Parents get rundown on historic Camp Ferrwood
- Matt Straub
- Jul 3, 2024
- 3 min read
BUTLER TWP. — Oliver Selida told how he feels when playing the drums.
"There's something calm about it and being with people who play," Selida said during an orientation at Ferrwood Music Camp.
The feeling described by Selida, a seventh grader at Valley Elementary/Middle School and first-time camper, goes back generations at Ferrwood.
"There's something about music that makes a child feel good about himself," Phil Latella, director, said when quoting Farther Joe — the Rev. Joseph Ferrera, who founded Ferrwood in the 1950s.
Latella said he was an awkward teenager when Father Joe gave him a trumpet and taught him to play.
From that, Latella developed confidence to speak that carried him through a career as a teacher, counselor and principal, who retired last year from Heights-Terrace Elementary/Middle School, and that kept him returning to Ferrwood.
"From 13 to 62, I've been coming to music camp," said Latella, who doesn't take a paycheck for running the camp. "I want to give back to the community like Father Joe gave to me."
During the orientation on June 25, one of the Parents' Nights held before camp begins for the first of two weeks on Sunday July 9, Latella introduced Mario Carannante and his daughter, Maurianna, and other families about Ferrwood and showed them around the century-old camp.
The Carannantes drove an hour and 20 minutes from their home in Fleetwood, Berks County. Maurianna heard about the camp from her high school instructor, who taught her to play clarinet the past two years.
At Ferrwood, students learn with instructors who hail from as far away as Texas, California and Pittsburgh.
Grouped by instrument and skill levels, campers play music or practice singing 2½ hours each morning and play in ensembles for 90 minutes after supper.
David Yates, a seventh grader at Central Columbia Middle School, is a trumpeter.
"I really like playing jazz," said Yates, who accompanied his mother Toni-Ann, at orientation.
In addition to ensembles, students put on a talent show one night a week for one another with gags, laughs and serious musicianship and singing. There's carnival games on another night with corn roasts and s'mores.
Afternoons, campers can hike across the grounds, play dodgeball, pickleball or soccer, skid down the waterslide or relax inside the lodge.
"I would love to have this as my basement or a cabin in the woods," Latella said when leading the tour inside. The camp dates to the 1920s as a retreat for children with tuberculosis, and the paneling in the lodge seems from the same era.
The front door resembles the walls, but its new. Finding a door of matching wood cost $750 but preserved authenticity now that Ferrwood is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Foosball and ping-ping tables orbited by wooden tables and blanket-soft chairs make the lounge an enclave for playing board games, learning a new instrument or making art.
Ferrwood started a program for artists last year, making the camp more attractive to Ava Platukis.
Ava, a seventh grader at Valley school, plays drums, guitar and other percussion instruments but also likes art.
"She wants to do both," her mother, Brittany said.
Latella said campers have to choose music or art for their morning lessons and evening ensembles, but having 4 hours of free time every afternoon will give Ava and other campers time to be artsy.
They also will do chores from clearing dining tables to cleaning up their doors.
"Father Joe said, 'You're here to learn to take care of yourself,'" Latella said.
He wakes at 5:30 p.m. to cook breakfast for which he has become renown.
Parents and friends of the camp volunteer for shifts in the dining hall, which serves home-cooked meals from many cultures.
His wife makes the spaghetti sauce during Italian nights on Mondays, Tuesdays are Polish nights with pierogies. On Wednesday a trio of Dominican mothers and grandmothers fry empanadas and the rest of the Latin night menu.
Having volunteers cook and donate food helps keep down the cost of $325 a week for resident campers and $300 for day campers.
Ferrwood lets parents visit any time during the week.
"If you want to work, we'll put you to work. If you want to hang out with the kids, hang out with the kids."
On Fridays, parents attend for pizza night and sit on the lawn while the campers play a concert beneath the band shell.
"It's like being home with your family," Latella said.
Source: Ken Jackson / Staff Writer
Photo Credit: John Haeger / Staff Photographer
Standard-Speaker Newspaper, Hazleton PA