WeHaKee Camp for Girls

Hi Everyone, its me Franky with our first round of 2013 WeHaKee Staff introductions.   You already met our Directors and Assistant Director, so today I want to introduce you to several members of our staff team.   So let's begin, shall we!!

April Coogan

A veteran WeHaKee staff member, April joins us for her third year this summer.  April comes to us all the way from Karana Downs, Australia.  

"I have backpacked around europe for over 3 months, I have a slight addiction to youtube, and my laugh is pretty distinct & can be heard a mile away!"  

With her wild creativity and her fun-loving enthusiasm, April is stepping up to be our Program Coordinator this summer.  We are thrilled that April is returning and can't wait to see what amazing & unique ideas she has for us to make WeHaKee even more fun and crazy!   Make sure you ask her about her unique collection of jumpers!

ANNIVERSARY WEEKEND AT WEHAKEE!

Saturday, August 3rd and Sunday, August 4th at Camp WeHaKee in Winter, Wisconsin. Come enjoy WeHaKee activities, meet old camp friends, and celebrate all that WeHaKee has to offer! $25/person includes all meals and cabin accommodations. Register HERE for the weekend at WeHaKee!

Recess is much more than a break between classes or subjects at the elementary level.   And now the American Academy of Pediatrics has an official stance advocating that recess remain or be reinstated in our schools.   Thos of us in the camping world who constantly see the endless benefits of an outside physical experience could not agree more!

Recess has rapidly disappeared from the scheduling of many of our elementary schools for a variety of reason - security concerns, bullying events, equipment safety questions - but primarily to free up more time for academic classroom work and perhaps test preparation under the pressures of the No Child Left Behind protocol.   Many of us in the youth development arean of camping have suggested that the No Child Left Behind elements have really translated into a no child allowed outside mentality.

Hi Everyone! It's me Franky once again sharing my words of wit with you this fabulous Friday!   I want to continue on the theme I started last week and that is the importance of play in our lives. Sadly, as many of you may know, play is not getting its due in our schools or in our homes.   Too often it is not considered as important as such intellectual pursuits of studying, practicing or rehearsing, yet people are discovering that play is extremely critical to healthy physical, social, emotional and yes, even intellectual development in children and youth (and I would ponder that it is probably pretty darn important for adults to engage in frequent play for their health as well!).

This is an encore presentation of a post that originally debuted in November, 2012.   Please enjoy and share if you like it!

This week we are shedding our standard format of comparing and contrasting our history and choosing to explore 90 Years of WeHaKee from a different perspective. Our topic is faith and spirituality, something that has been an unwavering constant at WeHaKee since it started nine decades ago!

Nearly all camp experiences have a spiritual element... sometimes the experience itself is an inwardly looking & spiritual.   As a camp owned and operated by the Dominicans of Sinsinawa (a Catholic order of Sisters), WeHaKee Camp for Girls has always been a place of faith and spirituality open to ALL girls, regardless if they consider themselves Catholic or not. And the Sisters have insisted upon this since the day they founded WeHaKee in 1923!

At the HEART of WeHaKee is Relationship!

A tagline is meant to capture one's attention in hopes of getting them interested in what you have to offer.  The WeHaKee tagline is so much more however! It is truly at the core of what we do so well each and every summer.  We help girls and young women enhance and refine their relationship building skills so that they can not only create meaningful friendships at camp, but vibrantly maintain those friendships throughout their lifetime.   AND, this also provides girls with the skills to create and build strong, positive relationships well beyond camp and well into their future!

Hi Everyone!   It's me, your WeHaKee dog, Franky.   This week I get to start something I've been looking forward to for a long time.   I have taken over the duties to introduce our amazing 2013 WeHaKee Summer Staff Team! We've been working hard seeking the finest counselors around and we are especially excited with the group joining us this summer.   In addition to staff members coming from throughout the United States, young women will be travelling from New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Australia and Mexico to round out our group.

To get us started this week, I'll begin with the obvious and introduce you to our Camp Directors and Assistant Director.   

WeHaKee Camp for Girls' namesake has a wonderfully meaningful legacy and a beautiful story.   Unlike many camps that may adopt a Native American name based on their location, their focus and even in some cases a name that simply sounds similar (with no actual meaning) to a Native American language, the name WeHaKee is derived from an actual person with direct ties to the founding organization of camp.  

To better understand the context of our camp name, we invite you to revisit our story that is told around the Council Fire campfire each summer:

In the mid 1800's, a baby girl was born to a Souix Indian mother and a French father near what is now Mankato, Minnesota.   Taking on the surname of her mother and father, the child's name was Mary WeHaKe La Batte.