November 2010

Dear Prospective Mowglis Parent,

The decision to send your child to a sleep-away camp is a big one! As parents we were in your position nine years ago. We now have three sons (ages 20, 18 and 15) who are Mowglis graduates. Our two older sons are now working at Mowglis as counselors and our younger son participated in the Yearling program last summer. (Our 12 year old daughter is currently a camper at Onaway.) Mowglis has been a wonderful experience for our boys. We are appreciative and thankful for all they have gained.

Mowglis is a traditional boys’ camp where values, character and outdoor experiences are emphasized over competition. Camp days are filled with a wide variety of activities in a safe and structured setting, and the boys choose from many rich offerings. They can try sports like archery, riflery, sailing & windsurfing (just to name a few) they may never have the chance to experience…except at camp. Mowglis is also one of just a few camps to offer crew…a uniquely cooperative sport, where the synergy of the group is more important than the strength of one individual. Like most boys, our sons love team sports and play them throughout the school year. However, at Mowglis they spend their summer days doing a variety of activities, rather than be limited by the now popular special “camps” that emphasize only one sport or hobby.

At Mowglis our sons gained a real appreciation and respect for nature because of the beautiful lakefront setting and through the many off-site day hikes and overnight trips. Our boys have even climbed to the top of Mt. Washington!  In the current age of technology and materialism it is wonderful for children to leave all of that behind and have fun and learn in an atmosphere free of electronics – TV, computer (especially social network sites), texting and video games – that can be so enticing and all-consuming to boys of that age.  I am thankful my sons were happily ensconced at Mowglis as they approached their teen years and their summer days and evenings were filled with worthwhile activities.

Most of all, we appreciate that our boys set goals for themselves and had the satisfaction of reaching them.  They gained a great deal of independence and became more personally responsible. They looked up to the older boys and to the staff and they worked hard to earn their awards. We feel the camp experience has played a key role in helping to prepare them for the future. And we know they formed friendships that will last a lifetime.

All of this is gained from the seven week camp experience. We know it is difficult to let go of your son for this length of time.  We live in a culture that puts enormous pressure on parents to be involved in EVERY aspect of their children’s lives…school, sports, extra-curricular activities, social life, friends, etc. We believe allowing our sons to have their own experiences, apart from us, is enormously beneficial.

We are happy to speak with any prospective parents who have questions or concerns they wish to direct to another parent.  We are confident, given the opportunity to participate in the Mowglis experience, that your son will learn and grow in ways that will benefit him for a lifetime.

Sincerely,

Meg & Charlie Hurdman (Parents 2002-2010)

PS We can be reached at the following phone & e-mail: (207) 781-7478 & hurdman@maine.rr.com

August, 2010

Dear Sam,

I am sorry that I did not have the opportunity to speak to you before taking Adam home yesterday, but I just want to let you know that Adam ended up loving camp and will definitely be returning to Mowglis next summer.  When I dropped Adam off at camp on June 26^th, he was filled with doubt and insecurities and after seven short weeks at Mowglis, I picked up a child who is confident and poised.  He told me he feels like a different person and that he had a phenomenal summer.  I cannot thank you and your wonderful staff enough, and I look forward to seeing Adam become a Mowglis graduate.

Thank you again.

Sincerely yours,

Debra Freedman

Bronx, NY

Spring 2011

Dear Alumni, Family, and Friends of Mowglis,

As the weather warms and opening day of camp draws closer my thoughts often turn to my mother, who passed away on February 9th. She was devoted to her family and always looked for ways to help her three children grow up strong and independent. I was her most challenging project: a big, awkward kid who did poorly at school, hated sports, and fought constantly with his Dad. She felt that I needed an active summer away from home with boys who did something other than play baseball. She was right, and by a series of fortunate events I ended up at Mowglis.

It’s opening day, 1959. The Director, Mr. Adams, greeted me warmly when I arrived at camp. After a short chat he asked a boy to take me up to Akela. He was D. Snow Margeson, a five year camper who quickly took me under his wing. “D” and I became close friends; we played lots of croquet and hung out together at the library and the rifle range. We loved to read and shoot and share private jokes. Later Petey Thompson, Roger Smith and I would earn our rowboat safety tests and spent a lot of time out on the lake together. I wasn’t much of a hiker that summer; when my dorm climbed Mt. Osceola I ran out of gas and was walked down separately by Mr. Wadsworth. I remember that he was really kind; I was also amazed and grateful that there was no teasing from the group afterwards.

