Sunday, August 22, 2010

best athlete in Totem cabin

In the 60s and into 1970 and maybe '71, Frost Valley's summer camp gave out lots of awards. There were riflery awards (issued by the NRA) and archery awards (this lasted into the mid-70s). There were physical fitness tests and score sheets - tallies kept of push-ups and pull-ups and broad jump, etc. Campers received a scored sheet to be brought or mailed home. Attached to the sheet was a mimeographed retyping of a speech by JFK who had made "physical fitness" a big deal for youth in the early 60s, the time of Cold War competitiveness. Here, below, is an example of one of these certificates. It was given to camper Glenn Kreismer, who was then among our youngest campers - in Cabin 1 of Totem Village. He "pass[ed] all requirements for recognition" as "BEST ATHLETE IN CABIN #1"! Who knows how that was determined. Nor does one know how the sight-impaired, geeky, uncoordinated or indeed formally disabled boy in the cabin felt about all this. But there you go. The sketch at left, mostly obscured by creasing and the age of the document, depicts a young boy, tent in background, efficiently preparing a meal over a campfire. Bottom right is the Y in YMCA and below that "Camp Wawyanda" - spelled wrong.