So here are 8 great things you can do NOW to stand out, potentially increase your pay this summer, and add value to your skills set to boost your chances of being hired:

1. Get certified in CPR/First Aid, Wilderness First Aid (WFA), or as a lifeguard*.  (These links are a good place to start, there may be other places to get certified. Oftentimes colleges and schools will offer these classes as well.) These certifications help at camp BIG TIME, and we are always looking for lifeguards on the waterfront, as well as folks with WFA to lead some of our adventure programs (Eagle Rock, LT, etc.)

*If you are already a lifeguard, make sure your certification is current (valid for 2 years). If it’s not, you can look into renewing it, which is often less expensive and takes less time.

2. Keep a record of any outdoor recreational activities you have been doing at school, at home, or with friends.  For example: if you went on a backpacking trip over spring break, make a note of it.  If you use your school’s climbing wall, write down how often you go, and start building on those skills. And don’t forget to submit all of this information with your camp application!

3. Get certified or get the experience needed to teach these essential CLC classes:

• pottery – experience includes knowing how to operate a kiln, use a pottery wheel, throw clay, etc.  A few essential resources: 
• crash course for beginners
• teaching clay art and pottery
• Ceramics: A Potter’s Handbook, by Glenn C. Nelson
•  Finding One’s Way With Clay, by Paulus Berensohn.  
• mountain biking: experience includes: knowing how to repair bikes on the trail, joining a local mountain biking club or chapter of the IMBA, joining a race, and keeping track of rides you’ve done.
• swimming (WSI certification) 
• archery (click here for certification course) 
• horseback riding (CHA certification).  

4. Take classes at school that you love and relate them to your camp skills. For example, if you would like to be the camp photographer, tell us about that photography class you took at school this year, or spend some time now volunteering on the school newspaper.

5. Take some sweet professional courses. There are many programs out there that really give you a deeper knowledge base of essential outdoor skills like rock climbing, kayaking, backpacking, mountaineering, etc.  Not only are these some seriously fun courses, they give you the kind of experience that takes your camp skills to the next level.  These are especially good to do if you’re interested in becoming and adventure program leader (like LT, CIT, Trailblazers and Eagle Rock).

Some courses to get you started:

• NOLS 
• Outward Bound
• Association for Experiential Education

6. Graduated from college? Go work at an outdoor education center! They usually hire seasonally – fall, winter, spring, and provide some fantastic hands-on experience leading kids, learning new games, learning group management, and a sense of professionalism.  Here are a few recommendations: Nature’s Classroom, Leelanau Outdoor Center, 100 Elk at the AU Ranches.

7. Think about what you already know how and love to do. How can you turn that into a class?  For example (this is a real one from last summer): You love all things Harry Potter. How about teaching a Quidditch class?? Yes, it’s a real sport now played at colleges, with a rule book and all – and was a hit this summer!  Tell us about your creative class ideas now – having some classes in mind that you can teach is music to our ears when we’re doing interviews – it shows that you’ve taken the initiative and given thought to what you have to offer, and won’t rely on camp to simply place you in whatever class is open (which usually isn’t as fun for you anyway!)

8. Get kid-friendly. Start babysitting, volunteering at a day care or preschool, or help coach a kids’ sports team.  It’s essential to know how to relate to kids and to have some experience under your belt in this area, ‘cuz you’re gonna be spending a loooooot of time with these awesome kiddos.

Don’t forget to include these experiences in your application and interview! Sometimes it’s not enough to say “I know how to be a leader”, or “I have lots of outdoor experience”.  You need to give examples to prove your point.

We look forward to another amazing summer at CLC with you!

 Dear Liz,

Your love of Camp, your constant quiet generosity, and your willingness to do whatever needed to be done have been an inspiration to us all.

With your strong business background, you have brought order and transparency to CLC’s finances, while your outstanding work in securing foundation grants has helped keep Camp going these past five years.

We thank you for your warm hospitality in opening your beautiful home to meetings of the Board and for providing overnight accommodations for Trustees coming from a distance.  The lunches you prepared for the Board meetings were always a treat, too.

We gratefully acknowledge your participation in and your thorough preparation for these meetings and for keeping Board Members informed and productive through regular reports, financial spreadsheets, business plans, and proposals for improvements.

We will not soon forget the summer of 2010 when you became “Executive Chef,” moving to Camp for the summer and cooking three delicious meals each day for campers and staff because a suitable Kitchen Manager could not be located.

In everything, you set a standard of love, care, attention and service for which we are immeasurably grateful.

We love you.  We thank you.  We will miss you, Liz!

