Monday started the Camp Wind-in-the-Pines 2013 Counselor Scrape Off. After every meal, no matter what was eaten that day, the head of the table (a counselor or life guard) scrapes the plates and dishes.

Counselor Boo Shakespeare explains: “After every meal we scrape the food off the plates so they can safely travel through the world of ‘Dishland.’ To add the element of competition, the counselor who can scrape the plates clean the fastest and most effectively is crowned champion of that round and is allowed to proceed to the next round of the scrape off.”

All the campers scream and laugh as plates are frantically tossed in the direction of the scraper. Everyone at the table works together as the scraper tries to find a way to get through the plates quickly and cleanly. For some, however, the state of their own clothes and the table around them were sacrificed for the sake of winning.

On Monday morning, the campers and counselors were feeling pumped, the sound of Head and Shoulders Baby, 123 (a traditional camp song) still fresh in the air. The meal was peaceful… until the first round began and havoc ensued.

Counselors Floute and Boo Shakespeare made it to the tie-breaker round where they had the toughest of all plates to scrape—those covered in chocolate sauce. No matter how frantically they scraped, they could not get the camp china—plastic plates—clean.

 “We endured the most courageous of battles with the dreaded chocolate sauce until a high pitched voice yelled from across the hall ‘LICK IT!’ The chocolate sauce wasn’t the only thing to disappear that day. My dignity went with it as we stretched our tongues to the far corners of the plates (that was a metaphor because circular plates don’t have corners). It was a tough battle but when I felt that the plate couldn’t possibly be any cleaner I shouted ‘DONE!’ Cheers broke out across the dining hall, followed by a sigh from Floute’s fans,” explained Boo Shakespeare.

After an intense battle, Boo Shakespeare, the first scrape off finalist, was crowned. And so ended the 2013 summer camp season. See you next year!