Staff T-shirt Quotes

A collection of shirts

T-shirt Quilt

Mike Mattson holding up staff shirt 2019

Every summer the staff receive a staff t-shirt with a quote on the back. The quote is usually symbolic of that summer in some way or was said a lot that season. The quote starts with "Summer of (and the year)...(then the quote)". Below is a list of the quotes and the story behind them.

1984 Facilitators of Fun

A Maroon shirt with White letters, short sleeve.

This was the first year of the quoted t-shirts. It was a huge hit with the staff, and Director Ben Brewster was credited with the idea. This was however Ben's last summer.

1985-1988 no quotes

With Ben gone, the idea was lost.

1989 Making a Difference

A Maroon shirt with White letters, short sleeve

One of the staff members from the 1984 staff returned for one last summer on staff before he needed to move into his career. It was Peter Herzig who mentioned a fond memory to the '84 shirts and asked that we order one for the '89 summer. A piece of paper was passed around at a staff meeting for quote ideas and after a brief debate it was David Jenkins' quote that was chosen.

1990 We're Just Not Kidding

A Grey shirt with Maroon letters, short sleeve

The summer of 1990 was one of the most memorable summers. Many summer camps were starting to close do to a lack of enrollment and BRC only had about 26 campers and SIX staff. There was no funds for T-shirts so they were never ordered. About 4 years later, the Mattson brothers ordered 1990 quoted shirts and mailed them to the 1990 staff. It was such a memorable and crazy summer that shirts were just needed. As a staff we had to pull off so many outrageous things and persevere through so much that we often had to say to people We're Just Not Kidding when we said what we wanted to do or what we had done.

1991 Chief Ain't Runnin' No Country Club

A White shirt with Maroon letters, short sleeve

This is one of the most popular and most well known of camp's shirt quotes. During the '91 season a movie was shown about a summer camp with a director named Chief. In the movie the campers sing a song called Chief Ain't Runnin No Country Club. Although the name of the movie escapes memory, the song was sung around camp a few times that summer.

1992 A Sideshow

A White shirt with Maroon letters, short sleeve

The summer of 1992 was a total blast! Led by Director Bob Van Dyk, the staff was often referred to as a sideshow. Every single staff member that summer could have pulled off being an elite Campfire MC. The announcements after meals would be referred to as sideshows and would last twice as long as the norm with counselors giving 2 or 3 crazy announcements per meal. With little budget, killing time with goofy announcements worked wonders.

1993 Stay On Target

A White shirt with Maroon letters, short sleeve

This is an obvious Star Wars reference. Star Wars references were used quite a bit in 1993. For example, when a camper would ask the Head Counselor a million questions the HC might eventually say, "No Jabba, You Bodda" while waving his finger. Stay On Target was often used to get the campers to gain focus when they're not paying attention or drifting.

1994 Walking Your Own Mile

A White shirt with Maroon letters

This quote was meant to promote independence which is a skill that many campers come to camp to work on and to inspire them to go after their personal goals in life.

1995 Rising To A Higher Level

A Grey shirt with Maroon letters, short sleeve

This is one of the best quotes symbolically. After about five summers of waivering over whether or not camp is going to open each summer. Many decided to stand tall and say, "We will keep the Rock open". With this declaration and the support of many the Lodge Reconstruction happened. Plans were in the works for better equipment and training. BRC was on its way back up to the top again.

1996 Another Day, Another Badge

A Grey shirt with Maroon letters, short sleeve

During the summer of 1996, Archery instructor Jared Levine would get up just about every day with a badge announcement. By the tenth time of starting the announcement the same way, he started saying "Another Day", and then every one else would say, "Another Badge". The idea that badges were being awarded to campers everyday was great.

1997 United We Stand

A Grey shirt with Green ringer and Green letters, short sleeve

Led by Director Deering and a great older, experienced staff, Birch Rock decided to become accredited with the American Camping Association. It was a major effort to get everything from paperwork and training, equipment and maintenance, staff regulations, etc. up to ACA standards, but once we were done Birch Rock had become a top notch camp and a recognized camp within the industry. This move would put our camp on the map and enable us to grow and gain a larger camper base. The staff was proud to work together with little argument and were 100% united in its effort to gain an A rating within the ACA ranks.

