Pinemere Camp Trip: A Freshman’s Experience

By Mia Martin ‘29 (Reporter)

Between fall athletics, orientation, and the start of classes, the freshmen had an eventful start to the year. For our opening field trip, all approximately one-hundred of us took a bus on Wednesday, September 3, to Pinemere Camp in the Poconos where we stayed for three days and two nights along with the 18 peer mentors to bond and start the year on a high note. 

Our first day at Pinemere Camp oozed with traumas inflicted primarily by being outdoors. We lugged around heavy bags, participated in bizarre bonding activities, and ate mealy macaroni and cheese. Thankfully, mixed in with the misery was some fun as I got to use an ocean kayak for the first time on the lake, go on a misnamed night hike before sunset, and enjoy s’mores after dinner with my classmates! I slept on a rigid mattress that night, exhausted but content.

The second morning was freezing. After breakfast, the freshman advisories played hide-and-seek against their peer mentors for a bag of Dum-Dums. I swam in the pool in the afternoon and performed a skit with a friend in the talent show that night. The show hosted a variety of acts, including a banjo performance, two dances, improv games, and impressive card tricks. Afterwards, our advisors sent us to the dining hall to eat ice cream and watch the Eagles game, opening the option to go back to the bunks or make bracelets outside. I went to bed after playing a few rounds of BS in the central room of the cabin.

I woke up early on the third day, spending time in the gazebo and on the volleyball court until advisors returned our phones, at which time I took photos at my mother’s behest. We then had an egg drop competition (every advisory survived, bar one) and waited for the buses to arrive. By that day, I was homesick and worn out, but after taking a nap on the bus I felt that the experience was a good one.