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Greetings and Salutations fellow Augustans!
Yup, nothing can keep me away from Camp Augusta it seems! It is hard to believe that I am coming for my 4th summer! It feels like just yesterday when I first put foot on Augustan soil, and when I’m not at camp there isn’t a day that goes by when I long to be back. My proper, formal name is John Rankin, but Jonty will do just perfectly! I hail from a wonderful land full of elephants, lions, monkeys and adventure. Yes, that’s right, the wonderful land of South Africa. I live in a city on the south coast called Port Elizabeth and it has been my home for the last 14 years. Just the other day I turned the ripe old age of 26... but in camp years I think that equates to about a mental age of 13 if I’m lucky! What a wonderful age to be indeed! Has it seriously been a year already since last summer?? I struggle to fathom that! Seems like just yesterday we were hanging out by the campfire, singing songs, roasting s’mores and smearing oatmeal over each other. Each year is just going faster and faster. Maybe I’m just perfecting my skills at time travel and skipping all the in between stuff just so I can spend another summer at camp... hmmm... makes one wonder!
I still have my psychology degree specializing in community wellness with a child focus from my university. I actually got a phone call from them asking me if I am using the skills I learned during my 4 years. I told them yeah, I’m using it at a camp in North Cali for 4 months a year and cannot ask for better. My long term plans are to return to the place where I did my internship and continue what I started there. This was at one of the local children’s homes for children who cannot live with their families for various reasons. I have visited a few times and was filled with joy at seeing all the children I used to work with and catching up with them. If not at this children’s home, then I will be working with children in some way, shape or form. This is my life passion and nothing fulfills me quite like it. Maybe I’ll open a proper Camp Augusta in South Africa… stay tuned for that!
When I can, I head on down to the beach, and if the water isn’t too chilly, I love to go snorkeling. If not on the beach, I love being near the sea (luckily for me I live on the coast) and I can spend hours sitting at one of my favorite restaurants (called Sacramento... how strange is that?!) with all my closest friends and endless supplies of laughter and beauty all around me. Luckily for me, this beauty and wonder travels with me all the way across the world to Camp Augusta.
After having spent 2 glorious summers as the Pine 1 counselor and then last summer as the Pine Village Leader, I just knew I had to do it all over again! So this year I return as the Pine Village Lackey... um... I mean Leader. It is my responsibility to ensure that all the campers and counselors at camp, but specifically in Pine, have everything they need to make their summer unbelievable. Be it a shoulder to lean on, a friendly smile, a partner in mischief during a water or oatmeal fight, the person who makes you scratch your head or whatever, I am here for you! And I hope you never forget that! I am brewing with excitement at seeing all the familiar faces, the new faces, catching up on what has happened since last or before we met and getting to know everyone that much more.
I have my own To-Do list that I hope you will all help me accomplish before the summer is over.. and in fact even when the summer is over (this is the extremely condensed version!):
1. Scream as loud as I can from atop the Giant Swing
2. Soak as many campers as possible during a water fight
3. Smear as much gooey oatmeal as possible
4. Be the one who you can come to at any time of the day or night. Be it something big, silly, sad, a joke you heard... it doesn’t matter! I am here for you!
5. Wear as many silly outfits as possible, and get everyone else to do the same
6. Spend quality time with as many campers as possible!!!
7. Learn how to be a chicken wrangler (yes, you read correctly!)
8. Take some Zen Monk Training... then be a pirate the very next clinic. Aaargh matey!
9. Sing as loud as possible, even though I struggle to sing in key, during campfire
10. Learn what and how on earth a Fire Whip works, and then play all day with it! :)
What’s on your list? Tell me and let’s work on our lists together!
Bring on the fun, laughter, songs, s’mores, waterfights and everything else that makes camp wonderful and special! Make a wish, continue to wonder at things big and small, embrace the surprises that life gives us and take in as much beauty in your life as possible!
“It does not matter how slowly you go up, so long as you don’t stop. - Confucius
“Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal.” - Ralph Vaull Starr
“The important thing is not to stop questioning.” ... Albert Einstein
“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart”.... Helen Keller
Bring on the summer of 2008 and I cannot wait to see each and every one of you!
Jonty
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