The CLC Board of Trustees
Art, Bonnie, Dan, Gail, Hal, Janet, Peter, Rex, and Ron

On the Board of Trustees, CLC is glad to welcome Ron McEntire, father of Jason (in the LT class of 2011) to the Board.  Ron brings to the Board years of experience in budgeting and finance.  Trustee Art Morath, who also has a strong background in finance, has agreed to serve as CLC’s Treasurer, following Jeff Cornelius’s retirement from the Board in November.  Jeff has conscientiously served CLC as a Board member for many years, as Treasurer and formerly as President.  Bill Dredge also retired from the Board of Trustees in November, following years of helpful service as the organization went through some challenging times.  As Jeff and Bill are CLC camper and Trustee alumni, we hope they will continue to stay in touch and involved through the Alumni Association.

There have also been several changes in the staff.  After five years at the helm as the Executive Director, Liz Hall felt that the time had come for her retirement at the end of 2011, to spend more time with her family.  Nathan Bowen is taking on the expanded role as Executive Director while continuing to be in charge of the summer camp program just as he has in the past.  In preparation for these changes Nathan and Liz have worked closely over the past several months to update job descriptions, looking always for the best way and the best employee to complete the various tasks that need to be done to keep Crystal Lake Camps running smoothly.

Included in the realignment, Tim Holzworth will be picking up extra duties such as representing CLC at some camp shows and Discovery Bound events during the spring, and Jasmine Holzworth will also be taking on additional responsibilities at camp.

Jennifer Vomvas, mother of Megan, Paul and Emily, CLC campers since 2007 and herself a CLC alum, joined CLC as Bookkeeper in November.  Jen takes over from Marti Stewart, who served in that position during the summer of 2009 and continuously since the end of September, 2010.

Ian McLeland, who has served as Assistant Director responsible for CLC’s off-season programming and a staff and camper alum of many years, is returning to his career as star of stage and screen in Chicago.  Ian has been living on-site year round since September 2009 and is trading in his cabin in the woods for the bright lights of city living.
So with all the fresh promise of a new year and another season of summer camp adventure at CLC before us, please join us in welcoming the new members to Team CLC, bidding farewell and thanking departing trustees and staff members for their contributions to CLC and congratulating Nathan on his promotion.

As we celebrate the Christ this year, may you all feel the peace of the season.  From all of us here at camp we wish you a very merry Christmas.  We think Tory says it best with her song “Nearer My God to Thee”.   Tory performed this at least once this summer, and recorded it especially for camp while at college.

Thank you, Tory for recording this and sharing it with us!

Many truck loads of gravel were needed to repair the camp road and fill in the tire-swallowing potholes and gullies that the storms left behind.  A large backhoe was brought in to do some of the hardest work, but camp staff and volunteers put in many hours of work with picks and shovels to complete the job.

Culverts under the ski trails had also been dislodged by the storms – they were fitted back in place and the trails around them repaired.  Let the cross country skiing begin!  Our trails are also ready for next summer, when campers will be riding over these repairs during mountain bike adventures and horseback trail rides.

But the real feat of engineering was rebuilding the Boys’ Camp bridge, and reconnecting it to the rest of camp.  Massive trees from the camps’ own woods were harvested to span the creek and stabilize the road bed.  The photos can only tell a small part of the story of this major bridge building project.

A very sincere and warm thank  you to all of you who responded swiftly in caps’ hour of need!

Come and check out these projects for yourself during our Winter Camp Friday, December 30 to Tuesday, January 2!  Reservations are coming in daily, and we’re almost full so call soon!  Start the New Year with an inspiring and fun-filled weekend.

But as I looked around the room in the restaurant, what had a real impact on me was the people.  There were young people, old people; large families and even a few solo diners; I saw folks from all walks of life.  Both lawyers and millworkers were in the room; I saw families with relatives from overseas…and families that all seemed to have lived in the same neighborhood forever.

Though the room was filled with predominantly well-to-do people, there was one family that made a deep impression on me.  Based on the way they were acting and dressed, it seemed that this was just about the only time during their year they could afford to go out – and so the parents took their 3 kids (I’d guess they were all between the 5^th & 9^th grades) on this one day to express gratitude for their year together.   I deeply appreciated this family’s desire to spend this particular holiday in a place where you just know the children will understand the value of being grateful.

And at the table next to ours was this elderly couple quietly enjoying their own personal life’s feast of some 50 years together in marriage.  I overheard the wife comment how it had been an incredible 49 years together – what an amazing adventure to spend so long together!  It was moving to see them just sitting there together, enjoying each other’s company; the tender way they held hands across the table was nothing short of heartwarming.

As I took in all these people in the room, I couldn’t help but to be reminded of the feast of Crystal Lake Camps.  For nearly 65 years, CLC has been annually setting a ‘feast’ of programs for Christian Science youth where they can come together and spend their summers together.  And just like my fellow diners at Thanksgiving dinner, CLC has seen campers that represent all facets of human experience.  Campers from every inhabited continent?  Check.  Campers that represent the full socio-economic scale?  Check.  (Yes, we’ve even had some homeless campers over the years.)  Inner city and suburban kids; some good at arts, some good at athletics; great horseback riders and great poets.

