Displaying items by tag: Summer Camp
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Be on guard
Buddy pairs are very important
Buddy separation is common and therefore becomes a good target for lifeguards who are actively scanning their area. Lifeguards who make sure buddies are together are making sure campers are safe while swimming.
“Where is your buddy?” is a great question that tells me the lifeguards are doing what needs to be done. This is often followed by the reminder for buddy pairs to swim within 8 feet of one another. THis provides verbal confirmation that the lifeguards are doing their job.
Staff must always swim in buddy pairs
When I need to hop in the water at an odd time to fix Sally or Wally ( our swimming structures) , I always have a fellow staff member actively spotting me and acting as my buddy. Other staff should do the same.
Avoid so-called “triples”
Never swim at night
Never exceed ratios
Use PFDs
PFD’S are always used when a child is in a watercraft. Every time and always no exceptions.
That means that dipping your feet in a cool mountain stream is fine, but as soon as there is any significant wading or swimming, every person is wearing a properly fitting life jacket.
Children enjoy water activities more than any other while at Overnight Summer Camp but it is also a very dangerous are if not all safety precautions are not being met.
Saw this video and when I watched it seemed to be what SNC is all about.
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Given the recent economic turmoil and uncertainty, families have also been understandably more cautious in committing to extensive (one could perhaps substitute expensive) summer experiences ahead of time — affecting traditional reenrollment patterns, in terms of time frames, as well as first-time camper and overall camper numbers for many camps. Unthinkable a few years ago, some “half-season” camps are now reporting being similarly affected! Over the past two years, we have been hearing reports of lower numbers of half-season campers enrolling in exclusively three-and-a-half-week camps, as well as at camps that once only offered full-season sessions but now offer shorter sessions, too. This is a significant change in marketplace behavior — one that perhaps indicates that half-season camp is likely now being considered by the public to be a “longer” or even “ full” camp season. It is becoming clear to many full-season camps that simply offering half-season options is no longer a surefire (current or future) “fallback” solu¬tion for the challenges faced by a shrinking marketplace and potentially declining full-season enrollments.
There are no real surprises here for anyone who has been listening to Fred Miller, president of The Chatham Group, Inc., (who has been writing articles and speaking at ACA national conferences on this topic for years), and others who study trends and market forces influencing the camp industry. That said, one wonders what the hundreds of camps who are still offering longer sessions are doing or saying in the open marketplace, in support or defense of their longer sessions.
Almost every camp professional I have spoken with who works at a longer-session camp seems pretty adamant that their longer sessions are somehow better / more impactful than shorter-session camp offerings. It would, therefore, seem reasonable to assume that many longer-session camps would be shouting these benefits from the rooftops in an attempt to maintain their current and future viability. However, after searching many full- and half-season camps’ Web sites, it becomes clear that those of us who are maintaining longer camp session offerings are not sending a consistent, comprehensive (or even abbreviated) message to the public about what we believe are the specific benefits of longer-session camp experiences.
Having spent multiple hours entering names of dozens of camps I could think of in Google and then accessing multiple pages of each of their Web sites, in an effort to find some mention of the benefits of full-or longer-season camp sessions, I realize there is a staggering dearth of information being presented by camps in support of longer-session camp experiences. In fact, upon closer inspection, it is extremely difficult to find any camps that are actually addressing, in any way, why they are only offering longer camp sessions today! I did finally manage to find a few camps with Web sites that included something about the benefits of their longer camp session(s).
Camp Fernwood — Poland, Maine
Accessed directly from their home page, via a tab with only three drop-down options, is a page entitled, “What makes Fernwood so special?” Included in that page is the section, “Why full summer?” with the following content:
We are often asked the question, “How does Fernwood continue to thrive as a full summer camp?”It takes a long time to do what we do. Camps of many different kinds and lengths of session are overall healthy summer choices for children. However, our experience has shown us that to see the full benefit — experience the depth of relationships, establish the vital sense of connection, and to become a part of something bigger — a longer period of time or immersion is essential. It is in essence the key to our success.In a world that is increasingly hectic and impersonal, Fernwood isn’t. Fernwood is not just any experience. Fernwood is a series of life-changing, reinforcing events that teach girls how to be happy, well adjusted, and confident young women.
