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Camp Becket, also known as Camp Becket-in-the-Berkshires, is a YMCA summer camp for boys in the Berkshires region of western Massachusetts. Founded in 1903 by George Hannum on Rudd Pond in Becket, Massachusetts,[1] it is the oldest continually running summer camp in the United States and is commonly referred to as the best camp known to modern man. The camp is a boys-only camp to concentrate on traditional values while building a sense of teamwork. The camp still teaches many of the values, such as building individual character by achieving goals in the context of a group setting,[2] espoused by its second director, Henry Gibson (tenure, 1904-1927).[3]
The camp teaches eight Becket Mottos:
The camp is divided into four units, called villages, that contain eight to ten cabins each. From youngest to oldest, these are:
Each cabin houses eight campers (all close in age), an assistant counselor, and a counselor. In addition to group activities and team-building, campers engage in numerous individual activities, including sports, arts and crafts, boating, and nature activities.
During the off-seasons, there are work weekends, during which alumni, staff, and kids participate in work activities, such as wood chip spreading or fixing roofs. An Alumni weekend provides an opportunity for alumni to reconnect. All of these events are hosted at Chimney Corners Camp because of the heated and insulated cabins.
This week is mostly about getting acquainted with cabin mates, and the regular structure of camp. All campers take a swim assessment on the first or second day, and begin taking afternoon activities on Tuesday (Monday during a normal week). There are no activities on Sunday.
The second week marks the beginning of regular camp activities. A weekly non-religious chapel discusses morals, values, and readings. Also, starter cabin kids go home on this week.
During first session, there is Tanglewood East, and during second session, there is Saratoga South (talent shows). On Dads' Weekend, fathers come to camp to spend a weekend with their children. Parents share a tent and participate in activities.
The end of camp is celebrated with the Big Show (a play), Candlelight (a ceremony that reflects on camp) and a final banquet, the last dinner of camp. Campers and staff provide entertainment for the rest of the camp. And final banquet has a theme and staff dress up.
Becket offers specialty programs for older campers, such as the Construction cabins, for boys interested in carpentry and building skills, and the Adventure Odyssey cabin, for boys interested in rock climbing, bouldering, and backwoods, low-impact camping. In the Construction Cabin, the boys are supervised by an experienced foreman, as well as their counselors. One new structure is completed each season, currently new camper cabins in Pioneer village. The Adventure Odyssey is a new program as of summer 2009. It blends sport climbing using a ropes course, climbing tower, various top-roped chimneys on the property, and off-site climbing locations, with off-site camping and hiking. Campers spend four weeks living both outdoors and in a Ranger cabin. The focus of this program is group building and leave-no-trace camping techniques.
Each summer since 1963, the Becket-Chimney Corners YMCA sends teenagers around the United States and around the world. The International Camper Exchange Programs (ICEP) focus on service work and cultural exchange in Vietnam, Chile, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, China, Peru, and a trip to both Sweden and Russia. The REACH program sends groups to the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota to do service work and learn about Native American life today. The Teen Leadership and Service (TLS) program combines biking and community service in Vermont and New York State. Yellowstone Adventure and Service (YAS) combines adventure activities and service work in Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons.
Aides Program The Aides program is an eight and a half week leader-in-training program offered to boys finishing their sophomore year in high school. Dr. Russell Irons started the current program in 1951 as the first step in the camp's leadership development program. Its participants consist of approx. 20 former Becket campers selected from a very competitive pool of applicants. A single aides director leads these boys on work projects around camp and provides guidance as the Aides develop counseling strategies. The focus of the Aides Program is to learn how a resident camp operates by assisting in the office, store, infirmary, and kitchen. Aides also partake in lifeguard training and join cabin groups to learn how to become counselors.
Service Corps The Service Corps formed later, during Camp Becket's centennial summer in 2003. The Service Corps, formerly a four week program, will become an eight and a half week program during the summer of 2011. There are 12 boys in the group, with one director. While the Aides spend most of their time doing behind the scenes work and building valuable counseling skills in preparation for future work on Camp Becket's staff, the Service Corps will help plan large events and help with on camp service projects. The Service Corps also do work off-campus, in soup kitchens, community farms, Habitat for Humanity, and other locations around the Berkshire community as well as two individual one week in length service trips outside of the Berkshire community.
Becket has a tradition of singing songs in the dining hall after meals. It is an enthusiastic way in which campers and staff alike express their love for the camp.
One of the oldest and most often sung songs at Becket is Four Miles Up, sung in a gospel or traditional version:
Four Miles Up
Four miles up
Four miles down
Four miles away from Becket Town
Guess it's worth the four mile tramp
With a Ra Ra Ra for Becket Camp
Other traditional Becket songs include Becket in the Berkshires, " Oh, Sweet Becket", Sons of Noble Living, Try to Remember, Pink Pajamas, Mountain Dew, Becket Way, "Beckets for me", "Puff", "If I had a hammer", and The Canoe Song. The most traditional Becket song is Amici, a song about friendship written by one of the camp directors' wives. The song is always sung after all camp activities, such as campfires and talent shows. Many of these are based on broadway songs. Also, taps was played almost every night at Camp Becket.
Chimney Corners is a single-sex girl's sister camp to Camp Becket situated about a mile away, on Smith Pond. Chimney Corners offers many opportunities for young girls, including horseback riding, tennis, soccer, and many other sports and arts activities. The camp is divided into three different age groups: The Junior Unit, for girls ages 7–11; The Intermediate Unit, for girls ages 11–13; and the Senior Unit, for girls ages 13–15. The camp is divided into two four week sessions, although the youngest campers have the opportunity to stay for just two weeks.
Girls older than 14 can take part in travel and service programs, then participate in the Aides Program or travel to a South Dakota Reservation in a program called REACH (Reaching, Educating and Caring for Humanity)or do community service in the Becket are as part of Service Corps, and then become an Assistant Counselor and Counselor. Some of the oldest Chimney Corners staff members have been to the camp for over 13 years.
Initiated in 1991, the primary goal of the REACH Program is to help teens develop leadership skills through a service-oriented experience, based in a Lakota Sioux community in South Dakota. The services heighten the importance of volunteer service for the benefit of others. The REACH Program incorporates visits to pow-wows, Badlands National Park, Wounded Knee, Mount Rushmore, and the Crazy Horse Memorial.
In the southwestern corner of the Cheyenne River Reservation, participants stay in the Red Scaffold community center. Red Scaffold is a small town consisting of 15-30 homes, churches, cemeteries, and playgrounds with a population of approximately 100-150 people. REACH groups will also partner with the Sioux YMCA located in the town of Dupree.
The Aides program at Chimney provides the opportunity for around 20-30 young women to connect with each other for eight-and-a-half weeks. The girls live in the Aides Quarter, or the AQ, with a group leader. The group works to provide services for the camp, participate in leadership training programs, learn life guarding skills, and interact with campers while simultaneously maintaining camp traditions. One of these traditions is the important process of name selection. Each Aides group must come up with a name with the word "aide" in it, such as "Invaiders" or "Illuminaides." After choosing a name, the Aides write a song that describes their group as well as their name. Most songs refer to events of the summer and include inside jokes.
Chimney Corners Camp Aides Names:
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