Summer 2014 Blog Launch

What does it mean to “be at camp”?

Camp seems to start earlier every year. And it seems to end later every year. We used to come at the start of Orientation and start planning. It is becoming increasingly unclear when we finish working through the previous summer and begin working on the upcoming. The seasons may indeed go round and round, but the fact of the matter is that Camp Seneca Lake has in effect evolved into a state of mind that does not have a definitive end or beginning. Sure, there are dates for the official start and close to the respective sessions, but it is not that simple.

There is a lot of debate about the infinite growth in technology and social media, about their roles in shaping society, potentially stunting important social growth in our children. This pertains to CSL in two ways – our campers continue to not have any real access to modern technology while at camp, being ‘forced’ to interact with one another on a consistent basis; but perhaps more noteworthy is the dramatically increased platform that we have to keep camp in front of our campers during the months that they are not physically there.

Our parents and alumni clearly embrace our media efforts through the Blog (www.cslsummerblog.com), Instagram (@csl_official), Twitter (@csl_official), Vimeo (www.vimeo.com/campsenecalake) and Facebook to keep up with what is happening on an hourly basis when camp is officially in session. This is evident by the 2250 average daily hits to the blog from last summer, a 400% increase over Summer 2012. What is perhaps most noteworthy is that blog traffic as well as “follows” across our other social media outlets hardly slow from September-to-June. Clearly, Camp Seneca Lake is never out of mind.

This message is my annual Blog & Media Launch for the approaching summer. We began this operation in 2010 under a cloud of controversy. I believed that we had, and continue to have a responsibility to ‘paint a picture’ of what is happening at CSL to the outside world, most specifically the parents of our current campers. We still want to keep our kids’ feet to the fire and develop their writing skills through the letters they send home, but it is naïve to think they will be thoroughly explaining all that they are doing here. As I enter my 23rd straight summer at CSL, I want to ensure we are keeping CSL in front of those who are unable to physically join us during the summer.

As a staff, we are highly demanding of ourselves across everything we do to continuously push the creative envelope. This ensures that we facilitate opportunities for our campers not just to have amazing, fun, and safe summers; but rather that CSL can play a considerably more prominent role in our children’s lives. It can be a gift that gives in November, 2014, but continues to November, 2034 as well. It has become a prominent part of our mission for camp never to end for our campers and staff. When buses depart on August 20th and when various campers and staff cannot come back down Camp Road to begin Summer 2015, we still want them to “feel camp”.

It is on this backdrop that we formally begin Summer 2014 in cyberspace. True to the message of this piece, we have more consistently delivered content over this past “off-season” at an unprecedented rate. The blog housed formal announcements for many of the staff appointments over the year while Twitter and Instagram remained a buzz throughout those months. Camp never really ended and hopefully it never does.

The numbers support that as we have increased the quantity and quality of our content, our campers, families, and alumni have disproportionally immersed themselves. Staying true to our mission, this summer we are taking significant steps forward to ‘paint the picture’ for everyone and anyone unable to physically be at CSL. Here’s what you can expect:

Stories and commentary from each village at least twice a day throughout the summer
Programming updates, summaries, and stories on a regular basis.
Judaic insights from across camp
Weekly summaries from each specialty area, and more frequent posts from the Waterfront
Weekly updates from each Hobby Group
Alumni perspectives spanning the eras
Important and relevant announcements
Frequent video uploads to Vimeo, summaries of programs and various hype videos (www.vimeo.com/campsenecalake)
Continuous photo uploads to Instagram (@csl_official)
Continuous updates on Twitter.com (@csl_official) including every blog and Instagram post as they happens, directly linked (follow us on Twitter for constant “Table of Contents” across all media outlets)
Photos uploaded to bunk1.com on a regular basis

Most importantly, you may have noticed that we have recently launched a new website (www.campsenecalake.com). It will eventually host our blog and other media endeavors, ultimately becoming the ‘command center’ for all CSL content, all year long.

While this blog launch is covering the bases of what to expect from our media this summer, it does not speak much to the camp program itself. You will hear from me in the coming days about some very significant changes and upgrades to CSL this coming summer so stay tuned. Stay connected. We hope you stay forever.

See You Soon.

Sincerely,

Ari Baum, Program Director
1992 – Present