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Dear French Woods Families
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The start of Sessions One at camp is less than 3 weeks away! Here's some last minute advice and info.
Let's talk auditions! Auditions are an opportunity for you to meet our staff and for them to meet you. No one is rejected. If you audition for a musical, you will be cast in one. It is a good idea to prepare about 30 seconds or 16 bars of a song. Don’t panic if you’ve never performed before. If you have a good voice, can talk loud enough to be heard, and show a little bit of enthusiasm, you have as much chance as anyone in getting a good part. You never know...you just may be what everyone is looking for. You might want to take a look at Ron Schaefer's audition technique podcast at https://youtu.be/TEsGG4KO8TY.
In circus, even if you’ve never dreamed of juggling, walking on stilts or flying on the trapeze, this is the time to reach out of your comfort zone and give it a try. If you are a musician and want to perform in one of our orchestras or bands you will be asked to play before our musical conductors.
Our dance classes are both by ability and by age. That means if you are a 15-year-old beginning ballet camper you will not be placed with 8-year-old beginners and if you are an 8-year-old intermediate ballet camper you will not be with 15-year-old beginners or intermediates!
Putting together a band at our Rock Shop is easy. You will be put with campers who have the same genre interest and ability as you, and a staff person is a part of every band. And remember, being placed in the right level, in whatever program, makes it better for you - for successful instruction, learning and fun!
Another reminder about cell phones and WIFI. Campers at French Woods will not be allowed to bring any cellphone or electronic device that has access to WIFI, cell service or is otherwise able to transfer data to camp. Campers who are flying to FWF may bring their phones on their journey, but must turn them in to the office upon arrival. We will store the phones in our camp safe until those campers finish their stay at FWF. Parents, please be respectful of our rules and partner with FWF by communicating this message at home. At French Woods, we believe whole-heartedly that our campers desperately want and need in-person interaction. Camp, gives us the ways and the means to take a digital detox from our digital dependency.
We are still strongly urging that if you can drive you camper to camp that you do so. As a reminder, parents will not be allowed on to campus. Be sure to fill out your transportation form and if driving to camp indicate your preference time for dropoff.
Inquiries have come in about how campers’ medications work at camp. If you haven’t done so yet, it is time to register with CampMeds at www.campmeds.com. Medications in pill form must be single dose packaged by CampMeds or your pharmacy or go online to CVS Simple Dose. To find more detailed information, please go to your CampInTouch dashboard under forms and documents and scroll all the way down to CampMeds Information.
And finally, please be sure to fill out all your forms!
Beth
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May 1 Anna Lauria Georgiana Flaherty Jack Mathews Liam Diamond Shay Brymer
May 2 Carter Houseknecht Spencer Rice Tamara Polissaint Vanessa Rodriguez Walker
May 3 Aiden Larkey Jack Spruiell Kyana Momah Maggie Looby Natalie Hod Omar Torres Ruby Abowitz Sophia Hobby Zoe Taranov
May 4 Benjamin Johnson Hudson You Paige Alcorn Rachel Sapozhnina
May 5 Clio Siegel Nina Katz Sammy McCarthy
May 6 Bailey Tuzzo Elizabeth Hahn Harrison Narens Irene Arzu pablo smith Yosif Zhurbin
May 7 Elise O'Keefe Emma Arends Evelyn Moodie Lucie Lavoie Mia Clements Nathaniel Colton Peyton Chamberlain Ryan Deguire Stephanie Delonga
May 8 Ava Rose Di John Elliott Peterson-Lester Emma Lee Max Tabatchnik Sophie Redvers
May 9 Dean Sevin Jahmere Parker Lucy Humble Norah Van Valkenburgh Paulina Zarcadoolas Ray Schambra Stevens Sasha Torop Viola Folkenflik
May 10 Alyssa Marvin Katie Gaffigan Leyna Munroe Maya Weitz Sophia Calne
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May 11 Jacob Zacks Lulu Gurney Petra Eskandar Priyanka Oomman Senna Lieber
May 12 Athena Barrett Emily Schwartz Hannnah Viehoff India Pera Isla Corey Kate Bloom Ranni Frank Victoria Strauch
May 13 Charlotte Hamer Isabella Hamer Maya Portnoy Natalie Cohen Sasha Cohen Sparrow Lieu Stella Greene
May 14 Akiva Schostak Ethan Isuru Akmeemana Leah Regan
May 15 Amelia Newell Elliott Levine Fineas Taylor Juliet Thomas Patrick Kelley
May 16 Adam Ginsburg Adriana Rosas Cecilia Heyworth Charlie Bern Harley Schwalb Jaden Singer Sienna Cekirge
