Camp Cast

On this episode of the pod, fan favorite Cooper Borstein (Cabin 14) joins me to recap our first full day of camp!  We dive into Big Ten instructional activities, King of the Camp start (with Jerseys!), the first night of canteen, our new cabin cleanup scoring system and much more!

We are back at camp!!!! On this episode of the Camp Cast I have CITs Ryder Spector and Jack Myerthall to recap our first day of camp. We hope you enjoy these daily episodes throughout the summer. Welcome back to Camp Menominee!

Today on the Season 4 premier of the Camp Cast we have camp parent and media mogul Melissa Plaskoff take over hosting duties. She grills Jason on camp's COVID 19 plans for the summer. They get into pre-summer quarantine, travel, testing, cohosting, masks, communication….ALL of it. Some of you may remember Melissa from one of our most popular episodes where she helped first year families get to know me and camp a bit. We were thrilled to have her back! Oh! And if you’d prefer you can watch the full video of our interview on our YouTube page. That’s right people, we are multi-platform now. Enjoy!

While Camp Menominee has been around since 1928, we have only been on our grounds on County D since 1947. Before that, our land was famously used as the Comiskey Family Far. Today on this very special episode of the Podcast, Jason is joined by life long Northwoods resident Maxine Drager. Maxine’s parents were the caretakers of the Comiskey Farm before it was purchased by Nate Wasserman and turned into the site we know today as camp! Maxine tours camp with Jason, Jeff, Woody, Jeremy and others, and discusses what it looked like back in the 1930s and 40s. We discuss what buildings were there, how her bedroom is now Woody’s office,  what the Comiskey family was like, mob ties in the area and what the storm shelter was actually used for! Despite some of the choppy audio, this one is DEFINITELY worth the listen if you are interested in Camp’s history.

On this VERY special episode of the Camp Cast, Jason,  along with co-hosts and pod favorites Jeremy Kohlenbrener and Jeff Toombs, is joined by CM Alum and members of the 2000 Senior Cabin Matt Schwartz, Jon Sider and Loren Rue,  They dive deep into the 2000 cancelled competition with Camp Kawaga, and all of the ripple effects that occurred as a result. This episode deals with many things that our current campers are going through right now: learning how to handle disappointment, building resilience, persevering through a tough time, getting creative in the moment, and making the best of the hand we are dealt. To top it off, this episode was recorded LIVE from the deck in front of the office one evening with a full audience! This was a blast to record and we hope you love listening to it. Enjoy!

After a brief hiatus the Camp Cast is back and as good as ever! We are going to release regular episodes of the podcast for the rest of the summer, and to kick it off, we are putting out a gem. A couple months ago Jason recorded a quarantine pod with Jacob Schneider, Nate Beermann, Miles Provus, Ethan Mann, Cooper Spector and Ryan Martin. Well that footage is finally being released today! We hope you enjoy as the boys grill Jason on bringing back sub-Nate awards, the canteen, and their love of Snapple. We also debut 2 new segments: “Q and A with J” and “Instagram Follow Backs”. We hope you enjoy!

On this VERY special episode of the podcast Jason is joined by one of our favorite guests Jeremy Kohlenbrener! They do a DEEP dive into the "Best Camp Competition Game" bracket and break down the best matchups, greatest upsets of the tournament and celebrate the overall champion: Vroom (2:15). Then Jason is joined by the creator of Vroom, Matthew Vrooman himself (38:40)! Matthew was a counselor for 1 year back in 1997 and had no idea that his game had this much of an impact on camp. They discuss how it was invented and how Vroom has evolved over the last 23 years. We had a lot of fun with this episode and we hope you enjoy it! Here is a copy of the bracket if you'd like to follow along.

Today on the podcast, Jason starts by briefly addressing COVID-19 and what camps are doing to prepare. Then he welcomes back one of our favorite guests all the way from England...Josh Ingram! They dive in to an all new ReCAMPables about the 2019 16A Soccer game which Josh describes as "my Super Bowl". Spoiler alert: Josh was so nervous before the match he may have lost his breakfast in the woods before kickoff...enjoy!

The 2005 Menominee vs. Kawaga competition will always be remembered by one phrase, "The Pin". With the competition tied at 15-15, the wrestling meet would decide the winner. After a number of hard fought matches Menominee needed a pin from it's heavyweight wrestler, Zak Ellman, to win the meet and take the competition. On this fantastic episode of the podcast Jason is joined by camp favorites Brian Bulgatz, Jeremy Kohlenbrener and the man himself Zak Ellman, to talk about that historic camp moment. They break down the significance, hand out awards and dive deep into the impact a moment like this can have on the camp experience. We hope you enjoy this engaging, funny and surprising episode!