Camp Pemigawasett — Wentworth, New Hampshire
Found in the text of a page describing the Camp Pemi activities program: “In most instances they may also pursue a given activity for a number of weeks, allowing for significant growth and progress in that discipline.” And then, under a sort key entitled, “Parent Resources” in the Blog section of their site, the following para¬graph appears, in a posting that addresses a boy’s readiness for a camp experience: “That being said, as with a college year abroad versus a half year abroad, there is no doubt that the full season allows boys — who by the fourth week have fully settled into Pemi and feel comfortable with routines and friendships — to step further out of their comfort zones to try more new things and/or to refine expertise in a given area. It is this combination of confidence and extra time that leads to further development in an almost magical, expo¬nential way. For this reason, we suggest that a family consider a full season, if schedule and finances allow.”
Camp Laurel — Readfield, Maine
Another excellent rationale for full-season camp appears in a blog by Jem Sollinger, director at Camp Laurel, which I discovered by entering the words, “Full Season Camp” in my computer’s search engine. (It can also be found by searching through the blog content on their Web site or some of their additional Web marketing initiatives.)
Even as a targeted and motivated searcher, these were the only three camps I could find with concrete references to the specific benefits of longer sessions. Access to the quoted information varied significantly in terms of ease of discovery.
Validating the Value
From Camp Wawenock’s Web Site: www.campwawenock.com
Why Seven Weeks?
A “full season” at a camp like Wawenock offers many advantages over shorter-stay programs.
Relationships
Settling in to camp takes some time — whether the first or tenth year we attend — and, over the longer (seven-week) camp season, relationships between campers and their peers have time to develop and unfold naturally. At Wawenock, camp begins with more focus on getting to know and bond with cabin mates, and then campers are encouraged to branch out into the broader age group and beyond, as the days unfold. Relationships built and sustained over longer periods tend to be more stable, deeper, and based on the “real” person — rather than their projection of a particular image for a shorter period of time. Relationships are also able to develop at their own pace and to a greater depth within the whole camp community — with campers and staff of all ages getting to know each other well as summer progresses. Relationships built over time tend to stand the test of time best.
Skill Development
Campers are grouped with others who have chosen the same activities, and the same staff members work with these activity groups all summer long. This allows detailed group and individualized planning to be done by staff members who have the time and consistency of contact to help each camper work toward broader programmatic goals, as well as her individual goals in that activity. The same principles apply to cabin living, where a stable group of campers and staff live and laugh (and sometimes cry) together for seven weeks. Social skills and different approaches to group membership and leadership can be identified and encouraged by involved, caring counselors and senior support staff. Seven weeks gives campers the time to relax and settle in, to learn about each other, and even to try out new approaches to building trust and friendship within their cabin groups and units. This unhurried, intentional approach to skill acquisition in all areas of camp life cements learning and promotes confidence among the campers — confidence that spills over into other areas of their lives.
Feeling of Belonging
At Wawenock, everyone is considered “new” every summer — as we all grow, change, and experience new things in our lives between summers. (Those who are spending their first summer at camp are simply referred to as “first timers.”) To avoid cliquishness and to promote broader friendships within the unit age groups, cabin groupings are shuffled each year (so every cabin, by default, also becomes “new” each year.) As summer progresses, campers and staff get to know others outside of their cabin, unit, or existing circle of friends. There is a tradition of welcoming all people to camp, and nowhere is this more evident than when first-time campers and staff join the camp family. The seven-week season allows us to change dining room seating each week, where we mix campers of all ages and interests with different staff members. Each week the campers get to know a different group of campers and staff. An awareness of knowing many people from different places in camp and being greeted by older and younger friends from previous tables in passing permeates the psyche of first timers as the weeks unfold. Traditions and rituals are repeated multiple times over the course of a summer, allowing first familiarity and then “ownership” to develop in first-time campers. After seven weeks, a sense of belonging to the camp family is well established!
Spreading the Word
In the interests of full disclosure, I must now confess that I am passionate about this topic of spreading the word about our longer camp sessions (and also reliant upon it, as we only offer a single, seven-week session). Here then, is some information about what we are trying to do to keep the notion of a full-season camp experience on the radar screen of those who find us . . .
