Eric Forti 360

Well, not just yet, but my big trip is about a month away! I will be heading over to Boulder, Colorado (home of the Canadensis Groundhog!) for a few days of my own CAMP, called CampMinder Camp. All of you guys get to spend your summers at camp, so why shouldn’t I get my fun time. It’s only for 2 days, but 2 is better than nothing! CampMinder is the web-based system we use for campers, staff, alumni, photos, videos, etc. It’s an amazing database and so much more and by attending this “camp” session, I will have a chance to collaborate with the owner, support people, programmers, and a hundred other camp directors who all use the same system. We will brainstorm ways to make the system more efficient and learn some of the new features that will be unveiled in the coming months. Of course while I am in Boulder, I will have a chance to catch up with Groundhog and see the town a bit, although I will be heading out pretty quickly to AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND!

I will be interviewing staff from New Zealand and Australia for about a week before returning home to PA. Looking for the best staff for Canadensis is a big job and we find it’s important to try to meet all of our staff face-to-face. Things like Skype make it easier to do remote interviews, but in person are always the best. As is with Boulder, I will have a chance to see many of our former staff members from last summer and from years ago…many years ago!

Which brings me to the reason for my blog post today. I woke up at 6AM to an email from Groundhog with just a picture attached (no message). Usually that means spam, but I opened it and found the picture below.

So, I guess this is proof that yes I was a camper/counselor back in the day at Canadensis. The kid standing behind me is none other than Joel Wiseman, who came from Australia for one summer, along with his mom who was a nurse and his older brother who worked at our lakefront for many years! A few other observations:

• Camp still uses the same brown dining hall trays. Of course since then we have replaced them, but it’s funny that they are the same style!
• That birthday cake looks amazing!
• This picture was taken on our “old back deck” of the dining hall and you can see a tree in the background. That tree was taken down just last winter after getting damaged in a storm. Pretty cool that we built the deck around that tree so many years ago and then rebuilt a new deck around it again! Too bad it’s gone.
• I am wearing a NJ Devils shirt. Anyone who knows me, knows that I really don’t follow sports, so why aren’t I wearing my favorite shirts of all- Canadensis?!
• And the funniest, most ironic thing…is that my birthday is in SEPTEMBER, not the summertime! So, I can’t remember why there is a cake in front of me. Perhaps I just like cake and Silas remembered that back then and made one special for me? Or, maybe it was one of camper’s birthday, haha.

Anyway, just thought I would share this photo with all of you.

I also want to take a moment and wish everyone a Happy and Healthy New Year! I will try to pop back on here/Facebook before the holidays, but if not, please enjoy Chanukah/Christmas and New Year Celebrations and of course the best part of this time of year, is that we enter the new year, which means we are even closer to Summer 2012!

Hi Everyone,

It’s December which means it’s the holiday season, but it’s also the time we get busy doing home visits. At Canadensis, we continue a tradition which began decades ago in which we visit all new campers who are enrolled for the upcoming summer in their homes! These home visits give us a chance to get to know our future campers in their own environment and we prepare them for the upcoming new camper events, including bowling, etc.

So myself, Pam, and Brian have been visiting with campers throughout the months of November/December and will continue to do so all winter long. We have also been traveling to colleges and universities to find the best staff for Summer 2012 and of course the International “Where in the World” trips will begin in January.

Robin and I had a chance to also see campers Ryan & Jake Garfinkle with our now annual dinner over there! I also had dinner with camper David Brucker. Everyone is doing well and really excited for the summer!

Jake and Ryan Garfinkle

David Brucker at Benihana

Here in the winter office, Jcal came to visit! Of course he brought us snacks, including our favorite Crumbs cupcakes! We are busy filming a new episode of Canadensis Today, our annual holiday card, and a few other surprises for all of you.

Hope everyone has a great week and check back soon!