May 17 Julia Marchese-Grippo Ruby Sherman
May 18 Adriana Trejos Andrew Lull Blakely Turk Cassia Larren Gabby Samuels Grace Dinger Ilaria Cohen Catone Isabelle Steinhauer Lily Safabakhsh London Fair Morgen Thompson Nechoma Seidner Ryder Sugarman Tino Garcia Gross
May 19 Abi Mitchell Angelina Di Bari Francesca Di Bari Marni Kofsky
May 20 Alexandra Greenberg Annabel O'Reilly Jack Messinger Law Watford madeleine smith Remy Ouazana
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May 21 Andrew Maskoff Benjamin Sadowsky Cole Rosie Sabrina Halzel Stella Supple
May 22 Beckwith Fipp Gavin Wiener Laila Pincus Lake Robinovitz Ruby Glass Sophia Sundeen
May 23 Chloe Shin Yang Gabriel Mikhno Madeline Lee
May 24 Alfred Bateman-Martin Jack Goldberg Parker Droste Penelope Mason
May 25 Carina Davis Finnegan Leduc Graham Deason Jacob Woodlee
May 26 Alayna Sheikh Benjamin Piccarillo Clover Dawson-Hollis
May 27 Gavriel Zigrino Izabella Pustovaia Zachary Wellington
May 28 Aislynn McHugh Madeleine Pace Max Jordan Michael Duwin Talia Bloomfield Thomas Baker-Spitzer
May 29 Anna Kaufman Evangeline Rayhill Perez George Danow Tobin Elliott Vivian Kovelman Zoe Levitt
May 30 Alyson Sakol DeLa Armah Joey Mekyten Max Levin Olu Armah
May 31 Benjamin Suniewick Carter Shear Chloe Stephan Emma Gusler Ethan Pianko Max Wasserstein Oliver Moodie Serena Baranello Sophia Vermes
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Camper email Campers may send and receive email after the first couple of days at camp. Every camper has an email account through our own camp mail server. It is firstnamelastname@frenchwoodscamp.com (for example johndoe@frenchwoodscamp.com). Please use this address instead of gmail, hotmail, yahoo or other servers that interfere with the operation of our network. If your child has a hyphenated name or an apostrophe, do not include that punctuation, rather lucassmithrobinson@frenchwoodscamp.com or annohara@frenchwoodscamp.com
Your address at camp will be: Camper Name* French Woods Festival P.O. Box 609 Hancock, NY 13783 Any packages should be addressed to: Camper Name * French Woods Festival 199 Bouchoux Brook Road Hancock, NY 13783 *When you get your bunk number at camp please inform everyone who will be writing or sending packages to you to put your bunk number after your name. This will help us get you your mail delivered as quickly as possible. Remember absolutely no food/candy!
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An Open Letter to Parents From Your Kids’ Camp Counselors
Dear Parents,
Thank you. Thank you for trusting us with your whole world, because we know that’s what you’ve handed us — your whole world, and your trust along with it and we’re grateful.
You should know, we think your kids are the coolest...the coolest. With all their quirks and their gifts and their challenges and their unique qualities, we think your kids are just the coolest, and we’re excited to be their friends. For the time we have them, your kids are our life.
We’re here because there’s no place we’d rather be this summer than with your kids. We’re here because we LOVE this. We train for this. We live for this. We work for it. We’re exhausted by it. We’re energized by it. Because we understand your kids are worth it. Every bit. Deeply, deeply worth our time and our interest and our effort… and our prayers and our hopes, too. Even now, even before we’ve met them, in these weeks we use to prepare for their arrival.
So tell us about your kids when you spend those hours filling out the forms. Tell us what you want us to know; the more, the better. The needs, yes. Of course, tell us what your camper needs. And then tell us what they like too. What makes them smile. What makes them talk. What lights them up. What tricks and tips we might use to encourage, to help, to protect, and to love. And know this: we’re listening. We’re reading your words. We’re studying what you say. And we’re not judging – not you, not your kid. We’re here to be your partners. Because we want to make a difference for your kids who become our kids for a short time, even if we never get to see what that difference was.
What we most want you to know, though, is this. You parents are our heroes. And your kids are amazing. Like, really, really great. Your children change us. They make us better. And we’re grateful.
Sincerely,
Your Kids’ Summer Camp Counselors
See you all very soon.
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Congratulations to past camper, Talia Suskauer who is making her NYC Broadway debut as Elphaba in Wicked at the Gershwin Theatre.
Congratulations to past camper and HFWAA recipient, Olivia Dei Cicci who is making her NYC Broadway debut in Wicked.
