Not just a picnic at Camp Shaw-Waw-Nas-See

“Good morning tool timers,” Tim Zydek bellows out to a group of Camp Shaw-Waw-Nas-See youth campers who had not fully awakened to meet the world on this Wednesday morning.

“Good morning, Z,” the group of 15 campers, most between the ages of 10-15, returned.

He wasn’t entirely pleased with the level of enthusiasm in the response. He repeated it. They returned a much stronger response.

“Good morning, Z.” Z is Zydek’s “camp name.” All camp adults are referred to through camp names.

(Speaking of names, if the Zydek name is familiar, he is the Sleep in Heavenly Peace Kankakee chapter co-president. The organization helps construct wooden beds for needy children in northern Illinois.)

The camp group was ready to dig back into their woodworking project. In four groups gathered around still far-from-completed 4-foot-long picnic tables, they were set to spend the next hour sawing, drilling and attaching wood boards to ultimately complete picnic tables to be placed throughout the sprawling 100-plus-acre campground.

Located off of Illinois Route 102 and only a stone’s throw or so from the Kankakee River State Park, this group – part of a group of more than 100 youth campers calling this location home for the week – was taking their first steps into building something from wood.

The campsite hosts six groups of campers through a six-week summer stretch. The campers are between the ages of 7-17 and their place of origin spans across northern Illinois.

After a quick reinforcement of wood shop rules – Rule No. 1 being safe – the students headed to the tool bench area for the needed instruments based on the previous day’s progress.

Most grabbed handsaws. Some bolts, nuts and a wrench. Some hammers or screwdrivers.

Armed with a yellow-handled saw, Kevin Donnelly, 10, of Oak Brook, set out to saw a simple “V-notch” for a table support piece.

The saw, being nearly half his size, slowly used its sharp teeth to work its way through this piece of lumber.

His partner in this endeavor, Liam Andrichik, also 10, of Naperville, attempted to firmly hold the board in place as they worked on this part of the project.

From a quick observation, it was going to be at least a few days before anyone would be enjoying a picnic lunch at this table.

Known as a 4-H camp from its 1946 inception and for decades following, Camp Shaw is simply for youth today.

Liam notes he will saw the needed second V-notch on this piece of lumber, that is, he said, “If Kevin gets through it.”

Spread throughout the pint-sized, make-shift wood shop, these soon-to-be woodmasters busily worked toward their goal.

One table away, Vivian Gaskell, 15, of LaGrange Park, tightened a bolt and nut holding together the very support piece the neighboring two boys were tackling.

“This is all brand new to me,” she confessed. Asked why she signed up for this class as opposed to archery, arts and crafts, theater or music, just to name a few, she explained she wanted some background in it.

In her upcoming sophomore year at Lyons Township High School, which begins August 18, she is taking a woodworking class.

While woodworking presents more of a challenge than anticipated, she has enjoyed the experience.

The first day of class was simple, said Zydek, a retired 33-year Exelon power plant worker at Braidwood. It was hammering a nail. Sounds easy to most, he said. But for those who never wrapped their fingers around a hammer, it can present a case of the nerves.

“They struggle and learn,” he said.

Gaskell admits to struggling. “I can’t saw. It’s something I need to work on.

The six-week program, broken into six individual camps, brings an estimated 800 to the area.

In past years, the camp brought in upwards of 1,200, said camp director Nonnie Scorzo of DeKalb, who goes by the camp name Cookie.

Scorzo, a retired 35-year DeKalb elementary teacher, said the summer program is about fun, of course, but also about friendship, learning, exploring and everything in between.

And not a whole lot of free time.

This week will mark this summer’s final camp. Picnic tables from previous woodwork classes are scattered throughout the park property. Wood benches, constructed by other youngsters taking their first steps into the craft, also dot the landscape, particularly around fire pits.

One youngster, Jax Abrassart, 13, of Bradley, who will be entering his eighth-grade year at Bradley Central School later next month, noted he isn’t fearful of tools. He said he has a fondness for working with tools and even on cars.

Getting ready to secure the final bolt into the table’s cross support, the wood snapped. Abrassart shot a glance of frustration at no one in particular, beads of sweat dripping down his face.

Zydek stood nearby. He examined the broken crossmember.

Abrassart said they would need to start over. Zydek shook his head in agreement.

Life is about trying and failing. Failure often teaches more than success.

Another lesson learned. This lesson had less to do with wood and more to do with resilience.