For those just starting to read our newsletters for the second session, a quick programming note at the top: Newsletters are written and sent out weekly, mostly on Tuesdays, though occasionally (like this week) the rhythm of camp can delay the newsletter until Wednesday. You’ll get a brief snippet included in the body of an email, with a link to the full newsletter at the beginning and end. All the newsletters are also posted and available on the Pemi Blog page of our website. If someone in your household isn’t receiving our emailed newsletters, check your spam/junk folder and be sure to add [email protected] to your contacts. If it’s not in their spam folder, reach out to me via email at [email protected]. I hope you enjoy reading these weekly updates as much as I enjoy writing them!

Hello from Pemi!

What a week it’s been! Since the last newsletter, we’ve had our final events of the first session, the arrival and departure of our 16-year-olds for Pemi West, special changeover weekend programming and parents’ visiting weekend for our full session boys, the arrival of our second session campers, and an immediate start to programming for everyone in camp. While it’s always busy at Pemi, this weekend marked the first time in recent memory that we’ve had all of our boys and families invited to camp in the same weekend. It’s been a wonderful stretch of time celebrating those who wrapped up their Pemi summer, cherishing our community that’s here for the full seven weeks, and welcoming in our next batch of campers. Just today (Tuesday, July 15^th) we’ve had 40 boys leave camp for overnight hikes, a dozen tennis players spend the day out at an all-day tournament, our Nature program head to an exciting new field trip location, and lots of extra dips in the lake to help with the heat. For those who have been here all summer, Pemi 2025 continues apace, while for those newly arrived, it’s been a sprint out of the gate. Read on for more details!

End of First Session

The last few days of first session were just as jam-packed as all the ones before them, with sports, trips, artistic highlights, and nature exploration right up until the very end. One of the highlights of every Pemi summer is the Allagash canoe trip for our full session 15-year-olds. This trip serves as the capstone experience within Pemi’s trip program, offering the 15s the opportunity to explore probably the most remote and wild stretch of water in New England. This year’s group – Will Bixby, Alex Fernandez, Ethan Onysko, Alf Andersson, Sasha Honig, Ben Jones, Bryce Madom, Mason Winell, Manfred Creane, Connor Smillie, and Johnny Thibault – set out alongside veteran trip counselor, Pemi West leader, and Allagash guide Nick Davini and long-time counselor Sam Maynes. Rather than try to describe the trip myself, I’ll let Nick’s post-trip write-up paint a picture for you. We’ll join Nick’s write-up on day three of the trip, after the group had successfully navigated the Chase Rapids to start off and then powered through the open waters of Umsaskis and Long Lakes on a 20-mile day:

We covered several miles of river before lunch time, reaching Round Pond half a day ahead of the usual itinerary. When we left the pond, two rangers informed us that another group had already stopped at our intended campsite, giving us reason to pull over early and enjoy the afternoon at Turk Island. After setting up camp, the boys savored rare downtime on the Allagash by swimming, fishing, reading, and playing games. The day ended on a high note, with Will Bixby catching a brook trout that was promptly sautéed and enjoyed by all.

Day Three flew by as the earlier rainstorms had built up a robust current. We reached the sprawling, 40-foot Allagash Falls by early afternoon and portaged all of our canoes and gear at a considerable pace. We soon made our final camp at McKeen Brook and used the remaining food to make a massive pot of mac ‘n cheese and rotini alfredo.

We woke at 4:00 am to bid farewell to the final miles of the waterway and arrived in Allagash Village before 9:00 am.

You’ll be able to read Nick’s full write-up in Bean Soup this winter, but needless to say, the boys had an absolutely incredible experience getting closer to each other and to nature. They ate freshly caught fish, spotted several moose along the way, and built memories that will last them a lifetime.

While that group was on Allagash with Nick and Sam, we had a group of eight campers – Vikram Jay, Sam Wasinger, Kai Karsan, Hugh Peterson, Nick McCay, Thomas McNelly, and Ollie Dudra – join Deb Kure, Nick Gordon, Paula Goldberg, and friend of Pemi George DeWolf for a trip to the Karner Blue Butterfly Easement down in Concord to enjoy a unique pine barren habitat on an unassuming sliver of land between office parks and the municipal airport. Nick Gordon shared details of this special trip:

The easement is there specifically for conservation of the Karner Blue Butterfly (the state butterfly of NH) which can only be found at this little easement locality all of New England due to the butterfly’s host plant Wild Lupin (Lupis perennis) being present.

We weren’t sure if we were going to end up seeing this butterfly but got very lucky and saw some of the first individuals of the second brood that (according to the Fish and Game folks we crossed paths with) was just emerging. All the campers got a good view of this “lifer” butterfly for many of us and one of the two individuals we saw ended up hitching a ride on Vikram Jay’s sock for a bit of the walk (click to enlarge the photo for a better view of the Karner Blue!).

