Counselor and Staff Blog

Our counselors are priveleged each summer to sit under the instruction of senior level clinical social worker  Bob Ditter during our 9 day staff training.  Ditter is widely considered the foremost expert on children and summer camps.  He maintains a clinical psychotherapy practice  in Boston, Massachusetts.  He is a nationally sought after speaker, trainer, and consultant who has consulted for Disney, the American Camp Association, and the YMCA.  He has appeared on The Today Show, ABC Evening News, and Good Morning America.  Sports Illustrated has called him “camping’s most articulate spokesman”.  

Most recently he has written a piece for PBS called “Getting Your Child Ready for Camp“.  It is a great article with very practical advice about going off to camp.  Bob has lots of other great information on his website and blog. 

Bob has been a great friend to Alpine and our family over the years and we are grateful for his contributions to camp.

Weldon Pless (far left) with Rob Langley, David Steele, Chris Kerr and Clarke Norton

Here is an essay written by Weldon Pless.  Weldon has been at Alpine every summer since he was in the first grade (only missing one summer).  This year, after he graduates from Ole Miss we are excited that he will join our full time staff.  I think you will enjoy Weldon’s reflections on camp!  

Whenever I buy new music, I buy records. And that’s not just slang for CDs. I’m talking about black, vinyl, old-timey records. The ones you put on and sit back to listen to the entire thing without stopping. To me, Alpine is a bit like those records.

Records are sort of a step back in time. You can’t skip around to your favorite tracks or put all the freshest songs on a playlist. You can’t stick in your headphones and walk around town listening to records, or even play them in your car. But there are some really good things about it too. Listening to records allows you to really listen to the music. Once I take the time to put one on, I sit there and I listen to the whole thing, and I let myself enjoy it. I listen closer to songs I might have skipped if I was listening on my iPod. Stepping back in time to listen to my music actually lets me listen better. It slows me down and holds my attention. 

The same is true of Alpine. Every summer I come back to ride horses instead of driving cars, to watch sunsets instead of watching television, and to sing songs instead of listening to the radio. It’s a step back in time, but it frees me up to really enjoy the summer. 

Sometimes during the school year I don’t give myself a chance to slow down. I never stop long enough to notice the things around me like the sounds and smells of nature that are so prominent at camp. When it rains during the school year, I put on a movie or surf the internet. When it rains at camp, I listen to it.

I also have deeper conversations with friends at camp than I usually do in my life outside. At camp there is time to really talk. Whether it’s while walking to an activity period, playing ping pong, or eating a meal, deep conversations at camp seem to rise up organically. I think it’s because we’re given a schedule and an order in our days, and it frees up our minds to dwell on other things. Alpine lets us take a step back and enjoy living, and it’s one of the biggest reasons I come back every summer.

Sumner Abraham camped at Alpine for 5 summers, was on our Work Crew for 2 summers and a counselor for the last 3 summers.  Glenn and I have watched Sumner grow over the years and we are thrilled that he is a part of our Alpine family.   After reading this blog entry, you will get a better glimpse of what a camper takes away from summers spent at Alpine.

Sumner as a camper in 2001

“The greatest thing any person can do for another is to confirm the deepest thing in him, in her—to take the time and have the discernment to see what’s most deeply there, most fully that person, and then confirm it by recognizing and encouraging it.

And then someone enters our life who isn’t looking for someone to use, is leisurely enough to find out what’s really going on in us, is secure enough not to exploit our weaknesses or attack our strengths, recognizes our inner life and understands the difficulty of living out our inner convictions, confirms what’s deepest within us. A friend.” This quote by Eugene Peterson is exactly what I got out of Alpine, a friend. The fellow campers, the staff, and the camp itself have helped shape me into the young man I am today. Jesus Christ is the number one priority at camp, and there is not a better place on earth. When I think of what Heaven will be like, the first thing that enters my head is Alpine. I have friendships with older men and people my age that I wouldn’t trade for the world; experiences that are forever engraved in my memory and on my heart; and a better grasp on where I am going and how I want to do it because of Alpine.

