Once my daughter turned 11, I knew it was time for her to have the experience of her life at summer camp! We live in Mexico City, with all the hustle and bustle of a large complicated metropolis. Unfortunately, Mexico City is not the safest city to live in, which means our daily lives are limited to enclosed spaces. Life is comprised of home, school, and the mall. As a child growing up in Georgia, I spent almost all my free time outdoors swimming, biking, and playing with my friends in the forest. I wanted my daughter to have that experience as well. The fact that camp is located in an extremely safe area of the planet makes it one of the most amazing places for growing children to spend their summers.
In my heart I knew there was a place for us to spend the summer, and since I teach music to 500 students a week at a private school here in Mexico City, it was a logical conclusion to seek employment as a music teacher at camp while Nina could have an exciting summer making new friends and experiencing the outdoors as she cannot do here.
Upon seeking employment, I was immediately contacted by William Bettmann, the wonderful and committed camp director of Camp Regis-Applejack. When I discovered that Camp Regis-Applejack was a camp with Quaker roots, it was a most pleasant surprise! I am a second-generation graduate of the Quaker boarding school Westtown School in Pennsylvania. We both felt that our common goal of providing fun and educational activities with a Quaker philosophy made it a perfect fit so the moment school was out, we hopped on the plane and off we flew to camp!
I really had no idea what to expect from our camp experience and was pleasantly surprised! When we arrived at the airport, William was there to welcome us, and the two-hour drive to camp from Montreal went by very quickly since the gorgeous scenery of the Adirondack Park is just breath-taking. At camp, Nina discovered that she had her own cosy cot, with all the blankets, pillows, and clean sheets she needed, as well as her own trunk for all her belongings. All the cabins are
spacious and welcoming. The best part is that campers have no internet and we spend free time reading and playing games. Being able to meet and spend time with so many counsellors and campers from so many different places and backgrounds made it a wonderful summer!
The Humes family made us feel so welcome and safe throughout our stay. Campers not only spent time making music in music class, playing percussion instruments, singing camp songs, and playing musical games, but they also participated in all the traditional camp activities such as swimming and tubing in the lake, hiking local mountains, going overnight camping and much more. My favourite part of camp was going with everyone to Lake Placid on Tuesday evenings to have pizza dinner while enjoying the summer concerts held at the Mirror Lake open-air amphitheatre. We saw Joan Osborne, Nina’s Brew Band, a New York City Latin Jazz group, and The Bo Deans.
In music class, we sang songs, played recorder, played group theatre games, played percussion instruments, danced, and played movement games based upon the Dalcroze method. We also had a talent show where campers had the opportunity to perform songs and skits for everyone.