The Southwoods!""#$%&'&%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%"()!*+%,-&.%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%/0)12%3425%,-&.%%%%%%%Way FROZEN: Southwoods Style! We are thrilled to report that our campers and staff had an incredible time on the 2014 Southwoods Winter Weekend! The chill in the air didn’t stop any of our fun! We met the coach bus on Friday afternoon and everyone quickly began catching up on school life, reminisced on last summer at camp, and were excited to talk about this upcoming summer and all the new things at camp! Before arriving at the Great Escape Lodge in Lake George we made a pit-stop at Friendly’s Ice Cream Shop for a frozen treat! We were delighted with sprinkles, whipped cream, toppings, and ice cream galore! Once at the Lodge, we found our rooms and chilled with camp friends for the rest of the night. The next morning we enjoyed a delicious breakfast then headed to the Water Park! We slid down all the crazy water slides, relaxed in the Lazy River, showed-off at the Surf Station, and enjoyed time with our friends (old and new)! After a few hours in the park, we regrouped and headed north to visit CAMP! Before arriving at IN THIS EDITION Southwoods we stopped at DeCesare’s Pizza for our private pizza party! With our bellies full of pizza, we were finally ready for the next stop: Southwoods Camp! We Camp Corner Staff Spotlight & Updates trekked our way up the snow-covered bunkline, had a legendary snowball fight at the A Note from Andrea & Scott flagpole, and walked around to see all of camp covered in 3 feet of snow! We then made Camper & Alumni News Deep Thoughts our way to the Soccer Field where our Maintenence Director, Chris Howe, had prepared New Campers an incredible sledding hill, complete with a bonfire, hot chocolate, and snacks to keep us Friend Referral Information S’more Camp warm! The afternoon was complete with sledding and tube rides behind the Red Ranger! Southwoods Playhouse We later headed to Golden Corral for dinner and dessert, then returned to the Lodge for The Southwoods Desk Parent Page more time at the Water Park. This incredible day ended with a private movie and snacks Hohman’s Happenings before our heads hit our pillow for the night. #SouthwoodsFuzzy Photos Boys Side Line-Up Girls Side Line-Up On Sunday morning we headed to the Water Park one last time, enjoyed buffet lunch The Healthy Way together, then bowled a few frames at the King Pin Bowling Alley before heading back Southwoods Unplugged Page 10 Book Club home! Winter Weekend Photos Camper Birthdays Overall, the weekend was incredible! Thank you to our amazing campers and staff who made this trip so memorable! We invite you to watch our reprise video, which can be Email: [email protected] found online here: http://www.southwoods.com/winter-weekend Phone: (914) 214-8780 WINTER PO Box 201 We can’t wait for summer to arrive! In the meantime, don’t forget to send us your Granite Springs, NY 10527 #SouthwoodsFuzzy pictures from all around the world! We love seeing and hearing what SUMMER 532 NYS, Route 74 you’ve been up to! Paradox, NY 12858 Staff Page 2 Spotlight STAFF UPDATES What’s new with you? Name: Lewis Hunter Hometown: Johnstone, Scotland Birthday: October 8th, 1991 Pets: None Favorite Food: Pizza Favorite Dessert: Apple Pie Favorite Beverage: Irn Bru (Scottish Delicacy) Favorite Movie: Shawshank Redemption Favorite Singer/Group: The Strokes Favorite Actor: Leonardo Dicaprio Favorite Actress: Amy Adams What’s Currently Playing on your iPod?: Ministry of Sound Classic Disco Anthems Nicknames: When I was younger it was “Gilly” Favorite TV Show: New Girl Favorite Subject In School: Math Adam Kaufman has been busy ski racing every Favorite Fast Food: Kentucky Fried Chicken weekend across the New England area, and Favorite Color: Blue when not racing, he’s still hitting the slopes with Person you would most like to meet: Chris Paul friends! He also recently visited England and Place you would most like to visit: Brazil Scotland for spring break where he met up with Favorite Quote: “One good thing about music, when it hits you, MANY camp friends, including LiV Marchbank you feel no pain.” – Bob Marley! in front of Buckingham Palace! (Photo: Above) Favorite Sport: Football (soccer) Favorite Camp Song: The Milk Song Returning staff member Kirsten Paddock Favorite Camp Memory: Helping a number of Lower Juniors recently gave a presentation about Southwoods ride a bike for the first time! for a Recreation class. It was supposed to be 5 minutes long, however she ended up talking for 15 minutes! Her professor didn’t stop her, because she saw how much passion Kirsten showed for camp! Needless to say, Kirsten is excited to return to camp this summer! Name: !Liv Marchbank Former camper and current staff member Hometown: !Surrey, England