September 23, 2012 - George's Island with Zumix

This past weekend we had another very successful ICO trip with the Zumix crew-- many thanks to Laura for organizing!

Our windy Sunday morning started with a hearty bagel breakfast and distribution of water bottles and gear in the upstairs Zumix lounge. Our last few participants rolled in at the last minute and we were off to George’s Island with 5 ICO volunteers, 2 Zumix staff, and 12 kids.

One T ride, about seven “make sure the kids are all there” counts, two name games, and one ferry ride later... we arrived on George’s Island. We walked to the far side of the island near some old bunkers where it was slightly more sunny and slightly less windy. ICO volunteers, Chris and Caitlin organized a capture the flag game that turned out to be much more intense than expected! I don’t think we really kept score but the kids who played were active and competitive, not to mention Zumix staff, Dan and Mike, more than once making a dash for the flag at once. However, there’s almost no competing with one of our participants, a varsity track runner.

While it was my first trip with the Zumix crew, I imagine that no Zumix trip is complete without an impromptu rap battle/beat boxing session/concert and the group did not disappoint on George’s Island. The talent of some of these kids is amazing and it’s great to see that they have an outlet like Zumix.

We headed into the fort after lunch and were greeted by a woman dressed in period clothing including a hoop skirt. She explained a bit of the history of the fort, which served as a prison for Confederate soldiers during the Civil War and as a defense control center again u-boats during WWII. With a little help from our veteran Fort Warren visitors, she told the story of the Lady in Black who haunts the island looking for her Confederate husband and then taught the kids some of the games that they may have played in the 1800s. The most popular game involved a wooden hula hoop and a stick. Many of the kids got the hang of running alongside the hoop and hitting it with the stick to keep it moving but soon enough the game evolved into plain hula hooping and trying to jump through a rolling hoop. There were other games, one of which included throwing a decorated small hoop with drumsticks, and another that was called a buzz saw. This part of the day was a huge hit and many of the participants cited it as their favorite part of the day when Tom, an ICO volunteer, led our closing circle.

The last part of our day was the fort tour where we explored an old common space, one of the pitch black caves (singing concert included--it was great with the echo) and also the upper, grassy level of the fort. The view from up there was amazing!

All in all, it was a great day and the kids were so easy, albeit a bit loud, to be around. Thanks again to Laura and all the other volunteers.

Happy Friday,

Cassie Bannos

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