Camp Foley is proud to bring you the history of Fencing...well, at least the history according to our most recent group of campers who attended our "Video Madness" class here at camp.
Check out this hilarious video created by our campers who let their creative sides run wild!
Showing posts with label games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label games. Show all posts
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Friday, April 27, 2012
Creating Fun in the Rec Center
I will pick up this blog with the next phase of our construction projects here at Camp Foley. The new Rec. Center was the 3rd move in this shifting of venues. If you don’t know what I am talking about, you will have to scroll back in Foleys’ Rattlin’ Blog and find the first two explaining our major construction and transfer of activity areas.
What's now known as the Rec. Center was previously just the old garage. No campers ever went in the building. Like I mentioned before, it was home to the Foleys’ lawn tractor, skid steer, log splitter, and extra hockey goals. Now it is a beautiful building that is full of excitement and fun.
The project started in a snowy late April with the snow having to be shoveled off the old roof to begin the new steel roofing. A For Your Information, we didn’t change roof line so, no need for a building permit!
The new steel roofing glows with the same green sheen as the maintenance center. We did not tear any part of this old building down. We simply just renovated the existing structure that is easier typed than done! It was merely gutted on the inside and with the addition of log siding to the outside, we have beautiful building.
For the campers and to enhance the fun at the Foley Fun Center, we added speakers on the inside and outside the building. So now when the campers are battling it out in our Human Foosball or swatting around the birdie at Badminton or playing a game of Giant Tether they have the opportunity to listen to their favorite songs. For the inside of the Rec. Center we moved our pool table, ping pong tables, foosball tables, and added arcade hoops for fun and games. It is a great place with an awesome atmosphere.
It’s just another great addition to an already awesome place called…Camp Foley! Stop by sometime and check it out!
Until next time,
Chris Mathiowetz, Director
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| The Rec Center, shown on the right. |
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| Plenty of space for great games. |
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| Enjoying Foosball in the Rec Center. |
It’s just another great addition to an already awesome place called…Camp Foley! Stop by sometime and check it out!
Until next time,
Chris Mathiowetz, Director
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Gaby Carries That Foley Feeling Into Adulthood
The following blog submission is written by Foley alumnus, Gaby Driessen. Gaby is the daughter of, Martha Lopez, who was among the first “class” of female Foley campers back in 1974! As a second generation Foley-ite, Gaby spent 9 summers with us as a camper, and 2 as a counselor. She truly embraced the time she spent at camp. Read on as Gaby reflects on how she has managed to carry that “Foley feeling” into adulthood:
“I am literally obsessed with Camp Foley. If I could be a camper and/or staff for the rest of my life, I would do it, and I would obviously reside in either Pocahontas (so much closet space) or Mingo (because why not?). Last spring when I was faced with that notorious decision of what to do after graduating from college, I knew that I had to choose something that either a) revolved around Foley, or b) I could love as much as Foley. In a super risky move on my part, I opted to not go with option A and attempted to go for the latter. I am almost six months into my first out-of-college-job, and I am realizing that somehow I managed to combine the two.
“My first “real world” job at Friends of the Orphans (www.friendsoftheorphans.org/sponsorship) might as well be a full time Foley job based in Chicago. While there is no Marina, no soda bread, and definitely no large field games (currently picturing myself and Maddi McCrea leading a game of Capture the Flag in Millennium Park…awkward, but awesome), one common factor between Foley and Friends is their respective missions. ‘The mission of Camp Foley is to partner with parents to develop confident, responsible, and respective youth who gain skills and have fun through a quality camp experience in a youth centered community’ (totally still know it by heart, boom). The mission of Friends is similar: ‘Friends of the Orphans is dedicated to improving the lives of orphaned, abandoned and disadvantaged children through the support of the Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (NPH, Spanish for ‘Our Little Brothers and Sisters’) network of orphanages in Latin America and the Caribbean.’ Specifically, Friends help transform lives of NPH children by teaching them the values of unconditional love, shared responsibility, and education. Character traits anyone? I believe that Responsibility and Sharing were purple and red beads, so I think my job’s mission deserves at least 2 beads in the bucket.
