Camp Ogontz Log
By Jackie McCoy, MAP’s Summer Intern
Day 1- July 22, 2012:
We all met at the William D’Abate Memorial Elementary School, drove up in 3 cars, and arrived at Camp Ogontz, in Lyman, NH at 4:20pm. When we arrived we unpacked and settled into our cabins. The staff stayed in closed in cabins, and the children and some other adults stayed in the outdoor open air cabins to get the camping feel.
After we settled in we all met up and went for a tour of the beautiful Ogontz campground. We saw all of the rehearsal spaces that were available to us while we stayed there. We also saw where they have chickens and roosters, the kids really enjoyed watching them and trying to talk in chicken language. There was also a log that we had to walk over a stream which was really cute just like in the movies, but they flattened the top off so no one would fall. Once our tour had finished the kids were able to play a little bit — some played basketball, tennis, and just relaxed before dinner started.
Dinner at Camp Ogontz was always a delicious treat. This first night they served pork with a grilled peach on top, salad, and ended with a pumpkin pie. Everything was so delicious.
After dinner our group got together and played games before bedtime. We played Cranium and Janga. It was a lot of fun for everyone to get to know one another and feel more comfortable.
Day 2- July 23, 2012:
We woke up for breakfast at 8am and was served scrambled eggs and fruit. After breakfast whoever was assigned chores to help the kitchen did so after they ate. Then we started with our morning warm ups which included games such as: what kind of sounds you heard that night, who started that motion, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8, stretches, and what are you doing?. Great way to start off the morning before the morning rehearsals started. After our warm ups everyone broke up into their pairs or groups and found a nice quite place to finish writing if necessary and start rehearsing their plays.
Lunch on the second day consisted of salad, chicken sandwiches, and homemade cookies, which were just as delicious as every other meal we had already had. Again those who had chores in the kitchen did so after they ate. The chores consisted of cleaning table tops off, putting dishes away, or putting anything else away that had been left out.
After lunch everyone went for a swim in the lake. This had a beautiful view where you could see mountains in the distance and a nice view of the camp itself. There were two places for the kids to swim one where they could stand up for those who weren’t strong swimmers, and another section where the kids could jump or dive into the water.
After our swim in the lake, we broke up into our pairs and groups again to do some more rehearsing. Once rehearsals were over the kids had some free time to play basketball, tennis, go on the swings, listen to music, whatever they felt like doing before dinner time. The dinner on this night was the best dinner of all the nights, never expecting a camp to have such a variety and such delicious food. We were served homemade spaghetti, meatballs, salad, lobster, and shrimp. What a surprise and what a meal it was. Again everyone who had chores did so after they ate.
This night we were asked by some other members of the camp who were staying there to participate in an event they were holding the next night. They told us we could paint wooden boats that would be set into the lake the next night, which was ritual they used to do when they came here as children to the all girls camp that Camp Ogontz used to be. After we painted the boats a huge storm came over the camp so we all went to the main cabin to play games. The power went out so we played our games until the storm was over with our flashlights. Once the storm passed everyone settled into bed.
Day 3- July 24, 2012:
Woke up for breakfast at 8am and were served pancakes and fruit. After we ate, some did chores and we got ready for our morning warm ups. This time we warmed up with games including: what did you hear last night, stretches, bunny, lemonade, and WAH!. Then we started our morning rehearsals.
After our rehearsals, for lunch we ate huge Italian sausage sandwiches. We did our chores and the kids got ready for canoeing and swimming in the lake. Half of the kids went canoeing and the other half went swimming.
After swimming in the lake the kids had a little while to rehearse and then we shared our plays with each other under the big tree. The kids had a lot of fun performing for each other. The next day they were going to be putting their plays on for the rest of the camp and the staff, so this was a good rehearsal for them.
After our play sharing the kids had free time to do what they wanted. Some played board games, some played basketball, tennis, or played on the swings. Then dinner came and we ate roast beef carved off of the bone and potatoes. People did their chores. We ended dinner playing a really exciting game of Celebrity. This game is when everyone writes down 3 people everyone would know, split up into 2 teams, and it has 3 rounds, and each person had 30 seconds to go through as many people as they could. First round, you are allowed to say anything you want to describe the person you picked without saying the name. Second round, you were only allowed to say one word. Third round, you could not say anything but you could do as many movements as you wanted.
After dinner we had our event with the other members of the camp where we were letting the boats we painted the night before into the river. Each boat had a candle on top. As we put the boats in the river we were to make 3 wishes. One wish for ourselves, one wish for a friend, and one wish for Camp Ogontz. After all of the boats were in the river the ladies from the all girls camp sang their ritual songs. It was really nice, all of the boats had candles lit on them so you could see them in the dark, and there were also fire pits placed in the lake. After this event we settled into bed.
Day 4- July 25, 2012:
This was our last day at the camp. We woke up for breakfast at 8am, were served omelets and fruit, then did our chores. Everyone started to pack up their stuff together. We did our morning warm ups which were: what did you hear last night?, stretches, and bunny. Then the kids had a little while to rehearse. After rehearsals all of the plays were performed in front of the rest of the camp and the staff members. The kids were great, and everyone really enjoyed what they wrote. Then we packed up our cars, and left the camp to end our trip with a visit to the big candy store that the kids were extremely excited about.
This was a great trip. Everyone had such a good time, especially the kids.
-Jackie McCoy, MAP Summer Intern.