What is your name?  Michael Lindley

How long have you been coming to Camp Ernst?  I have been coming to camp since I was in 2nd grade. This will be my 16th summer.

What have you done in your time at Camp Ernst?  I as a camper for 8 years, worked on crew, was a lifeguard on e-team, counselor mostly in Lakeview, Lakeview color leader for two summers, and E-team Unit leader last summer. I work most weekends, open houses and SMOREFEST!

What do you like most about Camp Ernst?  My favorite thing about camp is the people you meet. Camp is the place for people to just relax and have fun and be themselves, making camp friendships genuine and longer lasting. It’s cool to do all the exciting activities, but what makes them awesome and memorable is the people you do them with.

What do you do when you’re not at Camp Ernst?  I go to Ohio State University, majoring in Human Development and Family Science with a minor in Psychology. I graduated from Walnut Hills High School in 2008. I play ultimate Frisbee for OSU and I coach at Dublin Coffman High School. I also play tennis and soccer, I am constantly reading (for fun), I love watching movies, and going to concerts. In high school I played for four years in the Steel Drum Band. Other cool things I enjoy are glow-in-the-dark stars, dry erase boards, headbands and bandanas, and my Nerf Vortex football.

What do you want to do when you “Grow Up?“  IF I “grow up,” I want to be a Middle School math and science teacher. I would also like to continue coaching (any sport) and working with kids in general.

Favorites:
    Food – Macaroni and cheese, closely followed by strawberry pop-tarts
    Camp Song – Froggy!
    Camp Skit – Light and fluffy
    Camp Meal – Grilled Cheese
    Camp Game – Four Square…seriously
    Camp Place – Ropes course-specifically the top of the zip line
    Camp Memory – I think my favorite memory of camp is when I was leaving after a week as a camper, I realized that camp is my a second home and I wasn’t sad the week was over because I knew that the next time I’d be here would be even better.

What keeps you coming back to Camp Ernst?  I keep coming back to camp mainly because it’s the coolest place ever. It’s the coolest place because of the people that work there and the opportunity to be a positive influence on kids and watch them having fun and making friends.

Any advice for future campers?  Future campers: try something new. It may sound like a cliché, but camp is honestly the best place to try something new like the ropes course, boating, or just making a fool of yourself without caring who sees you. Camp is a place for you to be yourself but also to discover who you really are. So have fun and try something you’ve never done!

What are three things essential for camp?  Pillow, extra shoes(socks optional), and a week’s worth of energy and enthusiasm.

One of the most amazing things about YMCA Camp Ernst is the amazing staff that comes through each and every summer.  We are lucky enough to have staff come back year after year who help to make this the best experience for your campers as possible.  Over the next few months leading up to summer camp we’ll be highlighting some of the staff members that work here so you can get familiar with the important members of our Ernst Family!  Check back to meet some of our amazing summer camp staff.  Remember.  Only 141 days until Week 1 starts!! 

Merry Christmas for all of the YMCA Camp Ernst family!  We hope that you had an amazing Christmas and have a truly amazing New Year!!  We’ll see you in 2012!

Fall is the time of year when we plan our budgets, start marketing, continue recruiting, and begin fundraising for the following year… and occasionally, like last week, I get to work the top of the zipline for a few afternoons!

The last few weeks I’ve been especially thinking about our awesome scholarship fund donors and what a HUGE impact they make in kids’ lives.  We raise over $100,000 every year for about 300 scholarship campers to attend Camp Ernst.  Those campers try new things, learn independence, and grow in spirit, mind, body, and friendship in their week at camp. We couldn’t do it without love and resources from committed volunteers and generous donors, many of whom fondly remember their own camp experiences from their youth. 

I wanted to share some sweet (and some funny) quotes from Thank Yous written by a selected few scholarship campers:

“I also get a week away from my brother and that makes me want to hug you”

“I also like to do the airwalk as well, because it seems like you are jumping off of the empire state building and you are soaring in the sky and you’re trying to save the women falling and when you get to the bottom you have saved her and the job is over.”

“You rock! This Sponsor rocks àYou! Your awesome! Your cool! Your cool! Your spectacular”

“Last year I ran a marathon and got 8^th place out of 9.  Pretty bad right?”

“Another thing I love about Camp Ernst is the energetic exciting and loveable counselors.  They always make you feel better when your upset or just not having a good day.”

“I really appreciate the deed you have done to allow me to go to Camp Ernst”

 On behalf of the entire YMCA Camp Ernst family, THANK YOU.

Ernstlove,

eli

We enjoyed a fantastic summer here at YMCA Camp Ernst.  As we clean up and begin preparing for 2012 I wanted to share with you some of the comments from some of our 2011 campers…

“I LOVE THE BANANA BOAT!”

“This camp rocks!”

“I love the Giant Swing and counselors!”
“I made new friends!”

“I loved archery and the giant swing!”

“Great first week…great counselors.”

“This week was EPIC!”

“My counselors were BOSS!”

“Counselors rocked.  They were awesome.”

“Loved the food”

We were so pleased to have an outstanding summer of friend-making, Camp Ernst parties, and constant fun. 

Now we’re off to finalize details for our S’more Festival Fundraiser on Aug 28 and Family Camp Sept 3-5!

Ernstlove,

eli

My daughter Kara just played her first YMCA soccer game this week!  Have you ever seen a 4-5 year old soccer game?

