40 years is a lot of tradition. I first got my camp name back when I was 16 and working at Camp Ambassador. That summer every one new was named for an Archie comics character and since I was the biggest guy, Moose it was. It was also the year I grew my beard, though it had much more colour then. 

The next camp I worked at (Camp Ganadaoweh) I tried to get a new camp name. That summer everyone was being named for animals. Bear was taken by the camp director. Yup, I was still Moose. From that time on, I have owned it and made it my own. 

Camp names are magical adding to the mystery of camp. Being Moose allowed me the freedom to become who I wanted to be and in some ways it is also a character I put on. There’s nothing like hearing a camper yell “Moose!” when they see you away from camp, like across the Burlington Mall one time. It was great!