Weekend Wrap

Glenn Breazeale | Jul. 26, 2015

As I write this boys are enjoying their final Sunday afternoon cabin time, playing various games around camp together with their cabinmates and counselors.  Soon they’ll enjoy cold watermelon on the field one last time.  The next few days are a series of lasts for the summer.  This morning last Sunday morning pancakes of the term.  We’ll miss those two!  The ones Carter and I make during the rest of the year just aren’t quite the same.  Yesterday culminated the final regular activities of the term (they’ll be plenty of age group assigned games and events tonight and tomorrow).  We have a lot planned for our final 48 hours.  First, more on our weekend.

There’s the Glee Club performance last night to give you a report on!  Will Walker, who will be a junior at Ole Miss from Memphis, ably led our guys into the performance.  Will’s a talented guitarist and violinist who grew up camping with us too.  He wrote a new Glee Club song this year that brought down the house last night with the ladies.  The PO Box for Camp Desoto is 432.  He took Taylor Swift’s popular hit, 22, and arranged it to a boy wanting to write a letter to PO Box 432.  It was well written, clever and performed with charm from the boys.

Two classes of our trash can band showed some solid beats they have been working on all term.  Our first year chiefs entertained with a rousing step show.  Second year chiefs rewrote a Taylor Swift song, Love Story, to perform.  Several of the boys accompanied on guitar and piano.  The Hunters sang the Glee club traditional, It’s Alright to be Little Bitty.  It always brings ooohs and ahhs and screams from the girls and last night was no different.  And of course, we were serenaded by the ladies singing their beautiful songs.

Late yesterday afternoon Roderick organized the annual Bubba Cox Alpine Fun Run.  Roderick, an avid runner and cross country coach at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville, has perpetuated this wonderful tradition begun by Ray Higgins, former Alpine program director and beloved Jackson Academy teacher and coach.  Bubba was a good friend of Ray’s and also a former Alpine counselor.  He passed away a number of years ago, too young, after a lengthy battle with cancer.  Our fun run is just that, lots of fun.  And just what he would have wanted.  Each age group has a chance to run or walk a course throughout camp.  Every camper or counselor who participates agrees to donate $1 from his store account and Alpine matches every dollar.  The total raised is sent to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital in Bubba’s memory for cancer research.

The top three finishers in each race also receive tribe points for their tribe.  Many boys choose to walk or do a team walk.  Some do a three legged walk with a buddy, some carry guitars or wear a crazy costume.  Today we even had a group carrying a canoe overhead.  Lots of cheering and fun music accompanied the race.

Tonight holds some final twilight games and then our final Vespers service of the term (our traditional Sunday night devotional to end each Lord’s Day)

Tomorrow we’ll spend some time packing and taking care of other necessary plans and then we’ll enjoy a special activity extravaganza planned by Roderick.  Tomorrow night will be our Final Banquet and Awards ceremony.

There is so much still left to do in this term!  As a reminder, tomorrow (Monday)  will be a busy day for the boys and our staff so we ask for no visitors please.

The gates will open on Closing Day, Tuesday, July 28, at 7:30 CDT.  Most folks will be picked up by 10AM.  We’ll hope to have a chance to say hello on your way in or out of camp.  We are so grateful to have the privilege of your boys camping with us.

Thanks for reading,

Glenn

Glenn Breazeale
Glenn Breazeale

Like his own father, Glenn grew up as a camper at Alpine for six summers, coming from Jackson, MS each summer. He has served on staff at Alpine since 1997, working full time as Assistant Director from 2003 to 2005 and Director since 2006. Prior to that he gained experience serving in various capacities including cabin counselor, Head Counselor, Head of Project Adventure (Ropes course), Horseback instructor, and Program Director. Glenn’s love of camping and his desire to preserve the traditions of Alpine drew him back to camp to offer young boys the same opportunities he experienced. He met and fell in love with Carter during a Square Dance with Camp DeSoto.