I am thrilled to announce the opening of this historic 2019 registration period! Camp Sokil had a record year last season and some big changes are happening up at Hawkestone!
New Building Update
You may have heard that our beautiful Camp is being updated in a big way. We have started the big renovation of our kitchen building just in time for our 60th season. Our children will have a new mess hall and new industrial kitchen that will serve us for many years to come. The new roof and foundation are complete, the insulation is in, and now they are beginning the inner bits. My favourite part is that it will now be a four seasons building, which means big things for our campers during the year (stay tuned for some fun new programming in the school year!)
A Fourth Season ?
I am happy to come back for my fourth season with Sokil. I almost didn’t. Being Camp Director for seven weeks every summer is a very difficult task, and every year I leave physically and emotionally drained. After last year, I wondered if I could do it again for a fourth time. I began to reflect on the huge challenges of planning and overseeing three separate overnight camp programs, managing over 30 staff members and volunteers, ensuring a fun, healthy and safe experience for over 150 individual campers, and providing answers and comfort for every camp parent (for some, twice a day). That was just the standard stuff; then there were the inevitable curveballs. After some self reflection, I realized it was these very challenges, especially the curveballs, that made me, and Camp Sokil, better players.
Every year, Camp grows a little more, as do I. Every year, we face new challenges together that make us all more aware, experienced and dynamic. Every year, we get better because we learn from things that work, and from those that don’t. Every year, I leave Hawkestone a little wiser, a little stronger, and a heap more grateful for everything.
Yes, it has been a challenge, tilling the soil, planting and tending the seeds for growth and success. However, good things come to those who work hard, and love deeply. I realized that Camp Sokil is absolutely worth every challenge. I have been able to track our progress from year to year, and I am proud to see such wonderful and monumental changes in our infrastructure, program philosophy and the growth of our UNF Camp Family. I am also grateful and humbled to see monumental changes in myself.
Here’s to 60 years of Soaring at Camp Sokil! May we never settle for anything less!
Love and Warmth,
Anastasia
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Anastasia Baczynskyj holds and M.A. from The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto and has been at the helm of UNF Kids programming and educational philosophy since 2016.
