It was our final week of summer 2025 at MKN, and we can’t believe it’s over. But we finished the summer with a bang!
Most of the week was dominated by our annual Olympics. The camp was broken into eight countries, and they competed day and night for the title. Day one began with a swim meet, a triathlon, a track meet and separate sporting events like hockey, one-pitch softball, flag football, pickleball and golf. We also held some larger, all-team events like the waterfront rotation which included a timed trial on the inflatables, a canoe tug-of-war, paddleboard relay, and a game of greasy watermelon.
After all these events, our upper seniors had a water marathon where campers and counselors had to swim a buoy baton to their teammate and keep going to the finish line. This was followed by biathlons for all age groups, which led into the big high jump and long jump events. Every single person on each team had to do a standing long jump. The Seneca decathlon also began – whereby eight chosen Senecas (our eldest campers) have to compete in ten events spread over the three days. Today was free throws and broad jump.
Amid all this sporting, the teams also worked on their banners, which are painted and conceptualized using creativity and puns on their country name. The banners were eventually revealed for all and judged for points.
To close out day one, we held an ultimate frisbee tournament, a Tramp Ball tournament, doubles pickleball, disc golf, a swim meet, a basketball tournament and a volleyball tournament. After all these events concluded, we moved over to the dining hall for the opening ceremony, where the Senecas were brought out to light the Olympic Flame.
Day two of the Olympics started with a lake swim at 6:30 AM followed by a marathon, an all-team tug of war, and some separate sporting events. In the afternoon, everyone reported to the pool for an all-team swim relay followed by additional smaller events like a one-pitch tournament, high ropes relay challenge, and fishing.
Evening events were broken into age groups – TJC played hockey and Gaga, LSR had basketball and a track meet, and USR had a swim meet and singles Tramp Ball. The night concluded with a USR three-point shot contest, camper-counselor pickleball and a fencing tournament. The decathlon continued with archery and the one-mile run.
The third and final day of the Olympics started with a special Polar Bear plunge – every team had to create a skit and chant before jumping into the lake at 7am. After breakfast, TJC had a basketball tournament, a watermelon tournament, and heptathlon. LSR had an ultimate frisbee tournament and a soccer tournament. USR had a track meet. Then all teams met for the decathlete dash – a 200-meter sprint.
That afternoon, we had the Grand Marathon, which is a massive relay race with 38 stations such as wheelbarrow, volleyball serve, a three-legged race, eating a jelly sandwich, and much more. Every camper on every team has a role in the Grand Marathon. The remaining decathlon events also took place like pull-ups and shot put. The rest of the day was spent finishing team banners, cheers, and songs.
After dinner, everyone went to the field house for the closing ceremonies, during which each team presented their banners, cheers, and songs. Greece had a spectacular showing with their rendition of “Grease Lightning”.
At the end of the evening, the scores were tallied, and the results of the Decathlon were revealed. After three days and nights, with the score going back and forth throughout, the big winner of Olympics 2025 was Greece, which was a subtle reminder that the arts can matter just as much as sports in competition!
After the excitement of the Olympics and knowing the end of summer was drawing near, our kids spent the last few days of camp just enjoying their favorite activities – swimming, Tramp Ball, archery, Gaga, basketball and more. We held our annual banquet which included the “Programmys” and the Film Fest. Each summer, the banquet dinner is hosted by the Algonquins as a send off to summer and as an honor to the Senecas and their final days as MKN campers. This year the banquet theme was MINECRAFT. The Algonquins decorated the dining hall, dressed up in Minecraft characters, hosted an emerald trading post, and even put on a show.
After dinner, we went straight to the field house and filled for a night of Programmys – our camp’s version of our program awards. Each counselor took the stage to recognize campers who had consistently visited their programs throughout the summer and showed a lot of dedication, commitment, progress, and an overall positive attitude. Mixed into the program awards was our Tobias Maher Film Festival. Six campers displayed films they’ve been working on all summer, and we handed out awards “The Toby’s” for best actors, directors, and film.
On the very last day of camp, the boys spent time packing and just hanging out with their summer family. During lunch, we had a bittersweet dance party. Each campus had their last final “assembly” where they each celebrated the best moments of the summer. And the evening activity was the final “Candlelight” huddle, summer recap video, closing ceremonies and an emotional Seneca send-off.
That’s it for 2025. As always, this year was filled with endless joy! Thank you for sharing your boys with us, and we’ll see you next summer.