1. What are we doing about it as an organization?
Based on feedback from our camp families, we decided last year to include a section in our re-vamped Web site dedicated solely to the topic of “Why Seven Weeks?” (see above). We do also highlight the “enough time to . . . ” factor — and the benefits we believe stem from the way we approach structuring our pro¬gram in light of this — by organically sprinkling the same message in various places throughout our site and in other promotional materials. We emphasize the fact that we are a seven-week experience and do our best to help prospective campers and their parents understand why we choose to fight to remain this way, despite compelling forces from all sides tempting and pulling us in what some might consider “easier” or more sensible directions.
2. Why did we do this?
Our campers, staff, alumnae, and their families have told us repeatedly that they believe this is fundamental to who we are and to their experiences here. Their feedback was used to help formulate both the paragraph headings and much of the content. Though certainly not perfect, or close to being fully comprehensive by any means, our families have described the page, and similar messages found in other pieces/ places, as being particularly helpful to them in articulating to others (in some cases they used the word “justifying”) their choice to send their daughter to a full-season camp and, for many, to Wawenock in particular. None of this information is propriety, or seems par¬ticularly “earth-shattering” on its own, and I am sure that many camps’ camp¬ers, staff, alumni, and parents would/ could come up with a very similar list of benefits/topics that would become their own rationale for their longer camp session(s).
3. Is it helping?
What has been particularly surprising for us is the amount of positive feedback we have received from prospective camp families about their willingness to now consider a full-season camp experience — after only reading the rationale on our Web site, versus their feelings before. This fact alone validates our decision to include the page on our site, and it is why I encourage all of you who consider yourselves to be offering longer sessions to find ways to articulate and spread the word about the benefits of your particular camp’s longer experience. This way, if we all chime in, those camps that are still thriving and/or surviving as fundamentally longer-session operations can collectively inform the public of the benefits of choosing a full-season or longer-session camp experience, and perhaps maintain a genuinely differentiated profile and position in the marketplace going forward.
Looking to the Future
As we look to the future and decide how to market our camp programs to the camp families who might still consider longer sessions, (in isolation but also in competi¬tion with each other!), I believe we must also take some time to articulate what we believe to be important about the greater length of our own camp experiences. We should all be talking about what can be gained from a single, longer-season camp experience, as well as from successive years of experiences in such programs — versus the benefits of single or multiple shorter-stay programs. If we do not, the driving forces affecting today’s marketplace will continue to endanger the existence of longer-season camps, and we will have to substantially alter our emphasis and offerings, or close our doors forever.
Among the many benefits of the camp experience, long-term residential camp uniquely:
| Long-Term Residential Camp: Benefits at a Glance |
| Allows relationships between campers and their peers to develop at their natural pace, as well as providing many opportunities to connect with other campers and staff, fostering a broader community spirit. |
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Gives a longer break from the digital world and a sustained period without reliance on home support systems, fostering greater independence and resiliency in participants. -
Allows time for skill development in both activity and social areas, cementing learning and instilling confidence among campers, which spills over into other areas of their lives.
Andy Sangster is a director at Camp Wawenock for girls, in Raymond, Maine. He is a standards visitor and serves on ACA committees at both local and national levels, including Camping Magazine’s Editorial Advisory Committee.
Originally published in the 2011 November/December Camping Magazine.
We All know how wonderful summer camp is. But have you ever thought about what Swift Nature Camp looks like in February? A few days ago we were at a MN summer camp show and after that made our way up to camp. It was great....
As you know the Midwest has been very dry this year with almost no snow. When we first arrived it seemed more like April with many bare spots around the bottoms of the trees. But, snow was covering most of the land and the lake. Giving us a chance to play.
One day we walked out to Picnic Island just to see what was going on. It is a different place in the winter with no low plants so you can see almost across the island. We particularly wanted to go look at the Eagles nest. It seems that the winds from one of the storms destroyed the nest. However, we still saw eagles flying around so they are still nearby but we did not see where their new nest might be.
