Curtis S. Read Scout Reservation
This entry is dedicated to my camp family (in particular my "adopted" dad in CT, my camp brothers, you know who you are, too many to list), and anyone who has ever worked at Curtis S. Read Scout Reservation.After going to an reunion weekend in July of 1994 and having a great time, I remember telling my dad I wish I were a boy so that I could work there. A few months later at an alumni dinner, I found myself interviewing with Jon H & Tim H, a few weeks later they offered me the position of Ass't Trading Post Manager - I had no clue what that was but I was up for the challenge!
My first summer I brought along my friend Rosemary & her brother Stanley(who was a boy scout in Ardsley's troop). I remember the early morning long drive up Interstate 87 and getting nervous as we got off the exit & started down Palisades Road! I had been to the Adirondacks hundreds of times before with my family, but never to work at a boy scout camp! When we arrived at the dining hall around lunch time Jon H (Buckskin Dir) introduced us to all the Buckskin staff. Rosemary & I were shown to our tent, which was not in "staph city" - we had a special location right next to the trading post.
I remember staff week being somewhat "challenging" I use this word lightly because it wasn't over physical demands, it was more going through the "tests" that the other boys put us through - I guess it was just to make us prove that we could hack it. But, by the third day of staff week we'd been accepted as part of the group & none of us have ever looked back.
When trying to explain to people outside of camp that I worked at a boy scout camp where I was maybe 1 of 8 females on a staff of 60, & that I loved it so much, they immediately look at me funny and make some sort of comment like "yeah those are nice odds for a girl". I have had to explain numerous times that it's not that I'm "easy", it is just a wonderful place & that all the other staff are like my brothers. I'm not sure they fully understand and I know they will never be able to appreciate it, unless they have experienced it.
I look at the staff now a days when I go back for a work weekend or drop in to say hello to my friends who are lucky enough to still be able to work there during the summer & I think for whatever reason we (the group of us from 95 aka "the naughty nine") have a special relationship & I wonder if this is true of other generations of camp staff members. I sure hope so because I can honestly say, those years at Camp Read were some of the best 4 years of my life and where I met some of my best friends! I say years because the group of us were inseparable after the summer was over! My poor parent's cars had more miles put on them from all the driving I did from Dobbs Ferry on a Friday afternoon to catch a lacrosse game up in Somers, and then over to Manchester, CT for the weekend, etc.
It's been over 10 years and yet I still have all my boy scout "brothers" who email on a regular basis. They are the friends who I know when I get into a real bind will be there to pull me through, even if we've been out of touch for a few months or even a few years. This has already been proven when one of us lost a family member, the phone calls went out and like magic within days we were all together again, none of us is ever too far and definitely never too busy, it's an unspoken rule, when one of us is in need we get there as soon as we can. And best of all when we all get together, no matter how long it has been, we are able to pick up where we left off as if no time has passed between us.
It is tough for me to remember specific stories about each summer, as the summers always continued throughout the year, after we left camp - since most of us lived with in 2 hours drive from each other we would get together for birthdays, Eagle ceremonies, Thunderbird weekend, graduations, and proms - just ask my parents who probably wished we lived further apart, so that when asked on a Thursday night, "can we have some friends over this weekend?" they didn't have to wake up on Saturday morning to 15 people sleeping on the living room floor.
I will share 2 memorable moments with you:
I worked at Camp Read from 1995 - 1998
1995 - Buckskin Trading Post Ass't Manager - The year of the "naughty nine". It had been a crazy staff week, meeting all these new people, learning how to put up tarps, only being allowed to hold the knife, not use it since I was "a girl" (thank you, Tony Cannino) but I was okay with it knowing that the next day we were all going over to my parent's house for dinner. The morning just after having our last training session & after the dining hall floor had been swept & mopped (another fun job, resulting in white spots on 90% of my BS socks), I grabbed all my stuff & jumped in Disco's car. We stopped quickly at Waubeeka to pick up yet another staff member, who I had yet to actually meet. Across the parade field bounces this blond haired smiley boy, who proceeds to jump in the back seat and say, "So what's this about going to some bitches house for the day?" From the front seat Disco says while pointing to me, "yeeaaahhhh, her name is Sara, she's sitting right here." The rest is history.
