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Page Updated:
July 16, 2006
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HSR
Awards - Then and Now
by
Dr. Jamie Kissick (74-76,88-96)
Up | The Army Trucks | Camp Seven | Camp Seven A | Canoe Building | Chief's Paddle Award | HSR Awards: Then and Now | HSR Songs 1981 | Infernal Incinerator | Keith Whiten Memorial Award | Leaving | Lost Kennabi Cabin | Purple Bead Award | Supervisor's Award Recipients | Steam Train | The Victoria Railroad Co.
I had the extremely good
fortune last August [1996] to attend the closing banquet for HSR Staff. This was
the 4th closing banquet which I have attended, the previous one being in
1976! It was certainly great to be back for this very special event and
it was remarkable how much of it seemed so similar to that which I remember
from the ‘70’s. Shirley Whitwell (81-96) and her staff prepared a fantastic
meal and it was evident from all the staff attending that there was a great
deal of pride in a summer’s job well done.
As was the case in my earlier
tenure at the camp, the high point of the evening was the presentation
of the various awards. I kept a rough tally of the number of awards given
out which I have subsequently managed to misplace, but what was striking
was the extremely large number of awards, particularly Wozzles, RCB’s,
and Pitter’s Chips. Certainly the criteria for earning one of these awards
seemed to be quite different from that which I recall in the mid-’70’s.
My understanding at that time was that an RCB had to be a spontaneous act
which was well, to put it simply, really cool! Spontaneity was the key,
anything which was planned was not considered for the award. A Wozzle was
awarded for a more, shall we say, klutzy move, but one that retained an
element of “cool” (the fact I tended to win Wozzles as opposed to other
awards would tend to support the klutzy part of the argument). Finally
a Pitter’s Chip was not an award for simply being lazy and not getting
the job done, but rather a recognition to someone who always got the job
done with the minimal amount of exertion necessary. I thought it would
be very interesting to hear what other people’s experiences with the awards
were, particularly with those who developed them in the earlier years of
the camp.
The only award which I really
had a hand in introducing was really a re-introduction of the
Purple Bead
which was a composite award at the time and which we applied to the staff.
The initial criteria which I recall for this award, was the member of staff
you would be most comfortable being lost in the woods with, in that this
person would demonstrate the qualities of leadership, ingenuity etc.. to
deal with a situation such as that. I recall that
Tracey Stock (74-78)
was the initial winner in 1976, I believe.
One other award which I recall
fondly from that era in the Crashing Boor award which, probably quite justly,
is no longer awarded. One year, the winner was Mike Jansen who worked in
the Country Store. As his name was called, Mike proceeded to walk across
the fully set banquet table to the head table where, after accepting his
award, he proceeded to take a picture of himself with his own camera. Certainly
a performance supporting him being named the award winner! It would be
interesting to hear more about how the awards were developed, what their
original criteria were, and some stories about award winners and what they
did to achieve their prestigious decorations.
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