Silas+Okoth

**My Experience at Camp Bernie ** **Former Resident of Cabin Oak ** **Member of Group E ** **Date of Trip: October 28, 2009- October 29, 2009 ** “I don’t want to go,” I told my mom. “You’re going,” she answered back. I was in fourth grade. Our teacher, Mrs. Panitch had just given us the paper and forms for the fifth grade trip to Camp Bernie. Staying away from home for a day and a half was with not an idea I agreed. “Ahh,” I groaned. Every paper was signed and completed by the end of the day. When it was time for school the next day, I handed in each paper required in order for permission to be granted for attending the trip. Later on, in fifth grade, the idea of Camp Bernie warmed up to me. Realizing it was a part of school, I became eager to travel on the trip and participate in the six different activities. My cabin was revealed as “Cabin Oak”, one of the smaller cabins, and I would become a member of “Group E”. A few days before the trip, my mother and I went down the list of necessities for Camp Bernie, beginning with “waterproof boots” and ending with “rain poncho”. I had everything packed and ready in my suitcase, for when the time came. Wednesday was the day! I arrived at school around the time, 7:20, like Mrs. Elkinson had told us. As it turned out, Mario and I had the same waterproof boots, with the only difference being that part of his were red and mine were black. We had some fun in the gym while waiting for the bus, which arrived some hours later. All of us boarded our two buses, and relaxed as we awaited our destination. Taking a window seat, I sat down adjacent to a kid attending Lincoln Elementary School. Bored, we watched the sights along the way via looking out the window. After a long ride, we finally reached Camp Bernie. I stepped off the bus wearing waterproof boots, a pair of blue gloves, a hat, thermal underwear, sweatpants, my Camp Bernie shirt, a sweatshirt, and my winter jacket. What immediately came into my view, were the mess hall and the pavilion. Next we went over to the buses, found our chaperones, and headed for the cabin with our luggage. Mr. Dunphy went with the Lincoln kids on the right section of the cabin. On the left section of Cabin Oak, Mr. Crowley came with us. All four of us chose top bunk beds, while our chaperone stayed in the chaperone room. Before doing anything else, I reached into the giant black garbage bag, forcefully pulled out my sleeping bag and pillow, and then tossed them onto my bed. Without hesitation I unzipped my suitcase and pulled out my clothes. To organize them I placed my clothes for the next day on the top shelf of my wooden cubby and my pajamas in the other space. Once done, I whipped out my impermeable red rain poncho and put it on, to prepare for the rain outside that would surely leave me sodden if I was not wearing it. Soon after, we all left for the mess hall. As a cruiser, I had to help set up our table with the other cruiser. First, we had to pull the chairs off the table and put them on the floor. Next we had to bring pitchers of water and the red mystery juice. Finally, we brought out the barbecue sauce, ketchup, and honey mustard for the chicken nuggets that would be served. Campers and assorted others all came into the cafeteria and sat down at their tables, mine was table nine. Also assigned to our table from my elementary school were Michael Barbato, Emily Dunphy, Mr. Dunphy, and Mr. Tenebruso. Of course, first up were the cruisers and vegetarians to get their lunch from the kitchen. Quickly, I devoured my chicken nuggets and drank some glasses of the delicious and flavorful juice. I also had to refill the pitcher once or twice. When all of our table mates finished consuming their food, it was time for us to clean up. My job was to collect their platters; clear them into the food waste container, empty our glasses into the liquid waste bucket, and place all the dishes and glasses into the sink. Her job (other server) was to empty out the pitchers into the sink. Every table had their servers do the same. After we were through with that, the staff quieted us to tell us our combined food waste and liquid waste was about 0.3 pounds. Dismissing us by tables, our table only had to wait a short time before being admitted to the pavilion like a colony of ants protruding on a picnic. All of us sat down at our table, specifically reserved for each of the six groups. I gathered with my Group E at one of the back tables. Immediately after, all the camp staff that would be chaperoning our study group activities introduced themselves. Then each group went off with one of the camp chaperones to the activity that was listed on their laminated pink cards; ours was stream ecology. We had to try to catch bugs in a stream near the camp and use the key to determine whether our stream was fair, poor, or excellent. To succeed, upturning rocks was the main focus. Due to the rain, all the bugs were out in the stream and easy to catch. During our task, a water bottle floated out of the pipe and into the stream. //I wonder if that has anything to do with our stream’s condition. // Upon return to the pavilion, we compared our catches to form a conclusion. For the most part, we caught dobsonfly to prove that our stream had little pollution and was excellent. Up next on our list, we attended survival training with a different chaperone. First we ventured deep into the woods for the activity. Before we began, he asked us some survival trivia. