Greetings,
This session has already been extremely action packed for Mohawk and I would just like to fill in our followers on the past three days of activities. Tuesday night following each bunks "bunk night" activity the village met in the dining hall for an explanation of the rules for the second event in "The Mohawk Games." I explained in a previous blog post about the Games, but for those of you who are just jumping on board right now I will give you a little background on the games. The spark notes version is that Mohicans will be competing in a series of events that test their mental and physical fortitude in an effort to see which one will triumph as the winner of the games. The games are a spin off of the hunger games and as such each staff member has sponsored three or four campers and the staff are able to help their campers compete in each event. The first event we had during the first week of camp was a spelling bee. Camper Etan Ginsberg outdueled 48 other Mohicans to win the event on the word 'rendezvous.'
Fast forward to Tuesday evening following bunk night and Mohawk was all set for the second event in the Mohawk Games. Mohawk staff and LIT staff worked diligently throughout the day to set up an epic arena in front of the dining hall for a battle royal similar to the one seen in the first scene of the film the Hunger Games. Every staff member and their three campers found themselves at a garbage bin which signified their own base. In the center of the 14 bases was the cornucopia (we used the war canoe) which stored many supplies which would help teams to gain more points. For instance, eggs were placed in the cornucopia and the teams that were able to retain the eggs at the end of the round were deemed the winner. Teams scored points by knocking down the other teams bases and/or by having one of the eggs found in the cornucopia at the end of the round. Staff member Neal Richardson battled valiantly and was rewarded for his courageous efforts in the cornucopia as his team scored over 100 points more than the next closest staff member.
Wednesday morning the campers were surprised to find out they would not be going to breakfast in the dining hall like they do on most days. Instead, campers made their way down the Mohawk Stairs to the waterfront to see that their staff had prepared them delicious bullseyes (eggs in toast) in addition to some other breakfast options. Campers ate and by 9 AM were ready for their waterfront session. Thanks to the waterfront staff our Mohicans were able to get in 3 periods in the morning before lunch. While the Mohicans cheered in Seneca Lake the waterfront staff was busy grilling hamburgers and hotdogs for lunch (and veggie burgers for our non-meat eating friends). Hobbies took place in the afternoon and then it was time for the evening activity.
The evening activity was the start of a very special program at CSL called TIkkun Olam. As many of you who frequent the blog already know, TIkkun Olam means repair the world and it is a day where campers learn about the importance of giving back to the world. Tusc Counselor Rachel Rosenbaum had the brilliant idea to create different running loops in camp that campers could run to raise money for a charity. Campers chose between four charities and Camp Seneca Lake gave them money to donate to their respective charity for every time they completed a lap. I was proud of the Mohicans and their staff as they all ran incredibly hard for over an hour to gain money to donate to charity.
TIkkun Olam day finished yesterday with different activities around camp that were aimed at repairing camp in some way, shape, or form. Among my personal favorite mitzvot were the creation of the new softball field on the M-Field, the refinishing of the Mohawk Bathrooms and repainting of the Mohawk Cabins, as well as the benchmaking activity which created 8 new beautiful wooden benches for Camp Seneca Lake to enjoy. A special shout out to Mohicans Tal Zahavi, Elijah Goldberg, Sam Kantor, Isaac Davidson, and Etan Ginsberg who were instrumental in the creation of many of those benches. That's all for now—thanks for reading.
Go Hawk,
Greg Kreitzer (Mohawk Unit Head)
