It has become tradition in recent years that some of the more experienced counselors go up to Camp before anyone else for a "Pre-Work Week". These dedicated lads spend most of their time sweating profusely as they manicure the countless acres of grass on our facilities. This allows for more time during the actual Work Week to be devoted to the "larger" tasks, such as preparing Tripp Lake for use or the wildly-popular haying of tennis courts.
Camp Susquehannock "Fact of the Day":
We are extremely fortunate to have clay courts for our Tennis program at Susquehannock. Their quality comes with a price as they require regular maintenance during the summer and a special winterizing process before counselors leave in August. Large sheets of heavy-duty plastic are placed with great care on each clay court and then are covered with hay to protect them from the harsh Endless Mountain winter. Before Camp opens in the summer, all the hay must be removed with pitch forks and the plastic folded for storage. Rest assured it's as much fun as it sounds.
Our 2007 Pre-Work Week gang was greeted with a sizable chunk of the grass cutting already accomplished. We do have a very fine maintenance staff that looks after our facilities during the off season and we were fortunate to have a mild spring that kept growth down. The rest of the help came from an unlikely source ...our kitchen staff.
After completing their work at Bloomsburg University, our veteran kitchen staff of Marie, Ryan and fan-favorite Smitty arrived at Camp to prepare the kitchen for the magic that happens there on a daily basis. They spent a few days accomplishing those tasks and then approached our maintenance staff to see if any other work could be done.
United under the mantra of "Whatever It Takes", Marie, Ryan and Smitty generously began mowing and weed whacking, delighted to be helping out in any way possible. Their efforts received an extra bonus when Susquehannock legend Buff Weigand volunteered to use the tractor to get our playing fields ready for competition.
The Pre-Work Week lads picked up where the volunteers left off, and had our facilities completely mowed and weed whacked by Sunday afternoon, thus allowing for the first day of Work Week to be spent on The King's Court and down at the Lake. By lunch on Monday, the King's Court was completely uncovered and the Turnboard was installed at the Lake - tremendous progress for such a short time.
It's safe to say that our 2007 season is off to a tremendous start, all due to the generous efforts of our Kitchen Staff: Marie, Ryan and Smitty, along with our Maintenance Staff and Pre-Work Week volunteers: Seth Brownold, Vinny McCrink, Paul "P-Moe" Moeller, Ben "The Patriot Missile" Lieb.