“The biggest skill similarity between the two is cultivating relationships. As a counselor, it is extremely important to connect with both campers and fellow staff members. Here at Friends we fundraise, and the best practice for fundraising is cultivating relationships with current donors, new donors, and potential donors. I have noticed that as I learn how to communicate and connect with our donor base at work, I am becoming much better at doing the same within the Foley network. If I can connect myself to someone that I am just meeting through a fellow Foley-ite, boom, they are my new best friend. And I am totally guilty of #FoleyFriendGroupTexting [text messaging camp friends] at least once a day. Sorry, I am so not sorry for filling up your inbox, guys.
“But the most important similarity is how great I feel about my job. While I was a counselor at Foley, I would wake up every single day with a smile on my face (I mean, how can you not when Katie Rehani is the one waking you up in the mornings?). Even on the gloomy days where I was not able to send the kids out to sail, I looked forward to playing one of the plethora of indoor sailing games – who doesn’t like a fun and competitive round of Sailing Jeopardy?! By day 3 of working at Friends, I found that I was waking up with those same feelings of excitement and happiness. Excitement, because at my job every day is different, every day I acquire a new skill, and every day I am excited to go off to work. Happiness, because knowing that my job is helping children have a childhood is probably one of the greatest feelings I have ever felt.
My Foley #fomo [fear of missing out] may never go away, but the fact that I have found myself in a position that allows me to continue helping children have a childhood, but at the same time grow into wonderful and educated individuals, is just plain awesome."
- By Gaby Driessen
“I am literally obsessed with Camp Foley. If I could be a camper and/or staff for the rest of my life, I would do it, and I would obviously reside in either Pocahontas (so much closet space) or Mingo (because why not?). Last spring when I was faced with that notorious decision of what to do after graduating from college, I knew that I had to choose something that either a) revolved around Foley, or b) I could love as much as Foley. In a super risky move on my part, I opted to not go with option A and attempted to go for the latter. I am almost six months into my first out-of-college-job, and I am realizing that somehow I managed to combine the two.
“My first “real world” job at Friends of the Orphans (www.friendsoftheorphans.org/sponsorship) might as well be a full time Foley job based in Chicago. While there is no Marina, no soda bread, and definitely no large field games (currently picturing myself and Maddi McCrea leading a game of Capture the Flag in Millennium Park…awkward, but awesome), one common factor between Foley and Friends is their respective missions. ‘The mission of Camp Foley is to partner with parents to develop confident, responsible, and respective youth who gain skills and have fun through a quality camp experience in a youth centered community’ (totally still know it by heart, boom). The mission of Friends is similar: ‘Friends of the Orphans is dedicated to improving the lives of orphaned, abandoned and disadvantaged children through the support of the Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (NPH, Spanish for ‘Our Little Brothers and Sisters’) network of orphanages in Latin America and the Caribbean.’ Specifically, Friends help transform lives of NPH children by teaching them the values of unconditional love, shared responsibility, and education. Character traits anyone? I believe that Responsibility and Sharing were purple and red beads, so I think my job’s mission deserves at least 2 beads in the bucket.
“The biggest skill similarity between the two is cultivating relationships. As a counselor, it is extremely important to connect with both campers and fellow staff members. Here at Friends we fundraise, and the best practice for fundraising is cultivating relationships with current donors, new donors, and potential donors. I have noticed that as I learn how to communicate and connect with our donor base at work, I am becoming much better at doing the same within the Foley network. If I can connect myself to someone that I am just meeting through a fellow Foley-ite, boom, they are my new best friend. And I am totally guilty of #FoleyFriendGroupTexting [text messaging camp friends] at least once a day. Sorry, I am so not sorry for filling up your inbox, guys.
“But the most important similarity is how great I feel about my job. While I was a counselor at Foley, I would wake up every single day with a smile on my face (I mean, how can you not when Katie Rehani is the one waking you up in the mornings?). Even on the gloomy days where I was not able to send the kids out to sail, I looked forward to playing one of the plethora of indoor sailing games – who doesn’t like a fun and competitive round of Sailing Jeopardy?! By day 3 of working at Friends, I found that I was waking up with those same feelings of excitement and happiness. Excitement, because at my job every day is different, every day I acquire a new skill, and every day I am excited to go off to work. Happiness, because knowing that my job is helping children have a childhood is probably one of the greatest feelings I have ever felt.
My Foley #fomo [fear of missing out] may never go away, but the fact that I have found myself in a position that allows me to continue helping children have a childhood, but at the same time grow into wonderful and educated individuals, is just plain awesome."
- By Gaby Driessen
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