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">“How long can the human body go without water?” he asked our group. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">“Three days,” I answered. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">“How long can it go without food?” <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">“Three weeks.” <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">“How many liters are in a gallon?” <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">“About four liters are in a gallon.” <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">“How long can it go without oxygen?” <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">“Three minutes.” He then told us about the magic three, for survival (other than the liters in a gallon) facts. When we were asked how long a human could be in an extreme survival situation, we started guessing random time measures with threes in it. I guessed three months (too long), another member guessed three seconds (insanely to short), and someone else tried three years (insanely too long; clearly did not understand __EXTREME__). In the end, the correct answer would have been three months. Even though I answered this question wrong, I still enjoyed being able to show off my smarts during an activity to my study group. We were told our challenge was to make a small shelter using anything in the woods. Assigned the task, we formed our four groups. Mine consisted of Charlie, one other member and me. Amassing sticks and dead branches and setting them up immediately for the shelter, we made a prodigious amount of progress. While we were cruising along with the assignment, another group had no work done, half an hour into our allotted time. In spite of this, we decided to be kind gentlemen and allow them to join our group. They accepted our offer so that everyone had credit for work being done. Our chaperone commended everyone on their hard work and told us that we had to tear everything down, which was fairly easy considering they were, just sticks and branches. At this time Mrs. Steinheber said something I considered offensive to me. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">“I thought you did a nice job supervising,” she remarked. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">“Supervising?!” I answered. She did not hear me, but I am still upset about it. Done with this task, we headed back to the pavilion. From here, we were released back to our cabins with our cabin chaperones. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">It was sort of an intermediate break, so we had time to change or prepare for our dinner. Ready to leave again, we took off for the mess hall. Dinner that night was baked ziti. When I tried it, baked ziti turned out to be nasty, but Mr. Tenebruso came to my rescue. He got the cooks to cook me some chicken to eat instead. Although he could fix that, Mr. Tenebruso could not do anything about the nasty purple mystery juice. Our liquid waste that night was thrown off, because the cruisers emptied the pitchers in there, rather than in the sink. Our weather station group came up and told us the forecast for Thursday. We were all dismissed to the pavilion. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Our group combined with Group F to embark on the midnight hike to the forest, and a story from Kate. As a large group, we all formed a circle. Kate told us how cones in our pupils see myriad colors and rods in our pupils see black and white. Located in the dark, she gave us each a card with a color that we were supposed to guess, so that when our groups returned to the pavilion we could check if we were right or wrong. Kate handed out life savers to anybody who wanted any. She lit a candle afterwards, and began to tell us a tale of a young boy. Not too deep in, people kept making rude comments about the flickering candle and its size, until Kate was fed up and Groups E and F returned. I found out that my guess that my card was green was correct. When all study groups came back, we entered the mess hall for the animal show. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">I got a front row seat next to Michael Barbato. He had been my friend since kindergarten, and had been in the most of my elementary school classes (kindergarten, second grade, third grade, and fifth grade). In front of all the campers the guy showed us many different animals including toads and a constrictor that he allowed us to touch. To reorganize all the tables and chairs, we waited in the pavilion for brevity of time, and then were readmitted into the mess hall for milk and chocolate chip cookies. Full from dinner, I spent the time conversing and socializing with friends. To our cabins, we traveled from there, which made it easy because mine was just up the hill. