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I hope everyone had a good holiday season filled with an abundance of laughter, food, and fellowship. I have been on vacation pretending to be a snow ski instructor, and spending quality time with my family watching the American Pickers marathon on the history channel (we are different). I hope your holiday season was just as enjoyable.
With the start of a new year Camp Fern is gearing up for its 78th summer of fun, friendship, competition and growth. We are planning our quickly approaching Winter parties and look forward to seeing all of our campers and counselors who are able to attend. We are currently scheduling dates and locations and will have that information out to everyone as soon as possible.
Congratulations to our New Prospect Contest winners and Christmas photo Contest Winners.
The Results for our New Prospect Contest are, drum roll please.
Grand Champion: Amy VanDenburg
Silver Level: Dauphin Ducayet, Kevin Hanchey, and Brandi Godair.
Bronze Level: Traci Hollis, Nancy McWhorter, Sondra Maxfield, Gina Thomas, and Johanna Braud
Who is the Christmas Photo Contest winner?
Lauren Holcomb!
Thanks for your Great Christmas pictures!
We will be sending out prizes to our contest winners this week. Keep an eye on your mail box, and thanks to everyone for participating!
Camp Fern’s January Contest.
Our January contest is …… Tell us a story! We want to hear a story about why Camp Fern is special to you. You can talk about tribes, friends, experiences, winning, losing, and anything in between. We want to hear what memories make Camp Fern a special place for you.
Rules:
This contest is open to everyone! Campers, counselors, alumni, parents, and grandparents.
Write us a story, essay, anecdote, tall tale, or fishing story in 500 words or less about an experience that has made Camp Fern memorable for you.
Stories can be sent to info@campfern.com, please put your name and” January contest” in the subject line.
Prize: The winner will receive a secret grab bag of assorted Camp Fern items!
10 Things I learned at Camp Fern in 2011
1. Any temperature over 99 degrees for more then 4 days in a row is WARM.
2. If you are living in these temperatures, regular snow cone breaks along with large amounts of water and Gatorade can make you feel like a champ.
3. How to make a paracord bracelet.
4. Girls’ Camp realllllly likes to sing! Way more than Boys’ Camp at least.
5. Many of the former campers I have worked with at Fern have grown up to be exceptional Men and Women. (yes I am talking about you)
6. I have yet to find another job where I can wear Jorts every day if I want to.
7. Free coffee is awesome! Camp Directors would not survive without it.
8. Horses smell like poo, but they listen really well if you need someone to talk with.
9. Campers really like getting letters (Parents, they really like letters! They are always like, “MAIL”!!!! Whenever it arrives. Send your child a happy letter and they will thank you when they are my age.)
10. 2012 is going to be even more awesome!!!
-Cody
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As we move into the Christmas season, we are working hard to prepare for the summer of 2012. Most of you should have received you 2011 DVDs already, but a few have been delayed by the post office and should be arriving any day now.
I would also like to take a moment to remind you about our new camper prospect contest currently going on until the end of the year. We have received some good feedback but would like even more! So if you know someone who might enjoy what Fern has to offer, send them our way. Remember, the contest ends 1/1/2012.
Here at Camp there have been a lot of questions about the new session options we will be offering for 2012. Below is a video of Margaret Lee, Camp Ferns owner, talking about our new session’s options.
December contest:
Send us your Best Christmas picture!! We want to see what our campers are doing for the Christmas season. Send us a picture of you decorating your tree, with Santa, opening presents, or just hanging out with your family. This contest is open to current campers. We will accept photos until Christmas day and will announce the winner as soon as we return from the holiday. The winner of this contest will receive a special Camp Fern Shirt!
20 questions with your staff member of the month: Ellie Quinn
1. Where are you from?
New Orleans, LA but I live in Sewanee, TN right now because I go to school there.
2. What is one place in the world you want to travel to?
The North Pole
3. What is your favorite animal in the world fictional or real?
I find finger pets really interesting. It’d be cool to own one but that the same time I would probably lose it. If you don’t know what it is, you should look it up. They’re like miniature monkeys that wrap around your fingers Other than that I’m big on dogs.
4. Do you have any special/secret talents?
Pie making, whistling, harmonizing, guitar
5. How long can you hold your breath under water?
Probably 10 seconds before I get scared.
6. What is your favorite sport?
SOCCER!!! I just finished the season.
7. Do you have any hobbies?
Soccer, hang-gliding, underwater basket weaving, synchronized swimming, forestry (for real), etc.
8. Do you have any siblings? What are their names?
I have 2 sibliings, one brother (Jack) and one sister (Mary Frances). Both have attended Camp Fern.
9. What is one thing most people from camp would not know about you?
I was an extra in a Lifetime movie in middle school.
10. Being part of the nature staff, whose team are you on veggie or carnivore?
Omnivore…I like my meats and veggies.
11. Summer or winter?
Summer all the way.
12. Favorite flower?
Gardenias
13. Shoes, boots, or sandals?
Chacos.
14. If you could have any super power what would it be?
Super Speed/Climbing with invincibility.
