July 8 Team Break!

The 1959 Lenorlog recorded this entry: Inter Team Break, by Ellen Boggia, Bunk 16
"All Inter Camp waited expectantly for the day on which teams would break. On the evening of Wednesday, the eighth, we all had a treasure hunt which led us up to the athletic field; there we discovered a suspicious treasure covered with ponchos. Bobby, (Schammel) our head counselor, saw that we were anxious to see what it was, but she prolonged our excitement by having us sing some songs. Suddenly, six counselors popped up and shouted, "Not today, girls!"
Disappointed that the strange treasure did not reveal our teams, we listened quietly to Bobby's announcement that we were all to go to bed. As we trudged into our bunks, we found balloons on the floor; inside of each of them, there was either a green or white piece of paper with someone's name on it. Screams rang out through all inter camp. "Team Break!" It was truly an exciting evening, because team break had occurred after all!"
I still remember those shrieks of excitement. We all ran from bunk to bunk discovering who was on what team. That first summer, I was on the White Team. My team captain was Nora Roberts. Co-captain, Sandy Pearlman. Song Leader: Nan Prussack and Co-Song Leader: Joanne Witty. I see them now, in my camp photo album of 1959, proudly displaying the team mascot on the Lenore pillow...green shorts, white shirts, pony tails, broad smiles. (I am, as usual, on the end.) I wonder how they all look now...

*The Olympic "Experiment"
At some point during my tenure at Lenore, the idea of continual competition became somewhat controversial, and an ill-fated attempt was made in 1964 to eliminate Color War, and adopt an Olympic-style competition instead. (I guess It sounded less belligerent.) One can imagine that after 47 years of Color Wars, and all the traditions that went with it, this news was not received particularly well. A near-mutiny ensued. A hasty compromise was reached that included both a shortened Color War and an Olympics for that summer. The result was that it only divided the camp further. Fortunately, the traditionalists prevailed and the directors wisely re-established all summer Color War for the 1965 season.