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">We were all back in our cabin for the night. All four of us decided to shower that day, rather than Thursday morning at the crack of dawn. First to shower was David. He lives right around the corner from me and is a major Celtics fan. We talk at the bus stop every day. Next up was Michael, whom I had known since kindergarten and also lives around the corner on Meyer Road. Third to go was Mario, most of the time, he was ridiculous like when he would come on my bunk just to slap me. Lastly, the opportunity for me to shower had come. For some reason, the three of them walked into the bathroom, and upon leaving, the shower curtain fell down. Afterwards, I changed into my pajamas and brushed my teeth. Mr. Crowley set the curtain back up, and we all went to bed in our sleeping bags. I think they planned to get up and go to Lincoln’s side in the middle of the night. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Mario whispered, “Are you still awake Silas?” <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">“Yeah, Mario,” I answered. One minute later, he repeated his question. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">“Are you still awake?” he asked again. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">“Yes, Mario. So can you please stop asking,” I replied wanting my sleep. Eventually we all fell asleep and awoke to the flickering of the lights. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">“Up! Up! Up!” Mario shouted at 6:45A.M. Once everyone was up I entered the bathroom to brush my teeth. Then, I changed out of my pajamas into my thermal underwear, my sweatpants, my shirt, my sweatshirts, my winter jacket, and my water0proof boots. This time, I packed my red rain poncho into my jacket pocket in case I needed it again. All other miscellaneous items were packed away in my suitcase, knowing that when we retuned, we would have to bring everything back to the bus. We exited the cabin and started down the hill to the mess hall. We immediately heard the bell go off. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Arriving minutes later, the guy informed us, “You’re late for breakfast.” We entered the cafeteria and joined our tables and waited for it to be time to get our food. I do not quite remember what the main lunch was, but I do know that I ate it and there were also small packages of cereal and the juice was okay. Everything was normal, and the cruisers actually cleaned up the right way, so that our total waste was okay for its weight. Campers partaking in weather station told us their prediction, and then lunch was over. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">We headed for the pavilion and then took off towards the woods on the other side for sensory development. Our only challenge was to put our left hand on a rope and walk all the way to the end of a long path with our eyes closed and the rope guiding us. As individuals we trekked through grassy, rough, and also muddy terrain until we reached the end. At the end, before we were allowed to open our eyes, chaperones led each of us to a tree, let us feel it, and then walked us to a bench, where we then opened our eyes. Easily, I found my tree right away and most did also when they arrived, but some took a while to figure it out. Following up on that, we had a lesson on the five senses and retraced our steps back to the beginning, although we did cut a few corners. Once we reached the pavilion, we then departed for some team building exercises with the British guy as our chaperone. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">First we stood on an outdoor basketball type of floor, formed a circle holding hands, and then we had to pass a hula-hoop around without having it touch the ground. After this, we walked deep into the woods until we reached a type of obstacle course. Our first challenge was to figure out how to get through a web where a hole closes up once someone passes through, and it is and automatic loss when one touches the net. For the challenge we decided to form continuous chains and pass through the holes without letting go as the solution. Problem number two was that we all had to order ourselves from beginning to end by birthday month on a log. Here were the restrictions, only one person could be on the ground at a time and we were not allowed to talk. We solved the situation by using fingers to represent our birthday months. Finally, our last challenge was to get everyone from one side across the “lava”, and into the safety zone. Limits are that one could only touch the lava wearing “magic boots”, and each person can only go back and forth a maximum of one time. To get across we had to piggyback each other, but in the end there were two people in the danger zone who had already used the boots. Well, it was lunchtime when we were done, so we headed for the cafeteria. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">I had to go to the weather station first. We looked in the sky for the different types of clouds and also peaked at the barometer and anemometer. Writing a script for what we would read after lunch, parts were assigned and there was the final line that everybody would shout simultaneously. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Lunch was pizza, and we each started off with two slices. To me they were very minute, so I ended up eating eight slices of pizza. When I was done I went up to the front with the rest of my weather station group and we recited the whole script. Our food waste was revealed as 0.2 pounds, and one of the staff members told us that if we kept up the great work, we would set the record for having the least amount of total food and liquid waste. Ending on a positive note, they released us to the pavilion. