Camp Haiastan News for First Session

We kicked off the first session with a picnic hosted by the AYF Central Executive and the dedication of our amazing new basketball courts. The courts have been dedicated in honor of Terri and Pete Jelalian, parents of our former Baron Pete, and his sister Louise, a former camper and mother of former campers and ungers. Baron Pete’s daughter Theresa was the first person to take and make a shot on the new courts.

As the dedication of the camp courts was taking place, camp history was being made: An astonishing number of campers were moving into Camp Haiastan. This year, camp hosted record-breaking numbers of campers for both Teen Session and First Session. Second Session’s projected numbers are impressive as well. As the camp filled with more than double the number of campers in attendance during Teen Session, the staff soon realized the magnitude of their responsibility and the task before them. Many counselors became instant “octo-moms and octo-dads,” single-handedly managing a cabin of eight, including some with very specific needs.

Hearing they were “the BIGGEST Introduction Night,” “the BIGGEST Dinner,” and “the BIGGEST Morning Exercises” during the nightly airings of the Camp Haiastan News, the 127 campers of First Session quickly became accustomed to announcements of record-breaking events. Of course, with such a big session, the staff realized that some additional help would be useful, and so, Unger Raffi Sarajian joined this year’s team.

This session’s large roster of campers included campers from France and Canada. While it’s a great thing that camp enrollment (and applicants for hire) is stronger than ever, hosting such a large number of campers is not an easy task. Knock-out lines, Mess Hall lines, and Camp Store lines were longer than ever, but our campers were good sports about the wait and used the time to socialize with one another. Even Ficco’s Bowladrome employees commented on our huge camp population this year.

The tag line to this Camp season has been “2011: the Best!” Maybe it should be amended to “2011: the Biggest and Best!”

Halloween was the theme of the first dance of the session, and we were joined by the likes of Captain America and Batman, who were also the villains in the traditional night activity, Detective Game.

Special visitors from Watertown’s St. Stephen’s Church visited camp and educated our campers about Armenian holy days and feasts during Armenian School sessions. Later in the session, our Der Hayrs led us in the morning prayers at the chapel. Another special guest included U. Allan, who frequently visits our camp to teach campers about nature, in general, and specifically the nature on our grounds.

During the first lecture night we were visited by Jirair Beujekian, Antranig Avedissian, and Raffi Massoyan who spoke about Javakhk, Armen Garo, and Armenian music, respectively. The following week, Pauline Getsoyan spoke about the genocide, Arev Dinkjian spoke about the Armenian Quarter and Armenians in Jerusalem, and Tamar Kanarian spoke about the AYF’s past, present, and future.

As usual, the two weeks zoomed by, and we ended the session as we always do, with Olympics, but this was “the biggest Olympics ever” featuring the “Garmir Shish: Khorovadz” (red), “Electric Blue” (blue), and “Hye-Lighters” (orange) teams. The opening ceremony for the Olympics was a sight to behold, complete with the lighting of the Olympic flame. The competition was intense throughout the events; both the older girls’ and boys’ soccer championship games ended in intense penalty shootouts.

After Olympics came to an end, campers dined at the Banquet, complete with candelabras and entertainment, with a viewing of the Session One Memories Slide Show. Then, during the “largest formal dance ever at Camp Haiastan,” Garmir Shish was announced as the winners of the Camp Olympic Games. For our dancers’ pleasure, Armenian music was provided by present counselor Raffi Massoyan, and former Ungers Shant Massoyan and Raffi Rashdouni.

This amazing camp season, although the largest thus far, is merely another link of an endless chain started long ago.