Arrival and Departure Days

Please arrive between 8:00 and Noon on opening day
Coffee, tea, juice and breakfast treats from the bakery will be available in the dining hall throughout the morning.

• Upon arrival, you will be greeted at the camp entrance by our counseling interns who will guide you to your son’s cabin to unload, choose a bunk and begin the process of settling him in. As always, we encourage parents to allow the boys to do as much of this as possible. All of the cabin counselors except a few who will be driving to the airports will be on hand to meet you and help with this.
• From the cabin, you’ll go to the Health Center where each boy will check in. There will be three possibilities at the Health Center: if a boy has medication, he will check in with the nurse in the dispensary; a boy who is new and has no special med needs will report to our second nurse; returning boys with no special medical needs will check in with one of our senior staff members specially trained by the nurses for the purpose. The nurses will also be checking with everybody regarding health forms and health insurance cards. New parents will likely want to accompany their sons to the Health Center; returning parents will be welcome to skip it and let the boys go themselves, and even say good-bye at this point.
• From the Health Center it’s off to the office to get a new Kabeyun tee shirt. New boys at this point will meet one of our counseling interns who will take them on a tour. Parents can either use this moment as a perfect opportunity to say good bye, or will be welcome to join the tour. In any case, the tour will finish at his cabin where parents can say their good-byes.
• The focus for the morning will be on the cabins where the staff will be spending time getting to know their campers, greeting parents and helping to expedite departures comfortably. Boys will spend time organizing their areas, greeting newcomers, visiting with staff, beginning to make new friendships and renewing old ones.
• At 12:45 we will have our first all-camp assembly. By this time all families who have driven to camp will have said their good-byes. We will be waiting for the handful of guys who fly.
• We will have our first meal together at 1:00, move from the dining hall to Pine Point for our opening community gathering and spend the remainder of the afternoon playing and working together in cabin groups. The afternoon will be capped by a play swim for returning campers, and swim screenings and swimming for new boys with the swim staff. Dinner assembly at 6:00, evening activities after dinner, Charcoal Ceremony, bed, and we’re off!

Part of the challenge for families driving to camp – especially returning families accustomed to the longer arrival window of the past – will be to adjust travel to earlier in the day. This may mean that you will want to spend the night somewhere in the area the night before opening day. Remember that the Lakes Region hotels fill quickly, but that Concord, with plenty of choices, may be on the way and is only 40 minutes from camp.

We are working to make the day better for kids and to give them a chance to begin their Kabeyun experience without unnecessary stress or down time. If you have questions, give us a call, but please try and catch the spirit in which this plan is offered. Together, we can make opening day an enjoyable part of the camp experience rather than a day to just get through as best we can. As usual, after the dust settles, we’ll look for your feedback.

Half-Summer I and Half-Summer II
On the last day of each Half Summer session you will have an opportunity to share your son’s Kabeyun experience with him in a day of celebration and pick-up. We will be sending a letter from camp in advance of the day detailing the plan, but this should give you a sense of how it works:

Families will be welcome to arrive at the end of breakfast - at about 9:00 am - and begin their visit. Counselors will be available to chat with parents about their son’s experience, and there will be activities available for families to enjoy together – boating, swimming, tennis, badminton, horseshoes… We will serve a barbecue lunch from 11:30 am – 12:30 pm, and families will depart by about 1:00 in the afternoon.

The boys will be packed and ready to go the night before and we’ll encourage you to load his belongings into the car before lunch.
 

The Summer and Extended Stay
The last day of Half Summer I is your day to visit, though it is not an expectation! During the morning the entire staff will be available to you, with the exception of a few counselors driving boys to the airport, and there will be activities for you to share with your son. 

Lunch will be served and in the afternoon a special trip will head out of camp for boys who do not have visitors. Your son can either join this outing, or head out with you - one or the other, as the afternoon is a busy time for our counselors preparing for the arrival of Half Summer II campers. You will also have the opportunity to take him overnight - whatever works best for you.

The trip returns to camp by about 9:00 pm; boys who leave with their families will either be back at that time to spend the night at camp, or will be dropped off the next morning along with arriving campers.
 

Introductory Sessions
Because these are each just a two-week stay, and we think it's important to minimize disruption to camp routine, there is no formal visiting time provided for the Introductory session boys. Families will arrive on the last day of the session between 9:00 and 10:00 in the morning to pick up their sons. A cabin counselor will be available to help load cars and chat. Introductory session boys need to arrive and depart by private car as our counselors are busy with the regular program on this day and therefore unavailable for trips to the airport.
 

Counseling Interns
The Counseling Intern program is an eight-week experience, starting two days before the Half-Summer I session begins and ending on the same day that the Half-Summer II session ends. Interns are usually busy on the changeover days and have an important role in helping with the transition. Therefore, the end of the Half Summer I session is not a good time to visit, if you want to visit. Instead, we ask that you arrange a day within the week before or after the mid-point of our summer. Again, there is no expectation of a visit; you can work out the details with your son and the head of the Intern program.