Interview With
Erin DeBusk
Our camp was established in 1905 by Dr. Charles Alexander Robinson. We originally started out as an all-boys camp; called Camp Pok-O-Moonshine (taking our name from a local mountain that overlooks our camp). In 1967 our current director, Jack Swan, opened Camp MacCready for girls…just a five minute walk up the hill from the boys camp. That is why we have an unusual name…we combined the two and are now Pok-O-MacCready Camps. One of our claims to fame is that our boys’ camp is the oldest private camp in the United States, being owned and operated by the same family for 109 years. Today we are a co-ed camp for children ages 6 to 16. And even though we are mainly an overnight camp, we also offer a 3-week day camp option as well.
We are located in Upstate New York…so far upstate, in fact, that we are less than an hour’s drive from the Canadian border. That makes us about a two hour drive from Montreal, a five hour drive from New York City, less from Boston. We are located in the small town of Willsboro which has all the appropriate services, and are just a half hour drive from the closest big city, which is Plattsburgh, NY. Our camp itself is comprised of more than 300 acres, located on a lake, so that allows us to have such a fantastic waterfront program, among many other things. We are also just a short distance from Lake Champlain and Vermont. Pok-O-MacCready is actually located within the Adirondack Park, so beyond our own property, we have that 6 million acres of wilderness available to us just out our front door. We’re about a one-hour drive from Lake Placid and the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks, so this allows our campers to venture out on any type of wilderness trip they could imagine: hiking, camping, canoeing, kayaking, rock climbing, mountain biking, the list goes on. And this is important for so many of our campers, who live in cities, or in a place where they can’t simply go outside and have a wilderness experience as impressive as what we can offer.
Our philosophy is rooted in helping campers develop an awareness of and appreciation for the natural environment, while participating in new experiences, learning new skills, and making new friends. We believe our camp helps children to develop self-reliance, cooperation, and interdependence. Above all, we strive to provide a safe, healthy, and enjoyable summer.
Our camp was originally built on its wilderness program, and over the last century our other programs evolved. We now offer more than 35 activity areas for campers to choose from Wilderness: Hiking, camping, canoe trips, waterfall trips, history & mystery (trips through the week, campers sign up for as many trips as they want) Horseback Riding: every day and every other day instruction, shows every Sunday Sports: Tennis, Street Hockey, Conditioning, Baseball/softball, soccer, volleyball, archery, rockclimbing, etc. Creative Arts: Pottery, Arts & Crafts, Theatre, Music, Drawing & Painting, creative writing. Watersports: swimming, sailing, canoeing, kayaking. Living History: 1812 Homestead: animal care (we have pigs, goats, sheep, turkeys, chickens), candle dipping, shingle-making, blacksmithing, baking at the hearth, gardening, and other self-sustaining homesteading practices. We really do offer a lot of different things, so I’ll try to give you a rundown of our schedule to sort of give you an idea of how we operate our programs: Almost every day, campers attend classes. At the girls’ camp, there are two classes in the morning and two classes in the afternoon. At the boys’ camp, there are 3 in the morning and the afternoon is dedicated to planned activities for each age group. So, these classes are chosen by the camper at the start of their summer session. When campers arrive at the start of a session, they participate in an Activity Fair, where they tour around our facilities and receive demonstrations on all of the activities. This helps them make a decision about which classes they’d like to try. Sometimes we have age restrictions on particular activities, but other than that, the kids really get to choose what they want. After they submit their class requests, we generate their class schedule based on their preferences. We also take other instructional areas into consideration. For example, have they passed their swim level tests? If not, they will be required to take swimming until they’ve been tested and passed by our certified swimming instructors. We are a waterfront camp, so this is pretty important. Or, if they’ve chosen to take part in our horseback riding program, one of their class periods will be filled by riding instruction each day, or every other day, depending on how frequently they have elected to ride. In our three week session, our horseback riding classes are every day. So, once their schedule is drafted, that is their class schedule for the remainder of the camp session. However, we are flexible…if a camper tries a class and decides it’s really not their thing, then we will happily work with them and find another class that might be a better fit. Now, a great thing about our scheduling in our four week session is that we have an “A” day and “B” day, which we just rotate back and forth from day to day. So, a camper’s “A” day schedule of activities can be completely different from their “B” day schedule, thus allowing them to really try up to 8 different classes during their session. In the evenings, we usually have Section Activities. Here at Pok-O-MacCready, we refer to each age group as a “section”. So, the section heads and their counselors plan these evening events for their campers, and it’s really just a good time for the kids to unwind, but in a productive way. For example, a section activity might include a trip to our ropes course, or a night of indoor rock-climbing, or maybe a creative session at our pottery studio, or maybe a crazy game…the possibilities are endless. The weekends are a little more relaxed. On Saturdays, we have activity clubs, which allow campers to join in on an activity that they wouldn’t normally get to do on a class day. For example: roller derby Frisbee, or “Quidditch”, or writing a script and making a short film. The clubs are normally pretty creative and a little goofy and the kids really enjoy them. There are other times during the weekend where kids can participate in open boating, fishing, swimming, or sports. From time to time we have “all-camp” activities, in which the boys’ camp and the girls’ camp come together in a huge event. An example might be our Greek Games, which take place over a few days, to our Talent Shows Evenings which happen about once a week.
