The final days of CMS’s 98th season got off to a confusing start, as team opposite day rang in on Wednesday. It began bright and early with the JCs storming into flag raising wearing team colors, but not the ones that they typically wear; on this day, they rock their opposite team’s color, creating a scene that, in all honesty, looks plain wrong! It gets even more confusing when they line up the opposite team for flag raising, but everything culminates with them singing to each other, capping off the silly morning with beauty and love.
Things take a more reverent turn heading into Wednesday night’s traditional evening activity, Wishing Boats. As dusk fades into dark, hiding the view of the river and the rest of our surroundings, light from candles hot-glued onto pieces of tree bark illuminates the night. These “boats”, the wishing boats, are placed into the river one-by-one by our camp crafts counselors, Vaughan Sanderson and Sarah Nelson, and as each one is placed, a name is called out to go along with it. The names encompass all of the campers and counselors, as well as members of our staff, camp animals, Mr. Buff and Sir Ivy, the teams, and the spirit of camp. Legend has it that if your boat makes it to the rapids without the candle going out, whatever wish you made as your boat was placed in will come true. As one counselor put it, however, if your boat doesn’t make it to the rapids, it just means that there’s no need to worry about the subject of the wish – a good piece of consolation for many, as Wednesday night turned out to be breezy. Not so good for candles!
Dinner Thursday evening, rather than taking place in the Feedbag, was at either the waterfront or the athletics field with the greens and buffs, respectively. It’s a great way for the teams to celebrate their summer together, and allows a rare opportunity to sing old Songfest songs written to one’s own team. After dinner, everyone headed to Vesper Hill for the Awards Campfire, at which – you guessed it – the summer’s activity awards were handed out. Most activities had “most outstanding” awards, one each for a junior and senior, but some had a single “most improved” award as well. The 15-year-olds who passed their lifeguarding tests also received their certificates of completion, and lifeguarded the following day during free swim!
Following a long day of packing on Friday, the summer’s biggest surprise, the Final Banquet theme, was revealed to the campers. Counselors spent weeks sketching and painting murals, cutting out cardboard centerpieces, writing songs and a skit, creating, building, and fine-tuning everything that went into FB 2024, Tangled! In addition to murals, the Feedbag was decorated with banners, lanterns, yarn “hair”, ivy, a makeshift tower, and Flynn Rider wanted posters, all motifs of the Disney classic. The place was practically unrecognizable, and the screams heard from campers as they entered could probably be heard from miles away. Following the night’s meal of chicken nuggets and fries, the counselors put on a skit based on the plot of Tangled, but altered to be about a girl discovering the joy and magic of camp. The laughs provided were endless, and the songs brought both tears of joy and tears of sadness.
After FB, Layla Jacobs, Green team captain, honorably carried the honor meet torch to Vesper Hill to celebrate her team’s victory for the summer. Go Greens! On this night, one counselor and one camper each receive the William H. Knight Counselor Award and the title of Camp Spirit, respectively. The counseling staff voted on Joanie Farley to receive the counselor award, due to her dedication, helpfulness, and overall positive attitude. Camp Spirit, the highest honor here at camp, is an award given to a girl who exemplifies the Five Virtues of CMS and the 12 Laws of Woodcraft. This year, the camp community voted on Alice Branch to receive it, due to the reasons listed above, especially her genuine love for CMS that shines so true in everything that she does. We love you and are so proud of you, Alice!
The final awards of the night are Green and Buff team spirit, for which the winners receive the prize of taking Mr. Buff and Sir Ivy home for the year. Our winners this year are Mary Frances Rivera for the Buffs and Evans Gehring for the Greens. We are so proud of you both!
Breakfast on the final morning is traditionally buffet-style, and there’s no set time frame during which girls must enjoy it. The earlier, the better, though, because the morning flies by, and parents arrive for pick-up faster than everyone expects. It was heartbreaking saying goodbye to everyone as they departed, yet there was also a sense of contentment in the air in knowing that we had such a successful summer. A piece of our hearts will be missing for the next 10 months without camp, but we hope to see everyone pop out at the annual CMS Winter Reunion in December. ‘Til we meet again!