15. If you had that super power and had to fight for your life; which other Camp fern counselor would you have at your side, and what would their super power be?
I think I would have to call on my friend Ivy Assiter, who would assume the role of poison ivy, obviously. She would be able to tie up my enemies with her vines while I ran circles around them.
16. If you could only eat one thing for the rest of time, what would it be?
Powdered Donuts
17. What is the coolest tree at Camp Fern?
Because I am a nature counselor and was Mother Nature my Nola year, I obviously love all trees. But if I had to pick a tree at Camp Fern that I found the “coolest”, it would have to be the Wax Myrtle because it’s a natural insect repellent and every time I pass it I cannot help but grab some and smell the lovely aroma.
18. Why are jorts (jean shorts) so awesome?
Not only are they inexpensive, jorts apply to so many aspects of life. You can wear them…
- year round
- at Applebee’s, Chili’s, Guccis, or any other Marshall, TX establishment
- to a redneck wedding
- lounging around the house or on top of a house
- hiking
- the top of a mountain
- VMA’s, Grammy’s, Oscar’s, etc (all red carpet affairs)
- on July 4th
- at Camp Fern
19. Will Ed Sella’s volleyball team be defeated at the 2012 hump day tournament?
This snap, crackle, and pop team needs some competition to knock them down a few pegs…I’ll give it to them, they’re a solid team, but I’m working on importing some Olympic Russian beach volleyball players, so I’d advise them to train harder than ever. It’s a 50/50 shot.
20.taste boogie or less woggie?
LESS WOOG ALWAYS AND FOREVER
Don’t forget to visit the Camp Fern online store at www.cafepress.com/campfern for all your Camp Fern Gear. Camp Fern is now on YouTube! We will be posting videos on a regular basis, subscribe to our YouTube channel, campfern1934, for all the latest CF videos.
Wishing you all a Happy Holiday and Merry Christmas.
Cody, Margaret, Charlotte, Hermonie, and the office dogs Hunny and Virginia
Howdy from Camp Fern!
I am excited today to share with you some of the new and exciting things we have going on here at Camp Fern. Starting today and running until January 1, 2012 we are having the first annual Camp Fern new prospect recruiting contest. As we have and always will at Camp Fern we love our Campers. In order to sustain the wonderful experience that is Camp Fern we must always have new campers.That is the purpose of this recruiting contest, we would like to know about anyone who you think would be a good fit for Fern and could benefit from all that we do here each summer. As an incentive we have decided to offer prize packages for our most outstanding recruiters!!! Thank you for your help in carrying on the Camp Fern tradition. The contest details and rules will be listed at the end of this blog post.
We are also excited to announce the launch of our Camp Fern online store, just in time for Christmas! We are proud to offer clothing, gifts,stickers and more through our online store. We are starting small but look forward to expanding our offerings as time and demand permit. Here in the office we hope you are as excited about this new service as we have been in the process of creating it.
You can visit the new online store by visiting our website www.campfern.com and following the store link on the home page.
Cody
New Prospect Contest Rules
• Open to Every one!
• In order for prospects to count towards the contest they must be new and not previously submitted as a prospect.
• Dates: November 7,2011 – January 1, 2012
• We must have received NEW prospect information by 1/1/2012
• If one of your newly submitted prospects decides to sign up for camp. you will receive a $50 credit for 2 week sessions and $100 Credit for 4 week session sign ups if your prospect attends. If you do not have children attending fern you will receive a check. They must list you on their application under the “how did you find out about Camp Fern” section in order to receive compensation. Compensation will be sent at the end of the 2012 summer.
• Prize packages will be mailed out by 2/1/2012
• Everyone who attains any of these levels will receive mention on our Face book page, blog, and web page. If you would not like you name mentioned we are happy to accommodate you.
• We will accept Prospect information by phone at 903-935-5420, snail mail at 1046 camp road Marshall, TX 75672, and email at info@campfern.com, please do not send prospect information to our Facebook page.
Awards:
Grand Champion Recruiter = Highest number of new prospects over 10
Reserve Grand Champion = 2nd highest number of new prospects over 10
Gold Level: 10 or more new prospects
Silver: 6-9 new prospects
Bronze: 1-5 new prospect
Prize packages for Awards:
Grand Champion: Gold Level package plus $100 Summer Store Credit(does not apply to online store)
Reserve Grand: Gold level package plus a $50 Summer Store Credit ( does not apply to online store)
Gold Level: Silver package plus a Camp Fern t-shirt
Silver Level: Bronze package plus a camp Fern ball cap
Bronze Level: CF Note pad, pens, drink cozy, and camp fern bumper sticker.
Everyone who attains any of these levels will receive mention on our Face book page, blog, and web page. ( unless you do not want it)
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Hello everyone! We wanted to let everyone know that camp will be switching web servers today. So, if you were planning on visiting your favorite and the greatest web site in Texas www.campfern.com, it will not be there today. We hope to have the web page up and running strong by tomorrow morning so you all can get your ferny fix. If you can’t live without Fern in your life, we invite you to visit us on our Facebook page. Make sure to leave a comment or “like” us so we know who stopped by.
