grrr

"Grrr," "Chirp," "Rise and Shine"

by Gerard HAMMOND, Harvard '02

at the spring-fed swimming hole

EV main page / EV Tutoring / Brian Thompson's home page / counselor's photo album 1998 / Miss Massachusetts USA speaks of her experience with Earthen Vessels / Job Description / contact: brian.thompson@umb.edu or mcthmpsn@yahoo.com

This text appeared in the Fall 2002 issue of Earthen Vessels News.

When Brian speaks, I usually listen carefully in an attempt to remember his jokes, so I can recycle them to impress my friends at some later date. However, "Grrr," "Chirp," and "Rise and Shine" rank among the most difficult phrases to handle. The boys, nestled in their sleeping bags, sound asleep after a long night of fighting off the wild animals that lurk outside their tents, and complaining of the gross injustice in that the girls get to sleep in the house, hear those difficult phrases as well. They have become synonymous with the break of dawn, and the unfortunate termination of our precious ZZZs. Groggy and bleary-eyed, we walk across the dew-covered grassy field which soaks our feet and the arrival at the barn cannot come soon enough. There, we brush our teeth, put on deodorant (some of us do, at least), change out of our pajamas, and head to breakfast. Wheaties "The Breakfast of Champions" is a camper and counselor favorite, providing us with the necessary vitamins to face another day of physical and spiritual fitness at Earthen Vessels Camp.

And what a day it will be in Granville, Vermont, where cows definitely outnumber people and the mosquito, commonly known as the state bird by anyone who has ever set foot in Vermont over the summer months, takes no prisoners. As for me, the addition of the "Senior Spring 15" provided an extra few inches of surface area, of which the mosquitoes took full advantage. Let's just say that the little critters were well fed in June and July!

Mosquitoes, though, are about the only things not welcome on our grounds in the mountains. Along those lines, the promotion of community amongst the campers serves as the main goal of all that camp has to offer. More easily said than done, this task can sometimes become daunting for campers, some of whom have never ventured outside the familiar and comfortable confines of their own beds, families, friends, and city. Marie-Claude and Brian, as founders and directors, have developed and tweaked techniques that best establish a sense of community. Campers and counselors work together in teams to serve each other and foster friendships and trust in the process. The performance of "services," which include cooking, table setting and clearing, serving during meals, dish washing, and leading discussion groups on Gospel passages, alternates daily. "Services" are the life-blood of camp, as both camper and counselor alike have responsibilities that are integral to each other's daily existence within the community.

Daily workshops, comprised of table tennis, Frisbee, archery, watercolor, bracelet-making, improvisation, and volleyball, the official camp sport, are often challenging for many campers because they are entirely new endeavors. However, camp is not about being the best bracelet-maker or the best volleyball player. Instead, camp is about progress, making personal strides while helping to bring out the best in everyone else. The name game, in which each member of the camp community randomly chooses a name out of a hat before bed, is a daily favorite. The goal for the next day consists of acting in an extra generous and pleasant manner, and/or observing the best qualities possessed by the member of the EV camp community whose name one has chosen. If someone chooses his or her own name, that person is expected to make a concerted effort to improve one aspect of their personality or character, or try something that they have never attempted before. All in all, Earthen Vessels Camp promotes self-improvement and as one person makes progress, the community takes steps forward as well.

Despite the difficulties in dealing with minor annoyances, such as the bugs or physical fitness (jumping jacks at 7:30 a.m.), I only have the best memories of EV camp and I will always treasure my experience as a counselor. So wonderful are the memories of my two summers as a counselor that I often look back on the photographs and reflect on all the close relationships formed and lessons learned. Yes, although camp is geared towards the campers, even I must humbly admit that my life has been forever changed by some of the lessons that I learned at Earthen Vessels. Climbing to the top of the mountain was as much a struggle for me as it was for the nimble-footed campers, if not more so. However, when I reached that peak and saw the beautiful valleys below, an incredible feeling of accomplishment exuded from my every pore. Like climbing the mountain, camp was very difficult and at times an uphill battle, but the rewards and benefits far outweighed the incurred costs (sorry about the finance allusion, but ever since returning from camp, I have been working on Wall Street, and my mind is geared to think in a certain way). If it is not apparent, then let me be the first to let you know that the world of investment banking and the world of EV Camp are as disparate as can be. Despite their location on opposite ends of the spectrum, however, many of the experiences at EV are applicable in my everyday interactions with others. This would be the case in carrying over the knowledge learned at camp to any post-camp endeavor. I mean, after all, once you live in a close-knit community with six other adults and fifteen energy-filled pre-teens, I feel that you learn to deal with almost anything.

Paramount to all other positive memories that camp has provided, happiness is the pervading feeling and one of the most dominant feelings that I take with me from the summer. After all, some of my most vivid memories include those images of a child smiling, or laughing wildly, while participating in a game or sing-along. Those recollections come in quite handy when the job that I currently hold gets tough and the hours get long; I often think back to a more pleasurable place, a more joyous time, and an ultimately more rewarding experience: one that took place in a quiet, peaceful and, yes, beautiful spot in the mountains of central Vermont.