Thinking along these lines made me realize one of the real values of Crystal Lake Camps is that every year since it’s founding in the 40’s, CLC has been able to offer meaningful activities to young Christian Scientists.  And it has never mattered where you come from, how you heard about CLC, or how many generations have been coming to camp.  But instead, what’s important is the sharing of Christian Science.  It’s remarkable to me the heritage the Alford family left with CLC was not about camp activities per se, but about community.  That as a camp family, we work to build each other up.  As a community, we can strive to show that true, unconditional love heals all.

CLC’s history shows, time and time again, that by setting the table full, expectant of a feast –God does provide it to all who need what we have to offer.  In a way, it’s not up to the camp to outline who gets to partake – that is really up to God.  The camp’s goal is to set the feast, let the world know it’s here to be shared, and let everyone come who can – it is our way of setting out ‘a cup of cold water in Christ’s name.’

So this Thanksgiving season, the Crystal Lake Camps organization is grateful to all who have come to partake in our feast over the years.  We are incredibly proud to continue this tradition today!  It is each of you who makes CLC the valued, cherished, and unique program that it is today.

Simply put, CLC is blessed – by YOU.  Thank you!

- Nathan

To register either give us a call at 877-CLC-KIDS or send us an email: camp@crystallakecamps.org

More photos!

With the unprecedented amount of rain we have seen this fall at camp, the ground was saturated, and the stable paddock, where we keep Toby & Annie, was pretty muddy. These types of conditions can be a concern for horses, as it has the potential to cause a condition in a horse’s hoof that can be life threatening. I will also say we were doing our best, when the weather cooperated, to put the horses into the big ring that doesn’t stay as muddy – but with so much inclement weather, we ended up needing to keep them in the stable paddock, where they could get into their stalls and stay out of the rain.

Well, as October began, we started to see the early onset of this condition. The camp staff were praying with Annie to see improvement, but after a week or so things were not getting better. We had the farrier (horseshoer) come up to remove the shoes – a normal end of season thing – and he confirmed the condition was there. I also determined to call the vet – we had to have the horses wormed (a routine thing) anyhow, so I asked him to also look at Annie’s feet.

That weekend, we had a number of guests on site for our Alumni Reunion, and several of the Alumni are active horse riders, and they all confirmed that the condition in her foot was quite bad.

We decided then to contact a Christian Science practitioner to help with her feet. The vet wasn’t going to be able to make it up to camp for another couple days, so the practitioner had some time to work for her.

The key idea we were praying with for Annie was from the Christian Science Hymnal, #123:

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word.
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
To you who to God for your refuge have fled:

Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
For I am thy God, I will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by My gracious, omnipotent hand;

When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

To us, this addressed the claim that Annie’s ‘foundation’ sits squarely on God, and not on her mortal feet or the muddy ground.

So the day the vet came to look at her, he looked at all of her feet (not just the one where the issue had been found), and he could find no trace of it whatsoever. He commented to me that even if the cleaning the farrier provided had eliminated it, there should have still been some residual at that point, as the problem takes several days to clear up fully, from a mortal perspective.

To us at Crystal Lake Camps, this was just confirmation not only how complete the healing was, but proof positive that Annie – like all of us – reside firmly and solely in the Kingdom of Heaven, where there is no opportunity for any harmful condition to affect us. What a great healing!

P.S. Annie is also currently looking for a home for the winter. If you or anyone you know is interested in having a horse till next summer, give us a call or send us an email!

Crystal Lake flowing onto the gamefield

The following day water was flowing 2 to 3 feet over the top of the Wild Rice dam. Crystal Lake and the Game Field were one single body of water. The stream down the back way swelled (kayaking down this trail was entirely feasible!) and the flood water came up to Nossoni’s foundations. An area of the ceiling in the office in Laughlin Lodge collapsed under the weight of water.

The road/bridge leading up to boys camp

CLC needs to start work repairing the roads and bridges before the ground freezes in two months and we hope that you will help us purchase the necessary supplies and rent the heavy equipment needed to complete this work. Flood damage like this is not covered by CLC’s insurance and is an expense that we could not have anticipated. If you would like to make a donation to help us in rebuilding, you can easily do so online by clicking the yellow “donate” button in the upper right hand corner of this blog. Or you can donate by mail: 1676 Crystal Lake Rd. Hughesville, PA 17737.

On behalf CLC’s trustees, staff, and campers, we would like to express our sincere gratitude for your consideration of our current situation and for all your past support of Crystal Lake Camps.