The winter has (finally) arrived!

We at Wanakita are all so excited to be welcoming winter!  (well...most of us anyway!)

It has been very cold at night, and the warmer days have brought a significant amount of snow over the past three days.  These pictures say the rest...

Happy Holidays from the Wanakita gang!

As we enter into the busy holiday season, we are wishing a warm, peaceful, and joyful holiday to all of our friends and family!

We at Wanakita are looking forward to celebrating with our own families, and with our guests for our New Year's Family Camp on December 29th-January 1st. 

Until then, please enjoy some more photographs of our Breakfast with Santa event. 

Happy Holidays, and we hope to see you all in the New Year!

Breakfast With Santa

This past weekend we hosted our second annual Breakfast with Santa event.  It was an enormous success! 

We were delighted to have some sparkly white snow arrive just days before the event, making it feel like an authentic holiday treat.

Breakfast with Santa gives us an opportunity to share the holiday spirit with families in Haliburton County.  This free event includes all you can eat breakfast, pictures with Santa, live animals, face painting, carnival games, balloon animals, crafts, magic and juggling!  It was a busy morning, especially with the around 150 people that joined us!

Some of our very own family campers joined us to make balloon animals and do some magic tricks!

 

Thanks to our wonderful volunteers that made the event an incredible success!

Interested in sharing in the holiday magic at YMCA Wanakita?  We still have a few spaces left in our New Year's Family Camp (December 29th-January 1st).  For more information, contact Ruth at ruth_mills@ymca.ca

Never a dull moment

Despite the excitement of our previous post, we are sorry to report that the snow disappeared as quickly as it appeared.  Some of us here are glad for the delayed onset of winter, while some of us can't wait!

The office continues to be busy as we process registrations and look ahead to Summer 2012.  Last weekend was the submission deadline for Summer 2012 Staff Applications.  We are thrilled to see so many strong and enthusiastic candidates.  It will be a fun adventure as we embark into interview season, and then watch the 2012 team slowly take shape. 

Thank you to all who took the time to apply!

If you are interested in joining the Wanakita Team and have not yet applied, please contact Andrew (andrew_dzenis@ymca.ca) or Ruth (ruth_mills@ymca.ca) as soon as possible.  You don't want to miss out!

The First Snow Fall!!!

What a delight it was to find the first blanket of snow on the ground this morning. It is still a little too early for tobaganning or skating but with any luck we'll be out there soon.  In the meantime, the change in weather is a great excuse to get outside, take some photos and enjoy the scenery.

8:30am at West Canoeing

A view from the Causeway



Freeze faster,,, please!

December 29th will be the official openning of the 2012 Winter Season. We kick things off with 4 days of New Years Family Camp. Hope to see you there! 

2012 Registration Opens Today!

Head to our website at www.ymca-wanakita.on.ca to register for any of our 2012 programs!

We look forward to welcoming you back, or welcoming you here for the first time!

Fall Work Weekend

Last weekend we welcomed about 50 volunteers to camp, where we worked together to clean up and improve our site.

It is amazing to look back at all that was accomplished!  We put away boats, raked A LOT of leaves, roofed two cabins, replaced windows, stained the interior of two cabins, split a few dozen cords of wood, and gave the Core a thorough cleaning.

As we take a look at all the progress, we want to send another resounding thank you to all of our fall work weekend volunteers!

We'll see you in the Spring! (April 20-22, 2012).

Take Me Outside Day

Over a year ago, long time employee Colin Harris left Wanakita to pursue an amazing vision.  Colin, who founded the non-profit organization Take Me Outside, began running across Canada in January to promote the importance of spending time outside.  Please take the time to look at his website, where he has been documenting his exciting and challenging journey.

After months of running a marathon a day, Colin will be completing his journey across Canada in Vancouver on October 25th.  In recognition of this, people across the country will be celebrating October 25th as Take Me Outside Day. 

Won't you consider joining us, as we celebrate what Colin has done, and the important message that he has carried across our enormous country?

As further motivation, take a look at the link below for an interesting article on the importance of play in our children. 

http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/10/all-work-and-no-play-why-your-kids-are-more-anxious-depressed/246422/

What are you waiting for?!  Go play outside!

A busy week

This has been one of our busiest weeks of the fall, with four different school groups currently visiting Wanakita.  Some of the groups are here for leadership development, some for team building, and others to develop their understanding of the natural environment.

Together with our clients, we work hard to see that our visitors' goals and objectives are met.  We are excited to see all of the learning and growing happening here this week.

We are sad to see the beautiful fall colours begin to fade.  Here is an idea of what a wonderful fall we have enjoyed on Koshlong Lake.

 Looking forward to a fun-filled weekend of families!

