2026 Newsletter #1

Hello and welcome to Pemi 2026!

A brief programming note up front here: This is the first of our weekly newsletters for the 2026 season. Most weeks they’ll be published on Tuesdays, though occasionally they’ll come out Wednesday instead. Today’s comes out on a Wednesday to maximize the amount of fun details to share. In these newsletters we aim to provide you a snapshot of the week at Pemi, highlighting special events, daily happenings, the breadth of our program, and the general flow of each week. Trying to capture everything that goes on in a given day at Pemi, let alone a week, would be a fool’s errand, so please know that this represents just a portion of all that our campers get up to. In addition to going out via email, the newsletters are posted simultaneously on our blog. If someone in your household should be receiving this email and didn’t get it, please let me know at pat@camppemi.com. I hope you have as much fun reading these newsletters as I do writing them, although admittedly neither of those come close to the amount of fun the boys are having living this all out. On with the newsletter….

Saturday, June 27, 2026 has been circled on the Pemi calendar since August 9, 2025, and what an opening day it was! In the run-up to camper arrivals that day, our staff had been hard at work getting set for the summer. We engaged in a series of interactive trainings, prepped and practiced activity plans, and worked together to set up all of our program areas. The bulk of the facilities work had already been completed prior to preseason by our incredible team of Frank Roberts (happy birthday, Frank!), Phil Benoit, Nic Groleau, and Nicole Gagne, all of whom you’ll meet in more detail in a subsequent newsletter. Best of all, preseason allows for dedicated staff bonding time so that when the boys arrive, we’re already fully in the flow of being at camp and working together.

Opening day dawned with a bright blue sky and just the right amount of summer warmth. We couldn’t have drawn it up better if we tried. At the end of our last staff meal at breakfast, Kenny encouraged us all to take a moment of silent reflection in anticipation of the incredibly serious and joyful responsibility ahead of us, and to soak in the last moment of quiet that we might encounter for seven weeks. From there we donned our new staff polo shirts and spread out across camp to begin welcoming in the boys.

As has been the routine for many years now, our older boys arrived in the morning, starting with the 14- and 15-year-olds earliest. This allows the older guys, mostly Pemi veterans, to spend the morning catching up with camp friends and counselors they haven’t seen in a year, re-cementing those enduring friendships while also welcoming our smaller number of new older campers. Seeing the veteran campers jump out of their cars and immediately beeline for their friends is truly a sight to behold. It wasn’t long at all before the tennis and basketball courts were full, soccer balls were flying into (and over and wide of) the nets, the Nature Lodge was buzzing with visitors, and the whole campus had the vibrancy that only opening day can supply.

We all streamed up to the Mess Hall for lunch, with many boys excited for their first summer serving as full-time waiters. Pemi’s oldest campers have the opportunity to sign up for this paid position. They spend the summer assigned to a specific cabin table, and during the meals they bring out the food from the kitchen, get refills, and clean up afterwards. More importantly, they join the counselor at each table in being a mentor for the younger campers. It’s a great and longstanding program, with younger campers really getting to know and look up to their waiter, and the waiters excited to serve in the role that they used to look up to. In that same vein, I spoke to the older campers at lunch about their responsibility in welcoming in the younger boys that afternoon. Pemi’s veteran campers take seriously the practice of helping new guys adjust to camp life, with many able to think back and remember their own nerves on their first opening day.

While the morning arrivals tend to be nearly all unbridled joy, the afternoon has a slightly different feel as the younger boys arrive. It’s a wider range of emotions, with many boys equal parts excited and anxious about this new adventure they’re embarking on. It’s a big leap for most young campers, as they’re setting off on their first extended time away from family and home. Luckily, Pemi’s counselors and veteran campers are there to greet them with smiling faces, warmth, and enthusiasm for the summer ahead. For many boys (and certainly some parents too), you can see that physical change and relaxation when they’re met at the cabin by a friendly and confident counselor who’s ready to get them started on an incredible summer of fun and growth. Boys, parents, and counselors helped get cars unloaded, goodbyes were said, and then the counselors and campers worked together on the unpacking process.

As cabin groups became whole, they started setting off around camp to show new boys around and remind everyone of key locations. For the youngest cabins these tours took place as full cabin groups, while for some of the Lower and Upper arrivals, veteran campers took charge of showing their new cabinmates around camp. Between all of our car arrivals and then the New York/Connecticut bus pulling into camp, the afternoon had the feel of a sudden and massive influx where you looked up and just like that camp was full.

