Jenny is gearing up - and Throwin' it Back Thursdays - in preparation for the 2015 reunion!

As I get more and more invested in helping to plan the Alumni & Friends Reunion (see you there...save the date: July 25th!), I am feeling increasingly nostalgic about my camp years.  

A lot has changed since I started attending camp in 1998, and here are some of my favorite memories:

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• Before Paddlers, Outriggers, Pathfinders and Trailblazers, there were Units 1-4.
• The JC tent used to be behind Lost River and CITs lived in the Hen House.
• In the olden days, the ‘media’ interest group was photography and we used film and a dark room to develop our photos.
• The tower used to be on top of Adventure Mountain, so did low ropes!
• Resource Staff used to be called Senior Staff.
• Instead of checking in at your cabin, everyone would line up outside Tousant Hall and check in there. (I remember always wanting to get there early so I could run, ehm, I mean speed walk, to my cabin to get a good bunk!)

• The mini-golf course built by the CITS of 2002.
• Get your letters, get your letters, get your leeeeeeeeeeeeeeettttters.
• Though this precedes me, I’ve been told that the Paddler (Unit 1) cabins used to be called Happy Cabins 1-4.
• When I was a camper, there were no Yurts or Sheds!
• Beach Day used to be at Sandy Neck beach – it should have been called Rocky Neck Beach, though!
• The Hen House and the Chicken Coop were once bathrooms, and before Pam’s Place, the Chicken Coop was also the Arts and Crafts Building (not at the same time it was a bathroom, though!)
• Old Tousant Hall and the old store.
• Pop Stop used to be twice a day, and you could get a soda and a candy (yikes! Our dentist’s weren’t happy about that)!
• Some years, we could only get to the island for our overnights by canoeing there with all of our gear because the water was too high to walk across at the point!

• Interest group sign up involved running as fast as you could and pushing people out of the way to go sign up for the best interest group.
• Waterskiing was once an interest group.
• Some old school songs that have been lost and forgotten: Shaving Cream, Three Bears, Your Mama Don’t Wear No Socks, the one about the bright sun coming up and the dew falling away…
• Overnights used to be by unit and were all on the ball field.
• Once upon a time every cabin at flagpole just said ‘present.’
• On the first version of the camps website, there were chat forums where people could post and talk about camp during the year.
• Instead of all April Vacation Camp, the Ski Trip and all of the other year-round programs Camp has now, there was one Reunion over snowy Martin Luther King Day Weekend in January.
• Adventure trips used to be called ‘Great Escapes.'
• There was a time when e-mails to campers didn’t exist!
• The Hayward Office used to be under the dining hall.

I could reminisce all day, but I will save that for the Alumni & Friends Reunion on July 25^th (double shameless plug)!  What are some of your favorite Hayward traditions or memories? Share them here or tweet them to @BurgessHayward with the hashtag #HaywardTBT!

~Jenny Muschinske