Fall Happenings at Wanakita

Wow, it is hard to believe that summer 2011 has already come and gone!  We are proud to look back at a successful and rewarding summer of day, residential, and family camping.  Thank you to all of you who contributed to such a great summer of growth!

Our Outdoor Centre's Fall Season is now in full swing, where we have welcomed many school and community groups to the shores of Koshlong Lake.  We also provide a number of weekend programs, including our upcoming Fall Family Weekend.  We hope that you will consider joining us!

Fall Family Weekend

October 14th-16th, 2011

Complete the registration form on our website, or email Ruth Mills for details

On a related note, we are busy accepting pre-booking forms for Summer Family Camp 2012!  This is a reminder that 2012 pre-booking forms are due October 15th.  If you are a family that attended Summer Family Camp in 2011 and you have not received an email regarding pre-booking for 2012, please contact our Family Camp Director, Ruth Mills at the email above.

We hope that you enjoy a restful Thanksgiving Weekend!

A peaceful fall morning on Koshlong Lake.  Do you see the great blue heron?

A school group learns the basics of kayaking

 

Wanakita has entered the Twitter-verse!!

Check out our twitter profile and follow us today!

@YMCAWanakita

--The Wanakita Staff Team

Session D has begun!!

Hello again friends and family of Wanakita!

It’s been a busy, but great couple of weeks here at Wanakita. A week and a half ago, Wanakita helped organize and took part in the annual  Rotary Canoe Camp Challenge in Haliburton. Each year, camps in the area gather at Head Lake in Haliburton to participate in canoe races. There are three age categories - 13 and under, 14-16, and staff. Two male teams and two female teams compete from each camp in each category. Wanakita held on site preliminary races to determine which teams would advance to the races in town!



Andy Gruppe begins one of the preliminary races for the Rotary Camp Canoe Challenge



Our teams made us proud in town, with two teams capturing silver medals, and two teams capturing bronzes.

This past week on Thursday and Friday, our 1^st Year SCs departed on their 6 day -5 night canoe trips to Temagami and Kipawa. They were full of anticipation and excitement early on the morning of their departure.

1st Year SCs about to depart for their 6 day trip in Temagami!

The 1^st year SC trips are one of the most defining parts of the SC program, and one of the greatest opportunities to become stronger leaders for the future.

Another important part of the 1^st Year SC program are their swimming and canoeing lessons every morning while they are here.

1st Years practice soloing on an beautiful Koshlong Lake morning

Each of the 1^st Year campers works towards obtaining their Bronze Cross swimming level and ORCA certification. Whether it’s a rainy, cool morning or a blisteringly hot sunny day, the first years are out there with smiles on their faces.

Today was the first day of the last two week session of the summer! Crazy!

Campers meet their new counsellor, Jack Cobb, on Session D opening day

Session D always carries a sense of excitement and energy within the camp, as everyone wants to make the most of the last few weeks of the summer. Kids are trying to savour the time that remains before school starts up again, and staff are trying to get in as many swims and kayaks that they can before they need to leave the lake again for the year. I have no doubt that everyone will make the most of the last two weeks!

--The Wanakita Staff Team

PCA Profiles Part 1: Sailing and Windsurfing!

Over the course of the next few weeks, we are going to try to profile some of our personal choice activities (PCAs). PCAs are the activities that the campers go to every morning where they learn specific skills in a more specialized way than they may with their cabins. Each PCA has a staff member or two as its dedicated head. 

The first PCA we would like to tell you about is sailing. Our sailing PCA staff Maddy Moritz and Gill Love are eager sailors and experienced teachers whose enthusiasm for sailing is contagious. Not that the campers need any encouraging - this is by far one of our most popular activities at camp. Last year, we were lucky enough to almost entirely re-outfit our sailing area.

The new dock and sailboats at the start of a day

 The maintenance staff built a beautiful new dock, and we received five brand new Hobie Cats. Having the Hobies makes it possible for campers who are Juniors and Intermediates to learn to sail, while the more experienced campers can improve their skills on boats like our Picos.

A Hobie has a catamaran-like base, with two hulls connected by a taut piece of mesh for the campers to sit on. Steering is simple, with a bar being moved back and forth that is connected to the rudder. The addition of the Hobies to the fleet has made our sailing PCA much more hands on and gives the campers more freedom in their learning than they may have had previously.

Learning to rig and de-rig a boat on shore

Campers spend time on land learning the basics of sailing theory and then are taught to rig and de-rig a boat on the dock. The sailing PCA lasts for the full two PCAs slots since it is a lengthy process to get the boats out on the water and get going for the day. I’m sure the campers are happy to have as much time as possible in the boats. Throughout the week that they are at sailing, campers work towards obtaining a Level 1, Level 2, or Level 3 certificate of achievement. They receive this in their end of session envelopes just before they go home. It’s an exciting PCA, and there’s nothing quite like having the wind in your hair out on Koshlong on a sunny morning!

