The Sari Diaries- Monday 7/7/25

Dear Chippies, Parents, Family and Friends,

United Nations Day 2025 is over but the memories made today will last a lifetime. The spirit and sportsmanship levels were off the charts and the leadership displayed by the captains and advisors was amazing. From our youngest campers to our oldest staff members, every member of the Chippewa community was into the day. Today was a day that made an impact! Here are the details…

Danielle Kaplan & Reese Stone were the UN Day heads and they planned an incredible day. In addition to a wonderful birthday wake-up for Rosie H, “United Nations on the March” played across camp to get in the UN Day spirit. At lunch we ate with our teams, which I love. It is so cute to see campers and staff of all ages who might not normally sit together enjoying some team comradery. After breakfast and a short cabin clean-up, we all headed to the Center Fire Circle for the opening ceremonies. There was plenty of cheering before the UN Day torch made its way across the world to our fire pit. Cliff shared the story of his journey last night from camp to all four countries in his pursuit to bring the torch back to CRC. Danielle and Reese read us the preamble and teams cheered for their captains and advisors as they signed the wood that will forever commemorate this day.

As tradition dictates, the actual competition began with leg wrestling in the North Field. The camp was broken up into five divisions by age/gender and everybody competed hard. The big winners were Joss R, Lucy B, Lizzy LoGrande and Dan Wood. There was also a big crew from Monaco left for the Senior Wrangler division…that team was full of leg wrestling beasts! The energy was incredibly high to start this day…Chippies were excited to get back on the mats and show their leg wrestling skills.

Throughout the day, teams competed in a variety of activities. From banner making to flag football and from word search to soccer, there is literally an activity for everyone. Soph-Aloaf and I refereed the South Field football game, which was awesome. The skill level was impressive…my favorite part about it though was that the intensity was able to be kept at a high level while fantastic sportsmanship also never wavered. There were a couple of real highlights in the game. First of all, Charlotte H of Monaco, scored the first two touchdowns…she was an underrated pick for sure. And with ten seconds left in the game, Lexi S threw a pass to Willow K in the end zone to tie the game. It was outrageously exciting and the crowd went wild!

During rest-hour, we had Colt & Wrangler Village tug-of-war along with running relays. Tug-of-war, as always, was a wonderful demonstration of team work. Ellie A was determined and strong as she was at the front of her team’s tug of war rope…they fell behind early in the competition and but they came back and pulled it across the line! And the wheels on our campers & staff during the relays was amazing. Before dinner we had our water events…camper/staff relays along with a blobbing competition…wow was that fun to watch. Laney K and Naomi M, the captains of Dominica, participated in the blob competition together…it was adorable to see them get so into this event!

After the BBQ, we all headed to the Center Fire Circle for a final round of cheering and the announcement of the winners. Amazingly enough, after a full day of activities- and I mean even more full than normal- the cheers were bursting with spirit and energy…it was crazy! Adorra took fourth place while Dominica finished third and Tuvalu came in second. Yes, it is true…that means Monaco won UN Day here at #TheRanch2025.

The day was superb…it is always one of my personal summer highlights and today did not disappoint! I would like to personally thank Danielle, Reese and all of the captains & advisors for their hard work, leadership and passion. The day was enjoyed by all of us, and UN Day will continue to live on as an absolute favorite here at CRC.

Okay, that’s all I have to report from UN Day 2025 here on Dam Lake. Just in case I wasn’t clear, the day was stupendous! Thanks for reading…talk to you all soon :).

Happy Camping and Love,

Sari