Our full session is 7 weeks, which starts with a four week session and ends with a three week session. Many campers stay all seven weeks. Others choose to attend for one of the shorter sessions. We also offer a day camp in the 3-week session. Just this year, we’re introducing a two-week “Rookie Session” for children ages 6 to 9 who have never been to camp. We felt the need to offer a shorter session to new families who wanted to test the waters, so to speak, before diving in to a longer session. In terms of cost, summer programming for your child is certainly a financial commitment that you have to consider carefully. Our programs range from about $2000 (for our three week day-camp program) to about $7,000 (for all 7 weeks) depending on the session length you choose. And that really is ALL INCLUSIVE….we don’t charge you extra for your different activities or classes. The only thing that does have a small fee is the horseback riding program because it is more of a fulltime program requiring specialized equipment. We have found that we are on the lower end of the pricing scale when compared to other camps in the Northeast who are of similar size and program offerings. Another session we offer is “Family Camp” which is one of my favorites! Family camp is 5 days long, and it is held just a few days after our three week session ends. This is an all-ages camp session and…we often have campers who simply can’t get enough of Pok-O-MacCready, so they beg their parents to come back for Family Camp. I find that Family Camp is a really useful tool for parents who have children of camp age that might need a little extra encouragement easing into the idea of camp. They can come to camp and try new things without being too far removed from their comfort zone. I, myself, discovered my love of camp by attending a family camp with my mom & sister and having had that introduction to camp, I came out of my shell and was ready to return the following summer on my own. In terms of activities and cost, it’s an all-inclusive rate of only $600 for a family of up to six people, so you really can’t beat that! It’s a great excuse for a family vacation!
We have about 25 counselors and section heads the boys’ camp, and about 25 at the girls’ camp, so approximately 50 counselors combined, depending on the season. We then have about 20 specialists who oversee specific programming areas such as Wilderness, Rock climbing, Waterfront, Horseback Riding, etc. We have about 5 administrators (who also work year-round), and about 20 support staff (maintenance, grounds-keeping, cleaning, kitchen). So, all together, we have a staff of about 90-95 employees each summer. That gives us a 1:4 staff-to-camper ratio, in terms of our total staff, which far exceeds the New York State Department of Health’s criteria, which requires 1 staff member per 8 children. Most of our counselors are college-aged individuals, while our senior staff members serve as activity specialists, with specific qualifications in their particular program area. In terms of recruiting, after working one summer, most staff members want to come back for more! Once they become a member of the Pok-O-MacCready family, they’re hooked! We have a few members of our staff who have actually been here for over forty years, who started out as campers, then became staff members, and haven’t missed a summer since! So, you can understand how, since we have such a high return rate, we don’t usually have to recruit many new staff. However, we do believe that our campers benefit from a diverse staff, so we do recruit staff from all over the world, for example, many of our equestrian staff come from the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. We work with a number of recruiting agencies in order to obtain THE most qualified staff and we also perform very thorough background checks on all of our applicants, employees, and support staff. We really are so calculated about our staffing decisions because we want our campers to benefit from a qualified, knowledgeable, and experienced staff.
Well, we HAVE been doing this for over one hundred years…so, needless to say, we have a lot of experience. In that time, we’ve figured out what works…and what doesn’t work. After over a century in the business, we can look back on where we started and truly see how far we’ve come: we’ve got our logistics down to a science, we’ve fine-tuned our classes and traditional activity offerings while still remaining progressive enough to make room for new programs, and we continue to improve and expand our facilities so that we can offer our campers even more opportunities. In doing all of that, we’ve perfected our relationship with campers and our ability to provide them with the absolute best summer experience possible. Over the years, we have built such a solid group of experienced staff who truly understand our philosophy….because most of them have lived it as a camper! A large portion of our counselors and staff were once campers or parents of campers, so they really know what it’s like to see camp through a child’s eyes. We understand that parents really have to shop around to find a camp that is a perfect fit for their child…. Summer Camp is definitely not a one-size-fits all sort of operation. So, finding the right one can be a quite a process. Sometimes parents ask us what the typical Pok-O-MacCready camper is like….to sort of get an idea of what our community is like and see if their child would be a good fit…and to be honest, I love that we don’t have a profile of a “typical” camper. We’re not exclusive. We really do have so many kids from so many different backgrounds, and it creates such a unique community of campers and staff. When we welcome a new camper, we welcome them into our family, and it really is just that. Regardless of who you are, or where you come from, once you arrive at our camp, you and your family become part of the Pok-O-MacCready legacy.
As soon as camp ends! We have people registering for the next summer right away, and we take applications right up through our last three week program.
Definitely visit our website….it’s loaded with helpful information. There is a link on the homepage to request more information, and if you click that link, we’ll send you a free DVD and information packet. But, if you REALLY want to get to know us, simply give us a call…we have a toll-free number and we LOVE to talk about camp…we love it and we live it. Like I said, we live here year-round, so we’re always available. www.pokomac.com 518-963-7656 1-800-982-3538
Anytime at all. Something that really sets us apart from many other camps is that we have a year-round staff of administrators who live onsite. This ensures that regardless of the time of year a family is researching Summer Camp for their child, we will ALWAYS be available to answer any questions or take you around our facilities on a camp tour, etc.
