Greetings from Pemi,

We’re now ten days into the second session of Pemi 2024, but it feels like the community has been together for ages. It’s been a full week of activities, trips, nature exploration, sports, and creative endeavors here at camp. Our full season and veteran boys have helped the new guys settle in, and by now all of our campers are navigating Pemi life as if they’re multiyear pros. The first Junior/Senior Campfire of second session gave our youngest boys new friends to look up to, and our 15s have been demonstrating admirable leadership as they prepare all of our age groups for our annual competition with Camp Tecumseh this Friday. Through all of this, we’ve continued to focus on our summer-long theme of character. 15-year-old Thomas Axel has run with this theme by, of his own initiative, introducing a word of the day in the Mess Hall at lunch every day. Today he went with “accountability” and spoke about the importance of holding yourself accountable in all that you do. We love seeing this model of character-based leadership from Thomas and all of our oldest campers, and we know that the younger guys are watching and learning from their every move. It’s been another fun and busy week at Pemi – read on to hear more about it.

2024 marks our first summer with the 3- and 4-week session lengths instead of two 3.5-week halves. One aspect of this new calendar we’ve been especially excited about is how it might open up the fourth week of camp for more trips than have typically gone out under the old schedule. The results are in, and the new format’s been a whopping success for the trip program! In addition to the 14s canoe trip mentioned in last week’s newsletter, we had four more overnight trips go out. A group of dedicated and enthusiastic hikers from the Lower, Upper, and Senior Divisions went out on a three-day hike across the Zealand Ridge. The group of Tom Mele, Enrique Sevillano Luque, Hudson Eng, Brecken Putzel, Everett Goodnow, Diego Logue-Perron, and Alex Baron enjoyed spectacular weather as they summited Garfield, the Twins, and Guyot along the ridge; went up to the top of West Bond for a stunning sunset hike (see photo!); and came down via the Zealand Trail. Meanwhile, Uppers Nick McCay, Sam Chapin, Marcus Vitale, Zach Pierson, and Nick Sargent took a two-day trip to Mt. Jackson and Lowers Will Dennis, Colin Mclean, Adler Howe, Finn Stephan, Daniel Desiato, Ahran Santiago, Connor Pike, Michael Vitale, Micah Tolbert, and Eli Brown were on the other side of the Crawford Notch Road traversing the Appalachian Trail via the Ethan Pond Trailhead. All three of these trips helped us log key stretches of the AT in our summer-long quest to hike every mile of it in New Hampshire. We’re getting close!

With the humidity behind us and perfect New Hampshire summer weather replacing it, we also sent out a bunch of boys on day hikes in the latter half of Week Four. The boys of Juniors 4 and 6 – Mason Russell, Declan McGovern, Jack Moskoff, Henry Howe, Leo Schrippa, Ben Desiato, Nolan Rutledge, Manolo Sevillano Luque, Eli Enders, Will Fritts, Andrew Nook, Finn Shapiro, and Carter Thompson – hiked Rattlesnake on Wednesday. At the same time, boys from Lowers 2 and 4 went up Mt. Cube: Wade Fleming, Parker Brown, Ben Comey, Carlos Martinez, Chris Castellano, Ben Miller, Nate Lavelle, Julian Park-Jacobs, Patrick McLaughlin, Rafi Rubai, Nolan Shah, Declan Powers, and Asher Brown. The Lowers continued their ascents of Cube on Thursday and Friday, with boys from Lowers 1, 3, 5, and 7 who weren’t on overnight hikes going up on Thursday (Cairo Clapper, Kirin Clark, Bennett Purdy, Bodie Wein, Brian Lorig, Danny Follansbee, Emmet Greene, Julian King, Nicholas Kusik, Tyson Madkins, Henry VanDerzee, and Wills Waitzin) or Friday (Timmy Lorig, Hunter Blauer, Brandon Lyu, James Brennan, Jasper Gandhi, Rhys Newman, Chuck Kilcullen, and Oliver Nevius). Keeping it closer to home, the boys of Junior 5 – James Brisbane, Eddie Horn, Sebastian Liebel, Arjun Patel, Charlie Totero, and James Wasnick – spent an afternoon and night up at the Pemi Hill shelter, learning camp craft and enjoying time in the woods.

