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Monday, April 23rd, 2012 | 0 Comments
Well it is official, Spring has Sprung! In Camp terms spring translates to our long winter of waiting, planning, hiring, and an empty mountain, has passed. As the weather turns warm, I find myself wondering around out front of the office lost in the perfection of this season. There is green all around us, a barren tree out my front door turned a bright pink for a week and then showered us with petals for the next, the grass is cut all around camp, there is always a cool breeze partnered with the beaming sun, and it is light until 8:30pm every day. Summer is obviously the best season of the year, but spring does pull a very close second.
Spring Clean is this weekend, and we will be hosting many of your gracious counselors for a work weekend where they serve their summer home in sweat, heavy lifting, and odd jobs that are not always fun, but very necessary. They do this out of a love for camp, the campers who come here, for free food all weekend, and to get energized for Summer 2012! We are truly grateful for these counselors, and they embody the servant heart of our staff at camp. The weekend after spring clean we roll right into our hugely anticipated 1st Annual Father/Son Weekend! Lots of preparation has been poured into Father/Son weekend, and I am so excited for the powerful impact it will surely have on many of our Highlander Family Members.
Projects around camp are well under way, the climbing wall is literally being taken to new heights, the water is turned on, the kitchen is being finished, horses are being exercised, and much more. We are also scheduling all of the Extreme Camper adventures for our Session B campers, and have exciting news surrounding our Equestrian Program! All of our Campers, who are staying through a session break, will have the unique opportunity to go to a local Horse Shows in the surrounding areas. Our new Riding Director, Melissa Hare, will be taking a group of campers to view the shows during session changeover, and if you are rider at home and show proper skills at you will have the chance to PARTAKE in the show! If you think you might be eligible to ride in the show please refer to the “dress requirements” below! This will be such a fun option for our campers staying two sessions or all summer, and we are very excited to expose our campers to the world of Showing Horses!
We cannot wait for campers and counselors, from all over the country, to start arriving to camp. Summer is unbearably close, and I have a funny feeling that this might just be the best summer EVER at Camp Highlander!!! Keep checking out the staff profiles at 3 o’clock every Friday afternoon on the Facebook page, and start shining your boots if you think you might want to compete in the horse shows!
Potential Horse Show Competitors Packing List!
All riders: ASTM hard hat
Ages 13 and Up: Beige or tan breeches with tall boots
OR beige/tan breeches with paddock boots and matching half chaps
Solid color short-sleeved polo shirt
Black riding gloves
Ages 12 and Under: Beige or tan jodphurs with paddock boots and garters
Solid color short-sleeved polo shirt
Black riding gloves
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Monday, March 26th, 2012 | 0 Comments
Spring is here, and CAMP is in the air! March has been filled with a flood of camper registrations, staff contracts, sunshine, and fun summer supply purchases! We also had an amazing Leadership Weekend, and spent the entire weekend planning for the best summer ever! Alex Morgan (AKA: Thor) our Head Boy Counselor, Kristen Brooks our Head Girl Counselor, Alise Coffey our Junior Camp Head, and the Infamous Kyle Fisher (AKA: “Fish”) our Head of Evening Programs, were kind enough to fly to camp for a weekend of planning, and boy did we get things done!
Being new to camp I have had limited exposure to our summer staff, so I was extra excited to spend the weekend with the summer leadership team, and learn lots of details about Camp Highlander. I had heard over and over how great our counselors are, but I was simply blown away by the leaders of our staff. If these leaders give even a hint of what the whole staff is like, we clearly have the best summer staff of all Camps worldwide. Combined our summer leaders have spent 30 plus years at Camp, and we used the weekend to learn from their expertise. We cultivated new and creative ideas for activities all across camp, spent time learning how to be the best leaders we can be, and managed to mix in some games, two fun dinners out in Asheville, and playing some “draw free” on our iPhones when the “more aged” year around team, had given us a break!
As hiring continues, and I reflect on leadership weekend, I truly believe our campers are in for the time of their lives this summer. We are cultivating a team of amazing role models for our campers, who believe deeply in the power of camp, and LOVE creating the “magic of camp”! Our staff is the “cream of the crop” of their generation, and we do pride ourselves in their accomplishments at Camp Highlander and in their individual lives during the school year. From our younger staff who will be graduating high school in May, we have staff members who will be attending Harvard, and Yale in the fall. Our college age staff attend Universities all across the country, they are participating in exclusive study abroad programs across the world, they are division one college athletes, full time school Teachers, and many are transitioning into Law schools and Master programs alike. Camp Highlander Staff is knowledgeable, compassionate, well educated and FUN. I am so excited about the positive impact these young adults will have on the lives of our campers. Camp Highlander is a very unique network of people, where campers and counselors spread far and wide share the bond of the Highlander Family!
Stay tuned for our Friday 3 at 3:00pm, where we will be highlighting 3 of our Summer 2012 staff every Friday afternoon!