From my summers at Alpine I have established friendships that are ones that I consider my most dear and fruitful. I met guys my age from all over the country and the world for that matter (France and Sweden). I think there is no other way to get to know a person than to live, struggle, and succeed with them. Alpine defines what community truly is. Community is something that a Christian can’t go without and Alpine creates a blueprint for this that can be carried into the real world. I am going to college with guys that I met when I was in the fourth grade and have kept up with. Alpine provided a place where I could develop friendships with guys that weren’t based on our parents being friends or sports, but friendships that were based on the sole purpose of loving the Lord and wanting to serve him. Alpine is my “home away from home” because every time I walk through the gate I know that the people there will love me no matter what and I have true friendships with the guys there. These relationships are so special to me and are ones that will last a lifetime.

During my summers at Alpine, I was counseled by and worked with some of the greatest Christian college aged kids in the country. The staff that is assembled is outstanding. From the second you arrive at camp, you realize that you around guys who care about you as a person and want to develop a relationship with you. You can’t find that anywhere else. I know kids that have gone to different summer camps for years and can’t even tell me their counselors names. But I still keep in touch with a majority of the guys that were my counselors and love to reminisce of the memories that were made with them. Alpine is the only environment in which this type of fruitful mentorship is possible because the relationship is started with a foundation in the Lord. Through these counselors, you learn about teamwork and that happiness comes through serving others not yourself. These two lessons are practiced on a daily basis at camp and are invaluable to a young man in the world of a young adult. My counselors at Alpine have been the biggest influence on my life thus far. 

Without Alpine I don’t even want to think about where I would be right now. I was Student Body President, Co President of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and Team Captain of the Basketball Team my Senior year of high school, and there is no way that any of those things would have happened to me if not for the leadership qualities and spiritual nurturing I received for Alpine. Alpine showed me what true community and fellowship really is. I was given outstanding leaders and extraordinary examples of Christ on a daily basis on one of the most beautiful places on earth. The staff, the camp itself, and the results of being associated with Alpine all point to Jesus Christ, and it is impossible to walk away from Alpine without having become a better person. Alpine is a place that I will forever be indebted to and grateful for.

Here is Sumner helping lead the way for the Alpine Step Show

The summer of 2008 was blessed with some very talented musicians, as many of you know.  We spent several days recording some Alpine favorites and some popular hymns we sing at camp.  We are very excited to now have a podcast on ITunes where we will be releasing these songs, a few at a time.  You can subscribe to the podcast and download them for free.  Simply click on the Alpine Podcast link on the side of the Blog home page.  If you don’t have ITunes you can get the XML feed and listen to them on your computer.  Or you can go to the ITunes store and search for Alpine Podcast for Boys and subscribe there. 

We want to give credit to all those who helped with the project: Toy O’Ferrall Harmon, Weldon Pless, guitar, Montgomery Miller, guitar, Harrison Ford, banjo, Matt McDonald, violin, Andrew Terrell, cello, William Decosimo, mandolin, Kelsey Cox, djembe, Stevens Shuler, bagpipes.  This is an incredibly talented group and we are grateful for their contributions! 

Stay tuned for more songs and also some slide shows and videos from camp in the future!

With each new arrival through the doors of Deerfoot Lodge came a barrage of bear hugs and joyful handshakes as the 2008 summer staff returned to Alpine for our 2009 Staff Retreat. Over 50 counselors from last summer returned to the Mountain for a weekend of fellowship and great teaching.We were blessed to have John Stone as our speaker for the retreat. John is a Regional Coordinator for Reformed University Fellowship and he challenged and encouraged us with the teaching of God’s word.

It was a great weekend and we really enjoyed getting to see how so many of our staff have continued to build on the relationships they made with each other at camp. The 2008 staff is truly a great group of young men and we are excited to see so many of them returning for the 2009 summer! Click Here to See Returning Staff for 2009.