As you can see from the movie I tried a new sport. I got out the water skis and put them on over my socks...it was very tight and then I hooked up to Super Toms 4 wheeler and off I went for a little skiing on the frozen lake. Look at my Hitch Hiker! It was much harder to turn than when you are in the water. Yet, it was fun to try something new. Much of the time we were in sleds being pulled. We tipped so many times yet it was very fun and seemed like winter even though it was near 40 degrees.
One of the most exciting time we had was when we woke up one morning and looked out the window to see two dog like creatures run from Picnic Island across to Sawtooth Isle. They looked like Wolves to me. Later that day we went for a hike to see if we could find the tracks and we did. That was so cool.
After a few days we left and that very night, the snows came and came and came. Tom reported that Swift Nature Camp was covered with over 15 inches of snow. Sadly we missed the real winter that finally came to camp. If you are ever up in the Northwoods in winter be sure to stop by camp and take a look, it is beautiful but kind of depressing with out all he campers there having fun.
See Ya next Summer
Lonnie, Jeff & Forrest
Summer Camps Make Kids Resilient
I recently spoke to 300 camp directors about how to make children more resilient to life stress. Summer camps, we discovered, are perfect places to help children optimize their psychosocial development.
After all, summer camps are places where children get the experiences they need to bolster their range of coping strategies. There are the simple challenges of learning how to build a fire, going on a hike, or conquering........
a high ropes course. There are the much more complex challenges of getting along with a new group of peers, learning how to ask for help from others, or taking manageable amount of risks without a parent following after you.
The best camping experiences offer these opportunities for manageable amounts of risk and responsibility, what I term "the risk takers advantage" (see my book Too Safe for Their Own Good for more examples). The worst camps pander to children as if they are entitled little creatures whose parents are paying big sums of money. Children at camp can't be treated like customers if they are going to get anything out of the experience. They need to be treated like students whose caregivers, the counselors, know what the kids need to grow.
Camps that pull this off and make kids, especially teens, put away the makeup, stash the iPods, get a little dirty and even a little frustrated while having fun and making new friends, are the kinds of camps that offer children the best of what they need. Looking at those experiences from the vantage point of my research on resilience, I know that camps help our children develop great coping strategies when they provide seven things all children need:
1) New relationships, not just with peers, but with trusted adults other than their parents. Just think about how useful a skill like that is: being able to negotiate on your own with an adult for what you need.
2) A powerful identity that makes the child feel confident in front of others. Your child may not be the best on the ropes course, the fastest swimmer, or the next teen idol when he sings, but chances are that a good camp counselor is going to help your child find something to be proud of that he can do well.
3) Camps help children feel in control of their lives, and those experiences of self-efficacy can travel home as easily as a special art project or the pine cone they carry in their backpack. Children who experience themselves as competent will be better problem-solvers in new situations long after their laundry is cleaned and the smell of the campfire forgotten.
4) Camps make sure that all children are treated fairly. The wonderful thing about camps is that every child starts without the baggage they carry from school. They may be a geek or the child with dyslexia. At camp they will both find opportunities to just be kids who are valued for who they are. No camps tolerate bullying (and if they do, you should withdraw your child immediately).
5) At camp kids get what they need to develop physically. Ideally, fresh air, exercise, a balance between routine and unstructured time, and all the good food their bodies need. Not that smores (marshmallows, chocolate and graham cracker treats) don't have a place at the campfire, but a good camp is also about helping children find healthy lifestyles.
6) Perhaps best of all, camps offer kids a chance to feel like they belong. All those goofy chants and team songs, the sense of common purpose and attachment to the identity that camps promote go a long way to offering children a sense of being rooted.
7) And finally, camps can offer children a better sense of their culture. It might be skit night, or a special camp program that reflects the values of the community that sponsors the camp, or maybe it's just a chance for children to understand themselves a bit more as they learn about others. Camps give kids both cultural roots and the chance to understand others who have cultures very different than their own.
That's an impressive list of factors that good camping experiences provide our children. Whether it is a subsidized day camp in a city or a luxurious residential facility up in the mountains, camps can give our kids a spicy combination of experiences that prepare them well for life. Add to that experience the chance for a child's parents to reinforce at home what the child nurtures at camp, and maybe, just maybe, we'll find in our communities and schools amazing kids who show the resilience to make good decisions throughout their lives.
