St. Tikhons Summer Camp BLOG

1. Be Prepared! Make sure you follow the packing list that we will send you in June, to make sure that you have everything you will need for the week at St. Tikhon’s.

2. Make New Friends and Keep the Old. If you are new to St. Tikhon’s, don’t worry – it is so easy to make friends at camp. If you are a camp veteran, make it your goal to meet somebody new this year while catching up with old buddies.

3. Try Every Activity. Is sports is your favorite thing to do at camp? Try your hand at Russian Dancing or Arts & Crafts one day. Think that getting in the pool or boating on the lake is boring? Give it a shot. You might discover a new hobby or a talent you didn’t know you had. And it’s a good way to achieve #2 – making a new friend.

4. Stay Hydrated. Drink a cup of water every time you switch stations. It will help you stay hydrated and healthy all week long. The more hydrated you are, the better you will feel at summer camp. Which also brings us to #5.

5. .Sleep. We know it’s a lot of fun to stay up late talking to new and old friends on the first night. But don’t forget to let your body rest so that it can recover for the new day.

6. Take Pictures. You will look back on them for years to come as fond remembrances of happy times at camp.

7. Keep In Touch. Make sure you collect your friends’ contact information before you leave, so that you can stay connected all year long! It is so easy nowadays with email and social media.

Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen! We trust that our entire “camp family” enjoyed a beautiful Pascha this past Sunday!

For those of us living within the boundaries of the Diocese of Eastern Pennsylvania, the weather was absolutely beautiful for the whole weekend, marking the first time in several years that we were able to complete the processions around the church without the threat of rain or mud.

With summer camp now being only 60 days away – roughly two months – we realize that it is probably way too early to start speculating about what kind of weather we will get at camp this year, at least by modern standards. But according to the Farmer’s Almanac, which has been in publication since 1818, the prediction for the week of July 7-13 includes very hot weather in the 90’s and a few 100s, with scattered showers in the beginning of the week. We take the Almanac’s forecast lightly, however, their long-term annual forecasts have been proven to be about 85% accurate. So, we’ll have to see what happens at camp this year.

Typically, the week of camp is extremely humid, and we usually get at least one big thunderstorm rolling through the mountains towards the end of the week. However, we have experienced some years during which the temperature was very mild for July, not rising above 80 degrees. Alternatively, there have been years where there was rain every day.

No matter what the weather, we plan on having fun at camp! We have alternate activities ready to go in case of rain, and we are always very cognizant of the temperature in order to avoid heat-related injuries during camp. In fact, we have an indoor break time built into our daily schedule in order to cut down on the amount of time everyone is spending in direct sunlight in the middle of the day. We also have water coolers at every station and encourage the campers to stay hydrated. And in the event of inclement weather, our counselors are trained in emergency procedures to keep everyone safe.

Camper Registration Deadline
We would like to remind everyone that there are 23 days left to register campers for this season. Registration forms are available at www.sttikhonscamp.org.

Counselor Letters
Counselors should expect to receive their letters of acceptance or decline on or before May 10. After that point, counselors who are accepted should proceed to apply for a PA Criminal Background Check and PA Child Abuse Clearance. (Clear instructions on how to obtain those clearances will be made available.)

As of this writing, the counselor application acceptance period for the 2013 season of St. Tikhon’s Summer Camp has come to an end. We hope that everyone who wanted to apply was able to do so. Letters of confirmation will be mailed on or before May 10, to those applicants who are accepted.

Campers still have 32 days left to register.

In the meantime, for your reading pleasure, we would like to share a delightful article that we saw on The Huffington Post about whether sending a child to a summer camp program is still relevant in this day and age, from a psychologist’s perspective. Dr. Michael Thompson, Ph.D. confirmed in the article that he believes “children develop in profound ways when they leave their parents’ house and join a camp community”. You can read the entire post here.

Our campers are encouraged to read during our morning and evening prayer services.

A few nice “take away” points from the article include the following:

• the only way children can grow into independence is to have their parents open the door and let them walk out
• camp helps build confidence and identity; it also builds leadership skills
• college admissions officers think former campers are more likely to succeed in college because they have had successful experiences away from home

We know from experience that campers often come into their own during the week at St. Tikhon’s. It is a time of independence, a time to define oneself apart from one’s family, and a time to explore new friendships with new people from all walks of life. It can be a very liberating experience for new campers, and a source of healing and renewal for old campers and counselors alike.

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We wish all of our campers and counselors a very blessed Holy Week in anticipation of our Lord’s Pascha this Sunday.