Dinner in the Mess Hall teemed with energy as cabin groups engaged in the process of getting to really know each other, their counselor, and their waiter. Our kitchen team, led by longtime Pemi veteran Tom Ciglar, dished out our classic opening night meal of pizza, salad, and ice cream, a widely enjoyed first night meal that dates back decades. Between the pizzas and dessert, we engaged in an even older and more revered Pemi tradition: Mess Hall singing. This tradition dates back to the earliest days of camp, and indeed many of the songs we sing were written by Dudley Reed, one of Pemi’s three founders. These days we’re led in singing by Dud’s grandson, Tom Reed Jr., who helps carry forth Pemi’s proud heritage of continuous Reed and Fauver family leadership. (Dudley Reed started Pemi in 1908 in partnership with twins Edgar and Edwin Fauver, whose descendants include my fellow assistant director Johanna Zabawa and Pemi’s Board president Allyson Fauver). New boys reached for the songbooks while veteran campers sang the familiar songs from memory. That moment when 200+ voices join in chorus, with new boys quickly embracing this favorite Pemi tradition, is when it always feels like the summer is well and truly underway.

After Kenny welcomed us all officially to the 2026 summer, we proceeded down to Senior Beach for our first Campfire of the season. Held every Saturday night, Pemi Campfires provide opportunities for boys and staff alike to perform for the community. Common acts include songs, planned or improvised skits, the reciting of poems or stories, jokes, and riddles. You’d be hard pressed to find a more supportive audience, and many alumni who’ve gone on to higher level school and even professional performing trace their start back to the Pemi Campfire circle. The opening Campfire tends to be a bit more staff-heavy in terms of acts, as the boys have only just arrived, but we can always count on several campers to have something ready. We’re somewhat spoiled with musical talent on the staff this summer, and the bar for the summer was set quite high by a number of excellent performances from our counselor ranks.

On the camper side of things, as has become tradition on opening night, Holden Burr offered up an a Capella song, this year going with Eminem’s Lose Yourself. Pierce Golay wasted no time getting back into the swing of Pemi’s drama program by doing an improvised bit trying to explain what the color gold looks like. He left us simultaneously in stiches and perhaps a bit confused on the finer points of color theory. Hyland Butler-Scott, Leo Schrippa, and Xavier Swerdloff shared a series of Star Wars themed puns, with major kudos to Xavier for getting up and performing during his very first Campfire. Nick McCay demonstrated why he’s a Campfire favorite by playing a beautiful piece on his saxophone, the notes floating away down Lower Baker Pond and off into the night. We finished with our traditional final act of a Downeast Maine story told by Larry Davis, and as he always does, Larry kicked off the season with “Beginner’s Luck.” After that we joined arms and sang The Campfire Song, written by Dudley Reed, which includes the lines that form the core of the Pemi ethos: “And I wonder if anyone’s better / For anything I’ve done or said / And whether good will in the heart may / Offset mistakes of the head.” After the last words finished rising up with the campfire smoke, everyone headed off for a well-earned rest after a whirlwind of a day.

The first Sunday of camp includes a mix of a few key occurrences, such as swim checks and learning classic Pemi games like roof ball, and opportunities for playing and exploring Pemi’s program. Divisional games of soccer, wiffle ball, basketball, tennis, and ultimate frisbee took place throughout the day, while program areas such as the Nature Lodge, waterskiing, archery, the art building, and more were open for boys to begin enjoying. It was a fun day that allowed every boy to move through a number of different activities with his age group while also experiencing some of the first moments of independent choice that a Pemi summer allows for. After dinner younger boys headed down to Junior Camp, older guys to the outfield, and everyone enjoyed the first rendition of Pemi’s national pastime: frisbee running bases. If the sound in the Mess Hall during singing on Saturday night was melodic with some boisterousness mixed in, the cheer when these games were announced was pure, primal excitement. This favorite Pemi game gets everyone involved and incites sheer joy amongst campers and staff alike.

After the games wrapped up, boys and counselors headed back to their cabins a bit early to work on building cabin social contracts. This exercise helps set the tone early on within each cabin and gives boys a strong measure of ownership over their shared home. As I walked around the Hill, I heard a number of truly thoughtful and deep conversations about what it means to live in community, share space, and build an atmosphere where everyone feels welcomed and valued. These conversations go a long way towards forming successful environments within each Pemi cabin, and it’s so impressive to see the boys seriously considering how they want their cabin to operate.

Monday kicked off our activities for the 2026 summer. Pemi campers choose their own activities each week, signing up via a one-on-one conversation with their counselor as they navigate a range of choices for each activity hour. These conversations are wonderful opportunities for boys to consider both their tried-and-true favorites as well as brand new activities that they might not have the chance to do anywhere else. Our counselors work with each of their campers on an individual level to help the boys pick a weekly schedule that balances old and new, sports and nature, creativity and physical exertion, and that fits each boy’s developmental needs for the specific moment in the summer.

Boys received their schedules at breakfast Monday morning, and after wrapping up their cabin clean-up and Inspection, they were off and running. We have a program at Pemi that’s equally broad and deep, with opportunities for boys of all ages to explore our full range of offerings. Right away in first hour, campers were out in sailboats, roaming the woods in birding, filling the athletic fields and courts, strumming away on guitars, and building creative projects in the wood shop and art building.

