Cool Temps and Abundant Sunshine Welcome 1st Term Campers

Last night was a sleepless night for quite a few boys. One camper woke Friday morning at 6:30AM, a full day early. “Mom can we leave now for Mentone”, he said. This morning a line of cars, mostly SUV’s and minivans, queued up almost a mile out the front gate. And around 9 when the gates finally opened, boys streamed in with their parents. Boys hung out windows or popped heads out the top of the sunroof. Counselors lined the road, waving and welcoming the passing cars.

First Term opened smoothly this morning under sunny skies. Sweatshirts were required first thing and temps stayed mercifully cool all day. Carter and I loved seeing so many of you today, and meeting many of you for the first time. My name is Glenn Breazeale. We’re the directors at Alpine. Carter grew up here and in Chattanooga. Her dad started Alpine in 1959 and her mom joined a number of years later in helping Dick operate Alpine for many, many summers. They are still around and hopefully many of you were able to see/meet them today. Carter and I have been back on the Mountain full time since 2003, directors since 2006. I had the joy and privilege of being a camper and counselor for quite a few summers before that.

I hope to give a small glimpse into our days while your boys are with us. If you were around at noon, you heard a bell ring, beckoning campers and counselors to the gym for our opening meeting.

We covered several important topics. One, Alpine is a safe place to be who you are and not get picked on. We don’t bully or mistreat other boys. I asked everyone to step up and put a stop to boys being mean or bullying others if they see it. That’s not the Alpine way. And we also asked them to tell someone (counselor, head counselor, us) if anyone says or does anything that makes them uncomfortable or is against the rules. We introduced the leadership in camp so everyone knows who they can talk to. And we covered some health tips like hand washing and hydrating, plus a few boundaries around camp.

One thing I love about camp, when we find something that works we stick with it. One of those things is opening day lunch. Chicken and dumplings, with corn off the cob, green peas, chopped lettuce salad, and homemade silver dollar biscuits have been on the menu for as long as I’ve been here (so at least 1987). I love it, as do most boys at camp.

We celebrated Robert S.’s birthday after lunch! Where else can you have 350 people sing to you at the top of their lungs, led by a head counselor conducting with the “birthday monkey” (one of those little coconut monkeys, another tradition that some counselor long ago started). The kitchen makes a cake shaped like an Alpine tree, yellow cake mix iced with chocolate almond icing and topped with sprinkles and candles.

This afternoon we took care of some necessary pit stops. Health checks (meet with the nurses and doctor and get screened for lice and fever), Alpine gear order (sizes checked and names added by the store ladies), and swim checks (required by the American Camp Association) to name a few. Tonight boys are signing up for activities and getting to play some games with their age groups. It’s good to get boys active as soon as possible. In fact, counselors have been playing impromptu games with their boys all day, icebreakers and name games to help boys acclimate to their new cabin.

By tomorrow, with activity and counselors’ leading, cabins will feel like they’ve been together for weeks. And campers will forget that they’ve only just met. It’s camp and it’s boys. And of course one of the unique joys of Alpine is that boys return year after year. Reunions of old friendships were made today all over camp. Friendships made and maintained at camp without electronics.

We are ever grateful that you have entrusted your boys to our care. Thanks for reading and good night for now, Glenn