Aurora Schmale completed an elementary Birthday: !December 21st, 1992 school internship for 6 weeks where she helped Pets: 2 Cats, Tilly & Tigger Favorite Food: Chicken Pie teach art, violin, library, and physical Favorite Movie: !Titanic education! She also started “Tolkien Lunches” Favorite Dessert: Chocolate fudge cake or anything that where students came together over lunch to involves chocolate talk about The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings! Favorite Beverage: Orange & Mango Squash Favorite Singer/Group: Beyonce Tess Shacknow is busy finishing the season with Favorite Actor: Leonardo Dicaprio or Channing Tatum her diving team, and this allows her more time Favorite Actress: Jennifer Aniston for gymnastics! This spring she’s also traveling to What’s Currently Playing on your iPod? Live While We’re D.C. where she’ll meet up with former staff Young by One Direction member, Brandon Sabin and then traveling to Nicknames: Liv, Livi, Olive Florida where she’ll Favorite TV Show: Celebrity Juice visit another former Favorite Subject In School: Dance staff member, Favorite Fast Food: McDonalds Favorite Color: Pink Chelsea Cronin! Person you would most like to meet: !Darcey Bussell (Prima Ballerina) 2003 Boy’s Side Place you would most like to visit: Australia or Fiji Head Counselor, Joe Favorite Quote: “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” - Thurston and his Oscar Wilde wife, Tess recently Favorite Sport: Dance ! Favorite Camp Song: Hippopotamus Song welcomed the arrival Favorite Camp Memory: Returning for the second year and of their new baby! seeing my friends and kids from my first year and meeting all Congratulations on the new people!!! your growing family! Page 3 A Note From Andrea & Scott Hello Southwoods, We hope you are as excited about the upcoming summer as we are! Can you believe only 113 days until the first session begins? It will be here before we know it! To get ready for summer, the entire Southwoods full-time leadership team is gearing up for the annual American Camp Association NY&NJ's Tri-State Camp Conference in Atlantic City. The Tri- State conference is the largest gathering of summer youth development professionals in the world. It provides more than 3,500 owners, educators, administrators and staff the opportunity to attend sessions on topics ranging from how to teach archery, expectations in adolescent behavior, operating a healthy food service, demonstrations of the hottest new arts & crafts projects, to the latest on 21st century skills young people need to be successful. I can tell you as President of the American Camp Association NY&NJ, I am very proud our Tri-State Conference is the largest and best attended youth development conference in the world of camping! One of the key things this conference always highlights for Andrea and I, is how lucky we are to have so many quality people working with us at Southwoods. Each year at the end of the conference our entire leadership team returns to our home for the annual planning meeting. We always begin by debriefing the sessions we attended. This meeting leaves us with a great sense of pride in how we do things at Southwoods. Year after year, our team shares the various ways they see how we already use many of the strategies most camps are hearing for the first time. What is truly amazing is how through this opportunity to share and listen, our leadership team is also able to take pride in the great job they do while becoming even more energized to innovate and create better opportunities for Southwoods campers to be successful. We come away being reassured that the members of the Southwoods Leadership Team are some of the finest in the camp industry and with a renewed passion for what we do at Camp. We could not be more proud of our entire staff team! To that end, we wanted to take a moment and remember Darren Bull. Darren had been a member of our staff for the last few years. He was a giant of a man and not because he was almost 7ft tall. Darren was a giant because of his compassion, passion, energy and love of people. He gave 100% of himself to everything he did. I can still see him kneeling down in the dining room cleaning up spilled cereal and helping the LJB who had just spilled it not feel embarassed about having had the accident. Darren died as he had lived, trying to help someone in need. His laugh & smile, bright colored clothes, and his true warmth will be missed by all of us at Southwoods, and I am sure by all others that knew him. Love, Andrea & Scott Photo Right: We remember Darren Bull for his infectious enthusiasm at camp, and being Photo Above: Scott, Mickey Mouse, Bailey, an incredibly positive role Sydney, Emma, and Andrea Ralls on their model for others! recent trip to Walt Disney World in Florida! Our Mission Statement..