1998 Shake A Hand, Make A Friend

A Grey shirt with Maroon letters, short sleeve

This was a major summer for the presence of visiting staff member Dave Weeks. In 1998 Dave gave an announcement to the kids about how to introduce yourself to people with confidence, a strong handshake and good eye contact. Now, usually when someone is introduced to the camp, they will be introduced by saying something like, "This is my brother Jim. So Shake a hand, Make a friend.

1999 Greatest Camp In The World

A White shirt with Maroon letters, short sleeve

During Introductions on Opening Day of 1999, CJ Nesher gave a terrific introduction of himself and then went into a speech about how the campers should be psyched to be at camp because Birch Rock was literally the greatest camp in the world. This hit home with so many that it came up many more times that summer.

2000 Chief Ain't Running No Country Club

A Maroon shirt with White letters, short sleeve

We were late in ordering the shirts in 2000 and needed a quote quickly after a brief debate we decided to reprint the 1991 quote because it was the most memorable. This made the 2000 shirt kind of the millennium shirt of remembering the best of the past.

2001 Building New Legends

A Grey shirt with Maroon letters, long sleeve

When it came time to pick the quote for 2001, it was Josh Pincus who was talking about the fact that we always glorify the heroes of the early years of Birch Rock without recognizing the more recent greats. Josh said as we move into the new millennium we need to build Birch Rock some new legends. "I mean that's what we're doing," he said, "we're building new legends."

2002 Run With The Pack

A Maroon shirt with White letters, short sleeve

As we prepared for the upcoming season, Director Mike Mattson decided to order a quoted shirt for staff to have right away as a morale booster. The plan was also to have a "Summer of" quoted shirt but many thought that the one shirt was enough. That's why the 2002 shirt is the only one without the year on it.

2003 Make It Happen

A Maroon shirt with White letters, short sleeve

During Staff Orientation Week, junior counselor Ben Young was wearing a baseball cap with the words, "Make It Happen" on it. The staff loved it so much that it became a motto and statement of the summer. In fact it is still used around camp often still.

2004 Running Like a Well Oiled Machine

A Maroon shirt with White letters, short sleeve

There were many times in June leading up to the summer that Director Mike Mattson would refer to his staff as running like a well oiled machine when asked by parent, board members, etc. how they look. It was often enough that he started calling them WD-40. At the end of the summer the 2004 shirt had "WD-40" where "staff" would have been on the front of the shirt.

2005 Another Day Not Touched Yet

A White shirt with Maroon letters, short sleeve

In 2005, the staff seemed to have the campers sing "Hit the Hay" much more often then the norm. In fact, for many events, they sang it once seated and then a second time as they left for bed. By the end of the summer it was the only song the new kids had learned.

2006 Green is the Tertiary Color

A Green shirt with White letters, short sleeve

The staff wanted a green Birch Rock staff shirt so badly that they were arguing that green is the third camp color behind crimson and gray. The argument was that green symbolized the surrounding nature. In the end, we allowed the green shirt, just this one time.

2007 Ain't No Time For The Jibba Jabba

A Grey shirt with Maroon letters, short sleeve

Director Mattson had a cell phone that had a ringtone of Mister T saying, "Ain't No Time For the Jibba Jabba". The staff started saying it around camp as a way of saying less talk, more action.

2008 This Phoenix Will Soar

A White shirt with Maroon letters, short sleeve

Four days prior to Opening Day, Chief's Cabin, the cabin the director lived in, burned to the ground while the staff were all off campus. Upon return and when the realization of the fire hit, the first thought for many was are we going to open on Wednesday. The answer was yes, this phoenix will soar.

2009 Have a Happy Hotei

A White shirt with Maroon letters, long sleeve

During Staff Orientation, Mike Mattson talked about the story of the Laughing Budda or Happy Hotei. This tale of an ancient monk who believed in always being positive and passing positive energy to others. This monk would walk into villages constantly laughing and smiling and giving candy and gifts to the children. The staff decided to dedicate their energy to always being positive and having a Happy Hotei kind of a day, everyday. When asked to do something in 2009, many of the staff would respond, "Hotei!" (instead of OK)

