Resource Library

It's been years since we talked about potable water systems in Building Principles, and with opening camp just around the corner, this seems like an ideal time to revisit some of the key points that your county sanitarian expects you to know to run a safe, healthy water system at camp. So, let's look at some basic whys and hows of disinfection.

I quietly said goodbye to a part of my life last summer — the part that had Bridget in it for the past 13 years.

She first entered my world when she was an eager little kid in my fourth-grade classroom. Tiny Bridget immediately made a huge impression on me with her intelligence, organizational skills, and take-charge demeanor, all unusually advanced for a fourth grader. Without me ever asking, she noticed her classmates who needed a little extra help and simply started helping. They loved her for it. I loved her for it too.

In June of 1963, at the age of eight, I boarded an overnight train in Chicago bound for Camp Agawak in Minocqua, Wisconsin. I was clutching my Teddy bear, Zelda.

Jittery during those first weeks, sleepaway camp became so much fun that I would return for the next nine seasons, two as a counselor. I could never imagine, departing as a sobbing 19-year-old for my would-be last summer, that four decades later I would be back on staff.

You've probably read those statistics about the number of people who buy gym memberships in January and then never work out. Maybe that's totally you. The stakes for physical fitness are high — we all want to live longer, healthier lives — but the motivation to act, more often than not, simply falls flat.