LETTER FROM A DEC CAMPER: 

Dear Genesee Finger Lakes Chapter of the Air and Waste Management Association Board of Directors, 

Thank you for sponsoring me for going to New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's Environmental Education Camp. Out of the several camps to choose from I chose Colby because it was in the beautiful Adirondack Mountains. It was very fun and I made a lot of friends. I was in cabin Haystack named after the nearby Haystack Mountain. One of the days we took day trips. There were four different trips we could go on: The lake trip, the river trip, a hike, or a trip to a bog. I went on the lake trip on a canoe down Lake Colby then down Lower Saranac Lake to an island where we ate lunch. Then we explored the island and found a cave and a camp ground. The next day we slept outside in tents. We put a bunch of cold food in tin foil and our counselors cooked them in the fire. That night it was also our job to come up with skits for Friday night’s camp fire. Our skit was probably the worst one. All we did was show how loud dinner is and made fun of two counselors. The next day while half the kids took the hunter safety course the rest of us went on day trips again but the only ones we could go on were a shorter hike or the lake trip and I chose the lake trip again because I love canoeing. On Thursday we had to perform a demonstration on what energy source the DEC should use to save money for the camps. The choices were wind power, hydro- electric power, coal power and solar power. My group chose wind power because we got a fair amount of money as well as saving the environment. We also made posters and presented them to a fake Board of Directors. All day Friday we played a game that was sort of like a scavenger hunt except we were looking for different places in camp with pictures and clues. To get the next picture and clue each time the group needed to perform a task together and got points for it. For example one of the tasks was that we had to all be touching a hula-hoop and bring it down to the ground from about four feet up. My group lost because we couldn’t work together. Camp Colby was very fun and I’m glad I went. I will be happy to attend a meeting if needed. Once again thank you.