Oh sure, I remember the days when I was a camper but over the last 40 plus years
I know my mind has altered the memories. Here in the enclosed info is the story line
of an overnight camper and how his story is much like that of a Hero form a book.
New Campers: A Hero’s Journey
I was first introduced to the story pattern of the Hero’s Journey when I took a screenwriting course in college and read The Writer’s Journeywhich uses the Hero’s Journey concept to help storytellers create their story. The Hero’s Journey describes the stages the main character (the hero or heroine) goes through in nearly every story in existence from plays to books to film.
The Hero’s Journey can also relate to our own personal lives and the lives of those around us. In fact, using the Hero’s Journey a person can find inspiration to create their own extraordinary life story.
But this is not a post about you or me. It’s not about creating or bringing meaning to our own story. Instead it’s about the journey that first time campers take, how they go through the stages of a hero’s journey. The next post I write will be about how we can enhance that journey and help our young heroes and heroins to grow and become better people through this experience we call summer camp.
The Stages
Stage 1 – Ordinary World
Every Hero starts off in the mundane world. They go to school, participate in activities, etc. But many times they have this feeling that something is missing, that there is more out there. Most kids have this sense of adventure and exploration that isn’t met at school or in the city. With dangers all around, parents don’t allow their children to stay out of the house and explore their surroundings like they used to years ago. That sense of adventure stays inside them, laying dormant.
Stage 2 – The Call to Adventure
In every Hero’s journey there is a moment when they get the Call to Adventure. For future campers they may hear about camp from an enthusiastic friend or from their parent who has sent away for a brochure. Some kids may have found information online. No matter how they found out about camp they have been Called to this new Adventure that awaits them and all the exciting opportunities it brings.
Stage 3 – Refusal of the Call
Now, our Hero, our future camper, has heard the Call to Adventure but is nervous about it. There are so many unknowns; will I make friends, will I have to shower with others, I’ll miss home, what if I don’t like it, will there be spiders in the cabin, will the other kids make fun of my snoring, will I like the food, are there bears, etc. This new adventure can be exciting but it can also be dangerous (and possibly life-threatning). It wouldn’t be a real adventure otherwise. Our Hero is refusing the Call to Adventure.
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Creative License
Here is where I change the pattern of the Hero’s Journey a bit. In the classic version the Hero meets a Mentor that guides him or her to heed the Call to Adventure. So step 4 would be Meeting with the Mentor. Step 5 is Crossing the Threshhold where our Hero commits to the Adventure. In my structure those two steps are reversed as the Mentor in this typical scenario is the camp counselor that helps our Heros and Heroines through the tests of the Journey.
Now back to our story…
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Stage 4 – Crossing the Threshold
Our Hero is now encouraged to answer the Call by parents, other family members, friends and even camp videos. Through this encouragement many children finally decide to commit to the Journey. They are going to camp. This commitment leads to all kinds of feelings and emotions. The camp fee has been paid and our Hero is gathering his/her gear for this Adventure (sleeping bag, toiletries, camera, clothes, etc.) and the feeling of excitement mixes with dread and anxiety. But our Hero must have courage (taking action in the face of fear). They must go forward. And our Hero does. They take the drive to camp and cross the Threshold onto the camp property where there are new sounds and sights. This is an unfamiliar place that is scary. Our Hero is committed though.
Stage 5 – Meeting with the Mentor
Now our Hero meets their Mentor, the camp counselor. The Mentor is confident, wise and protective. The Mentor knows that our Hero must face challenges during this Adventure but is there to help guide them through. The Mentor understands that our Hero will have to stretch him or herself, that they will grow as people through this experience.
While the Mentor may want to shield our Hero from adversity by letting them sit out of the challenges a camper faces (community living, camp competitions, high ropes course, swimming, performing, etc.) they also are wise enough to know that these challenges, these trials, are improtant to the Hero’s Journey.