Two Hobie Cats out on Koshlong Lake

The second PCA we’d like to tell you about is windsurfing. Windsurfing is very similar to sailing in theory, but presents its own set of challenges - particularly in the fact that it is an individual sport. The windsurfing head Andrea Gallagher is excellent at teaching young and old campers alike to be successful windsurfers. Windsurfing is another activity that lasts a full two slots in the morning, as it is quite a complicated sport and takes time to master. This summer we added some additional smaller sails to make it easier for intermediate campers to manipulate the board and sail on the water. 

One of the greatest tools we use in the windsurfing PCA is the simulator. It is a board that is raised and on land, so that a sail can be attached for teaching purposes. 

Andrew Kacsor, one of our resource staff members, on the windsurfing simulator during a lesson

This gives campers a chance to go through all the motions of windsurfing without the instability of being on the water right away. Once they make the transition to the water, they will already have had the chance to perfect their skills on land on the simulator.

This is one of the most challenging PCAs to become proficient in, but one that provides an immense sense of accomplishment when you manage to stay up on the board for any length of time. Campers who return to this PCA year after year find that they improve in leaps in bounds with a little bit of time and practice.

Check back in a few days time for a profile of a couple more of our PCAs!

-- The Wanakita Staff Team

Check Out Our New Photo Blog!

This summer, we have been working hard at taking lots of pictures of camp in action. We wanted to find a way to share these photos with you, so that you can enjoy them at your homes while your campers are here, or for your campers to look back on once they have returned home. There will still be photos accompanying our written posts, but we have also created a separate photo blog that you can see by clicking the link in the right hand sidebar entitled “YMCA Wanakita: Scenes of Summertime Photo Blog”. You can also visit the site right now by clicking on the link below:

 YMCA Wanakita: Scenes of Summertime Photo Blog

We hope you enjoy these photos and that they provide another way of connecting with your camper’s experience and their time here!

-- The Wanakita Staff Team

Extra! Extra!

A little taste of what's new in the J/I section.  

The Kita Gazette (Session B 2011)



Stormy Nights at Camp

      

         Last night we had quite a storm in Haliburton County.  I woke up to the crackle of thunder and lightning flashing through the window.  There are those who love a good storm, but for others, it can be a frightening affair.  With the new Session B campers adjusting to their first night at camp, I couldn’t help but feel concerned for them, especially for those who are away from home for the very first time.  

Lightning Over Koshlong Lake

 

         It didn’t take long for these worries to drift away once I started to think about this year’s counselling team.  I felt reassured knowing that they have weathered many a storm in their camp careers and have gained the experience to provide that much needed comfort in a time like this. One counsellor in particular came to mind who during our training week had confessed that she was still petrified by thunder and lightning.  She went on to say that the only time she ever felt okay during a storm was when she was comforting someone else.  With those thoughts running through my mind, I happily dozed back to sleep without being interrupted by a single knock on the door or call on the camp radio. 

         At flag raising this morning everyone looked well rested and eager to get going with the day’s activities.  The only thing that might have changed since last night, is that the campers will be a little braver - having a new experience under their belts. And for me, that is what camp is all about.



Opening Address Session B



Session A-Well Underway

Session A is well underway, and if you can believe it, it’s another sunny day here at Wanakita! Our summer has got off to a great start…amazing weather, enthusiastic campers and an excited staff team. Our one and two weeker cabins experienced a fun-filled week of programs, polar bear dip, campfires, and section wide games. Each cabin also embarked on an overnight trip on our very own Koshlong Lake. Cabin groups are each assigned to a campsite that they paddle out to, cook dinner at, learn about astronomy and various wilderness and environmental pursuits and then sleep in a tent for the night. Cabin groups returned the next morning with beaming smiles and were refreshed and ready to jump right into their PCA’s (personal choice activities).

All ready for a canoe trip!

Last Tuesday, three of our Senior Traditional cabins departed on their 5 day canoe trip. We sent two cabins to Magnetawan and one group to Bon Echo. On Saturday they returned on a bus singing their trip songs and proud to show off their dirty t-shirts. Upon their arrival, we sent out our next three cabins to experience the same adventure. We are excited to hear their stories when they return Wednesday afternoon!

Welcome home boys!

As I write this blog, I am only now realizing how busy Saturday was for Wanakita! On top of everything going on here at camp, we sent our Student Counsellors into Haliburton where they were an integral part of the annual Highland Games at Head Lake Park. Our SC’s and their counsellors worked hard to create games and activities for children who attended. It was a very hot day and a busy one at that but we are proud to say that they represented Wanakita well in the community!

