Forti on the Elliptical

Hello from New Brunswick, NJ, at an undisclosed location where the leadership team of 2009 got together for a day full of meetings. It is 5:30PM and we are headed to dinner in a nearby restaurant, but before we go I wanted to check in and say hello. Today’s meeting was so exciting and energizing. It’s great to get together with all of the head staff and talk “camp”. Some new ideas were exchanged, ways to enhance our programs were discussed, and overall it was a really fun time! Now a first for my blog- a guest blogger! Welcome Will Armon, Programming Coordinator to the blog…

What’s up, Canadensis!  Thanks for reading.  I’m sitting here with Forti in the hotel and he’s asked me to blog.  So, I’ve never done it before, but what the heck, here goes…

I had a great flight in from St. Louis on Friday night.  The plane was pretty empty so I had a row to myself.  Forti and Robin picked me up from the airport in Philly and we drove to the hotel in Newark.  We stopped along the way for a slice of pizza.  Eric was worried that it had been a whole three hours since I had eaten.  Let’s face it, sometimes he’s like a big Jewish mother!  So, in order to make Forti feel better, I forced down a slice of pie, and we were on our way.

After hanging out in the hotel last night and heading to our rooms around midnight, Forti and I met for a workout this morning.  Let me tell you something, you haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen Eric Forti on an elliptical machine at eight in the morning!  He was, of course, wearing a Camp shirt, for easy identification.

So, starting this morning at around ten, a group of head staff met to discuss the upcoming summer.  While I can’t share all, or really any, of the details, I can assure you that we have some great things planned for the Summer of 2009.  It’s very interesting to sit at a table with so many people that love Canadensis and do nothing but discuss what a good summer should be.  There was plenty of laughter and many serious moments.  There were memorable stories and fascinating ideas.  (There was even an M&M or two thrown at Forti!) There was plenty of agreement, but disagreement as well.  There were even those moments when we raised our voices in that disagreement.  From an outsider looking in, those moments would look like the result of anger.  But they weren’t.  Instead they were the result of passion.  We all have such a passion for making Canadensis the greatest place to spend a summer.  And sure, when we have visions that aren’t the same at first, passion can erupt as we work out the differences.  But that’s what makes Canadensis so wonderful!  We have so many people that care so much.  And reaching the right balance is what makes Camp so perfect.  We’ll get it right.  We have amazing people that are so talented, and I can promise you all, we’ll create another magical summer in 2009!  So rest easy over the next five months, 2009 is going to be another perfect summer on top of the Poconos!

I’ll see you many of you tomorrow at the reunion.  I’m looking forward to a taste of Camp before I head back to St. Louis to continue counting down the days as I finish up the semester.  Take care, and I hope to write again soon.