Other highlight sightings included Edwards’ Hairstreak, Prairie Warbler, among trees and other plants different from camp’s ecosystem…

All in all a truly wonderful field trip day that brought together a great group of campers and staff for some truly spectacular sightings. By the end many of the boys had tried their hand at field photography as well as sharpening their field spotting skills!

This was a special day for these boys! Many thanks to all of the staff, and to Nick for his wonderful, detailed write-up.

These final days of the first session also saw additional Greenleaf hut trips with Lope De Hoces, Daniel Desiato, Ollie Dudra, Vicente Henríquez Lindeck-Pozza, Brian Lorig, Ben Miller, Wills Waitzkin, and Oliver Groesbeck going out Wednesday to Thursday and Charles Grundy, Luca Ilardi, Charlie Milgrim, Jacob Stilliard, Harrison Charlebois, Ruaridh Freshwater, Ettore Mariani, and Micah Tolbert heading Thursday to Friday. On Friday we also had Vikram Jay, Charlie Toomey, and Kingston Bowen enjoy a birding trip before Reveille and a group of full session 14- and 15-year-olds head to Walt Whitman for a pickleball tournament: Kai Karsan, Noah Katz, Tom Mele, Mason Winell, Will Bixby, Sash Honig, Charlie Toomey, Thomas McNelly, Alf Andersson, Nico Richards, Ben Jones, and Johnny Thibault. In true Pemi fashion, boys were staying active and, as we say here, doing camp right up until the final hours of the session.

On Friday evening, after the first session boys had packed up during the afternoon, we turned to our end-of-session festivities: the Birthday Banquet followed by our first session awards ceremony. The banquet serves simultaneously as our culminating event of first session and as a celebration of everyone in the community who has a birthday while at Pemi. Boys and staff alike dress up in their Sunday Meeting finest and enjoy a magnificent feast prepared by our kitchen team. While we’re spoiled with incredible food all summer long, Tom Ciglar and his crew pull out all the stops for the banquets. Waiters kick off the meal by parading the roasted turkeys around the Mess Hall before we tuck in for a full Thanksgiving style feast. After we finish eating the main course, each table is served a full birthday cake that also get paraded around the Mess Hall by our waiters before being brought to the tables. It’s a delectable dining experience, and everyone in the Mess Hall feels stuffed to the brim at the end.

After eating, we turn to our birthday celebrations: our annual birthday greetings and limericks. The greetings come from different camper and staff groups, such as everyone from New York City, the Netherlands, or Spain, or all of the red heads, legacy campers, or Phish fans. It’s a fun opportunity to showcase the geographic and cultural diversity within the Pemi community and for boys and staff alike to share bits of their own celebratory customs with their friends here. We had greetings spanning the country from Maine to Oregon, and ‘round the globe from New York City to Kuala Lumpur.

Next up we had birthday limericks. Written by the Bean Soup editors, with perhaps a few assists from editors emeriti, these limericks give each birthday boy and girl in the community a moment to stand and be celebrated. It’s a fun, lighthearted tradition that often includes lots of humor mixed with plenty of genuine praise and acknowledgment. In addition to a limerick, each birthday celebrant gets a poster with their name on it. Special thanks to Bean Soup editors Nolan Katcher and Owen Gagnon for the limericks and to head of art Deb Panell and crew for this year’s birthday signs.

After dinner we had our first session awards ceremony, where we had the opportunity to celebrate all of the incredible accomplishments from our first session campers. We had dozens of polar bears and distance swims; boys who played anywhere from one to six sports against other camps; archery and sailing achievements; patches for musical and dramatic performances, authoring Bean Soup articles, and prowess in the wood shop or water skis. We had two first session boys receive their five year bowls – Charlie Knapp and Everett Wooldridge. We also had the chance to celebrate Sam Wasinger for earning his Pemi Siver. A boy earns his Silver through achievement across the Pemi program, with benchmarks that must be met in sailing, archery, hiking, nature identification, community service, and general camp activities such as Polar Bear and completing a distance swim. It takes multiple summers at Pemi to earn your Silver, and it was wonderful to see Sam celebrated with the loudest cheer of the evening.

We also had the bittersweet moment of handing out the Alumnus Patch, given to our 15s who are wrapping up their time as Pemi campers. These boys were stellar leaders within our community, and we can’t wait to see them back for Pemi West and as staff members down the road: Carlos Martiarena, Everett Wooldridge, James Davis, Noah Goebel, Sam Wasinger, and Vikram Jay.

