Preparing for Summer Camp in the Adirondacks

A summer at Pok-O-MacCready offers your child opportunities to connect with nature, gain independence, develop lasting friendships, and have tons of fun!

This page is designed to outline practical steps to prepare for summer away at our children’s camp, and to offer advice on specific topics including: communication with your child, care packages, medical concerns, homesickness, and extending your child’s session.

Your active participation and encouragement, both before and during the camp season, will enhance your child’s experience and help ensure a successful summer

Quick Reference Checklist

Download / Print Quick Reference Checklist

Required

Complete ALL Health Forms
Emergency Card (mailed to you)
Physician Form / Medication Permission (mailed)
UVM Health Network Release (mailed)
Health History / Permission to Treat (On CampBrain)
Insurance Card (upload on CampBrain)
Immunization History (upload on CampBrain)
Register with PackMyRX (all campers with medication)

Getting Your Camper Ready

Preparing for Camp Starts at Home

Include your child in your planning process for camp. If they are a part of the decision-making process, their chances of having a positive experience will improve even further. Packing is a good topic of collaboration, but there’s no need to buy a whole new wardrobe!
Meet other campers and staff. Talk to Brian about arranging meet-ups on Zoom or in-person. You can also attend Open House events at camp this Spring.
Encourage your children to have sleep-overs with their school friends. These are a great stepping stone to longer overnight experiences.

Setting Expectations

As in life, camp will have its ups and downs. Realistic expectations will make disappointment less likely. Your child will have close friends, but they may not care for every bunkmate. Not every moment will be full of wonder and excitement. In addition to opportunities for joy and moments to engage with the natural beauty of the Adirondacks, each day includes necessary basic community and personal tasks such as tooth brushing and bed making. New campers may experience these as repetitive, but over time they’ll understand the importance of personal and community responsibility at camp and in the larger world.
You can help ensure a smoother transition to camp by introducing these ideas to your child, and reminding them that some of their most valuable experiences this summer will involve problem-solving, negotiation, and building sensitivity towards others.
Above all, of course, be positive! They need to know that you support their time away, whether they stay for the whole summer or are just starting out with two weeks. Camp is a place for growth, and growing includes feeling both successful and challenged, both of which are opportunities for learning.

Camp FAQs

Extending Your Camper’s Session

Pok-O-MacCready has always been grounded in the idea that long-term residential stays provide the greatest opportunity for growth, exploration, and community connection. It is why we have remained firm that even our shortest overnight stay is two weeks long. Many families have initially signed up for this rookie session, only to receive letters or phone calls requesting a longer stay at camp.
If you receive this message, and are open to your child spending another week or two at the Greatest Camp in the Universe, please contact Brian (518-963-7656) to discuss this possibility.

Homesickness

Homesickness may occur, even in experienced campers. Most importantly, make sure your children know that you support them in their exciting camp challenge. You WILL miss them, and they WILL miss you (even if they don’t say so). Both of those are natural emotions that will be balanced out by new experiences and relationship building. Occasionally campers ask to come home early, but if you set the expectation of a full session, your camper will be far more likely to overcome homesickness and establish themselves in the community. Our staff have an immense amount of experience and training in handling homesickness.

What Can I Do From Home?

Be positive. Write encouraging letters to your child instead of things like, “The house is quiet without you.”
Remember that learning how to be away from home is part of your child’s summer camp experience, and that a successful adjustment will be incredibly valuable to their long-term self-confidence.
Communicate your confidence that your child has the ability to handle any situation camp will present to them. Remind them of other situations where they prevailed and ultimately felt success.
Give your child time to adjust to camp and their new environment. Avoid bargaining by saying, “Give camp one more week and if you still don’t like it, I’ll come and get you.”
Support the efforts of the Directors and staff to find a solution. Our experience tells us that this tactic is successful in the vast majority of cases.

Camper Communication

There are many ways by which you can communicate with your child at camp. You can send letters, make phone calls, or use Bunk1, which is essentially a physical email delivery service. All letters and Bunk Notes are delivered to campers once a day during Rest Hour, after lunch.

