Back from an awesome week of Camp CEO!

Camp CEO was a blast! Everyone got paired with a CEO, and I got paired with Karen Howze, a DC magistrate judge. She was a lot of fun, and we went synchronized waterfront watching, underwater basket weaving, and making potpourri together. Camp CEO is the strangest, most interesting girl scout camp ever. Monday and Tuesday were a blur, but Wednesday was when things really started to pick up.

Wednesday was when my CEO buddy came, since the CEO's only stayed for one day and came and went throughout the week. When they came, we'd sing:

We welcome you to Camp Coles Trip
We're mighty glad you're here
We'll send the air reverberating
With our mighty cheer RA RA!
We'll sing you in, we'll sing you out
To you we'll give a mighty shout
Hail, hail the gang's all here
And welcome to Camp Coles Trip

And when they left we'd sing:

Hats off to you
Hats off to you
Camp CEO is proud to say
Hats off to you
We're glad you came
We'll shout your name
Hats off to you *insert CEO name here*
Hats off to you!

Jan, who was from the GSCNC council and seemed to run the show, told me that her folk idol when she was a girl was Pete Seeger, who she asked to sing at Still Singing After All These Years. He sent a reply via postcard saying he couldn't and that he hoped they sing This Land is Your Land. She has the pamphlet from the concert and the letter from Pete Seeger is framed in her office. She said that she wants to bring everyone together by singing like Pete Seeger did.

Anyway, on Wednesday we got to sign up for what we'd want to do, and I chose the waterfront. There's only two things to do at the waterfront; kayaking and waterfront watching. At first I went kayaking, where when we got out far enough we could get out and swim. The seaweed was really creepy. Afterward there was enough time for us to go waterfront watching, where you sit in chairs in the water. The tide was high so we synchronized waterfront watch, where we sat in a circle and stretched our arms and legs in unison like synchronized swimmers. The kayakers were too late to do underwater basket weaving tho. Later that day we had to get in to groups again to prepare for dinner. Wednesday was dinner on the porch, where we have a fancy dinner and everyone has a part. My group was making potpourri which was placed beside every plate. Dinner on the porch was awesome. There was entertainment before dessert and we drank sparkling cider. My CEO left that night and we sang hats off to her.

Thursday was groups again. I went to the waterfront again, and instead of kayaking I did underwater basket weaving. Now let me tell you, the stairs to the waterfront are steep and long, and it is hell getting back up. Thankfully we took a shortcut, so it wasn't as bad. After that people came and taught us modern dance. Why? I don't know. Then we went to the amphitheatre to listen to two CEO's that work at universeties talk about college. The amphitheatre is also the place where we have 'Dreaming Your Future', where after breakfast every morning, the CEO's that are there sit on a panel and tell people about their careers and take questions.

Friday was jam packed. After Dreaming Your Future, we had a 'Scout's Own' for a woman who died and participated in Camp CEO in past years. After lunch we split in to three groups and went to stations. The first station was working with Jan on planning our book. Yep, they're making a book about Camp CEO 09. The next station was making a scrapbook page about us to be put in a big scrapbook. A photographer from the Washington Post was there taking pictures of us, and he probably thought I was crazy. He pointed out my pen tatoos and I said that hopefully I'll get a sunburn so that when I wash off the pen I'll get real tatoos. Third station was cooking with one of the CEO's, Ris Lacoste, who's a chef and will be opening a restaurant in DC in October. She even asked us if we needed a job, but I figured a thirteen-year-old wouldn't be that great in a restaurant. The dinner was made by the other groups. My group made the hummus, salsa, and guacamole. I was dicing onions, tomatoes, and peppers, so I got to hold a realler big knife. Since it was the last night, we had sparkling cider. We had to present our scrapbook pages and say something we learned, then we got our badges and pin, and a CEO (if yours wasn't there) read the letter your CEO left out loud. It was nice to hear all the praise the CEO's left all the girls. Jan announced all the staff one at a time, and a few of them had standing ovations, especially Foodie, who's the camp cook. At Camp Potomac Woods they usually sing a parody of Leaving on a Jet Plane, but they didn't here, so I sang it to myself (the real version) in the tent.

I learned a lot from Camp CEO, like leadership skills, who I want to be, and what I got to do to get me there. Now that I'm home, its time to rest since I only have a week before school starts for me. It's been a fufilling summer I think. Dad got me a webcam so I can talk to Andelle at college, or so I can report to mom during the first week of school since she won't be here.