On Monday afternoon we held the Opening Ceremony for the Pemi Olympics, now in its third year and officially a Pemi tradition. The whole camp met down at Senior Beach and Pemi Olympic Committee Chairman Charlie Scott introduced our Senior captains who then read off their rosters. Teams gathered in four different locations to pick their team names, and then the Junior and Senior members of each team were right on over to the outfield for the first round of Olympic wiffle ball (with Lowers and Uppers playing on Tuesday night).

Monday afternoon also kicked off our intercamp athletics schedule, with our 15s tennis team traveling up Cape Moonshine Road to Camp Walt Whitman for a tennis BVT. BVT stands for Baker Valley Tournament and is the name of our round-robin competitions with our neighbors and friends from Camps Kingswood, Moosilauke, and Walt Whitman. Our 15s tennis squad consisted of Will Dennis, Kai Karsan, Zach Pierson, Micah Tolbert, Charles Grundy, Danny Follansbee, Dennis Taft, and Emmett Greene. The team had a number of strong showings, including a come from behind victory for Danny after trailing 5-2 and a key double’s victory in a tiebreaker by Zach and Micah to clinch the overall tournament win. A great start to the athletics season!

Monday night kicked off a Pemi tradition dating back to 1910: Bean Soup. A unique bit of the Pemi experience, Bean Soup blends together a newspaper, SportsCenter, and Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update to create a record of each Pemi summer. Campers and staff write articles about games, trips, and special events, while the Bean Soup editors write a version of the week’s events that get us laughing uncontrollably and that, every now and then, contains more than just a hint of truthiness. This year’s editors, Nolan Katcher, Owen Gagnon, and Henry Moore set the bar very high with this first serving.

Tuesday saw another day of beautiful weather for morning activities and a full slate of hikes, nature trips, and sporting events. The Nature program sent a group to a large and ecologically diverse property near Pemi that’s managed by our former long-serving head of waterskiing for some forest and stream exploration. That group consisted of Julian DeLisle, Hugh Peterson, Benjamin Desiato, Tristan Peterson, Ethan Woolford, Christopher DeGregorio, Simon Kemp, Ethan Comey, Pierce Golay, and Bo Burke, accompanied by Deb Kure and Reilly McCue. Every day the Nature program takes a different field trip off camp, giving boys the opportunity to enjoy a number of special offerings that you’ll hear more about in subsequent newsletters.

We also kicked off our hiking trip program on Tuesday with a day hike up Mt. Cube for the boys from Lowers 6 and 7: Sahith Anumolu, Remy Archambeault, Campbell Brett, Rhys Farmer, Charlie Lombard, Myles Robicheau Miller, Quentin Swanson, Albert Wolkowitz, Miller Grandbois, James Hermann, Russell Howland, Timmy Lorig, William Moore, Carr Polsinelli, and Whit Vermylen. Our first group of 10s headed up Pemi Hill Tuesday night as well for a stay at our Adirondack style lean-to shelter and an opportunity to learn and practice camp craft. That group was Reyn Egan, Nico Piazza, Harrison Parvin, Kenai Russell, Henry Keller, Jaxon Wildgen, Max Herrod, and Oliver Wilson.

Continuing the early trip program momentum, three trips are headed out for overnight hikes today. Xavier Swerdloff, Jake Black, Ethan Woolford, Josiah Soriano, Leo Schrippa, Kieran Burke, Hyland Butler-Scott, and James Hermann are off to the southern Presidentials for a three day trip; Hagen Baugher, Myles Woolley, Campbell Brett, Rhys Farmer, Charlie Lombard, Albert Wolkowitz, Russell Howland, and Carr Polsinelli are going to the Kinsman range for a classic New Hampshire three-day; and Bennett Smigler, James Brennan, Parker Brown, Chris Castellano, Iñigo de Hoces, Julian DeLisle, Linus Herrod, and Sebastian Liebel are off to Greenleaf Hut.

Time and length are stopping me from sharing even more details, even though we also had 9s and 12s soccer and a 13s hoops tournament on Tuesday that are getting shortchanged here. Luckily, you’ll be able to read full details and recaps of all those games in Bean Soup this winter. One more marquee event to highlight, however, was Tuesday evening’s Junior-Senior Campfire. This special event pairs Juniors up with a Senior buddy, providing them an extra layer of support and mentorship throughout the summer. The boys shake hands at the campfire circle and then are immediately off to find sticks to roast marshmallows on and enjoy s’mores. From there they move off to a number of different activities such as knockout on the basketball courts, pickleball, soccer, rock skipping, or simply chatting around the fire. The Seniors walk their buddies back down to their cabins for the night, and the Juniors know that they’ve met a new friend who will help them out around camp. It’s a special night and just the first of several opportunities the buddies will have to spend time together.

As you may be getting a feel for, there’s a lot that happens here at Pemi! This newsletter covered only three full days of campers being here, so just imagine how much happens in an entire week. I’ll do my best to share as many details as possible and include as many names as possible to paint a picture for parents, alumni, and camp friends at home waiting on that sense of the summer. Needless to say, Pemi 2026 is off to a flying start!

Until next week,

Pat Clare