Have you ever noticed that the kids just really don’t get the point of kicking the ball into their own goal?  They go to the goal which is closer, or not…but they frequently go the wrong way on the field! 

Well, this past week at Kara’s game, I enjoyed watching the patient young referee.  He was gentle in reminding the players which direction they needed to go, and frequently had to redirect them so that purple was headed downfield and gold was headed upfield.  And they needed his direction!

I was thinking that oftentimes, a camp counselor has to be like a referee.  There may be disagreements to mediate, rules to enforce, and there’s likely a need for constant REDIRECTING.  I have been so impressed with our counselors’ ability to remain gentle and give lots of grace while redirecting.  They remember that the campers are kids. 

AND…they remember that it’s supposed to be fun!  Kara had no idea what the score of the game was last week.  She only knew that she was happy to be running down the field and part of a team.  Our campers are that way as well.  And it’s up to the counselors to keep them headed in the right direction.

“Train children up in the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.”  -Proverbs 22:6

It’s Eli again…I’m looking out my kitchen window at one of the camp horse pastures, where four horses have been greedily feasting on the spring grass for days now.  They never seem to stop eating.

I was thinking today about how blessed they are to have an entire field full of yummy grass to eat. And somehow, this reminded me of camp.  (Well, perhaps most things remind me of camp, but anyway…)  

It made me think of how kids at camp are surrounded with positive role models, encouragement, risk-taking within boundaries, and opportunities for friendship.  You know, the healthy, good stuff.  For a week or more at a time, they’re unplugged from their computers and cell phones and learn to adjust to a gentler pace of life, even in the fury of summer camp craziness.  And this camp goodness feeds their souls.

I can’t wait for summer, to see campers happy to be themselves, in the outdoors… much like Gabe, King, Barak, and Marco are outside my kitchen window right now.:)

Ernstlove,

eli

We have been busy with getting ready for summer, and thus neglecting our camp blog!  I’m (Eli) taking a break tonight to share with you some of my thoughts on youth development and camp, prompted by an interview I just heard on NPR with author David Brooks (http://www.npr.org/2011/03/07/134329412/david-brooks-defines-the-new-social-animal).

Brooks wrote the new book The Social Animal.  In the interview with NPR, he notes that “what really matters in people’s lives today is how they relate to one another.” 

When I heard that on the radio, I started talking back, excitedly. (If you follow my blogging, you might have read before about how I loudly profess my love for cute animals in the road, etc…  Same deal when I hear something on the radio I agree with.)  I asked the radio, “Where better to learn and develop skills for relating to one another than within the gentle, encouraging environment of summer camp?”

Naturally, the radio did not answer, but continued to discuss the importance of learning how to function in a group (“I.E. CAMP,” I shouted!) and how, “The most successful groups are the ones who take turns having a conversation” —-(like I was, with the radio—haha) —-“and are good at signaling each another.” 

The reason this excites me so much is that, as anyone who has worked at camp in recent years knows, I LOVE talking about friendship and group interactions.  One of my favorite things about camp is that kids get to be coached in friend-making skills while having an amazing time trying new things and working together.  So of course, any time the importance of my youth development work at YMCA Camp Ernst is validated (like by this author!), I feel good.

I’m on my way to order this book so I can read it.  If you’ve read it, or have more thoughts on youth development at camp, I’d love to hear them. 

Also, if you’re interested in this topic, check out the recent study sponsored in part by the YMCA of the USA “Hardwired to Connect.”

Ernstlove,

Eli

We’re The Y: For Youth Development, For Healthy Living, For Social Responsibility

It seems that the staff at Camp Ernst are always finding awesome adventures outside of the camp world relate back to the people they met and the lessons they learned while spending their summers with us.  This is a guest post from Hannah Kelly, one of our staffers who is experiencing camp during her study abroad program this semester.

Hi!
This is Hannah Kelly, some of you may know me from working in Cabin E this summer! This winter, I have traveled all the way to England to study abroad for the semester. I am attending school at the University of Central Lancashire. This is in a city called Preston, which is just north of Manchester.

What does this have to do with Camp? Quite a bit actually! One of the best things about attending Camp Ernst is that you can make such amazing friends. Since I’ve started working at camp, I have boasted of having some of the best friends in the whole world! I now know that this is true: it has been proven to me countless times since I have arrived in England!

When I first arrived, tired, but excited from my flight over, I was met by one of my good friends and co-counselors, Katie Biesty (She spent last summer in Cabin C). Let me tell you, to have one of your best friends run through the airport to give you a hug after a long flight is one of the best experiences you could possibly have! Katie and her family were gracious enough to let me stay with them for a whole week before heading off to university. It was so much fun to adjust to the English lifestyle with such an awesome friend.

During that week, we had a bit of a Lakeview reunion. Katie and I took the very English train system to Nottingham, where we met up with Adam (Cabin A last summer). The three of us then managed to surprise Danny (Cabin G from 2009)! It was such an exciting evening. We all went to a teahouse, which is exactly like it sounds, like a coffee shop, but with all different sorts of tea! How English is that?! Nothing quite says friendship like sharing cheesecake at a teahouse, thousands of miles away from home.

And, thanks to camp, friendship for me really is everywhere around the world. I am already setting up plans to visit some of the other English counselors while I’m here, as well as going all the way to Madrid, to visit some of our Spanish ladies from camp!

Hannah in a classic English phone booth!