Alyssa Marvin and Sammy Dell will appear in Trevor the Musical which begins streaming June 24 on Disney+.
Alyssa Marvin will perform in a concert version of a new show Yellowfin Grouper P.I. at the Laurie Beechman Theatre on June 5th.
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The Hancock-French Woods Arts Alliance (hfwaa.org) is the not-for-profit arm of French Woods. HFWAA primarily raises funds that help with college tuition and necessities for some of our counselors who are both in-need and committed to a career in the arts.
HFWAA also oversees and helps fund our biennial CIT retreat taking place at camp Memorial Day weekend.
We, once again, will reach out to our families and sponsors to help us out with activities that comprise the majority of our funding.
Remember there's no WIFI at camp so we are going 'old-school.' Bring a book to camp to donate to the library!
We run a 4K Race for the Arts each session of camp. This is our 12th year! There is no charge to run the race or participate as a volunteer, but a minimum contribution of $35 entitles your camper to a commemorative t-shirt. We hope that many of you will consider sponsoring your camper for Summer 2022! They can run, walk, volunteer or cheer as we bring fitness, fun and community together. To register, please fill out the form on your CampIn Touch dashboard. If you would like to be a corporate or family sponsor or you know of someone who would like to help, please call us directly at (607) 637-8406.
Birthday Parties or Just Because Parties...are held during the evenings. Smores parties, Movie Parties, Cooking Parties and more. Your child's bunk will be treated to a special evening as you honor your camper by sponsoring this fun event. Email smores@frenchwoods.com or call (607) 637-8406 to get more information.
Later in the summer, we will hold a Raffle with first prize being free tuition for the session of your choice for summer 2023. Tickets are $50 each; 7 for $250 or 15 for $500. A maximum of 700 tickets will be sold and winners need not be present to win.
Counselors interested in applying for an HFWAA scholarship fill out a rigorous application and we strive to give those chosen a hand-up rather than just a handout. Food for thought: Part of the true magic of camp lies in the relationship between children and their counselors. Children who have been cared for all of their lives by “old” parents in their thirties and forties, or by “ancient” teachers moving through their forties and fifties, are delighted by the novelty of sharing adventures as well as their apprehensions and being cared for by appealing young adults in their late teens and early twenties. Those young adults are an intergral part of making the French Woods summer experience a great one.
Emails will be going out next week for the Big Brother, Little Brother/ Big Sister, Little Sister Program. To our seasoned campers, please make sure to get in touch with your little sib right away!
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This summer, we are working with WALDO Photos to provide an optional service which will send photos of your child directly to your phone for about $20 a session with a discount for multiple sessions. If you don’t enroll, you’ll still be able to look through galleries of photos for free at https://waldo.photos/galleries/view/folder/NrdjqEf3ocNWf4FbMr5VcDz
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First Time Parents: Urgent!
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Every child attending camp for the first time leaves home with apprehension. Make your child’s experience a positive one. His or her success or failure is totally in your hands. Every parent wants what’s best for their child. What’s best is having a child who has self-esteem and is able to function in a supportive and friendly climate, without the constant need of their parent’s presence. When a child does not finish what they have started there is certainty of failure. Taking a child home early leads not to rescue but to future loss.
Here are some simple tips to follow: • Let your child know before they leave that they will have a wonderful time and that you love them. • Do Not discuss a trial period or give the child any reason to think they will fail. • Write letters & emails asking about the child’s experiences at camp. He does not need to know his dog misses him or his sister now rules the house. • Most important, work with the camp director to make sure your child succeeds at camp. Help us to help your child succeed. See you this summer, Ron, Isaac, and Beth 800-634-1703 admin@frenchwoods.com
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The pre-camp season has now begun. The camp looks great. As we head into our fifty-second season we are working hard to put the finishing touches to the camp before any of the campers arrive.
I am looking forward to our First Time Campers Event on May 21st. We anticipate a crowd of almost 500 Attendees - be sure your COVID vaccination cards are uploaded to your CampInTouch account and upload the negative results of your negative rapid test that you are taking 24-48 hours prior to coming onto Camp. Any questions, email visiting@frenchwoods.com.
This summer I will be working on four or five shows. Can't wait! I am so looking forward to seeing all of you soon.
Ron
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The Performer is Your Newsletter
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The Performer is only as good as the contributions we receive from the French Woods community. Let us know what is going on in your life.
Your camp friends love to hear what you are doing.
email admin@frenchwoods.com, call 607-637--8400 or after May 1st write us at P.O. Box 609, Hancock, NY 13783.
We love hearing from you.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter
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