Week Four also saw Pemi’s nature program continuing its high standard of excellence both in camp and out on trips. Boys had the opportunity to experience some of our most popular nature activities such as Wild Foods, Weird Science, Butterflies and Moths, Birding, Mineral Kingdom, Ponds and Streams, Orienteering, Nature Book, and Space!, along with nature activities that also tap into the creative realm like Environmental Sculpture and Photography. Expanding on the topics that piqued their interests during activity periods, a number of boys participated in a variety of nature trips as well. Pemi’s fortunate enough to have excellent relations with a number of folks in our neighboring communities who let us access spectacular tracts of private land to enhance our nature studies. One such property is a 200-acre location that includes a rolling meadow, pristine woodlands, and a picture-perfect waterfall that’s a favorite of our budding photographers, and the group of Henry and Oliver Nevius, Finn Pike, Yaseen Usman, Ben Desiato, Haben McNulty, Charles Golay, Hibbard Brown, and Mason Russell spent a beautiful afternoon there exploring. We also had our first installment for the second session of Birding Before Breakfast, where campers arise at (or before) the crack of dawn to head off camp for a birding expedition. This trip saw George Kingdon, Niam Santiago, Wills Waitzkin, and Devran Efe head out, and they were rewarded with a rare treat for our area, managing to hear the call of a black billed cuckoo.  

A large group of boys participated in the annual New Hampshire Loon Count. This local census helps scientists track the loon population in the state, providing valuable insights for ongoing conservation efforts. It’s one of several examples throughout the summer where Pemi campers can engage directly in the work of being citizen-scientists to help professional scientists in their endeavors. It’s a long-running project that Pemi has been proud to participate in for many years. A large group of boys woke up early on Saturday morning and headed out onto either our lake – Sam Chapin, Nick McCay, Finn Gaughan, Graeme Newman, Wills Waitzkin, Daniel Desiato, James Wasnick, James Brisbane, Sebastian Liebel, Mason Russell, Declan McGovern, George Kingdon, Timmy Lorig, and Yaseen Usman – or over to nearby Upper Baker Pond: Luke Gonzalez, River Hambleton, Jonathan Thibault, Mason Winell, Sidney Harris, and Thomas McNelly. The boys spotted adult loons on both lakes while enjoying tranquil waters and perfect temperatures as they began their day with a calm paddle.

On the athletics front, we’ve had several fun and exciting contests with our neighboring camps. The 15s baseball game mentioned briefly in last week’s newsletter came to a thrilling conclusion with a Pemi victory on a bases loaded, walk off single by Adam Aronis that brought in Bryce Madom and Miles Whitcombe for a 3-2 final score! The next day our 13s soccer team squared off against Camp Lanakila. With great play from Niko Rumplmayr, Toven Putzel, Jaime Diaz, Nico Richards, Noah Katz, Graeme Newman, Wynn Wilfred, Emmitt Baggish, and Sam Weber, the Pemi boys secured a 3-2 victory in a highly competitive and fun match. On Saturday morning we participated in a series of contests with Camp Moosilauke. Here at Pemi our 10 and unders played tennis and basketball. For many of these boys, it was a first Pemi sporting experience, and they had an absolute blast and played great. The tennis team had strong performances from Dylan King, Niam Santiago, Charlie and Jack Moskoff, Andrew Ramich, Will Fritts, Henry Howe, and more en route to a dominant victory. There were many other excellent performances from Pemi athletes, but with next week’s newsletter slated to be sports heavy, we’ll leave it there for now.

Much of the focus within the athletics program has now turned to our annual day of competition with Camp Tecumseh, the oldest intercamp sports rivalry in the nation. You’ll read more about Tecumseh Day in next week’s newsletter, but one of the aspects we’re focused on this week is the way in which it brings our community together and provides leadership opportunities. To that end, Donovan Laas spoke to the camp community on Sunday night about the concept of ubuntu. Using his own childhood experiences in South Africa in the years after the end of apartheid, Donovan discussed how the spirit of ubuntu – the idea that “I am because you are” – binds communities together in mutual reliance on every individual member. It was a beautiful talk that’s helping all of us approach our day of fun and friendly competition with Camp Tecumseh with a sense of respect for our opponents and an emphasis on caring for each and every person in the Pemi community.