The countdown begins! We are now exactly 80 days from camp, and preparations are in full swing. There is just over one week left for our prospective counselors to get their applications in the mail, with the deadline being next Friday, April 26. But campers still have until May 31 to decide whether they want to join us for another season of fun and friendship at St. Tikhon’s Summer Camp.

If you or your camper are still trying to decide whether or not our camp is right for you, we’d like to give you some information to help you make up your mind.

Lake Counselor Alexander Macura assists a group of yellow shirts from the dock.

I’m Afraid I Won’t Know Anyone or Make Any Friends
If you are interested in coming to St. Tikhon’s, but you are worried that you won’t know anybody and won’t be able to make any friends – it’s an understandable concern. At some point, all of our campers and counselors have had the same fears. Even the camp directors! But we encourage people not to worry about that one too much since it is so easy to make a new friend at camp. You spend the whole week learning and doing fun activities with a group of other children who are the same age as you, and you will share meals and living quarters with them too. So you will get to know the other campers just by being around them! We also do group icebreakers on the first day to help facilitate relationships. And you already have your faith in common, so you already know at least one thing about everyone who is there!

I Don’t Know What To Expect
If you don’t know if you want to come to camp because you’re not sure what goes on there…we’ll tell you! Here is a quick run-down of our daily schedule:

The whole camp rises early to prepare for Morning Prayers in the Pavilion before breakfast is served. Then, campers return to the Dormitory to clean their rooms for Room Inspection. The rest of the morning, each age group takes turns enjoying religious education class, boating, swimming, and sports on the field.  After Lunch, everyone has quiet time in the Dormitory while the sun is at its worst. Later in the afternoon, recreation time continues with more opportunities to use the lake, the pool, the field, or the washerboards down at the gym. Dinner is then served. Afterwards, a fun camp-wide activity might take place, such as Pinata Night. As the sun begins to set, everyone gathers for Evening Prayers, and one by one, each age group goes to bed.

We also participate in Vespers and Liturgy in the Monastery Church on Friday night and Saturday morning, respectively.

I’m Afraid I Might Get Homesick
If you are worried about the possibility of being homesick, that’s definitely an important thing to consider when making the decision to come to summer camp. If you think you might be just a little bit homesick, we encourage you to come anyway and see how much fun it is, and you will probably have a blast. But if you are truly very scared about being really homesick for the week (and if you have never stayed away from home overnight before, or have not done so with success), you may want to consider waiting until you have more practice staying away from home and begin to feel more comfortable with it, before committing to a full-week overnight camping program.

A quick smile for the camera in the Trapeza.

I’m A Teenager, And I’m Worried I Won’t Have Any Fun
Fear not, teenage friends. If you are between the ages of 14 and 17, our camp has a program designed especially for you, and not in a hokey way. Our teen program was designed by former teen campers who wanted to improve the schedule and the educational program to make it more enjoyable for (and more applicable to) high school-aged campers. We even have special classes and events just for the teens, to set them apart from the younger age groups entirely. The teen program is now in its 9^th year, and the majority of the teens who participate can’t wait to return the next season and reunite with the great friends they made at camp. We strongly encourage you to give it a shot. But don’t wait until the last minute, because we have limited space for the teen program, and it gets filled very quickly!

If you have any questions or concerns, please call or email us at 570-493-0108 or info@sttikhonscamp.org. Registration forms are available at www.sttikhonscamp.org.

To our dear Saint Tikhon’s Summer Camp friends and family:

Despite today being April Fool’s Day, it is no joke that we are now only 97 days away from the 2013 season of Saint Tikhon’s Summer Camp. Spring has finally sprung, and as we delve deeper into Great Lent, our pile of counselor applications and camper registration forms is growing taller.

If you have not mailed in your forms yet, please keep in mind the following very important deadlines, which we strictly follow:

FOR COUNSELORS:
Download your application form at www.sttikhonscamp.org. Fill it out and mail it to us with a copy of your valid photo ID on or before Friday, April 26, 2013.

Letters of acceptance or decline will be mailed to applicants on or before May 10, 2013, and those who are accepted should immediately begin processing their PA Child Abuse Clearance and PA Criminal Background Check according to the directions available on our website.

FOR CAMPERS:
Registration forms and instructions are available at www.sttikhonscamp.org. Simply download the 2013 Camper Registration Packet, fill out the forms, and mail us your completed registration materials and tuition fee on or before May 31, 2013.

Please email us at info@sttikhonscamp.org or call us at 570-493-0108 with any questions.

We hope you are having a very blessed Lenten journey!

P.S. When making your summer plans, please remember that while our mailing address is Conshohocken, the summer camp has always been, and will always be, held on the grounds of St. Tikhon’s Monastery and Seminary in South Canaan, PA – in the beautiful Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania.

