Dear Parent of Camp RSM @ Sunapee camper,
We hope you and your child thoroughly enjoyed camp this year! We feel that this
year was a great success, and we are committed to continuing that success for years to
come. We are constantly looking for ways to improve camp, and as always – welcome
your input.
This letter is intended to emphasize and clarify two camp regulations. While both
of these rules have been in our camp policy for many years, it has come to our attention
that the rules have become increasingly overlooked. Campers are allowed to bring neither
food nor cellphones into camp. We believe strongly in the rationale behind these rules,
and hope that a comprehensive explanation of their existence will help you understand
why your cooperation in helping your children follow these rules is so important.
Camp Policy on Food:
Our camp is largely an outdoor camp, this means it is only slightly removed from
the animals that live around it. The reality of this situation is that any food in the cabins
has and will continue to attract pests into the cabins and the surrounding areas. These
pests can include anything from mice, which carry diseases, to bears, which pose an
obvious threat.
Another common problem associated with food is litter. As a community, we all
value the beauty of the camp, the opportunity it gives us to escape into an absolutely
serene and pure environment. Due to the loads of food campers bring in with them either
at the beginning of the session, or during parent visiting days – we spend the majority of
camp clean up picking up trash from the forests, and gum from the tennis courts.
While you may worry for your child’s diet at camp, we assure you that every
child is fed as much as he or she needs at each meal every day. Furthermore, we supply a
light afternoon and evening snack. We fully believe that it is possible and reasonable for
every camper to subsist solely off of the food offered in the cafeteria. As a result, we ask
that you, as parents, assist us by ensuring that your children not bring any extra candy or
snacks with them into the camp.
Camp Policy on Cell Phones:
In camp, we believe we create a sort of utopia: an environment where children are
able to escape from their every day outside pressures. “Cool” is redefined, life is
simplified, and children are able to relax and be themselves.
Cell phones truly ruin that utopia. When children have an outlet to the outside
world, we find it nearly impossible to maintain that isolation which makes the
environment of camp a possibility. It’s that environment which your family is drawn to
year after year, and it is that environment that we are steadfast on preserving.
We have had a no cell phone policy for many years now, and it has been
continuously disregarded. As such, we have decided to slighty modify this rule: all cell
phones found in the possession of campers (including CITs) will not be returned to
their owners next year. All phones found will be sold on eBay with proceeds donated to
an Israeli charity in the owner’s family name. The only exception to this policy is for
children who are traveling by plane – these phones will be taken upon arrival to camp and
returned after.
We assure you that if you ever need to reach your child, or if they ever need to
reach you, they will always be able to do so. Moreover, ou are more than welcome to
send email or mail to your children at any time, and they are similarly able to mail letters
back to you. For the email address and standards mailing address, please refer to our
website www.russianschool.com.
Overview:
We hope that this letter has helped you to clearly understand the presence of these
camp policies and the rationale behind them. You and your child’s compliance to these
policies will help to improve and preserve the environment we look forward to each year.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.