Cody
P.S
Here are a few awesome pictures from this summer to help you with the switch.
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On Monday, when we (Margaret and Drake) first learned that Camp Fern was potentially in the fire’s path, and our home was in the evacuation area, we were in Georgia visiting family. Bill, Marcia, Hilliard and William Rotzler and friends were able to take pictures and other valuables out of our home in case it were consumed by fire. We didn’t know if we would ever see it again in tact. A special friend down the road, Tony Whitlow, offered his pasture and trailer and commandeered two other trailers to help Raul and Fernando move the CF horses to safety. Now it is Wednesday, and the fire is 100% under control on the side that affects us and 70% contained on the far side. How grateful we are that we live “in community” with others, and that the best of human nature is seen in times of emergency. We are most grateful for our friends nearby who have helped us, and we are most grateful to all our many Camp Fern friends who have offered help and especially concern and prayers.
The fire that started in the Linden, Tx, area north of Jefferson, TX, has spread from 750 acres to 30,000 acres and is still not contained. The Bastrop fire, way out of our range, has consumed many homes and rages on.
We are most grateful that Camp Fern, its staff and its horses are fine and out of harm’s way at present. It is still a reminder that God wants us more attached to Him than to earthly possessions and things. That can be a very hard lesson to understand when we see the devastation that forest fires can cause ourselves or others or places we love. It is especially significant when human life is involved. Yet we know and trust that our Lord and Savior can bring good out of bad as we trust in him. We claim Romans 8:28, and we know that, as we look back in time after difficult or devastating events, God has nurtured us and carried us and taught us lessons we could learn in no other way. We praise His Name, and we continue, as many of you do, to pray for the safety of all those in harm’s way, especially the fire fighters and all those left homeless.
Love to you all,
Margaret
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Well happy 2011 all you Ferny Folk! We’re excited to get the summer rolling tomorrow and open the gates for our one week coed session! All of the counselors have been hard at work here on camp for the past week and a half in preparation for opening day, and we are looking forward to getting some kiddos here. We have some important info you’ll want to keep in mind for Sunday.
Gates open at 2 PM sharp. You may arrive as early as 1:00 PM to receive your camper packets and get your camper’s head check at Fern Retreat (the first cabin on the right). After your camper receives his or her bracelet, they will be allowed to move into their cabin when the gates open. This year all paperwork will be handled at Fern Retreat. Remember that all medical instructions must be written and turned in to the nurse to ensure accuracy. Controlled medications will need to be counted. Nurse Tish will be available at Fern Retreat to discuss any special care your camper may need.
Also, don’t forget to buy a CF tshirt and other goodies in front of the rec hall, enjoy some refreshments in the dining hall, or take a boat or walking tour to explore the campgrounds. We can’t wait to see you! Sleep well, and drive safe. We’re excited to JUMP INTO THE FUN!!!
From here on out, updates are available through Bunk One!
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We had our annual March Work Weekend with Cody Albright, Ivy Assiter, Rebecca Fox, Daniel Grammer, Austin Jones, Kelly Marshall, myself (Erica), Alex Ragland, William Rotzler, and Ed Sella last weekend. We had a lot of fun brainstorming about this summer. We tested the brand new paddle boards on the lake, had a crazy costume contest, ate a lot of good food (shout out to the Arroyo’s for making us some great sopas!), decided on a carnival theme and t-shirt design, and got excited to see all of YOU this summer! A special thanks to all of them for their hard work!
This year’s carnival theme is a “CARNIVAL CRUISE”
Be sure to pack your vacation gear because this summer we’re going on a Carnival Cruise! We want to see your best tacky tourist, nautical, or beach attire at this year’s carnival costume contest. We’re looking forward to enjoying the on board entertainment as we island hop with you. Start practicing your shuffleboard!
Stay tuned for more updates about this summer! Let the countdown begin!
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We want to visit with you! Want to know more about Camp Fern? Want to give us your feedback about last summer? Want to visit with CF friends? Want to bring a friend to the party?
Camp Fern will be in MARSHALL, HOUSTON, & AUSTIN AREA SOON!
MARSHALL PARTY DETAILS
Date: Thursday, February 24, 2011
Time: 5:30—6:30 p.m.
Address: First United Methodist Church—Beard Hall 300 East Houston, Marshall, TX 75670
HOUSTON AREA PARTY DETAILS
Date: Sunday, February 27, 2011
Time: 2:00—3:00 p.m.
Address: 79 N Lamerie Way The Woodlands, Texas 77382
AUSTIN PARTY DETAILS
Date: Monday, February 28, 2011
Time: 5:30—6:30 p.m.
Address: 6413 Aden Lane Austin, TX 78739
Hope to see you there. Contact us if you need more information info@campfern.com
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Happy Thursday everyone. Wherever you are we hope you’re staying warm! It’s been a frigid week here at camp, and we’re excited about the possibility of snow this evening. We’ll post some pictures next week if we get anything that blankets the ground 
For now, here’s a shot of Erica bundled up in the office while I do some “winter cleaning”….
