Find your spark, lift your voice, discover who you are...
Light the fire within!
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...For those few weeks every summer, I was cool. I was never good at sports, never popular in school, never had the right look or the cool clothes. But camp was not like the real world. There I fit in... Nothing in my adult life has rivaled that feeling. I would be so excited to get my colored scarf, and sing my unit song, and feel like I belonged. I belonged to something so magical... |
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Kris Clark Aponita 1961- Watanopa '65 Counselor 1971 |
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...Much of what I liked about camp when I was a kid was the ritual. At the reunion, when all the alumni broke into singing the “For Health and Strength” supper grace, all the good memories came flowing back. Later, some of us giggled a little at Flag, but also realized how meaningful it had been in our younger years – a great civics lesson that has remained with me to this day. The following Council Fire held even more meaning... Kris
Clark writes for The Tipton Conservative. During July and August 2011,
she published a series of five 1200-word columns of her reflections on Camp Hitaga and
Camp Fire in Tipton.
Click here for the full text of all five columns
A 600-word condensation appeared in the Fall 2011 'Torch' |
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Joan Miller Minney Camper 1954-62 Netahi 1963, Counselor 1964-65 |
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When I volunteered to assist with the Community Family Club (CFC) at Harrison Elementary, I didn’t know exactly what to expect...
...Each session begins with a healthy, catered family meal served by the adult helpers. The menu always contains lots of fruits and vegetables with everyone encouraged to take at least a sample serving of each. The meal is followed by a family craft activity and game. The focus is to promote positive family interaction, which seems to be enjoyed by the parents as much as the kids. Each family has a second grader, but the age range of children within those families is age 2 to teens. My involvement is to assist the lead teacher with set up and helping families as they work on projects. It has been a rewarding experience watching everyone enjoying quality family time, something we don’t seem to do often enough anymore. I even reconnected with a parent who had been a student where I was the elementary counselor! Small world. |
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Kathy Zamastil Netahi 1960, Counselor 1962-65 |
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I "volunteered" to help with a family reunion of 80 plus people the last weekend Suz was at Hitaga... I enlisted Joan Minney to join me, and we had a great weekend... I'm sure you all remember kitchen duty at camp and how much fun it was -- it still is!
That weekend, Joan and I got a pretty good idea of the fantastic progress made under Suz' watch. On Saturday, Suz talked to us about current needs. Programming materials, craft supplies, arrows, everything, are in short supply -- donations are needed for those... Suz was good at begging for funds and securing new program materials, but many upgrades are still needed... Coming out of the 80th Anniversary Alumni Reunion, we had a lot of positive momentum for the success of Camp Hitaga, and we need to keep it going...
Kathy's full original comments were posted October 17, 2011
to the Camp Hitaga Alumni Facebook Group A full adaption appears in the Winter 2011-12 'Torch' |
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Linda "Skeeter" Hartsock Counselor 1959-1960 |
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...I went on in camping as Waterfront Director in a private camp on Cape Cod and started a graduate program in Recreation Administration. I completed a doctorate in Higher Ed Administration and served as National Program Director for the American Association of University Women, Executive Director of the Adult Education Association of the USA and finally CEO of Integrated Options, Inc.—a management services firm.
...Camp Hitaga was at the beginning of my professional path and taught me some important lessons that, in looking back, I now appreciate even more. Linda's full letter appeared in the Spring 2011 'Torch'
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We are sad to report that, on July 4th, 2011, just a week after attending the 80th Anniversary Hitaga Alumni Reunion, Verona Buchele passed away of a heart attack as she returned from her lake home to her home in Raytown, MO.
Verona co
unseled at Camp Hitaga from 1962 through 1966, including leading
canoe trips to the Boundary Waters and becoming Head of Netahi. During this time, she also graduated from Kansas State and became a schoolteacher. Later, she worked as an executive for Camp Fire Girls in Kansas City, and retired from a long career with Amoco.
Netahi '63 prepared a moving four-page tribute for Verona's Celebration of Life event, including two pages of their reflections on Verona as a counselor, and as a friend in more recent years. Click the image to view, print, or download the full tribute.
A “Verona Memories” Facebook photo album is also available to those who are on Facebook.
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