Hi Everybody!! We have a new segment we are debuting today on the pod: The Recampables! The idea is that we are going to find memorable/important/fun moments in camp history and break them down. For the first ever episode Jason is joined by 4 of the 6 Green & White color war captains from 2016 to talk about the most controversial finish to the all-camp Relay (and Green & White) in camp's history. It is the first, and only, time we had to go to video review to determine the winner of the relay and the whole competition! So we hope you enjoy this new pod that was recorded in person with Jake Goodman, Josh Goodman, Sam Miller and Benjie Soren...we definitely had fun doing it. 

On this VERY special episode of the podcast we have on two of our favorite guests: Menominee Assistant Director Jeff Toombs and Waterfront Director Jeremy Kohlenbrener. They join Jason to give you a full update of returning and new staff for the summer of 2020. They even might have some special guests in studio live to make the announcement themselves... The guys also share stories from the Chicago reunion, debut a new segment called "Rumor Mill with Jeff, Jeremy and Jason" and create a 2020 camp slogan caption contest. Enjoy!

On this VERY special episode of the pod Jason is joined by two-thirds of the Directorship of Chippewa Ranch Camp for Girls. As camp directors, one of the most popular topics we get asked about is single gender vs. co-ed camps. Why should I send my son/daughter to a single gender camp? What are the major differences between this and co-ed camping? Hows does choosing one or the other impact my camper's growth and development? I have a son and a daughter, should I not be looking to send them to the same camp?!? We cover all of this and more in this open, honest and vulnerable discussion. Thanks again to Cliff and Sari! You can check them out at the new chippewaranchcamp.com. We hope you enjoy this episode and learn a lot!

On this VERY special episode of the Camp Cast we focus on a a value that we hold near and dear to our hearts at camp: the importance of giving back to your community. Jason is joined by Steve Ehrlich (59 year camp veteran and founding member of the Nate Wasserman Camp Fund) and Peter Ehrlich (long time board member of the Fund and lifelong member of the Menominee Family) to discuss the importance of giving the gift of camp. The guys explore the history of the Nate Wasserman Camp Fund, one of the flagship non-profit organizations that helps sends many campers to camp each summer, and discuss camp's role in educating our youth about inclusion, diversity and community service.  To learn more and donate please visit https://natewasserman.com.

We are back with Season 3 of the Camp Cast! We have a great one for you to start this season. On today’s pod I am joined by camp mom and media extraordinaire Melissa Plaskoff. We recorded in studio Melissa's company On-Air Media in Dallas, TX. For the first half of the episode Melissa takes the wheel and interviews Jason to help new families get to know camp’s Owner/Director (2:17). Then we flip the script and ask Melissa to share some first year family tips and tricks so they can feel like insiders before the summer starts (33:48). If you are new to Camp Menominee or camp in general this is the episode to listen to.

Tonight on the pod I am joined by....well, myself. I'm solo tonight folks. We finished our final awards of the night just before midnight, so I am going to give the rest of the staff and campers a break from the pod and I will handle this one. Let me start by saying this: I LOVE this camp, I LOVE this group of counselors and I LOVE each and every camp that comes to Menominee. Tonight I am going to go through the day at camp, recap our TLL playoffs, talk about our Banquet dinner, and breakdown the awards given out. Then, I will talk about how we chose our Junior and Intermediate honor campers and tell you why Gavin Bramwit is a spectacular choice for the Nate Wasserman Award this summer.  Finally, I will share some closing summer remarks, dole out some well deserved "thank you's" and talk about what truly makes Menominee special. 

On this Green & White relay edition of the podcast I am joined by victorious White captains Jack Forman, Jack Kaplan and Dylan Schwartz. We break down the entire all-camp relay, as well as look back at a great Green & White competition which was won by the White team 2000-1750. 

On this late-night episode of the pod I am joined by Admin members (and podcast favorites) Josh Ingram and Jeremy Kohlenbrener. While the kids are in bed and prepare for the Green & White relay tomorrow, we recap a great Field Day at camp, break down The Sing and look behind the curtain of  the Green & White scoreboard. Enjoy!

On this last weekend of camp edition of the podcast I am joined by Cabin 14 members Charlie Eisenberg and Asher Diamond. We break down an action packed Saturday of Green & White and League Championships. Then we dive into the unique experience that is the last Sunday of camp including Doc's Run, the Menominee Masters, the final Way ceremony and the Hatchet Hunt. We also update you all on the Green & White scoreboard through 13 events. 

Tonight on the podcast I am joined by the creator of the new hit Green & White game "Egg Time" Jonah Gagerman. We talk about the success of his creation, all of the other G&W events from the last 2 days, league championships and our 10 year celebration ceremony. Enjoy!

On this very special episode of the podcast, I am joined by Cabin 19 residents Zach Meyers and Jake Topel to recap a full day of Green & White activities including a major White Team comeback with wins in the Counselor Hunt, Creatively Acquire the Energy Source and Mannequin Madness. We also discuss how Woody was found for the first time in 29 years during the Counselor Hunt, and look ahead to all the great things to come the rest of the week.