Changeover Weekend

Just like that the first session came to an end, as Saturday morning saw parents rolling into camp to take boys off for the next phase of their summers. For our full session guys, however, Friday’s festivities were just the beginning of a whirlwind weekend. On Saturday morning most of them boarded a bus and headed off to Whale’s Tale waterpark for a day of fun in the sun. The boys enjoyed a full morning and early afternoon of water slides, the wave pool, the lazy river, and a pizza lunch. It’s a great bonding opportunity for those boys with us the full seven weeks and also just a chance for a day of pure fun. We had excellent weather and a great day!

Many of our 15s and several younger boys, however, chose to spend the day in service to a great cause instead by volunteering at an aid station for The Prouty. Initiated in 1982 by four nurses from Dartmouth Cancer Center, The Prouty raises money for cancer research and patient services. It has become northern New England’s largest family-friendly fundraising event, raising millions of dollars annually. The 77-mile and 100-mile bike routes that form a core part of the fundraising traverse Route 25A, the road Pemi is located on. The hardest stretch of the whole ride is a 3-mile climb up and over Mt. Cube, right down the road from us. In order to assist riders as they crest this hill, Pemi campers operate a SAG (stop-and-go) Station, providing hydration, snacks, and vocal encouragement!

This year’s Prouty crew consisted of Arthur Johnson, Parker Brown, Julian Blaustein, Charlie Milgrim, Ethan Onysko, Will Bixby, Alf Andersson, Ben Jones, Bryce Madom, Mason Winell, Sasha Honig, Connor Smillie, and Manfred Creane. Those boys provided the classic energy and spirit that Pemi’s SAG Station has become famous for among Prouty riders. They contributed to a great cause and made Pemi proud!

We also had three boys spend all day participating in the Baker Ponds Butterfly Count, an annual butterfly survey that allows Pemi campers to engage as citizen-scientists. Johnny Thibault, Benjamin Desiato, and Daniel Desiato spent the full day on the count, and they were joined for the afternoon by the Prouty team. It was quite a day for Pemi boys in the community!

When everyone gathered back at camp, we had the chance to enjoy a new element of our changeover weekend: parents’ visiting weekend. Our full session parents came into camp Saturday afternoon for a beach barbecue (that got moved to an indoor/outdoor picnic by the Mess Hall due to weather) and campfire on Saturday before having the chance to head off camp with their boys on Sunday. We love the opportunity to spend time with our full session families, and we know that the boys love the chance to get a bit of family time in during the Pemi season! Many thanks to everyone who came for making this such a successful new rhythm for our visit weekend!

Before campers left with their families and staff welcomed in the second session boys, we also had our annual Dunkin’ Docs on Sunday morning. We woke up a bit early, all jogged down to Junior Point, and did Polar Bear at its historical location where the lake drops off after just a few feet of shoreline. After the dip the boys enjoyed homemade churros and hot cocoa before heading to breakfast and then out for the day.

Start of Second Session

After breakfast on Sunday, we began to welcome in over 100 second session campers for their four-week stint at Pemi. Boys arrived from all over the country and world eager for the Pemi summer. Our older boys, most of them veteran campers, arrived in the morning, followed by our younger guys, many brand new, in the afternoon. While those of us on staff have been at camp for anywhere from four to six-plus weeks already, for these 118 guys Sunday was opening day, meaning all of the same energy, excitement, and nerves that we saw back on June 21^st. The Mess Hall was buzzing at lunchtime, with so many returners thrilled to see their old friends and veteran counselors. For more details on some opening day and Pemi traditions, check out our first newsletter from earlier this summer.

As the younger guys arrived in the afternoon, the excitement was tinged just a bit more with nervous energy, with many boys embarking on their first extended time away from home. Boys and parents were quickly comforted, however, when they were met by our now-well-seasoned counselors. Even our new counselors are opening day veterans come second session, and their calm but excited presence helped new boys and parents alike know that they’d arrived at the right place. Returning campers swooped in to offer tours for the new boys, while older boys quickly filled up the courts and fields. Parents driving into camp in the afternoon had to look out for basketballs rebounding off the court, soccer balls flying over the net, and tennis balls zipping through the doors on the fence. Pemi was back in full swing right away!

That night we once again enjoyed our classic opening night routine: pizza, ice cream, campfire. It’s the perfect way to welcome boys into Pemi, with some comfort food and an all-camp gathering that quickly establishes the community feel as we’re gathered together to enjoy all the performances on offer. We had excellent acts from Manfred Creane (multiple songs); Sasha Honig, Bryce Madom, and Connor Smillie (the Three Wise Men); Sam Fox with a story; and great contributions staff members Nolan Katcher, Eli Brennan, Henry Eisenhart, Evan Anderson, Kala Woods, Dan Reed, Jud Landis, Tom Reed, Jr., and Larry Davis. It was a beautiful evening filled with music and laughter, and we capped it off, as always, with The Campfire Song. Arms draped across each other’s shoulders and words echoing over Lower Baker Pond, the Pemi community felt whole and energized.

