Becket-Chimney Corners YMCA

The Becket-Chimney Corners YMCA consists of Camp Becket, Camp Chimney, and Becket Day Camp, all of which take place in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts during summer. Camp Becket and Camp Chimney identify as boys-plus and girls-plus, respectively.
The cabins do not have electricity, and each camper area (villages for Camp Becket and units for Chimney Corners Camp) has a communal bathroom where kids shower and brush their teeth. In addition to group activities and team-building, campers engage in numerous individual activities, including sports, arts and crafts, boating, ball and team games and nature activities.
During the off-seasons, there are work weekends, during which alumni, staff, and kids participate in work activities, such as wood chip spreading or fixing roofs. An alumni weekend provides an opportunity for alumni to reconnect. All of these events are hosted at Chimney Corners Camp because of the heated and insulated cabins. Camp Becket has recently constructed a new dining hall.
Chapel is a non-religious gathering that takes place on Sundays at both Camp Becket and Chimney Corners Camp (separately). Several campers and staff are chosen to give a speech on the theme. It is an outdoor event with a designated location by the lake at both camps.
The Becket-Chimney Corners YMCA offers specialty programs for older campers, such as Construction cabins, for campers interested in carpentry and building skills, and the Adventure Odyssey cabin, for campers interested in rock climbing, bouldering, and backwoods, low-impact camping. One new structure is completed each season. The Adventure Odyssey blends sport climbing using a ropes course, climbing tower, various top-roped chimneys on the property, and off-site climbing locations, with off-site camping and hiking. The focus of this program is group building and leave-no-trace camping techniques.
Each summer since 1963, the Becket-Chimney Corners YMCA sends teenagers around the United States and around the world. The International Camper Exchange Programs (ICEP) focus on service work and cultural exchange in Vietnam, Chile, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, China, Peru, Armenia, Uruguay and Sweden, each of which lasts for about 35 days. The REACH program sends groups to the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota to do service work and learn about Native American life today. The Teen Leadership and Service (TLS) program combines biking and community service in Vermont and New York State. Yellowstone Adventure and Service (YAS) combines adventure activities and service work in Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons.
Aides Program The Aides program is an eight-and-a-half-week leader-in-training program offered to participants finishing their junior year in high school. Dr. Russell Irons started the current program in 1951 as the first step in the camp's leadership development program. Its participants consist of approximately 30 former campers selected from a very competitive pool of applicants. The focus of the Aides Program is to learn how a resident camp operates by assisting in the office, store, infirmary, and kitchen. Aides also partake in lifeguard training and join cabin groups to learn how to become counselors.
REACH The REACH program used to be a co-ed program where participants were trained to become counselors solely in South Dakota. As of 2022, the REACH program has been combined with the Aides Program. The Aides each stay in South Dakota for a total of two weeks, one at Dupree Day Camp and the other at Camp Marrowbone.
Camp Becket, also known as Camp Becket-in-the-Berkshires, is a YMCA summer camp for boys in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts. Founded in 1903 by George Hannum on Rudd Pond in Becket, Massachusetts, it is one of the oldest continually operational summer camps in the United States, and is consistently rated among the best camps of its kind. The camp continues to teach core values espoused by its second director, Henry Gibson (tenure, 1904-1927).
These include the eight Becket Mottos:
The camp is divided into four units, called villages, that each contain eight to ten cabins. From youngest to oldest, these are:
Becket has a tradition of singing songs in the dining hall after meals. It is an enthusiastic way in which campers and staff alike express their love for the camp.
One of the oldest and most often sung songs at Becket is Four Miles Up, sung in a gospel or traditional version:
Four Miles Up
Four miles up,
Four miles down,
Four miles away from Becket Town,
Guess it's worth the four mile tramp
With a Ra Ra Ra for Becket Camp!
Other traditional Becket songs include Becket in the Berkshires, "Oh, Sweet Becket", Sons of Noble Living, Try to Remember, Pink Pajamas, Mountain Dew, Becket Way, "Beckets for me", "Puff", "If I had a hammer", The Canoe Song, and many songs from the Big Show. The most traditional Becket song is Amici, a song about friendship written by one of the camp directors' wives. The song is only sung after all camp activities, such as campfires and talent shows.