Stage 6 – Tests, Allies and Enemies
Our Hero will face tests during this Journey. Our Hero may not know it but he/she is on a Journey for Treasure. That Treasure is completion of the Journey. It’s like a treasure chest filled with all the experiences, personal growth, relationships and memories that the Journey brings. But no treasure is worth having if there aren’t obstacles, challenges, tests, adversity.
The good news is that our Hero will not only have a Mentor but also Allies that will help our Hero get through it all. If our Hero goes to the pool for swim instruction their Ally will be the swim instructor. On the archery range it’s the archery instructor. Our Hero also has a cabin or group full of Allies (and possibly a few Enemies, which is also part of the Journey). These peer Allies will be important when it comes to camp competitions, ropes courses and team building, performing skits and evening activities such as camp dances.
Stage 7 – Approach to the Innermost Cave
On the first day of camp our Hero has met their Mentor and Allies, heard about the upcoming tests and challenges and have possibly met some Enemies (bullies, inner fear, bad food). At some point during the Journey our Hero will venture into the Innermost Cave, the darkest place they can imagine, the ultimate test. For many first time campers at resident (sleep-away) camp that Cave is night time where they will face their worst enemy - homesickness. As night approaches our Hero feels a knot growing in the pit of their stomach. They begin to think about home and mom and the safety of their rooms. Even their little brother, who they fight with constantly, is being missed right now. If our Hero has not created Allies or has created more Enemies than Allies at this point then homesickness will be strong.
For other campers the Innermost Cave can be the fear of heights on a ropes course, the fear of drowning in the pool, the fear of body image when in the community shower, the fear of not making friends, the fear of being made fun of or losing a camp challenge.
Stage 8 – The Ordeal
Our Hero must now deal with their fear. Hopefully the Mentor has recognized that our Hero is in the Cave facing his or her ultimate camp fear and is able to give our Hero advice on how to deal with it. Allies can also be a big part of getting through the Cave. For example, if our Hero has a fear of heights then his/her Allies will encourage our Hero to persevere as our Mentor gives clear, calm instructions. If our Hero does not face his/her demons then the Treasure may be lost to them. If homesickness leads to the parents taking our Hero home, if our Hero never leaves the gound at the high ropes course, if fear keeps our Hero from entering the water, then the memory of the Journey will be tainted, the sense of accomplishment will be lost, our Hero will not have stretched himself/herself and will have the hole in their soul to prove it. They MUST accomplish the task.
Stage 9 – Reward
Our Hero has conquered the fear, climbed the mountain, seized the sword, vanquished the dragon. They have emerged from their Ordeal. This was their initiation. They should now be recognized as special, a part of the select few that have conquered their fear. Now is the time for celebration. This may be an ending campfire, a group celebration of cheers and whoops, a token or trophy of their accomplishment or even a proud look from a mentor.
Stage 10 – The Road Back
Our Hero has done it – gone through all the experiences camp has to offer (and then some). The Treasure has been earned. Camp is over. Now it is time for our Hero to leave this Special World and return to the Ordinary World. But our Hero is not the same person they used to be. The Journey has strengthened them. Camp is no longer an unknown and scary place. It is a place of wonder filled with friends and Allies – a place where our Hero has learned that he or she can be courageous and do things they didn’t think possible. It is a place that taught them they could be without electronics, a place they found independence, a place they stretched and grew.
Stage 11 – Resurrection
But the story does not end there. Now that our Hero is home they must cope with a new Ordeal – the Oridanary World. The excitement fades as the Special World is out of site. Our Hero wants to return to the place of wonder, but they cannot. They have left a place of acceptance, encouragement, love, peace, challenge and accomplishment only to return to a harsh reality. This seperation anxiety is tough for many Heroes. Their new friends and Allies are missed, as is the Mentor who guided them through so much.
Camp is a place where kids can be someone else, someone better. They can start fresh. When they come home they return to the people that know them and their weaknesses. These people (family and hometown friends) weren’t there to see the strength our Hero used and the accomplishments our Hero made.
This is a time of rebirth, where our Hero sheds the personality of camp and builds a new one suitable for the Ordinary World, taking the lessons they learned on their Journey and fusing that with the best parts of their old selves – like a Phoenix rising from the ashes.