2010 Making The Jump To Lightspeed

A White shirt with Maroon letters, short sleeve

The pitch to the staff in 2010, during Orientation week, was that we wanted to surprise every camper on campus with new things. We wanted our most experienced senior campers to go "Wow!" as often as possible. We also decided to move some of the program traditions like "Flour Cake" into our First Session program. Instead of all the traditions being stacked into the back part of the summer, we tried to spread things out so everyone, even first session guys got in on some fun. Traditions like Flour Cake, Beach Day, Cabin Competition, Whales, etc. Everything was considered and then spread out over the whole program calendar. This launched us into fun very quickly. Instead of our staff slowly building up to a glorious finale, it was a "jump to lightspeed" right out of the gate. Right away in weeks one and two, we were doing crazy camp stuff. It made for a sensational summer. The Millenium Falcon was chosen as the symbol on the shirt because a group of our staff all threw funds together to purchase a staff car named "the Millenium Falcon"..... To The Falcon!

2011 I'm In!

A Maroon shirt with White letters, short sleeve

The 2011 staff worked well together as a unit. Everyone got along and connected with each other so well, we were a perfect TEAM. Every morning our staff huddle ends with someone saying, "I'm in" and putting their hand in the circle. All then say, "I'm in" for the morning staff "Oooo-Rah!"

2012 Old School, Hardcore, Long Term

A Maroon shirt with White letters, short sleeve

This shirt was dedicated from the 2012 staff to Rich Deering and Mike Mattson and their many years of year round, dedicated service. These two men live, breathe and eat Birch Rock 24-7 and have for over 3 decades. Many others like Mike Apicelli, Dave Weeks, Erik Joelsson, Pam Stock, etc. Were also still around giving all they could to the place they loved. Birch Rock is generations coming together.

2013 Just Crazy Enough

A Grey shirt with Green ringer and Green letters, short sleeve

Our 2013 staff was a terrific mix of veterans and new guys of all ages and stages. Real pros, who knew how to run a safe, adventurous program. They had it all and were "just crazy enough" to keep that fresh camp energy going.

2014 Knights of Biroca

A White shirt with Maroon letters, short sleeve

Ever since the Game of Thrones books were released, Mike Mattson and Ryan Massey had been talking about the Birch Rock staff being Knights of Biroca. In 2014, Ryan created a new game called the Knights of Biroca which ended in a game on the hill where the staff were formed into a giant dragon, and the campers had to pull flags off of certain counselors to eliminate certain limbs of the dragon. In order to win, the campers had to get the flag off of the staff member who was considered the heart of the dragon. One of the oldest campers, Ed Stafford, leaped his way in and was able to pull the flag. It was fun, it was different. The men of Birch Rock are noble and chivalrous gentlemen who want to Help the Other Family. They are...the Knights of Bircoa!

2015 Ain't No Brakes On This Crazy Train

A White shirt with Maroon letters, short sleeve

A new generation of up and coming staff began to truly soar. These guys were funny, brilliant and CRAZY!

Also, a staff car had it's brakes release sending their car rolling down the hill into a tree.

2016 "90" in the Bucket

A Maroon shirt with White letters, short sleeve

This summer was the summer of Kan Jam. The boys were frisbee guys and they were playing Kan Jam all the time. Also, the staff introduced THE BUCKET, a character made up of a walkie talkie in a small bucket who would announce Evening Activity. Finally, it was our 90th season.

2017 Attitude is Everything

A Maroon shirt with White letters, short sleeve

This quote is most associated with Mr Don Munn, who passed away before the 2017 season. The staff wanted something to remember him by and this quote says it all.

2018 New Experiences, Old Traditions

A White shirt with Maroon letters, short sleeve

In 2018, we had a terrific discussion about the importance of trying new things and exploring all the activities. This discussion fired up the idea of the "Junior Badge Sweep." The staff didn't want the quote to just be try new things, so that led us to NEW EXPERIENCES. And of course we all know how much we love our traditions at Birch Rock.

2019 Let's Go!!

A Heather Grey shirt with Crimson letters, short sleeve

Many of the campers and staff were using the term, "Let's Go!" whenever they were pumped about something. It was heard all over campus often.

2020 Dedicated Passionate Leaders

A White shirt with Maroon letters, short sleeve

The summer of 2020 was a hugely important summer for those few young men able to make it to BRC. The COVID-19 pandemic was in full swing and a very few dedicated diehards made it to camp. This was Leadership Camp. 23 campers, 7 CITs and a small staff. It was a successful summer in that all enjoyed camp and no one caught the virus.