We begin WEEK II of Westbury Christian All-Star Basketball Camps which means Thursday will again be COOKIE DAY! The term COOKIE DAY may not mean much to you but to our kids- and our school- it's a big thing. Read the following entry, from June 7, 2007, to find out why.
It didn't take long. Shortly after my post about Westbury Christian School All-Star Basketball Camp, entitled The Blueprint, there was an e-mail waiting for me from Nathan Dunn. The e-mail was short and direct. Nathan was bitterly disappointed that I neglected to give him his proper respect for being the originator of Cookie Day at our WCS camps. For my oversight, I sincerely apologize and will take a few lines here to set the record straight.
Nathan was a friend/colleague of three of our coaches; Greg Glenn, Casey Farris, and Russell Carr. They had known each other in Montgomery, Alabama and through these connections, Nathan was invited to work at our camp in Houston in 1999. It's hard to describe Nathan and to give him justice but he is as unique a person as I have met in coaching. I can't remember exactly how it happened seven years ago but as we gave our campers instructions for the next camp day, a Thursday, Nathan suggested it would be wonderful if all of them brought their favorite types of cookies to share with him. I thought it was a joke but the next morning, we were FLOODED with cookies! Thursday happens to be the time set aside for goal setting with our campers so while we talked about improving in several areas, we munched on cookies. The kids loved it and we have never looked back. From that modest beginning, Cookie Day has become a huge part of our camp and helps draw campers, many of whom return year after year. Today was a banner day for cookies, especially in the afternoon session. Many campers bring homemade confections, often based on what coaches admit to being their favorites. A sampler:
1. Greg Glenn: oatmeal raisin
2. Reed Sutton: Girl Scout Thin Mints, slightly chilled
3. Me: sugar cookies with lemon frosting (props to Mitchell/Elena Douglass!)
The highlight with my morning team, the Hoopstars, was one camper bringing ICE COLD MILK for her teammates and coach to wash the OREOS, Chips Ahoys, etc. down with that extra touch of perfection! So today, while the rest of the basketball world focused on Game One of the NBA Finals tonight, we concentrated on more important matters in Houston- COOKIES!
It didn't take long. Shortly after my post about Westbury Christian School All-Star Basketball Camp, entitled The Blueprint, there was an e-mail waiting for me from Nathan Dunn. The e-mail was short and direct. Nathan was bitterly disappointed that I neglected to give him his proper respect for being the originator of Cookie Day at our WCS camps. For my oversight, I sincerely apologize and will take a few lines here to set the record straight.
Nathan was a friend/colleague of three of our coaches; Greg Glenn, Casey Farris, and Russell Carr. They had known each other in Montgomery, Alabama and through these connections, Nathan was invited to work at our camp in Houston in 1999. It's hard to describe Nathan and to give him justice but he is as unique a person as I have met in coaching. I can't remember exactly how it happened seven years ago but as we gave our campers instructions for the next camp day, a Thursday, Nathan suggested it would be wonderful if all of them brought their favorite types of cookies to share with him. I thought it was a joke but the next morning, we were FLOODED with cookies! Thursday happens to be the time set aside for goal setting with our campers so while we talked about improving in several areas, we munched on cookies. The kids loved it and we have never looked back. From that modest beginning, Cookie Day has become a huge part of our camp and helps draw campers, many of whom return year after year. Today was a banner day for cookies, especially in the afternoon session. Many campers bring homemade confections, often based on what coaches admit to being their favorites. A sampler:
1. Greg Glenn: oatmeal raisin
2. Reed Sutton: Girl Scout Thin Mints, slightly chilled
3. Me: sugar cookies with lemon frosting (props to Mitchell/Elena Douglass!)
The highlight with my morning team, the Hoopstars, was one camper bringing ICE COLD MILK for her teammates and coach to wash the OREOS, Chips Ahoys, etc. down with that extra touch of perfection! So today, while the rest of the basketball world focused on Game One of the NBA Finals tonight, we concentrated on more important matters in Houston- COOKIES!
It's a nice little story and it's not really that big a deal...until we look a little closer. Schools like Westbury Christian only exist because of one asset and that is our students. The greatest facilities, the most wonderful faculty, and the best teaching techniques are meaningless without kids. We get no state funding. It is a necessity that we attract new students for survival. Just now, I sat down and counted how many kids I was positive enrolled at WCS because of their exposure to our basketball camps. Very conservatively, I named ten. Based simply on the tuition their parents have already paid and not considering any future payments in upcoming years, I came up with $168,000. Let me say again; that is a low figure. It is also the equivalent of six teacher salaries. It is also at least ten children who have been exposed to the word of God on a daily basis. These kids come in no small part because they love basketball camp and they love basketball camp because of extravaganzas like Cookie Day. In Mark 4, Jesus used the illustration of the largest garden plant, the mustard tree, coming from the tiniest of seeds. And Cookie Day, the greatest of all camp traditions, came from one tiny suggestion. Thanks, Nathan- we owe you!
"Think what a better world it would if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down on our blankets for a nap."
Representative Barbara Jordan
God bless,
Steve/Coach Hawley
Luke 18:1
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Hi, this is Jillian from Random Ramblings. I am trying to contact all the blog's followers.. if you could please read my latest post about the blog's technical problems, I'd greatly appreciate it. You can read the post right here. Thank you so very much!
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