Stage 12 – Return with The Elixer
Now that our Hero has returned to the Ordinary Life and has ressurected into their new selves they bring back with them the Elixer – stories, pictures, momentos of their Journey, their Adventure, that they can share with others. This may inspire friends to go on journeys of their own. This may be the Call of Adventure for others that hear our Hero’s tales. The Elixer is the final part of our Hero’s Journey. It is the proof that our Hero was there, that he or she vanquished the dragon showing all others what is possible and that it is a Journey worth taking.
Once everyone back home has heard the tales our Hero has brought back – the time is right to plan the next journey.
this article is from http://summercampprogramdirector.com/new-campers-a-heros-journey/
My first time on the Mighty Namekagon River
Camp was Over and all of you guys left... camp was sooo lonely, empty and quiet... So we had to do something....I remember the campfire when you guys share your favorite camp memories, and most of them are from your trips! Well, I wanted to experience thoseAdventure Trips too so the three of us: Jeff, Forrest and myself got our gear ready and set off for the Nam 1 trip. The weather was perfect...no rain in the forecast for this trip :)
Even Super Tom after dropping us off did not want to go back to camp so he also jumped in the canoe and paddled with us for a few hours. It was beautiful... all the wildlife we saw, we even made friends with a great blue heron and named him Billy. Billy followed us the whole first day. When we stopped for a swim, Billy stopped too :) We ate RJ’s, played UNO and spent a night in a tent. We also sang camp songs. I realized then why trips are often your favorite part of SNC. We wished all of you were there then, too. Love you all, Lonnie
This area is for campers to just leave any notes they may have .......
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Prior to each camper’s arrival, the staff studies the informational packet for that person. They learn about each child and gain awareness of specific individual needs. If any camper has medical circumstances or special needs these will discussed by the staff in confidence with the camp nurse. By the time a child arrives at camp, the staff will feel as if they already know that new camper. This preparation is immediately beneficial to the first-time camper from the moment he or she steps off the bus and is warmly and personally greeted.
The first day of Discovery Camp is Orientation Day. New campers get a complete tour of Swift Nature Camp, including a visit to the Health Center, the Mail Box, and every activity area. Every activity is introduced with a discussion about the importance of safety and the basic safety information for that activity.
Staff members work hard to promote an atmosphere of nurturing and harmonious friendship from the campers’ first day of cabin life. There is a Respect List for all to agree to and sign, and each night will end with a bedtime story. The cabin is the place where community begins. First time campers are gently brought into a sense of connection and community with others who begin on equal footing.
At Discovery Camp, first time campers are introduced to Swift Camp’s well rounded noncompetitive variety of camp activities. Each morning a cabin’s campers are invited to instruction at two activity areas. These activities include Swimming, Canoeing, Nature Center, Arts and Crafts, Archery, and more. The new campers are encouraged to try new and different activities, giving each of them the opportunity to discover and explore what activities he or she might enjoy and eventually excel in. In the afternoon, campers learn how to make their own choices from the activity board, making their own decisions about which activity to pursue that day.
Swift Nature Camp aims to encourage each child to learn independence in a safe, age appropriate environment. Jeff and Lonnie Lorenz knew from experience that homesickness is most likely to run its course when the length of time away is just beyond the number of days a child can hold in mind for a countdown. The twelve day first-timer program is set up to run the optimum length of time for a first time camper to leave homesickness behind and gain a comfortable sense of autonomy. For many of these campers the greatest first lesson camp teaches them is that they can leave home, return days later and find out that very few things will have changed, especially their parents’ love for them.
The directors of Swift Nature Camp think it's important that parents know that their children’s first time away from home is in a safe, nurturing and secure environment. As a part of the Discovery Camp’s first timer program, parents are encouraged to visit at any time after the first five days.
Parents who would like to find out if this is the right first-time summer camp experience for their child are encouraged to speak with other parents who have had their children attend Swift Nature Camp. A list of references is readily available for that purpose. Discovery Camp, a special program for the first time summer camp experience, is finally available to suit the needs of campers and parents alike!
Want to learn how to find the best summer camp for your child see SummerCamp Advice.com
Saw this video and when I watched it seemed to be what SNC is all about.