On Saturday, we were sad to say goodbye to our one week campers. As we waved goodbye, the remainder of camp participated in our weekly theme day. This week’s theme was Harry Potter (in anticipation of the final movie coming out this Friday!). You could say it was “magical” to see our campers running around with wands, casting spells and participating in a Hogwarts variation of Capture the Flag.

Ah, Harry Potter vs. Voldemort on the dock!

One of our SC groups worked hard to put together a presentation for our bi-weekly Silver Chapel. This session is held at Corey’s Place and focuses on positive thoughts, aspirations, kindness, and inspiration. It is up to the SC’s to create a thorough presentation that relays a positive message and delivers strong morals to the rest of the camp. It is always nice to see how receptive the younger campers are to their older role models.

Random acts of kindness-this week's message

As I'm sure you can tell, we’ve had a very busy and fun-filled week. Our next group of one- week campers arrived yesterday and we are sure that this week is going to provide us with just as much excitement as the last!

Be sure to check in soon!

The Wanakita Staff Team

And So It Begins...

Summer 2011 has officially begun!

Precamp staff training finished out well this weekend, with one of the highlights being the Annual Staff Strong Kids Auction. Various businesses around the community donated items to be auctioned off. Along with that, staff offered up their time and talents as auction items. This year, the incredible staff raised a total of $7600 at the auction. That is enough to send more than 10 kids to camp for a week each!! We are so thankful for their generosity and their willingness to help make camp possible for more and more campers each year.

Sunday was the first official arrival day at camp, and it was full of excitement brought on by a year of anticipation.

 First day cabin assignments

Over 350 campers arrived for session A to a staff team ready and waiting for a fun filled session. Opening campfire was a hit, and the first day with a full dining hall of campers was loud, but energizing! 

 Opening Campfire

I think it is safe to say that we are all very excited for the coming weeks and what the summer has to offer us!

Have a great day,

The Wanakita Staff

Summer Is Here!

Hello friends and family of Wanakita!

We decided to start this blog in order to keep you even more connected with the Wanakita community throughout the coming months. We will be writing posts regularly to try and keep you informed as to some of the exciting things that are happening here at Wanakita on a day to day basis. We hope you enjoy it and we look forward to hearing your feedback.

The past year has been an eventful one as always for the Outdoor Centre. The fall, winter and spring seasons were highly successful, with many school groups leaving ready to come back next year. The Health Centre underwent a beautiful renovation, and it has been transformed into one of the most welcoming buildings on camp. It will provide the perfect atmosphere for bringing our campers back to health this summer, and has been an excellent home for school teachers who come with their groups throughout the year. 

 Entrance to the newly renovated Health Centre

We are currently in the midst of our precamp staff training week. This is an exciting week filled with energy and learning, so that the staff are prepared to give your campers the best experience possible while they are here. Last year, we were lucky enough to receive a whole new fleet of sailboats, along with a new sailing dock to go with them. This year, our big investment was in Novacraft canoes. Forty brand new canoes arrived just last week and will be used for programs throughout the summer. They are wonderful boats for teaching campers to paddle, and lightweight for those going on off-lake trips. 

 Part of our new fleet of canoes

On Sunday, we welcomed over 700 guests to our site for the annual Wanakita Strawberry Social. It was a huge success and saw many people, locals and out-of-towners alike, come to Wanakita to enjoy a meal and an afternoon full of activities. A huge thank you goes out to the staff who made it possible to host this event after having been here for only two days! It was our pleasure to show the camp to those in the community and we hope that this event continues to happen for many years to come.

The rest of the week holds a lot of excitement and promise, and provides an opportunity for the staff to get to know each other and learn to work together. We look forward to posting more stories about how this week unfolds, so feel free to check back here later this week for more news and photos!

Below are links to two videos that were made this year to give you an idea of what Wanakita Summer Residential Camp and Family Camp each look like. Enjoy!

Summer Residential Camp Video

Summer Family Camp Video

Have a great day,

The Wanakita Staff

We've Entered the Blogosphere

We have finally done it...  For those of you who are looking for a little more Wanakita in your life, we have created a blog so that no matter where you are, you can get a taste of Haliburton County to tide you over until your next visit.  In this blog, various members of the Wanakita Crew will be posting all sorts of neat stuff throughout the year.   Whether you're interested in learning about the Outdoor Centre, Family Camp, Day Camp, Residential Camp or all of the above, there will be something here for you.  Our goal is not only to let you know what crazy programs we are dreaming up, but to share stories about life at Wanakita from the past and present, so keep on reading as we add new pictures and stories each week .


Happy 2011 from all of us here at YMCA Wanakita
See you soon!