Alumnae Story
Camp Quidnunc Reunion

By Cindy Gavrity (formerly Cleveland) GSCGNY, Staten Island

On the weekend of July 11th 2008, in Harriman State Park, N.Y. we are gathering together. After 40 something years, the girls from Camp Quidnunc are having a reunion. Some of us are staying at Baker Camp on Lake Sebago; others are roughing it in a motel. It will be three days of singing, storytelling and reminiscing, and a campfire program on Saturday night, s'mores and all!

If you've ever had the chance to go to resident camp for two weeks or more during the summer, you'll understand our excitement! I was lucky enough to go to camp every summer since I was 9. Then when I was 16, I was a staff member. I was what we called a "pot girl" otherwise known as a kitchen aide. I went to Camp Quidnunc for every one of those years. If you stayed there even once, you'd know how special it was to us; the smell of the pines, the sun streaming through the trees and the beautiful waterfront. Not to mention the daddy long leg spiders. It was the kind of place that we campers went back to year after year. We had no reason to go to the other camps, this was our home. We would see the same girls every summer. Many of the staff members would do the same.

Camp was a wonderful place to make friends, learn to swim, row a boat, paddle a canoe and in my case learn to sail. We always had things to do and places to go. If you went to Quid, you would remember Bald Rock, Tom Jones, the Silver Mines, canoe trips through Lake Kanauawkee, along with the museum. Then you had the first night at camp; new faces to remember and trying to prepare a song with your new unit leaders' names in it, along with something about your unit. It always turned out great. Before you know it, it's the last night at camp. The sad goodbyes and the "I'll see you next year." So now you have a little understanding of what we are looking to rekindle and to fill in some of the blanks. We are a little older you know. So if you hear singing coming from K-11 in Harriman State Park, you'll know it's me.