Normally, not a lot happens as far as camp-related news during our off-season. However, last month proved to be a very exciting one for the Orthodox Church in America, and will lead to some change in administration for the Diocese of Eastern Pennsylvania.

On Tuesday, November 13, 2012, His Eminence, Archbishop Tikhon of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania, was elected Primate of the Orthodox Church in America during the 17th All-American Council of the Orthodox Church in America at Holy Trinity Church in Parma, Ohio.

Metropolitan Tikhon addressed the clergy, monastics and faithful of the Diocese of Eastern Pennsylvania in a letter dated November 15, 2012, the text of which includes the following excerpt:

Metropolitan TIKHON

“I am grateful to God for the opportunity to have served as your diocesan bishop for almost eight years and I leave with much sorrow over this separation.  I have grown to love and respect my brothers in Christ, the priests and deacons of Eastern Pennsylvania, together with their families; and it has been my great joy to serve the faithful Christian people of this Diocese, to learn from them and be inspired by their devotion to Christ and his Holy Church. As your new Primate, my presence within the diocese, of course, will be limited, but it is my intention to return as often as I can, with the blessing of the diocesan authorities, to the place where I began my ministry as a bishop, where I was blessed to serve and where I know that I can count on the prayers and love of the good people of Eastern Pennsylvania (and the Northern tip of Delaware).”

You can listen to Metropolitan Tikhon accept his appointment as Metropolitan at the All-American Council here.

You can watch Metropolitan Tikhon’s first official video address to the faithful here.

Having worked with our newly-elected Metropolitan Tikhon for many years, the camp directors are very happy for him in his new position as our Primate. We are also sad that we will no longer be working with him directly. But for now, we look forward to news of a new Diocesan Bishop who will continue to guide the efforts of our camp program into our 2013 season and beyond.

To His Beatitude, the Most Blessed TIKHON, Archbishop of Washington, Metropolitan of All America and Canada – Many Years! Eis Polla Eti, Dhespota!

As our gentle readers may have noticed, our camp director responsibilities came before our blogging duties in the final few days of the program. (Either that, or we were having such a great time that we forgot to post!)

Rest assured that Friday and Saturday, July 6 and 7, were full of fun for the entire camp. The children enjoyed celebrating Vespers and Divine Liturgy together in the Monastery Church before packing up and saying goodbye on Saturday afternoon.

We extend our sincere appreciation to all of our counselor staff, with a special thanks to our camp Chaplain, Fr. Timothy Hojnicki. Thanks also to the parents and family members who support us each year. We can’t wait to see all of our campers again in 2013!

The next season of summer camp is scheduled for July 7-13, 2013. Please mark your calendars!

Archbishop Tikhon censes the Monastery Church as campers sing the responses during Vespers on Friday night.

Fr. Timothy Hojnicki (l) and Fr. Athanasy (r) open the protective case holding the wonderworking Myrrh-Streaming Icon of Saint Anna.

July 4, 2012, was a very important day in the history of St. Tikhon’s Summer Camp. We were fortunate to receive a special surprise visit from the wonderworking Myrrh-Streaming Icon of St. Anna, and her caretaker, Fr. Athanasy.

The Myrrh-Streaming Icon of St. Anna began to spontaneously “weep” myrrh on May 9, 2004 – Mother’s Day – in the Russian Orthodox Church of Our Lady of Joy of All Who Sorrow in Philadelphia. Parishioners noticed that the icon appeared to be perspiring, and upon closer inspection, Fr. Athanasy, who was the rector there at the time, realized that the icon was producing an oily liquid that looked like tear drops, as if the Saint were crying.

The icon is a miracle-working icon. Many women who have had difficulty conceiving a child, or who were told they were infertile, have conceived after praying in the icon’s presence.

Fr. Athanasy, himself a devotee of Saint Anna after his mother’s prayers to the Saint were heard and answered during a serious childhood accident, had commissioned the icon in 1998 from the Mount of Olives Convent in Jerusalem.

Last night, during Fr. Athanasy’s visit, we heard the story of this special icon. After a special Moleben for a Civil Holiday was celebrated, each of our 120 campers and 54 counselors was invited to venerate the icon one by one. As each camper approached the icon, they experienced the beautiful, flowery smell of the myrrh. Fr. Athanasy gave each camper a paper print of the icon after touching the icon with each print in the sign of the cross.

Here are some pictures from our visit with Saint Anna:

Fr. Athanasy tells the story of the miracle-working icon.

Campers and counselors serve a Moleben for a Civil Holiday.

Our 120 children and 54 counselors each venerated the icon and received a paper print of Saint Anna.