This was my first year at Wahanowin. I was going to a new camp and I didn’t know anyone. Once I had arrived at my cabin, everyone was so friendly and the counselors were awesome! They had such great activities at Wahanowin and such outstanding staff. They also had phenomenal programs like Waha vs. Nowin. The camp also had so much spirit when it came time to intercamp. I had such a great summer at Wahanowin and I can’t wait to go back next year!

Brent  Winston
Grad Camper 2005

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Summer Loving:

I was totally nervous when first introduced,
Though alone I was not, my fear then reduced.
The environment new, a place one could bond,
Relationships sprouted above and beyond.

Reality diminished, this a fantasy world,
Where senses were heightened and tension uncurled.
Experiences and memories, exceeded expectation,
Self revelation occurred with personal transformation;

Units, cabins and counselors reunited with celebration,
Blessings and flagpole set for a certain duration.
Participated in activities with little obligation,
Sailing at peace on the lake was pure relaxation.

Tobermory’s icy, blue waters, a refreshing sensation,
Olympiad, Gender and Colour Games involved fine cooperation.
Our secret societies entailed humorous initiation,
Intercamp teams provoked a true determination.

My buddies and I had a lot in relation,
Chillin' by the fire pit still brings a temptation.
Services brought life lessons with vast inspiration,
Raised money for Magen David Adom’s charity foundation.

Pirogues, chicken wings and pizza, a tasty combination,
Water ballooning the Pavilion for a skilled retaliation.
Waha Idol, plays and fashion show, caused for great preparation,
Jet boating in Niagara was a fun destination.

Tie die at general swim, a camp wide fixation,
Sing-a-longs led by Harold during cold precipitation.
To the staff and the founders we have deep appreciation,
For this camp has affected more than one generation.

The break up came fast, time really can fly,
Banquet, Ball, and closing ceremonies, before the goodbye.
Though, I never forget why I love Camp Wahanowin,
You’re always yourself, beaming in your own skin.

Chanel Dehond
LTP 2005

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I have been going to Camp Wahanowin since I was seven days old in order to visit my three older brothers, Jordan, Adam, and Jerrod Grossman. As a camper I’ve been going for seven years, and each year only gets better. Besides all the amazing activities like skiing, sailing, arts and crafts and ropes, I look forward to going to camp every year with my favorite group of people. I love spending time with my cabin during activities and during the night. Whether its making me laugh, crying over a situation, letting me borrow something or just helping me learn my lines in a play, they are so kind, and are definitely my best friends. I also love camp events like color wars, socials, and just doing my evening programs. Camp is very valuable to me considering it only happens once a year for two months. During camp, I only cry twice. Once, when some of my friends leave after a month and the second time when I have to leave my favorite place in the world at the end of every summer. As I go inside the bus I finally realize what makes this place so significant. It’s the fact that we can get away from our parents, eat great food, stay in a comforting area, hang out with my best friends, and creating the greatest memories. Now, as I re-count down the days till camp, I realize why I love my second home. I can’t wait for 2006 summer! 
Marisa Rosenberg
PeeGee 2005

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For five years now, we have been spending our summers at Camp Wahanowin. We can’t even begin to imagine our summers, let alone our lives, without camp.

It is incredibly hard to document everything we love about camp, because there is just so much. Wahanowin is like one big family. The second we step off the bus every summer, we feel as if we’ve been there forever.

Wahanowin offers incredible opportunities and activities geared to each and every individual camper. Incredible staff teach us lifelong skills, like wakeboarding and sailing. Every counsellor we have ever had has made a major positive impact on our everyday lives. We have amazing relationships with our counsellors that we keep to this very day.

The friends that we have made at camp are the friends that will last our lifetimes. Our friends at camp are definitely our best friends. We have shared so many amazing memories with them and are so grateful to have met them and have them in our lives. We love spending our summers with them.

We are so grateful to be part of the Wahanowin family. Our time at Wahanowin flies by so quickly, and sometimes we just have to take a moment to stop and look around, and appreciate what Wahanowin has done for us. We can’t wait to see you all next summer!

Robin Hacker Teper
Ilana Clark
Alumni 2005

I remember very clearly the anxiety and adrenaline that runs through a little boy’s body when he wakes up on the morning of the first day of camp.  The funny thing is that I’m 23 years old now, and nothing has changed when that much-anticipated morning comes around.