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Friday, February 10th, 2012 | 0 Comments
For campers who want the extreme, activity-packed session, Session B is Camp Highlander’s premier session for camp life. This three-week action-packed session is dedicated entirely to the FUN in programming and activities for our campers. Campers love session B because it is the perfect combination of competition, cabin unit bonding and personal achievement and growth!
TOP TEN REASONS TO ATTEND SESSION B:
10. It’s 3 weeks of camp, with new friends, great activities and incredible memories waiting for you!
9. Surprises – Camp leadership loves to see the look on camper faces when they are shocked by a surprise guest or an outrageous act of kindness, for example in 2011, Session B campers were treated to a concert from 4 up and coming artists in our gymnasium. And on a rainy afternoon during rest hour, the campers awoke to music of the Ice Cream Truck cruisin through camp. Nothing like a little ice cream to bring the sunshine to your day!
8. Mr. Highlander – Camp Highlander’s male counselor pageant is one of the most popular evening programs in Highlander tradition. Start a campaign for your favorite staff member, make posters and root your counselor to a victory!
7. Monte Carlo – Monte Carlo is Camp Highlander campers favorite evening program of the summer. This carnival night has everything from cotton candy to dunking booths sponsored by you and your cabin mates. An unforgettable night of fun for all!
6. Extreme Camper Choice – Experience the extreme off-camp adventures like paintball, spelunking, canopy tours, whitewater rafting, mountain biking, or enjoy learning the art of cooking, painting, or enjoy a zen day.
ECC will be offered only one Wednesday in Session B.
5. P5 – P5 is our Progressive 5th period offering campers the opportunity to work on progressive skill building in a particular discipline, which is only available in B. There are some P5 exclusive activities offered that you won’t want to miss!
4. Stars and Stripes – This is our
AMAZING Fourth of July celebration each year full of intense competition, our CH Peanut Drop tradition and a spectacular fireworks display. God Bless the
USA!
3. Overnights – Because Session B is our activity-packed three-week session, every cabin has the opportunity to go on an overnight in Pisgah and to Lake Keowee to go waterskiing, wakeboarding and knee boarding!
2. Activities, activities, activities, oh my!!! This session is
FULL of activities. Cabins have the opportunity to go to
ALL of our on-camp activities, that other sessions do not allow due to time. Session B is the activity playground!
1. Because Camp Highlander is A
PLACE LIKE NO
OTHER!
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Tuesday, January 31st, 2012 | 0 Comments
As the first month of 2012 comes to a close, it is pretty amazing to take a look back and see all we have accomplished in four short weeks. The first day of the New Year I arrived on camp, bags in hand, for what I knew would be an incredible adventure in a new job and new home. Two hours later that adventure started when Melissa called to inform me that in four days we were all heading down to Boca Raton, FL and we were driving!
Week one passed in what felt like seconds due to preparing for the Camper Reunion. A drive to South Florida that took fifteen hours on the clock, felt like a working lunch in the Mini Van. Then, two days later we left Boca and headed back to the Mountain. Between the many bathroom stops in unique smelling (yes, smelling) towns, a few re-routes on the
GPS, a sensational Tim Tebow win for the Broncos, dinner at Firehouse subs, and a very impromptu 1 A.M. to 5 A.M. stop at a quaint Holiday Inn Express, I came to a quiet understanding of the blessing I had received after being offered a job at Camp Highlander. After just one week, I felt as if I had known these people I call my “co-workers” my whole life, and I knew first hand, what Melissa meant when she said that I was becoming apart of a family when I accepted this job. The following weeks, of a typically dreary month, continued to be as blissful as the first. Camper shows in Anderson, S.C. with the Long Family, Greenville, S.C. with the Wimberly’s, Mooresville, N.C. at the Shannon household, another trip to Florida where Karl visited the Markel’s, Cross’, Weiss’, Hankin’s, and Short’s (whew!), Memphis, T.N. we stopped by to see the Waples, and wrapping up the month at the Guthrie’s in Morehead City, N.C. have kept our spirits high, and driving skills sharp! As we continue around the southeast, reuniting with old campers and meeting new, future campers, our hearts are filled with immense joy. In every home we enter, and every picture uploaded onto our computers, there is a brief glimpse of the endless love within the Highlander Family. With Reunions, camper shows, and the phones ringing with registration and staff applications alike, the feeling of Camp is all around. Kinfolk Magazine contributor, Julie Walker, sums up the warm, exciting hum in the winter office when she writes, “Summer couldn’t feel closer, although it is months away.”
After being a long time camper myself, the feeling of immediate community I found in my first weeks here on the Mountain paints a perfect picture of the “camper experience”. People of all ages, hailing from different homes across the nation, come to this Mountain for such a brief window of time, but instantly become apart of something much bigger than themselves, our Highlander Family. We all arrive, to this picturesque setting, as strangers. Yet, in a few fleeting moments campers will come to their own quiet understanding that they belong. Two, Three, Six, or maybe even Eight weeks later, campers look around at the people they call their “cabin-mates” and feel as if they have been brothers and sisters their whole lives.
