By Jenny Rehkugler, Communications Specialist
Mini Maccabia has been a Crane Lake tradition for as long as I can remember. It came in different forms, like 4th of July red, white and blue games, or CLC Olympics, but it was always around, and always a camp highlight. As a first session camper, I never knew what color war was. All I knew was that fight song and mini maccabia were the days to look forward to and get excited for during my short month at camp.
Last year was my first year back at Crane Lake after a short 3 summer hiatus of doing other things like traveling and working. I decided to come back on a whim. My best camp friend called me up one cold January day during my second semester ever of college and said, “Jenny, lets go back to Crane Lake!” And all I could think of when I was freezing cold wearing two sweatshirts in my dorm room at Syracuse was, “Of course, lets do it!” I filled out an application on the spot, and next thing I knew after a Skype interview with Debby, I was heading back to spend a summertime that lasts forever.
Last summer was amazing. I was an Olim counselor and experienced camp in a completely new light. Camp had changed a lot since I was a camper, but in a way that I liked. Campers and staff were more enthusiastic than ever, which I found to be wonderfully contagious. When mini Maccabia broke out one morning at 6 a.m., I was shocked to see how every single camper and counselor were happy to be up and running to the soccer field to find the two most important things of the day: what color team they were on, and who were the head coaches.
I couldn’t remember if mini Maccabia head coaches were a thing to get excited about when I was a camper, but last summer I caught on immediately and was proud to find that my friends, people I was a camper with, were head coaches. The day was action packed for everyone.
Fast forward to this summer, which is much different for me than last. I am now the communications specialist for Crane Lake and spend much of my day in the office writing blogs, tweets, Facebook posts and instagramming pictures. When mini Maccabia excitement was in the air, I knew I would be spending my day live tweeting, getting a blog together and taking instagram pictures.
I happen to work in an office shared with the programming team so I thought that I would be in on when mini Maccabia would break out. I thought wrong. They kept it such a secret that I had to temporarily vacate my desk to work elsewhere so I wouldn’t hear any top-secret maccabia news. I went on with my days as normal, knocking on their closed door if I needed anything. I didn’t think much of their secrecy; I actually thought it was great how they kept the day and theme a surprise for both campers and counselors.
Finally on Tuesday night, mini Maccabia arrived at Crane Lake. The theme this year was Clue the board game and the mystery to solve was who stole our beloved salaad bars. Teams were broken up with colored magnifying glasses, the crime and goal of the game were defined so next up were head coaches.
There had been chatter of who would be head coaches, but as always, no one really knew. A drumroll led to the announcing of the head coaches names. First they called my best friend at camp Ali. I jumped into the air and hugged her. I knew she wanted it so bad so I was beyond excited that her and Brad would be leading the yellow Colonel Mustard team.
What happened next was the biggest surprise I had ever gotten while at camp. I was sitting with my campers and Ali’s campers saying how excited I was for her when Max called my name over the microphone. I looked around, thinking I had done something wrong for talking when I wasn’t supposed to, but then I looked up and saw Kristof, the videographer, with a camera next to me and a picture of face on the big screen. I was so confused. There was no way I was a head coach, I am the communications specialist! I walked up to the stage to join my fellow blue coach Shahar as they announced the rest of the team.
To say that mini Maccabia was a highlight of my summer doesn’t even begin to describe it. I had a fantastic day leading the blue Mrs. Peacock team in cheers and games. It was a blast walking around camp with Shahar getting campers pumped about activities and watching them win.
By the end of the night we felt great about our team and our day. The campers seemed to have an awesome time at all the events throughout the day. When our final accusations were made of who, where and how the salaad bars were stolen, Shahar and I felt pretty confident.
Blue Mrs. Peacock got second place last night to green Mr. Green. Second, first, third or fourth, it didn’t matter at all. Having the opportunity to be a leader at camp meant everything to me.
Now I’m back to my regular day in the office at my desk writing blogs and Facebook posts. I’ll never forget my mini maccabia head coach experience, and I now have a whole new appreciation for the contagious spirit this camp has to offer.