My 16+ summers at Camp Wahanowin have arguably been more educational than my years spent in school.  Wahanowin has taught me to be independent and how to be a productive member of a community.  After all, camp is a microcosm of society and the skills that I obtained there have been and are very valuable in the real world.

Aside from the intangible values that Wahanowin instills in its campers and staff, the people I shared my experiences with at camp are some of my closest friends today.  More importantly, the individuals that provided me with those experiences are still my greatest role models.  I remember every name of every staff member that I had; this reflects the impact that so many others from camp have had on my life and how they have shaped me into the individual I am today.  My goal as a staff member is to reciprocate for the next generation at Wahanowin this gift that I was given.

Although my days at Wahanowin must inevitably come to an end, I find comfort knowing that Wahanowin will change thousands of children’s’ lives for years and years to come.  I look forward to the day when some of those children are my own.

Steve Glowinsky
2005 - LTP Unit Head

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To fully convey my feelings about Camp Wahanowin would be impossible. I spend 2 months of every year at Waha, and the other 10 months wishing I was there. Not a day goes by where I don’t think about camp.
Camp Wahanowin is a surreal place where all the normal stresses of city life are thrown out the window, and I can just be myself. It’s a place where the friendships I’ve created with both campers and staff are unmatched. It’s a place where I truly feel accepted like nowhere else in the world.
I started my camp career in 1992 and at only 20 years of age this represents a significant portion of my life. I’ve been fortunate enough to experience all that Wahanowin has to offer, spending summers in Main Camp, The Grove, The CIT Unit, and now as a Staff Member, each experience as memorable as the last. I’ve done the full “Wahanowin Cycle” going from a camper who idolized his staff members, to now having the opportunity to be a positive influence on my campers. The impact that camp Wahanowin has had on my life is unreal. There’s no doubt in my mind that my 14 years at camp have shaped me into the person I am today.
Although I spend most of the year at school, away from my camp friends, the second I get back to camp it’s like I had never left. At age 20 I get just as excited about a summer at Waha as I did when I was 7.
Each summer it gets harder and harder to leave because I know it’s one year closer to the end of my Waha career. If Camp Wahanowin ran 12 months of the year I’d be the first one to sign up, because in my mind nothing else even comes close to the time I get to spend on the shores of Lake Couchiching.
Wahanowin truly holds a special place in my heart. I hope to return to camp next summer, and the summer after that… and the summer after that… because the thought of spending those 2 months of the year anywhere else just doesn’t compare.
Thank you to my staff, and more recently my campers, for the incredible summers! I hope to spend many more of them with you at the greatest place on earth: Camp Wahanowin.
Jesse Cappe
2005 - Senior Counsellor

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When I was asked to write a testimonial for the Wahanowin website, I thought that it would be a piece of cake! I mean, I have so many great and lasting memories, however, when I finally sat down to put my thoughts to paper I realized that formulating them into words is almost impossible. My feelings about camp are practically unexplainable. Wahanowin is literally my home away from home, my sanctuary, my haven. The minute I get home from camp at the end of the summer, I start counting down the days until I get to drive down Rama Road again and into camp the next summer.
I was a camper at Wahanowin for five years, and will be coming back this summer for my third year as staff. My camper experience was surreal, so surreal in fact that I was afraid I would not be able to cope with the transformation from camper to staff. I was afraid that my view on camp would change and my feelings towards it would not be the same. It upset me very much that I would no longer be living with my girls, I would not be going around to different activities and most of all I was afraid that I would be thrown a plate-full of responsibilities that would get in the way of ME enjoying MY summer. However, I was very wrong. The minute my Eagle campers ran off the bus in my first year as a junior counselor I knew that it was not all about me anymore. It was now in my hands to make certain these girls had the most incredible summer that they possibly could.  And throughout that summer I developed a relationship with my campers that paralleled any I had had previously with my camp friends. The satisfaction that came from watching my campers leaving camp that year was surpassed only by the fact that every single one of them returned again the following summer. It is that feeling and sense of accomplishment that draws me back to Wahanowin summer after summer.
Wahanowin is truly my “happy place” as my parents like to call it, and I couldn’t imagine a summer without it.

When asked to write this blurb for the new website I read through the ones from the past, and the one that I had originally written as a 14 year-old Alumni camper, and reflected on the past 9 years of my life. Most would reflect on summers, but Wahanowin has become more than a summer thing for me. Wahanowin, the camp, the relationships, the memories, the laughs, the tears and of course the pictures, last not only the duration of one school year, but a lifetime.

