by Gary Hyman
2002
To me the "Spirit of Squanto" represents familiar friendly faces, great memories and most importantly a feeling of "home." It's been 7 years since I last worked here at summer camp and I was more than a little apprehensive about returning. The current staff has been wonderful though. They each, singularly and collectively, have that spark---some hard to explain spirit---which resonates even louder when here at camp. It wasn't long before I felt once again at home here at Camp Squanto.
The "Spirit of Squanto" is more than an opening or closing campfire ceremony where a staff member portrays the original Squanto; it's more than one person and it has lived for generations. It is all of us! the staff---past and present---people remembered in pictures from the Casoni Museum---people whose love, sweat, and tears make and made this camp so special. It's the look on a first year camper's face when he arrives on Sunday a little nervous (and maybe homesick) but leaves on Saturday with a great big grin with stories to tell mom and dad. It's the look of the old veteran walking through camp who says, "I remember when I came here as a scout!" It's the feeling I have every time I come into or leave camp. The feeling that this is one of the places where I helped make a difference.
I hope someday my own kids will experience, and come to know, the "Spirit of Squanto" and struggle a little as they try and figure out for themselves just exactly what that means to them.
Maintained by John Mileris.
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