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Our next activity was the low ropes course. We started off with the basic fall and catch trust exercise. Forming groups of four, we each had a turn on each obstacle with the rest of our group acting as spotters. Whoever was on the obstacle would yell, “Ready to climb!” and all the spotters would answer “Ready to spot!” Obstacles included getting across a net and walking from one end of a wire to the other. Even though we only had enough time to get through three obstacles, it was still very fun collaborating with our study group members. Our instructor told us to gather around and said we did a fantastic job. Then we headed back towards the pavilion before our final activity of the trip. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">For us it meant that we had to go to wall climbing. There were two different walls; the intermediate wall and the beginner wall. I chose to take the novice’s wall, but I was last in line. Our line was the slower moving one. Some would take extra long to make it all the way to the top. Others would start climbing up and then say they wanted to get down without climbing down. It may have taken longevity for them to finish, but it was finally my turn to shine. After watching everyone else go it looked easy. Skillfully, I began my journey up the wall. //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">This is easy. I will be up the wall in no time at all. // <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Steadily, I moved my limbs up the grips. Maneuvering up the wall was not that difficult. For me, I used the order of hand, hand, then foot, foot to climb. After what felt like only a few minutes, I had reached the top with joy! When I was at the top, I was on top of the world! It was my happiest moment at Camp Bernie to conquer that challenge with ease. Sure it was of a miniscule magnitude, but I was still overjoyed. I immediately got my feet planted on the wall and started coming down. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">“Look at him go!” our instructor exclaimed. Suddenly, I became vertical and hit the wall. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">“Ow,” I said. After that I continued and made it back to the ground. Next up, we gathered at the pavilion and then visited our cabins for the last time. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">It only took us a few minutes to gather our luggage and head for the buses to place all of our items there. As we were going to line up outside the mess hall, Mrs. Didimenico stopped Mario and me. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">“I have a job that I need to campers to do. Are you up for the challenge?” <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">“Yes,” we both agreed in unison. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">“I need you to help the nurse with her luggage.” <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">“Well that sounds easy enough,” I added. We charged over to the nurse’s cabin. She handed me a suitcase, and Mario a bag. Carefully, we loaded them onto her bus. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">“Thanks for the help,” she thanked us. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">“You’re welcome,” we answered. Both of us then dashed over to the mess hall for our last meal of the trip. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Dinner was turkey with cornbread. Although the cornbread was a bit stale, it was still a great meal overall. Surveys were placed on all the tables. There were two kinds of surveys: chaperone surveys and camper surveys. At our table only four student surveys and four teacher surveys were allocated, so I never had a chance to do one. Finished with our meal, one of the staff members told us that our total waste was over three pounds because the cruisers emptied the pitchers in there instead of in the sink. All of us boarded the buses home. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">To culminate our trip, we had ice cream sundaes and music in the cafeteria at Herbert Hoover Middle School. I will always cherish this trip in my memories. **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 21px;">Author’s Note ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 21px;">Camp Bernie was a fun and challenging experience with friends and future classmates of Herbert Hoover Middle School. I really had a great time during our study group activities and cabin times. Spending time with friends and assorted others in an ideal camp during the fall was fantastic, which led me to write about it in my memoir. This time was the highlight of my fifth grade year at Camp Bernie, which is why I feel bad for some that did not get to go due to budget cuts. Sleeping in a cabin, partaking in several activities, and eating in a mess hall are phrases that all sum up my joyous adventures and memories at Camp Bernie that I will never forget. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 21px;">PSA
 * <span style="color: red; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 37px;">Silas Okoth **