Part of the Becket Chimney Corners YMCA, Chimney Corners is a single-sex girl's sister camp to Camp Becket situated about a mile away, on Smith Pond. Chimney Corners offers many opportunities for campers, including horseback riding, tennis, soccer, and many other sports and arts activities. The camp is divided into three different age groups: The Junior Unit (cabins named after famous ships), for ages 7–11; The Intermediate Unit (cabins named after mythical places), for ages 11–13; and the Senior Unit (named after constellations), for ages 13–15. The camp is divided into two four week sessions, although the youngest campers have the opportunity to stay for just two weeks. Campers in the oldest age group can also participate in construction cabins and Adventure Odyssey was reinstated for Chimney Corners in 2014.
Campers older than 14 can take part in travel and service programs, then participate in the Aides Program or travel to a South Dakota Reservation in a program called REACH (Reaching, Educating and Caring for Humanity), and then become an Assistant Counselor and Counselor. Some of the oldest Chimney Corners staff members have been to the camp for over 13 years.
Initiated in 1991, the primary goal of the REACH Program is to help teens develop leadership skills through a service-oriented experience, based in a Lakota Sioux community in South Dakota. The services heighten the importance of volunteer service for the benefit of others. The REACH Program incorporates visits to pow-wows, Badlands National Park, Wounded Knee, Mount Rushmore, and the Crazy Horse Memorial.
In the southwestern corner of the Cheyenne River Reservation, participants stay in the Red Scaffold community center. Red Scaffold is a small town consisting of 15–30 homes, churches, cemeteries, and playgrounds with a population of approximately 100-150 people. REACH groups will also partner with the Sioux YMCA located in the town of Dupree.
Chimney Corners also has its own set of mottos:
Agape: Unconditional love for all of humanity
PACE: Positive Attitude Changes Everything
HELPS: Healthy Living, Empowering Girls and Women, Leadership and Learning, Positive Relationships, and Social Responsibility.
Chimney Corners is also rich with traditions. These include song and dance competitions called Wiff N' Poof and Song and Sign, a 5K color run during first session, and Chimney Palooza, a dance party run by the Aides, during second session.
The Aides program at Chimney provides the opportunity for around 20–30 young women to connect with each other for eight and a half weeks. The girls live in the Ina Gibson Lodge, or the IGL, with group leader/s. The group works to provide services for the camp such as working in the kitchen, office, camp store, and helping out with camper activities. They participate in leadership training programs, learn lifeguarding skills, and interact with campers while simultaneously maintaining camp traditions. One of these traditions is the important process of name selection. Each Aides group must come up with a name with the word "aide" in it, such as "Deviaides" or "Cascaides." After choosing a name, the Aides write a song that describes their group as well as their name, while also building a sign that represents the group. Most songs refer to events of the summer and include inside jokes.
2024: Cascaides
2023: Amoraides
2022: Kalonaides
2021: Amalgamaides
2019: Ebulaides
2018: Deviaides
2017: Revelaides
2016: Coronaides
2015: Syncopaides
2014: Insigniaides
2013: Liberaides
2012: Constellaides
2011: Exuberaides
2010: Escapaides
2009: Reverberaides
2008: Scintillaides
2007: Jubilaides
2006: Invaiders
2005: Incineraides
2004: Exhiliraides
2003: Brigaides
2002: Discombobulaides
2001: Tornaideos
2000: Yippi-Ai-Aides
1999: Milleniaides
1998: Renegaides
1997: Milky Waides
1996: C.I. Aides
1995: Illuminaides
1994: Ricochaides
1993: Hip Hop Hooraides
1992: Grenaides
1991: Masqueraides
1990: Shaides
1989: Decaides
1988: Reggaides
1987: Gatoraides
1986: The Live Aides
1985: Kool - Aides
1984: Band - Aides
42°17′30″N 73°04′43″W﻿ / ﻿42.2918°N 73.0787°W﻿ / 42.2918; -73.0787