Our 15s have taken this to heart with excellent leadership in a variety of different fashions from all of them in their own individual ways. This is a special group of 15s, as they’re deliberately focusing on ensuring that no one person, or small cohort within the age group, has to take on too large of a responsibility in leading their peers. They’ve spent a couple hours over the last two days specifically discussing, amongst themselves first and then with me and their counselors, how to go about leading as a full and cohesive age group. As such it’s only fitting to recognize and thank all of them for how they’ve approached this exciting time in the Pemi calendar. Well done, Thomas Axel, Alex Baron, Evan Bruno, Aurelian Henry-Labordere, Frankie McLaughlin, Sam Pentz, Chase Riley, Rohin Shah, Nick Vitale, Aubrey Bailey, Jacob Cloutier, Robert Dorros, Marcelo Emal-Langrand, Carter Glahn, Florian Henry-Labordere, Alasdair McDonough, Luke Myre, Will Sandor, Zander Sargent, Luke Young, Luke Gonzalez, River Hambleton, and Leo Martin!

A key part of the Seniors’ leadership came during the Junior/Senior Campfire, when Juniors met their Senior buddies. It’s always such a fun and special evening, as the boys spend time together roasting marshmallows for s’mores, shooting hoops, skipping rocks, and just hanging out. The Seniors love the time with the younger boys, and the Juniors truly idolize these older campers and are star-struck until they realize that the Seniors want to be hanging out with them every bit as much as the other way around. The bonds forged at this campfire carry through the rest of the summer, as the Seniors continue to spend time down in Junior Camp, whether that be reading to the boys at night, playing games with them, or chatting with Junior cabins to answer their questions and hear how their summers are going.

Another leadership opportunity came about this week in the form of volunteering to bring our Cans from Campers donations over to the Wentworth/Warren Food Pantry. Parker Brown, Vikram Jay, Leo Martin, Bryce Madom, Noah Laas-Drysdale, Rafe Romine, Sasha Honig, Everett Wooldridge, and Ezra Otubusin-Reese spent an afternoon delivering and sorting the generous donations from our second session families, who gave almost the exact same amount of food as our full- and first-session families combined! The boys learned more about summertime food insecurity, the role of food pantries in local communities, and the impact that individuals and groups can have in helping their neighbors. Many thanks to the families who donated and to all of the boys who volunteered. We actually had many more campers want to go than could be accommodated at the pantry, but those whose names weren’t drawn deserve equal appreciation for their desire to help out: Nick Sargent, Nick McCay, Tyson Madkins, Sam Chapin, Graeme Newman, Sidney Harris, and Mason Winell.

As Week Five progresses, we’re continuing to enjoy mostly beautiful weather, with a bit of rain mixed in. We’ve been fortunate, however, that both of our second session campfires to date have been outside. Last weekend’s featured another beautiful saxophone performance from Nick McCay; Luke Gonzalez playing Ode to Joy on the violin after only one week of learning to play under the tutelage of Megan Spindler; a wonderful rendition of Blowin’ in the Wind by Manfred Creane, Leo Martin, Ali Sheikh, and Thomas Groot; and a lightning fast completion of a Rubik’s Cube by Hibbard Brown.

Nick McCay was also 50% musically responsible for one of the coolest moments I’ve witnessed all summer, and I’ll sign off from this newsletter with a description of it momentarily. First, be sure to check back next week for updates on Tecumseh Day, Family Visit Weekend for full session boys, and the dozens of other events going on at Pemi in the coming days. You can also follow along for Tecumseh Day scores via Instagram and X.

Now, back to Nick McCay and Wills Waitzkin on the saxophones. As I approached Intermediate Hill on Wednesday evening, I heard a sax riff coming from somewhere nearby, but I was thrown off as I then heard a different sounding sax coming from a different direction. Wondering if echoes were just playing a trick on me, I continued walking over with my ears peeled. It turned out that Nick and Wills were sitting outside of Upper 1 (at the bottom of the hill) and Lower 7 (at the top of the hill) respectively, trading off sax solos for a solid ten minutes. The boys were going back and forth, sometimes improvising and sometimes playing recognizable tunes, while all around them the hill continued to buzz with activity. A group of a dozen or so campers and staff stood on the hillside in between them, listening in awe as the boys would play, pause and listen to the other, and then play again. It was a beautiful moment that captured so much Pemi magic. Thank you to Nick and Wills for an impromptu performance that won’t soon be forgotten!

– Pat Clare