We have an absolutely fantastic camp staff lined up for this summer! It’s a great mix of returning counselors and campers, plus new faces that have heard about Rockbrook. You’ll see Callie, Christine, Elizabeth-Anne, Kelly, Katie, Beth, Elise, Eva, Cadey, Katy, Devon, Whitney, Michelle, Kathleen, Brooke, Lexie, Kasey, Lillian, Cara, Bridget, Lori, Bianca, Jenna and Emily —to name just a few of the old RBC folks. In fact, more than half the overall staff are returning to camp with previous Rockbrook experience! That’s another important way that all those great Rockbrook Camp traditions live on— through an excellent group of counselors.

Tags: camp-counselors, jobs, staff, summer-employment, summer-jobs

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Kids having sustained outdoor time is one really great benefit of camp. When most kids’ lives are spent inside (at school, at home, in the car) and therefore usually “plugged in,” it’s really nice to experience the beauty, complexity, and intensity of nature— the awesome view from a mountain top (”That’s so far!”), the wonder of discovering a creature (”Cool, look at this!”), or the freedom of just relaxing in the shade with a friend. These kinds of outdoor experiences open kids up to seeing new things, to truly enjoying what they do. It rekindles their enthusiasm. Sure camp is about all the fun, but some of it lasts far beyond just the summer as well.

Tags: kids-activities, kids-camps, kids-programs, outdoors

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There are so many fun activities for teens at summer camp: sports, outdoor adventure, horseback riding, and of course arts and crafts. At Rockbrook there are more than 26 fun activities! This is a photo taken one afternoon in our needlecraft class, and it looks like everyone is working on a needlepoint or cross-stitch project (headbands! bookmarks! bracelets!). Sitting on the back porch of “Curosty,” the fibre arts cabin, listening to the birds and the nearby creek, surrounded by great old trees, and just chatting with your friends— what could be a better place to practice your needlework?!

Tags: arts, crafts, cross-stitch, girls-activities, kids-activities, needlecraft

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Can you tell what these girls are doing? Does it look “dramatic?” Do they seem to be “acting” with “feeling?” Maybe they’re in a “play?” Those certainly are intense “expressions.” Their posture really tells a story. That’s right it’s girls from the Rockbrook camp Drama activity! All the performing, the impersonating, the charades, the improvisation, the comedy and the emotions of a scene— signing up for Drama is great fun. It can be kind of silly at times, but that’s part of camp too.

P.S. That’s the Junior Lodge fireplace in the background of this photo.

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Rockbrook girls kayaking! Here’s a photo we found the other day of a kayaking trip we think is from the 1990s. It’s true; whitewater kayaking trips on local rivers (like the Nantahala) have been a part of our whitewater program for more than 20 years. Even now, we’ll take out a few of those old classic Perception boats on some our trips. It’s so great to see how the girls kayaking skills improve over time and how amazingly good they get coming back to camp each summer. For some girls, it’s pretty clear that kayaking can be a life-long sport. And that’s cool.

Tags: girls, girls-camps, girls-programs, kayaking, outdoor-adventure, outdoors

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RBC Riders! Get excited to meet “Gordon” from St. Andrews College! Gordon is a 17.1 hand gray thoroughbred gelding and is eager for his first summer at Rockbrook Camp. His favorite things are Jenna Branson (affectionately known as “JB” at the barn) and training for dressage. You’ll recognize him when you see a huge white face greeting you at the barn. This is one BIG boy!

Tags: equestrian, equestrian-camps, horse-camps, horseback-riding, horses, riding-camps

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Long-time Rockbrook counselor Beth Dobson sent us this great old photo of some Rockbrook Girls.

“I was going through some old family photos yesterday and found a picture of my grandmother at RBC. I edited the photo to point out which girl is actually my grandmother. Beth Davies Allee Gruen was born in 1921, so this picture was taken sometime in the 1930s and my great-great-aunt, Irving Murphy, was a counselor back then as well. Also, my grandmother grew-up in New Orleans, so there has always been some campers from NOLA!”

It looks like this picture was taken up on Vesper Rock overlooking the lake, and more than likely was a cabin group. Very cool to see it. Thanks Beth!

P.S. Beth will be at camp this summer too, continuing the tradition.

Tags: camp, camp-traditions, girls, history, traditional-camp

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There’s just nothing quite like it! All the fun of camp… the running around, the tower climbing, the sports, the teatherball, the hiking up to Castle Rock (and more ) …can really get you kind of hot and grubby. Jumping in the lake for a little swimming is really the perfect way to cool off at camp. At Rockbrook there are two free swim periods (when you can swim even if you didn’t sign up for swimming as an activity), one before lunch and one right before dinner. That mountain fresh water feels fantastic. Have you got your goggles?

Tags: camps, sports, swim, swim-camps

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Archery for teens and kids is still an amazingly popular thing to do at camp. Even if you’ve never held a bow before, let alone shot an arrow, it doesn’t take long to figure out the basics. And before you know it, you’ll feel really good about hitting the target, even getting a bullseye. Archery is a really old activity. Some of the oldest arrowheads found are more than 50,000 years old, for example! When you think about it, archery has been a part of probably every society to some extent. Wow! And now here it is at a summer camp for girls called Rockbrook!

Tags: girls-activities, sports, teen-camps, teen-programs, teens, tradition

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The regular sessions at Rockbrook are either 3 or 4 weeks long, and most of the girls who return to camp each summer select one of these as their camp session. In addition though, we also have several 2-week-long “Mini Camps” offered throughout the summer— one in late June, two in July, and one in early August. These are very popular with both younger girls and also new campers who want their first sleepaway camp experience to be a little shorter and more introductory. We’ve found that 2 weeks is just the right amount of time to see what it’s like to live in the cabins, try most of the different camp activities, enjoy the mountains and forests of North Carolina, and make the kind of good camp friends you expect. These mini camps are true camp sessions, just a little shorter.

Tags: children, girls, kids, North-Carolina, teens, youth

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