From there we were off and running with Week 4 activities, sporting events, hiking trips, nature excursions, and all that Pemi has to offer. We’ve sent 48 boys out on overnight hikes this week, including several of our marquee offerings for older guys: the full session (plus a couple second session) 14s canoe trip (Sam Weber, Noah Katz, Thomas McNelly, Tom Mele, Zach Pierson, Charlie Toomey, Rudi Wei, Nico Richards, Nikolaus Rumplymar, and Sidney), the Lakes of the Clouds (Manfred Creane, Ben Jones, Miles Waitzkin, Graeme Newman, Toven Putzel, and Trip McNulty) and Madison Springs (Emmitt Baggish, Connor Smillie, Mason Winell, Colin Pham, Sam Chapin, Gray Axel, River Morgan, and Marcus Vitale) hut trips, and the first of three second session Greenleaf Hut trips (Eli Brown, Ben Comey, Gabri Hutchinson, Jack Donohoe, Brecken Putzel, Darren Calhoun, Cairo Clapper, and Devran Efe). We’ll share more details in next week’s newsletter when these boys have returned to camp and given their tales from the trails.

Additionally, today Juniors 3 and 4 pivoted from their planned mountain hike due to weather and instead had the chance to explore the nearby Quincy Bog. The group of Morgan Greene, John George, Cannon Sears, Charlie Foster, Trex Lehn, Pepito Rodriguez, Noah Laas-Drysdale, Bode Gunther, Owen Goobic, Cam Martin, Finn Pike, and Elliott Lefebvre had a blast walking around this special location nearby camp that’s a favorite of the Pemi nature program. We also scaled back our ambitions to account for weather, and instead of sending a group up a longer mountain hike, we used the opportunity to send a trip to Mt. Willard in the Crawford Notch to enjoy one of the most stunning views in New England. Oliver Nevius, Landon Dow, Wilkes Goobic, Julian Blaustein, and Micah Tolbert leapt at the chance to take this special trip.

Our second session got off to an excellent start on the athletics front, as a group of campers headed to the Pierce Birchmont tennis tournament for a full day of competition with some camps that we don’t get to play against as frequently. We had excellent play from the whole group – Vittorio Campanile, Will Bixby, Ryan Aronis, Noah Littman, Alex Fernandez, Dom Watson, Adam Aronis, Danny Follansbee, Walker Seidel, Will Dennis, Julian King, Emmet Greene, Alex Ivanov, and Eddie Horn – as our team efforts resulted in a runner-up finish for the 15s and a tournament title for the 13s!

We’ve had several amazing Nature field trips head out this week as well. On Monday the second session trips kicked off with a special visit to a site nicknamed “The 200” by Deb Kure because it’s a 200-acre property whose owner has granted Pemi special permission to explore it. The property’s caretaker, Brian Van Guilder, was Pemi’s longtime head of waterskiing, and he was kind enough to show the Pemi group around the beautiful natural setting that includes a rock wall and sugar maple lined entry before sprawling into meadows, woodlands, and a waterfall that lends itself to stunning nature photography. The crew of Charlie Toomey, Benny Evan, Flynn Baggish, James Wasnick, Mac Casertano, Landon Dow, Mason Russell, Oscar Mulholland, Casey Vaz, and Ben Miller had a blast walking around with Brian and the Pemi nature staff, and they learned a ton in the process.

Additional Nature trips this week have included Julian Blaustein, Landon Dow, Mason Russell, Rhodin Bernstein, Sasha Honig, and Sam Fox heading to the Thomson Tree Farm for a butterfly expedition and Max Fox, Sam Moskoff, Mason Russell, Casey Vaz, Rhodin Bernstein, Yaseen Usman, and Sam Fox going to the Palermo Mine for a rocks and minerals collecting expedition. It’s so fun seeing the boys return from these trips and hearing their stories of exploration and discovery!

As you can probably tell if you’re just now tuning into the newsletters, a lot goes on here at Pemi! Believe it or not, there’s tons that didn’t even make it into this update. Pemi boys stay busy from Reveille to Taps, taking advantage of all that our varied program has to offer. We’ll be back again next week to keep you updated on as much as we can, knowing that it’s impossible to fully capture all the events that go on here, let alone the spirit of camaraderie, friendship, and joy that flourish at Pemi!

Until next week,

Pat Clare