Senior Celebration

One of the “distinctives” of Greystone is our Senior group. We call anyone in the “Castle” (Cabins 9-12) Seniors at Greystone. These are rising Juniors and Seniors in High School and their presence is a remarkable thing.

Most camps do not have campers of this age. They assume the girls of this age have “out grown” the camper experience and now need something more akin to a work experience… thus the “CIT” (Counselor In Training) programs that are popular at other camps. We once tried to start a CIT program but found that it was not right for us.

I am not exactly sure why it doesn’t work here, but my guess is that our camper experience is just much more intense than at other camps. There is a “whole hog” approach to everything at Greystone. Both Campers and Counselors pour themselves out completely in the program that has developed over the years.

We expect a lot from the campers, especially the Senior Campers. All eyes turn to them in every class they take: if a senior girl has a bad attitude, the whole class is prone to take her lead and will assume that same response. If a Senior Camper does not like a meal, her whole table will not like the meal. On the other side of the coin… when Senior girls LOVE camp, Love each other, have Positive Attitudes in ALL circumstances, and unselfishly contribute to our community they make camp what it is. Seniors are almost as important as counselors… and they feel that responsibility. They embrace the challenge and live up to our high expectations every year. We Love Them.

Tonight the entire camp will celebrate the Senior Group in a beautiful talent show type evening. It all starts with the girls being introduced to the camp by Dr. Margaret… they have a grand entrance into the Pavilion. As their name is called they waik up the aisle of the pit and take their seats of honor one by one. All of the “Castle” will perform (most are singing in cabin groups but we will also have some individual acts) and after the show we call out the names of the girls who will be on this years “Court”. About a dozen seniors who have been chosen by their peers as representatives of Love that we celebrate at Greystone. The entire senior group then goes to White Hall for a special evening “pajama party” with Margaret, capped off with a special group devotion… but the night is still not over.

The girls are given beautiful silver charms (hand made by our own Marilyn Bailey who teaches Metal Jewelry at camp) and VERY SPECIAL hand written cards from their counselors (who have compiled a detailed list of all the positive character qualities that their peers see in them and spend a lot of time writing it all down). The cards and the jewelry are cherished. It is a wonderful springboard to the end of camp “Big Events” to come.

The weather is hot, dry, and breezy. The girls are engaged in their classes and are making the most of their time left together. Thank you for making all of this possible.

Sincerely

Jimboy

THE JOKE: A Converse Girl tried to sell her old car. She was having a lot of problems selling it, because the car had 250,000 miles on it. One day, she told her problem to a guy she knew. The guy told her, “There’s a way to make the car easier to sell, but it’s not legal.” “That doesn’t matter,” replied the Converse Girl, “if only I can sell the car.” “Okay,” said the guy. “Here’s the address of a friend of mine who owns a garage. Tell him I sent you and he’ll turn the counter in your car back to 50,000 miles. Then it shouldn’t be a problem to sell your car.” The following weekend, the Converse Girl made the trip to the mechanic. About a month after that, the guy asked the her, “Did you sell your car?” “No,” replied the girl, “why should I? It only has 50,000 miles on it.”