Friday, July 2, 2010

challenge night once more

At the Sacky/Hemlock Challenge Night the other night in Geyer Hall (renovated old Girls' Dining Hall above the lake). Among the challenges: hoola hoop, with stages of increasing difficulty; softball pitch (Jeff Daly calling balls and strikes, with a generous strike zone; yours truly as catcher); hunker hawser (you see here Hannah, CIT Director, trying her hand at it, wearing an "Al's Challenge Night 2010" t-shirt. The two villages combine and form five teams,
each team consisting of a brother and sister cabin. They work together to send up a challenger after each new challenge is announced. This in itself brings them together in ways that are actually sometimes quite remarkable. There's typically a wide ranger of challengers, not just the same kids time after time. I try to recruit all-star judges, just to add some excitement to the proceedings. The judges inevitably laugh their heads off at the various stunts, jokes, twistings and impersonations performed by the campers. Even though the program is organized by the staff and presented by a single host, it turns out to be one of the most collaborative
programs we do. Tons of camper involvement. It's a cross between a typical summer-camp game-show-style evening program, a bring-your-own scavenger hunt, a talent contest, and a skit night. And you truly never know what strange and interesting talents will emerge. During the "best double-jointedness/body contortion" challenge, the judges must do all they can to keep looking at the strange sights of these kids turning themselves into pretzels of various flavors.