season. See what they said below:

• When people were looking for me, and I realized I am a part of CRS

• Sustainability teamwork. That’s it.

• First affinity groups

• Late night talks

• Jaehyun standing outside the broken door and saying he ran into it

• Promposals or sleeping under the stars

• Going on the hiking trip

• Rolling down the hill

• Kitchen dining teamworks

• Nature trip when the rain drowned us

• Canoeing. Especially when people fell in the lake.

Creative Writing:

An original song written by Karol (US-CA):

I sit by the campfire

And I write you a song

To remember

All the memories we made

I hate 

Crying while saying goodbye

Knowing I’ll never see you 

Again

I hate knowing I’ll say goodbye

Without saying I love you

Cause I’ll never say it to you face

I sit by the campfire 

As I’m writing this song

About how much I’ll miss you

When your gone

I’ll never

Forget your name

That beautiful face

And this mediocre place

I sit by the campfire 

As I end this song

Beautiful Little Garden

Written by Keira

4 weeks ago, 

We began to plant a garden. 

We planted many seeds, 

of friendship, 

of knowledge, 

and of dreams. 

Sprinkling them with the hopes of one day filling that garden.

But at first our hopes were met with fears.

Fear of bugs,

Of being away,

And of missing out.

So with much hesitation,

We slowly began to water our seeds.

The more we tended to our seeds,

With attention and care,

The faster we watched our seeds blossom into little sprouts.

And as we all close on our journey here,

Our sprouts have bloomed into lush flowers and plants,

that blissfully fill our once bare garden

Ready to be picked and shown to the rest of the world

And spread among those who stop to admire the beauty of our garden.

A beautiful little garden that I am so proud to be a part of.

Goodbye:

Sadly, as all good things have to come to an end, Camp is finally coming to a close. It is a bittersweet moment for everyone that’s filled with many tears and laughter. We have built several friendships and gained so many once in a lifetime memories that we will hold in our hearts. To all the amazing campers and counselors of 2022, thank you for building a compassionate community that will follow us for the rest of our lives. No matter where we all are in the world, we will forever share the love and experiences that we created here together. Goodbye everyone, and till next time!