The CYO North “Warriors” took on the CYO Vancouver “Cougars” in a very competitive game where the score did not tell the whole story. Both teams played a tough season and had a great showing in the championship event. The final score was 16 – 30 in favor of Vancouver. Congratulations to both teams.
Vancouver “Cougars” Fifth and Sixth Grade win the CYO Championship for 2014
CYO Football has been under a lot of change these past two years. The goal has been to develop a seventh grade team separate from the eighth grade team. In order to do this, it was necessary of merge the regions to create more players and thereby have enough players to have the two age / grade groups stand alone. Therefore Region 1 Spartans joined the Region 2 Bishops and became “CYO North”. Region 5 Saints and Region 6 Knights merged to become “CYO WEST”. Region 3 Kings and Region 4 Eagles merged to become “CYO SOUTH”. Region 8 Stayton Rams continued on unchanged and Region 7 Vancouver Cardinals became “CYO Vancouver” and changed their nick names to the “Cougars”. There was a lot of give and take necessary for the changes to take place as CYO merged with the PYFL Portland Youth Football League and began playing games with them. In most cases it turned out to be a positive experience and CYO will continue down this road. The PYFL does not play an end of season championship so CYO continued the tradition playing for the CYO title at the end of the season.
In Third and Fourth grade the Stayton “Rams” played the CYO West where both teams were plagued by fumbles at the beginning of the game. Pre game jitters for sure! In the end after a well played and fun to watch game, the Regis Rams won with a final score of 24 – 6.
Stayton Rams make a trip to Beaverton for the 3/4 grade championship football game November 2014
CYO West Football from the Beaverton area play in the CYO Football Championships November 2014
You may wonder…”What happens after the summer programs and Outdoor School programs at Camp Howard? You might not know that Camp Howard is open all year round and people rent the camp for family events like weddings, family reunions, retreats, church picnics etc. During January and most of February we do a lot of interior work like painting walls and renovations. Right now Aldergrove Unit is being renovated on the interior. Bunks and walls are being painted, things are being spiffed up so that campers will come to the unit and really appreciate the new clean look.
During the winter we sometimes get strong winds. Generally nothing happens except branches might fall and litter the ground. But every so many years we get especially high winds and these extra strong winds take down trees that are diseased. We lost one tree to high winds this winter and it hit All Saints Cabin in Aldergrove. It knocked the cabin off its foundation and the porch came off. It was a pretty hard hit and I am really glad we did not have any campers in the camp when it happened.
You may be interested to know that most often the trees that come down in the wind storms are the Hemlocks. Camp Howard is made up of mostly Douglas Fir, Oregon’s most popular crop tree.
The photos below show the damage that was done. We are in the process of fixing the cabins and my next posts will show where we are in that process. Check out these photos of the cabin and let me know your thoughts or reactions.
All Saints Cabin in Aldergrove unit was built in 1995. It was hit by a tree this winter and knocked off it’s foundation.
The rootball of the Hemlock tree that fell can be seen here as well as the “shadow” of where it lay prior to being sawed into “rounds” and removed to be made into firewood. The shadow is the sawdust!
The front of the cabin shows the porch off to the right, the stairs upside down to the right and the porch sitting at an angle to the front of the door. “Light still works!”
The fascia board hangs from the building by a few nails and the building has a number of issues that must be addressed.
When the building was thrust against the tree and moved off the foundation, it continued its downward movement and part of the foundation came through the floor of the cabin.
Another area where the foundation punched through the floor
Even the garbage can did not escape a “crunch!” Wrong place wrong time!
Mark Lee, CYO Director of Swimming, will be working with his outstanding volunteers in the swim program to present the final swim event of the 2014-15 swim season. The All Star Meet is unique in that it gives swimmers the opportunity to swim by gender and grade as opposed to cub (3rd through 5th grade) or cadet (6th through 8th).
The event will take place at the Mt. Hood College pool on Saturday January 31 from 1:00 until 5:30. This year, for the first time, All Star Swim Tee Shirts will be available for purchase by participants.
It has been a while since my last blog entry so I will try to get back with it and bring you up to speed on what is going on with CYO/Camp Howard!
We are into the winter sports of Basketball and Swimming. Swimming completed the end of season Championships and all that remains is the All Star Meet which will be held Saturday January 31st at Mt. Hood Community College.
The CYO Championships meet saw Our Lady of Lourdes from Vancouver, WA win the overall championship! All Saints took second and Valley Catholic finished third. Over 800 youth between grades K and 8 participate in the CYO Swim program, an all time record number of swimmers for the Greater Portland program.
Basketball competition is in its third week of play and end of season tournament play begins the end of February. Championships run through the second weekend in March.
Track and Field, Baseball and Lacrosse are gearing up for spring and registration is open!
Seven youngsters signed up for Trap Camp this year to learn the sport of shooting clay targets with a shot gun. All of the members of the 2014 trap team can tell you that “ignorance and carelessness” are the two contributing factors to accidents with guns. Most people are shot with “unloaded guns” and “treat every gun as a loaded gun”
Every participant in the camp was successful. They enjoyed this newfound sport and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them on a trap range someday! Way to go kids!
Ellen
Mary
Tony
Evan
Devin
Nate
Will
The Camp Howard Store is one of the most popular activities at Camp Howard. A daily trip to the center of camp commerce finds campers and counselors alike excited for every trip! You will find all kinds of things at the camp store, candy, pop, snow cones, pop corn, frisbees, cameras, gatorade, water, flashlights, jewelry, Camp Howard Commemorative Pins, and stuffed animals such as the Camp Howard mascot, the COUGAR!
Camp Howard after all, is located on Cougar Mountain in Clackamas, County between Sandy and Corbett, OR.
Cheyenne Cunning is operating the Camp Howard store this summer.
1. Sunday…Jubilee Sunday with the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon – Celebrating anniversaries in Religious Life…One celebrating 75 years, (3) 60’s and (1) 50 years… Who are these fantastic women and what are their stories?
2. Monday – Thursday Trap Camp at Camp Howard! Shooting clay targets with shot guns!
3. The Camp Store and how it operates and who operates it this year
4. Behind the scenes at Camp Howard! Who is behind the scenes and what are they doing?
PORTRAIT Art Camp ONE is over and I have to say…”what a great group of kids to spend a week with!” Hailing from All Saints, St. Cecilia, St. Matthew and Valley Catholic! AND… passionate about art!
Special thanks to instructor, Joanne Kollman, local artist extraordinaire who presented the Portrait Art Camp and made it happen!
The day ended with an art show attended by parents and several of the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon. Student artists shared about their work and what they learned.
Great representatives from their schools! It was a great week! Here are a few great memories…
CYO/Camp Howard 