Would you believe 3 years later this boy would be the one to take my sister to the prom?? It is moments like that that I will never forget Camp Read (or him for that matter). And for those of you who know Kris O'Connor you probably wouldn't have expected much less!
1996 - Handicraft Director -
1997 - Asst Equestrian Dir & Ass't CIT Dir - CIT = counselor in training
1998 - Equestrian Director - this summer I remember vividly, not only because it was my last summer, but because I had a bit of an accident. (this will further prove my point about the relationship between the infamous "naughty nine") I was leading a troop out on a tail ride & the camper right behind me was crying because he was scared & wanted to get off - Half way through the field, I turned around & promised him he could get off if he could just wait till we got to the end of the field, 2 seconds later my horse reared & I had fallen off. I was lying in a grassy field, the horses had taken off with the kids on them (of course), luckily in the fall I had been able to grab my radio, so I radioed for Peter Ciacci (who was the on-call for John Clear that day). Now I knew if I said over the FM radio that I'd fallen off a horse & couldn't really get up, all the staff would be racing down the road to help, so I tried to calmly call Pete.
"Pete, I need you to come down to the horse barn"
"Sara, I'm busy, what do you need"
"Pete, I need you to come down to the barn, now"
"Can you wait an hour?"
"No, I need you down here NOW, I'm in the back field, drive past the barn towards Point o Pines, and look left as you enter into the field"
"oh, okay" - tentatively
About 5 minutes later, Steve Hammonds & Pete arrive. Pete decides it's best to backboard me & send me to Glens Falls Hospital "just in case". The ambulance is called, I'm taken to the horse barn on a backboard in the back of a pick up (wish we'd had a camera!) to meet it & turned out I knew the EMT on call that day so off we drive to GFH, with a little oxygen & my sister riding shotgun (not typical, but since I knew them all they bent the rules).
I was released from the hospital in time to make it back to camp for dinner that night. As I slowly walked into the Newton dining hall the camper who had been crying on the horse earlier comes running up to me (not realizing what I'd been through) with a HUGE smile on his face. "Sara, Sara, that was soooooo cool and so much fun, my horse ran really fast & I stayed on, can I come down tomorrow and go again? I'm not scared anymore, next year I'm going to take horsemanship merit badge with you!" Now what could I say to a child who has just overcome one of his biggest fears in life? I smiled and said, "well we're full tomorrow but if I have a free spot I'll let you know". I didn't have the heart to tell him I wouldn't be making it back the following summer. I have to admit, it made my back pain disappear instantly & I will never forget that campers face of shear joy.
Some other great memories of camp were of course:
- staff week - staying up all night in Pawnee field without tents & having to drink coffee with lots of sugar the next day in order to function! Being part of the "tarp crew" & being very excited when I was allowed to finally climb a tree instead of just "holding the knife", clearing horse trails on the 4 wheeler,
- singing songs in "Staph City" on the Timmy & Gilligan's veranda
- campfires - staff skits, camp songs, & Taps
- singing grace at meals & the order of the oar for campers' birthdays
- "way up in the sky" by Steve H - it will bring a smile to my face just thinking about it
- floating Tim H's camp car on the lake
- practical jokes between the camps
- going to Lake George on our night off & playing the rejection game
- seeing what I like to call "my CITs" running camps a few years later
- And of course making some of the best friends of my entire life!
There are four people who I want to thank for assisting me along the way, Jon & Tim for having enough faith in me to hire me that first summer and especially my mom & dad for allowing me the opportunity to go away to Curtis S. Read Scout Reservation for 4 summers! I'm not sure how many parents would allow their 17 year old daughter to spend 8 weeks in the middle of the Adirondack Park with 60 male staff members & hundreds of campers & scoutmasters!!
posted by Sara @ 11:57 pm
1 Comments:
I didn't know that you worked at a Scout Camp - I went to one for ages, and now work at a YMCA camp. Great summers...
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