During my first session at camp in August 2002 my family moved from Rochester, New York to Basking Ridge, New Jersey. I took the bus from the Rochester JCC to 200 Camp Road on August 1st, and then on August 21st my parents drove my brother and me to our new home in New Jersey. In retrospect, my parents’ maneuver was brilliant. At the end of the summer it only seemed natural to say goodbye to all my new friends and look forward to seeing them again the following year back on Seneca Lake. I shared my sadness with the other few hundred people leaving a place that we all called “home.”
I have made the four hour drive back to Penn Yan in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and so on. The bonds that were created in the summer months lasted throughout the year. This resulted in countless road trips to upstate New York for reunions, bar mitzvahs and the like, which kept friendships strong even in our ten months apart.
The past few weeks I was in Israel with three friends. We met each other over a decade ago while we were still in Cayuga and Onondaga and just wanted to ride the banana boat. The past ten summers or so we have cheered in the Dining Hall, sailed across the lake, completed a triathlon, gone on Shabbat Walk, lined up before meals three times a day, played speedball, gone ravine running, biked 120 miles, canoed through Lake George, stargazed on the docks, had summer long prank wars, covered each other in paint, played Flip Flop Golf, rode the swing in Gypsy Camp, been promised trips to Wixon’s and the Fruit Stand, and infinite other things all at Camp Seneca Lake. These friendships are transcendent. We traveled halfway around the world together because of the profound connections that are fostered so naturally at Camp Seneca Lake.
I will repeat: my parents’ decision to move while I was at camp was brilliant. The most enduring friendships I have each originated at 200 Camp Road. It does not matter that I live in another state because the people I have met at CSL are people for whom I would make the trip. And I will make the trip again in 2013.
Jacob Massa
Assistant Program Director
I will repeat: my parents’ decision to move while I was at camp was brilliant. The most enduring friendships I have each originated at 200 Camp Road. It does not matter that I live in another state because the people I have met at CSL are people for whom I would make the trip. And I will make the trip again in 2013.
Jacob Massa
Assistant Program Director
