On the Road Again!
Monday, October 19, 2009
Sometimes technology is wonderful. I'm sitting writing this from a hotel room in Houston, TX on a beautiful fall day. Tonight, I will get to see all of our great Houston girls at the Maclay's home. Yesterday afternoon, I was in Dallas at the Mongers and had a great treat in getting to spend some time with star counselors Kwynn Kirkhuff and Virginia Ann Ivey, and former camper/counselor Julia Taylor as well as a great group of returning and new Illahee girls! I was competing with Miley Cyrus, and was impressed that anyone showed up, especially the twenty or so girls and their families, some of whom had both events on the agenda.
One of the things I love about being a camp director besides camp itself and all the obvious stuff with campers is being around college-aged staff members. Kwynn came straight from dropping off Callie Hill who was visiting from Atlanta and taking a look at SMU, where Kwynn is in school. So many connections are made at camp, and life-decisions often have roots in your experience there. I know lots of college decisions are made based on where counselors go to school and their experiences there. It's pretty neat to have Illahee connections wherever you go.
BIG BREAKING NEWS! Dave Hartsock, wunder tennis pro extraordinaire, is finally engaged to his soon to be bride Nicole. We had a chance to meet Nicole last spring, and fully endorse this union! No word yet on the wedding date or time, but we'll keep you posted!
Life is busy at camp. Fall is in full glory, and it is cold this week. When I left Asheville yesterday, there was snow on Tennent Mountain, where the seventh grade girls have spent some time hiking. The guys are renovating a little house we bought adjacent to camp for adult staff housing, so that we can insure that we can continue to attract the very best staff to camp (even if they are newly married (hint hint))! After we finish that, we are moving next to Paw Paw Patch, where the girls on Heigh Ho will get a brand new, state of the camp art...bath house! Plenty of hot showers, lots of room. It is going to be the pride of Camp Illahee...
We are busy doing a top/down look at each and every thing we do at camp to see how we can improve, from food to activities, so that 2010, Illahee's ninetieth can truly be the BEST SUMMER EVER!