In a month filled with new beginnings, travel, hard work, lots of laughter, and a few rainy days, I have had the opportunity to be a “new camper” here at Camp Highlander, and it is an experience I wish I could gift to every child. Our Camp Family is currently spread far and wide, and we have loved coming to see your homes, and meeting your friends and family. However, I simply cannot wait for summer to get here, to experience our whole family being reunited in their summer home. Old familiar friends will reconnect, and new eager campers will become members of a strong family, built on tradition, and more importantly love.
Katherine
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Wednesday, January 11th, 2012 | 0 Comments
Your son is counting on you. The relationship between a father and a son is like no other. Dads have a God-given role to protect and provide for their families, and to teach their sons the life skills necessary to grow into honorable men. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to share in a fun, action-packed weekend with your son in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina. Besides great activities like riflery, canoeing, and horseback riding, you will also share teachable, bonding moments with your son that will shape his life, and change your relationship forever.
Father and son: $475
Each additional son: $150
Sign-up deadline is March 30th
Space for this event is limited. For more information please call (828)-891-7721.
Click here to register: Father Son 2012 Application.pdf
Please fax completed registrations to 828-891-1960, or email them to
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Wednesday, December 14th, 2011 | 0 Comments
The 2012 Camp Highlander Annual Reunion is coming up soon!
Sunday, January 8, 2012 from 1:30-3:30 pm
Pavilion 2 & 3 at Sugar Sands Park, Boca Raton, FL
We look forward to seeing you all there!
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Thursday, December 1st, 2011 | 0 Comments
Winter is here on the mountain at Camp Highlander! We had our first dusting of snow last night, and it is really cold here at camp! Although I have to say, it is definitely not enough snow for a snowball fight because I threw one at Mac and it exploded mid air. This is also not the kind of snow that we cancel school for, so this snow is not popular with kids (ie Charlie and Carter); they find it pointless. However, I find this snow exciting! Do you want to know why? Snow is a sign that winter is here.
Winter is not the prettiest time of year at camp. The trees don’t have their leaves. The buildings are empty. The lake freezes. Even the horses grow an extra coat of hair to keep them warm so they look different. Everything around here is not quite the same. But with each snow, I know that winter is going and we are getting closer to spring, then summer, then CAMP! So I say…BRING ON THE SNOW!
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Wednesday, October 19th, 2011 | 0 Comments
Thanks to Tom and Beth Donner for a wonderful night of Lousiana food and friends. We were able to meet several great families, and got to catch up with veteran campers Alex and Jack Donner, Winston Ardoin, and former campers and current counselors Trey and Genna Larose.
Thanks to all who came out and made us feel at home in Houma:
Tom and Beth Donner (Alex and Jack)
Anne Marie Ardoin (Winston)
Barbara Duverney (Ayden)
Donald Bourgeois (Rachel)
Brenda Riviere (Michelle)
Henry Peltier (Judith Grace and William)
Chester and Monica Weimer
Caroline Marcello
Trey and Genna Larose
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Tuesday, October 11th, 2011 | 0 Comments
While on his way to join the Crowe/Marcello families for a show in Meridian Mississippi, Karl met up with the Gladstone family for breakfast at his favorite fine eatery.
Highlander campers (Ryan, Ben and Kyla) and mom Barbara earned the reward for “Most effort by a family to join Karl for breakfast” while on his worldwide camp movie tour.
Ryan also broke the record for most expensive meal at a “Hole in the wall” restaurant by a member of the Camp Highlander family. Ryan’s Waffle House breakfast bill eclipsed the $20 mark which shattered former Highlander staff member Taylor Teeple’s mexican meal of a few years ago. Way to go Ryan…the gastrointestinal specialist will see you now. :-)
Of course Karl told Ryan he needed to “clean up and get a haircut”, but a great time was still had by all.
On to Mississippi!
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Monday, October 10th, 2011 | 0 Comments
What a wonderful night in Birmingham! A great dinner, great questions about Camp Highlander, and a great time had by all. Special thanks to Trip and Ashley Umbach for hosting us at their home in Mountain Brook and for William and Laura Louise Perkinson for their help in making this one of the best shows of the fall.
We tell our story about the “Magic” of Camp Highlander one family at a time, and we are excited about all of the great people we are meeting this fall.
Thanks to all who were part of this special night:
Trip and Ashley Umbach (Swede, Warren and Dow)
William and Laura Louise Perkinson (Elizabeth-EP, James and Hannah-Louse)
David and Shannon Jernigon (Cole and Raines)
Frank and Claire Tynes (Helen and Wilson)
Shannon and Anne Cowin (Chip)
Mae Mae Kracke (Margaret and Caroline)
Houston and Stephanie Smith (Isabel)
Betsy Grinstead (Knoxye)
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