Sunday, July 22, 2001

Check-In

Check-in went off without a hitch. Campers started entering Morrison Hall around 3:00 PM, and for the next hour a steady stream of students lugged their belongings up to their respective rooms. Passing through the various stations set up by counselors and Student Advisory Council (SAC) members, Satorians got their class schedules, picked up their T-shirts, and smiled for the obligatory camper photo with Bob, the camp mascot. After that, the students got their room keys and headed up the elevators to check out their new home for the coming week. This year, the girls were on the 3rd floor, and the boys were on the 4th. The hallways in Morrison (our residence) are maze-like, but thanks to handy maps and door tags put together by counselors and SAC members ahead of time, room location was (mostly) no problem.

Opening Ceremonies

In what some would consider an "incredible" turn of events, opening ceremonies were conducted almost completely without the use of director Mike Cantlon's favorite word: "Incredible!" Mike touched on the accepting atmosphere that characterizes Satori, the close friendships that form during the course of a week, and the history of the camp from its inception -- 18 years ago -- to the present day. He also touched on the meaning of the word "Satori", which is a Zen term meaning, loosely, "personal enlightenment". Satori instructor and veteran camper Tyler Burnett provided some advice to our first-year campers, drawing an extended analogy that involved tomato paste, garlic, and chunks of meat. While Tyler's culinary creativity left something to be desired, his central point was key to the philosophy of Satori Camp: we all differ from the norm in our own unique ways, and we must learn to accept those who also differ in their own ways even when those ways are substantially different from our own..

Mike then returned to the stage and talked a little bit about how non-competition is an important part of the Satori experience. No grades are given in any of the classes. Given the incredible pressures placed upon students these days to perform, many students cope by memorizing and regurgitating instead of actually learning. Satori's classes are designed to allow campers to explore the course material on their own terms.

Following that monologue, Mike then fielded questions from the audience, ending the ceremonies with some enthusiastic praise of the University's dining services which, according to Mike, will be serving gourmet meals in a five-star setting for the duration of the week. Peals of laugher sprang forth from the mouths of the veteran campers, leaving the first-year campers perplexed.

Dinner

Sunday night dinner was held in the Pence Union Building (or PUB) multipurpose room. All of our meals this week will be held in the same place except the Medieval Feast on Wednesday evening. Students queued up outside of the dining hall, and eventually gained access to the buffet line by using their EWU meal-cards handed out during check-in. Over the years, the food service at EWU has been the brunt of many camp jokes. In particular, the word "Tawanka" (which is the name of the primary meal hall on Eastern's campus) has become synonymous with the interesting dining experiences offered up to us each year. Although Tawanka's food is notorious, tonight's offerings were -- somewhat surprisingly -- not that bad. As campers chow down, they get their first chance to sit and chat with the other students attending Satori, as well as their counselors and instructors.

Free Time

The first free time of camp is always a flurry of activity, with new campers getting settled into their rooms and returning campers renewing old acquaintances. This time is also usually a time for haggling over provisions, as crackers got traded for bottled water (who needs an entire two-pound box of Goldfish crackers, anyway?) and spare pillows were traded for fans. Such is the natural economy of any summer camp, ours included.

Evening Activity: Counselor Groups, Orientation and Campus Tour

At 7PM, campers returned to the Streeter/Morrison Cafe for the planned evening activity. Mike (and others) made various announcements and then he pointed out that Satori is fortunate in that we seem to maintain a high level of loyalty with our campers. To demonstrate, he made a point of identifying those campers who had been coming to Satori Camp for a total of five years (there were 8) and six years (there were 4). He also pointed out those counselors and instructors who were also camp alumni. In fact, half of this year's counseling staff and a third of our instructors were originally campers here.

Campers were then split into their counselling groups where their counselors introduced themselves and a number of get-to-know-you activities were played. In some of the groups, older campers took the opportunity to offer advice to the younger campers on how to make the most of their time at Satori. Besides many practical suggestions on navigating a university campus, the most common piece of advice seemed to be "Be yourself.", echoing Mike earlier comments about how inclusive the Satori Camp community is. Following those ice breakers, campers returned to the Cafe for a quick orientation for the next activity: a campus-wide scavenger hunt.

It was explained to campers that we used to do a campus tour at this time each year, but campers found it long and boring so we've made some changes in the past few years. Instead of a passive walking tour, we have now included clues for campers to figure out if they want to find their next destination. Campers seemed to enjoy the cryptic haikus, the limericks and word plays. Almost without realizing it, campers had successfully traversed the width and breadth of Eastern's campus, learning the location of all the buildings used by Satori Camp. Once finished, groups returned to Morrison Hall (our home for the week) and enjoyed some more free time before bed.

(10PM is the time that campers have to be on their own floor, 10:30PM is when they have to be in their own rooms and then lights out at 11PM. Believe it or not, everyone settled down quite quickly tonight.)

See you tomorrow!