During the next few years my life started to come together. That fall I felt more confident; my grades improved and I made more friends. During my second camp season I climbed Mt. Cardigan, which meant something after the previous year’s failure. The next fall I discovered football, which agreed with me more than baseball. I also tried wrestling and track. I wasn’t very good, but I was becoming more fit. The following summer I really enjoyed the camp hiking trips. I remember being totally awed by a spectacular view on top of Mt. Chocorua and a stunning sunset on the summit of Mt. Kinsman. After that I became a hiking and climbing fanatic. I covered lots of ground during my Den year and went on to be the only freshman starter on my prep school football team!

Over the years many Mowglis friends have told me how important different camp experiences were to their young lives.  I’m sure my Mom, and theirs, would agree that it’s not easy
to send a little boy off to camp for eight weeks. But my Mom knew what I needed and had the courage to make it happen. I suspect behind each of my buddies was a mother or father with the same selfless vision and insight.

Good Hunting,

Charlie Walbridge

Board Member, Holt-Elwell Memorial Foundation

February, 2012

For several years John and I and our three sons lived in Pelham Manor, N.Y., across the street from the Tweedy family, Alice Merwin Tweedy and her husband Bud and their children Meg and Bill. We would get together on Friday nights, and always the subject of Camp Mowglis would enter into the conversation.

Alice’s father had been involved with Mowglis for years. Her brother Gaius was a camper and on the board for years. Her son Bill attended the camp for several summers and served on staff as well. Gaius Jr. was a camper, as was his son. Meg attended and was a counselor at Onaway for many summers, and Alice was the president of the Board of Trustees of Camp Onaway for several years.

What chance did we have? We were reluctant to allow our sons to go away for a WHOLE SUMMER (!), but gradually, listening to the stories about the many benefits of a Mowglis summer, we decided to visit. It was the summer of 1982, when our oldest son Todd was 11 years old. We saw lots of very busy, engaged, energetic, and obviously happy boys. I wondered to myself how they could be so happy when their parents must have been heart-broken without them. Weren’t they homesick?

Todd liked what he saw and decided he would like to go the following summer. (Really? But what about me? Could I possibly survive this?) So at the end of June in 1983, Todd got in a van and headed north. Each day I waited by the mailbox for a letter and was rewarded with tales of the week’s activities. I still have the enthusiastic letters describing Land Sports Day, Woodsmen’s Day, Water Sports Day, many trips, and mountains climbed. The letters describing the buildup to Crew Day (the Beetons were RED Crew) and the day itself were so full of excitement!

Our first visiting weekend was bittersweet. I thought we’d just gotten there when we had to turn around and go home again. But Todd was clearly thriving and loving his summer.

Each visiting day, Jeremy and Kyle accompanied us and enjoyed the weekends. Jeremy wasn’t ready to go until three years later, but Kyle was eager to go even before Jeremy! They’d both sat and watched Bob Bengtson’s slideshow and talk at gatherings at our home, and Kyle begged us to go. “You’re too little,” we’d say, but finally, the year Jeremy was going, when Kyle was turning 9, we gave in to the pressure.

That summer, all three boys were at Mowglis. Todd was on Junior Staff, Jeremy was in Akela, and Kyle was in Cubs. The first time in 15 years we had no kids at home. We lived for visiting weekends. We figured that a half-season would be enough for Kyle at his young age, so at the first weekend, we asked Kyle if he wanted to come home, believing he was pining away from homesickness.  He looked at us dumbfounded. “Why?” he said, “I want to stay!” I didn’t know whether to be happy or sad! Was he really having such a great time that he didn’t want to come home? But didn’t he miss us?
So he stayed and finished out the first of seven wonderful summers. Jeremy graduated from Den in 1988. Kyle continued through a second year of Cubs, on to Baloo, Toomai, Akela, Panther, and graduated from Den in 1992.  At some point during his Mowglis years, Kyle said, “What do kids do all summer if they don’t go to camp?” Indeed. He couldn’t imagine a summer without being at Camp.

We felt that sending our sons to Mowglis was a gift to them. They experienced things there that we never would have been able to give them. We believe that Mowglis is responsible in part for the fine men they have become. Integrity, sportsmanship, respect for nature and the earth, teamwork, honesty, respect for others’ differences, a strong worth ethic — these are all things we all teach our children, but living them day in and day out for several summers gave them the practical experiences they couldn’t have gotten at home.

Being away from their schoolmates allows boys be free of pressures to “fit in,” to follow the crowd, and allows them to think for themselves and choose activities they might not at home.

People will often say, “How could you have sent your sons away? How could you have done that to them? I could never do that to MY son.”  Yes, it was hard. Very hard. We missed them terribly. But we knew that the benefits for them far outweighed our pangs of loneliness.

I look at them today and answer, “How could I not?”

John and I were so grateful for those years. And I dare say our sons would agree with me 100 percent!

Diana Beeton