For new families, a camp administrator will call you with an update within the first week of camp. If you want to check in with your child’s camp director, please call 518-963-8982 for female campers and 518-963-8366 for male campers.

Snail-Mail Letters

One of the highlights of your child’s day will be Mail Call. They will be delighted to get cheerful, positive mail from family and friends. Mail is often slow in Willsboro, so please allow three to four days for letters to reach camp.

Campers are encouraged to write at least one note to a family member each week.
Your child will be more likely to write to you if you send them to camp with self-addressed, stamped envelopes. Additionally, if you ask specific questions about activities, Big Games, or friends, your child will be more likely to respond with specific answers.

E-mails

You have the option to email your camper using a two-way email service called Bunk Notes. Please don’t send emails to campers at our business email address.

Pok-O partners with Bunk1 to provide an easy, secure way to send messages back and forth from families to campers.

Go to www.Bunk1.com
Login or click “New Here? Get Started” button
Contact [email protected] for the invitation code if you haven’t already received it.
Send Bunk Notes day or night. We receive a pdf each morning containing all Notes received in the previous 24 hours. These are distributed to campers every Rest Hour.
Bunk Replies: Receive a handwritten note from your camper in your Bunk1 account
- Unlimited Stationary can be purchased in a bundle OR under the Bunk Replies tab.
- Print the stationary (Bunk Replies tab) and send your preferred amount with your camper to camp OR attach an individual piece to be delivered with your Bunk Note (preferred).
- Make sure your child knows to write on the barcoded stationery and hand it in to a counselor.
- Counselors will collect Bunk Replies and send them to Bunk1. Bunk1 will then scan the barcode & send the reply to your account under the Bunk Replies tab.

Phone Calls

We ask that you refrain from calling your child for the first 7 days of their session in order to facilitate the smoothest possible transition to camp. After that, you may call during the following times:

Male Campers: 12:45-1:30 (lunch) and 6:00-6:45 (dinner) 518-963-7036
Female Campers: 12:45-1:45 (Rest Hour) 518-963-8982
Please keep in mind that these are shared lines, and that a long call will keep your camper away from eating and/or rest time so PLEASE keep your calls positive and brief (under 5 minutes).
If you have trouble reaching your child, or in case of emergency, please call 518-963-8982 for female identifying campers and 518-963-8366 for male identifying campers. You can also call the main office at 518-963-7656.

SmugMug

Our photographers will upload a fresh batch of photos to our SmugMug website every other day. If we’ve been tardy uploading photos, this is likely because the photographers have been drawn into supporting incredible events for your children. The password for this site will be shared via email as camp approaches.

Care Packages

We know that families show their love through care-packages, but we’ve seen a HUGE increase in packages at camp. It not only overwhelmed our office, but it allowed more of the outside world in than we would’ve liked. We try to focus on creativity and relationship building at camp, and new toys can distract from that and clutter cabins. As much as your child may plead with you, they do not really need a super soaker at camp, and even though they may fall in love with fishing, the new rod can wait until they get home. We have plenty for them to us here. Please keep care packages minimal (no more than once a week) and remember NO FOOD IN CARE PACKAGES as this can create disparity in cabins and entice wildlife into our homes. (Folks with specific dietary needs may contact camp for exceptions)

Camp Merchandise and Supplies

While no one needs to spend additional money at camp, there are occasions when children want to show their love of camp by sporting a Pok-O shirt, tossing a Pok-O frisbee, or staying hydrated with the popular Pok-O waterbottles.

Campers will have a “Blue Boar Account,” named for camp legend Blue Boar. They will use this account to purchase camp apparel, replacement toiletries, and postage stamps.
You can prepay and set a limit for your camper’s account on CampBrain. They will not be allowed to exceed the prepaid amount, but may ask you for additional funds.
If you choose not to set a limit any additional charges beyond your deposit will be reflected on your end-of-summer bill.
Please do not send your child to camp with cash. We don’t accept cash in the camp store, and it could be lost. Any cash that does arrive camp will be collected and held in a safe space.