Walking onto the Wahanowin field for the first time as a 9 year-old nervous little girl, not knowing a soul, and being the only one from Montreal was scary, nerve-racking, exciting and a pivotal moment that I will never forget. It was then and there that I met the girl who became and remains to be my best friend.

Summer after summer, returning to the place and people with whom I grow and learn the most, has been incredible and something I hope to continue for many years, and when I retire, pass on to my children. Camp, but in specific Wahanowin is an incredible place, run by amazing people who work night and day in the hopes that people will feel at least half as passionate as they do. I am proud to say that they have infected me with their undying spirit which, as a staff member, I hope to now pass on to my campers.

This past summer, living with, and getting to know campers who were the same age as I was when I first started was an experience I was tentative to embark on but in hindsight was incredible. In my mind, if I instilled just a little bit of my own camp spirit in them, then my job was a success. I never thought I would be a Bear counselor and to be honest, I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to be but last summer was the true definition of coming full circle. Watching them get off the bus and sit on the field waiting anxiously in the hot sun for their names to be called, watching them meet us for the first time trying so desperately to remember our names, helping them carry their bags, reading them their bed-time story that very first night… these are things that will stay with me forever. I can now honestly say that I have had my feet in both shoes and both times around it was life changing.

Spending last summer living with the youngest campers in camp and working in the theatre was a dream. It was as a 9 year-old camper that I first graced the Wahanowin stage and realized my love for theatre and music, and last summer being a part of the theatre staff gave me a chance to give some of that back. Theatre has been an important part of my life ever since that first summer, and that very first time I stood on the Wahanowin stage in the Phyllis Weisfeld Theatre and it continues to be to this day. Working with the campers week after week, co-directing shows with amazing staff and kids of all ages, and then watching them all get up on that stage every Saturday night to perform to a packed house offered a reward that most specialists don’t get to enjoy. To watch them harbor and work at the craft and then proudly show off their accomplishments for everyone to see, made the hard work worthwhile, and made the job fun.

Then ( 2001)

It wasn’t an easy decision to send our oldest daughter to an overnight camp. This was a foreign concept for both of us .We are originally from Rio de Janeiro/Brazil and we never heard of such a thing . With a little push from our friends here, and also from our daughter’s friends we decided to let her go.  It was very hard to see our daughter’s bus leaving , but off she went… All the fears , doubts of the “unknown” vanished when her first letter arrived. She was having the best time of her life!  

Now ( 2006)

What a pleasure it is to send our three daughters to Wahanowin. They always extend their stays and from now on, they will go for the whole summer. When they are back they just can’t wait for the next camp season. We must confess that we also enjoy our time alone. We plan trips, movies, dinners etc, without any guilt knowing that our kids are in the best care and having a great time. In fact, they are not the only ones counting down…

Denise & Eduardo Stivelman

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Back in 1987 I saw my son get on the bus, wave goodbye as he made his way up to camp. 15 continuous years later Jordan is now head of the waterfront. I repeated this scenario with Adam the next year and then Jerrod 3 years later. Both Adam and Jerrod are on ski staff.

We're now repeating the experience with Marisa who will be staring her 3rd summer at camp. She's looking forward to being an Eagle this year and being with her camp friends.

Camp became a home away from home. From starting the countdown for the following summer the day they got off the bus to listening to endless camp stories. They established friendships that started in the BB's and continue on today.
Cheryle Rosenberg

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Camp Wahanowin is such an important part of our kid's lives. Through camp they have enjoyed a wide variety of programs including land and water sports, drama, outdoor camping, hiking excursions and leadership activities. They have story after story of good times and memorable experiences. Burt camp has also given them the opportunity to act as leaders, encouraging them to develop as responsible, dependable young adults working with Wahanowin campers.

Since our first summer with Camp Wahanowin in 1988, our boys have formed special friendships that continue all year round, long after the camp season ends. For our eldest boys, many of these relationships are 14 years old! But most importantly, camp has given our four boys an incredible annual experience together. The bickering and teasing that we witness at home, disappears at camp as they become a team -- united not only by family, but by the incomparable and unique time they share at camp. This is a part of their lives that they share with one another -- a private experience that doesn't include us -- but unites them like members of a special club.

Summers at Wahanowin have also provided us with a break. Each summer we look tour own freedom knowing that there is no where else that our kids would rather be.

Our boys have attended 44 seasons at Wahanowin ( 14 years, 13 years, 10 years and 7 years). I don't know what that add up to in dollars -- but every dollar has been well spent.
Barb and Len Sax