As we approach the two-week mark here at Tripp Lake, we’re feeling a great deal of gratitude for the opportunity we’ve been given to impact your daughter’s lives this summer. As we’ve said all year, “the camp experience is needed more than ever”. This is about the time the girls have fully embraced the camp bubble and the spirit of sisterhood is in the air and all around.
Mike Turtle returned to Tripp Lake today to share his magnificent soccer clinics with our campers. He started the day with the Seniors who appeared to really embrace the advanced skill development and competition. It’s wonderful to see these older girls showing our younger ones the importance of working hard and giving their all in activities. These girls are never too cool to try and that’s a value we want our campers to take with them long after Tripp Lake. He also worked with the Inter Is, JRs, AJs and Subs and will continue with more clinics over the days ahead so each age group will have an opportunity to receive his excellent coaching and encouragement!
We saw a lot of Sing-Song practice taking place throughout the day as well. Each team met up after rest hour to review their list of songs and begin the process of understanding harmonies and cohesion. In the evening, we witnessed many Inter I campers sitting in small groups across campus with the new JR campers as well. It was so sweet to hear them helping the young ones learn how to sing the traditional TLC team songs.
Later in the day, Dan R. from Pottery gave our JRs an inside scoop on all things TLC. Dan has been working at Tripp Lake for a VERY long time and has a wealth of knowledge to share with our campers. They all pranced around in the sun with Dan and their advisors while learning songs and fun facts about camp!
It was also our second Friday Evening Service of the summer. At first we were worried about it getting rained out, but the sun stayed on our side and it ended up being a beautiful evening to gather together on the hill overlooking Tripp Lake. The Inter Is were excited to be asked to sing in front of the rest of camp tonight for the service, and we were delighted by their performances, including a lovely rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. Campers from 1AB also stood up to speak about their closest friends, the importance of the relationships they’ve built at Tripp Lake and how this place has left a lasting impact on them. The service ended with a beautiful speech by Kimberly S., our long time staff member and former camper, who shared about the significance of Tripp Lake in her own life. She spoke on why camp is needed right now and encouraged our girls to take time to sit under the trees and reflect about what camp means to them and why it’s a place they want to keep coming back to. We’re so lucky to have kind and dedicated former campers come back to work as counselors and we hope that will continue for years to come.
Parent phone calls are this weekend and we’re excited for our campers to share their Tripp Lake experience with you all. We’re prepared for different emotions to arise over the course of the next two days, and we will be there beside your camper every step of the way as they process the feelings of potentially missing family, friends and home. We also have a lot of fun and exciting activities planned which we’re certain the girls will love!
Kind Regards,
Leslie and Katie