Medical Concerns

The primary concern of our Health Staff is the wellbeing and safety of our campers. It is essential, for optimal health care in your absence, to openly convey information about any medical, behavioral, mental or other issues to the Health Staff. All information provided to camp is held in confidence. If there are concerns or questions about your child’s health, you will be contacted in a timely manner.

Health Forms

We know the number of health forms below may seem daunting, but each one provides us with different, vital information and permissions to keep children safe during their time at camp. We’ve tried to streamline the process by combining some forms, making some forms digitally available on CampBrain, and mailing forms which need to exist in physical format. We’ve color coded these below.

MMV Response Form – This informs families of the meningococcal meningitis vaccine. New York Children’s camps are requiret to share this with families. This can be completed on CampBrain starting on April 1st.
University of Vermont Healthcare Network Authorization Form – This form allows the camp administration to authorize emergency health care at the local clinic or hopsital in the event that parents/guardians cannot be reached. This can be completed on CampBrain starting on April 1st.
Physician’s Release / Medication Permission Form (PDF) – The camp regulations for New York Children’s Camps require all that campers have a physical within the 12 months prior to their last day at camp. This form must be signed AND stamped by your child’s physician and sent to camp by June 15th. Health forms must show dates of immunization (mumps, measles, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus and polio). This will be mailed to families in mid-April.
The Emergency Card (PDF) – This brief version of the Physician Form travels with campers when they are on trips away from camp. This will be mailed to families in mid-April.
Insurance Cards – Please upload a copy of the front and back of your child’s insurance card to CampBrain, or send it to [email protected].
Immunization Record – Please request this from your child’s pediatrician’s office and upload to CampBrain or email to [email protected].

Medication at Camp

Some campers may need to bring medication to camp. In order to ensure that each camper receives the appropriate medication and dosage, Pok-O has partnered with PackMyRx to provide campers with daily pill packs, which will be distributed by our Health Staff at the appropriate time of day. Please read the introductory letter to register by May 24th. Your prescribing physician should read this letter if they have any questions.

Pok-O Lingo

Lower Camp/Pok-O-Moonshine: The original camp location on Long Pond. Current location of the male cabins, swim docks, boat docks, and dining hall.
Upper Camp/MacCready: Originally the Ryan farmstead, converted to a residential campus when the female side of camp was opened in 1967. Athletic fields and horse pastures are located here.
The Path: A path through the woods tha separate Upper Camp from Lower Camp. Campers travel this frequently to go to classes and meals.
Moonshiner: Our version of a talent show.
Vespers: A quiet time to gather at The Point for weekly reflection. Campers and staffl present songs, poems, or journal entries that express their thoughts and feelings.
The Crux: Our Indoor/Outdoor Rocking Climbing Center.
Clubs: Unique activities that take place each saturday morning such as the Huck Finn Club, Circus Club, and Pet-Every-Dog-On-Camp Club.
Big Games: General term for themed, all-camp games, usually with elaborate backstories and costumes. Campers retain their original teams from summer to summer.
Inspection: Daily cabin clean-up and chores.
Horsemasters: Like Inspection, but for horses. All campers are welcome to join, but Horsemasters mandatory for those taking riding lessons. Includes: feeding, mucking stalls, and grooming.
Trading Post/Jean Mart/Candy Store: Places to spend Blue Boar account credits. Campers can purchase everything from toothpaste and stamps to water bottles and t-shirts. Oh, and Candy Store is a surprise once a week, but DON’T ASK ABOUT CANDY STORE, or it might not happen…
Pok-O-Patch Mountains: Camp is surrounded by four local peaks: Bare, Rattlesnake, Sugarloaf, and our namesake, Poke-O-Moonshine Mountain. If you climb all four in one summer, you’ll receive the Pok-O-Patch!
The 1812 Homestead: A historic, educational farm located just down the road from camp. The location for Hearth Baking, Gardening, and Blacksmithing classes.