Color War Break!

It was a cool, beautiful camper’s choice day on Old Forge Mountain. The anticipation for Color War started this morning at Assembly. The Green Giants had everyone on pins and needles as we casually strolled onto the Assembly Court with our green shirts to raise the flag and lead the Pledge of Allegiance…“Red and White, don’t you fret, Color War is not happening yet”… The disappointment faded as soon as the campers raced to their first period, and the talk around camp was that Color War wasn’t happening today like everyone thought.

Or so everyone thought…

Wednesday is laundry day at camp. The laundry is picked up after breakfast and brought back to camp around dinner time. After dinner, the EP staff announced tonight’s EP as Mardi Gras. Campers were super excited, and they were starting to think that Color War might break during Mardi Gras or that the Green Giants might show up as the last float in the parade. NO ONE was expecting what was about to happen next.

Before campers and staff were dismissed, Bryan reminded everyone to head down and get their laundry before heading back to the cabin to change for EP. As the activity counselors were cleaning the dining hall and campers were searching the pile of laundry bags to find their bag, a series of fireworks went off, followed by green smoke bombs that were released on the lawn in front of the Lodge and green banners rolled from the roof of the Lodge. Green Giants stood on the roof of the Lodge, came out the closet in the Rec Hall, came down from boys camp, and started to surround the crowd of people with their torches. The music began to play and everyone was screaming with excitement.

We called the team members one-by-one and watched as their friends cheered and celebrated them. Returning campers changed into their colors as soon as the smoke bombs went off, and new campers were decorated with paint as soon as they were announced to a team. I love to see the genuine excitement each camper has for the team they join, and after 30 seconds of being on that team, they are convinced that their team is the absolute best!

I love that Color War represents exactly what Camp Highlander stands for…everyone belongs, everyone has a place, everyone is loved. From the moment a camper joins a team, they are part of something bigger than themselves, and they have a role in supporting their team every single day. Each camper will participate in at least two events a day to earn points for the entire team, taking their team one step closer to the victory of winning Color War 2019.

The next four days will be full of fun, excitement, success, failure, winning, losing, conquoring, overcoming, laughing, crying, and most of all learning. Together we will learn that friendship doesn’t have a team, that love doesn’t choose a side and that victory belongs to each of us asvwe persevere. As the poem reads each year when color was breaks, “The strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.”