Being Camp
Rockbrook’s program philosophy has long revolved around several core concepts, each of which is intended to help girls grow more independent, confident, and capable while at camp. These include providing a caring community of people offering genuine encouragement, exciting challenges, and new experiences, but also opportunities for creativity and cooperation rather than competition. As you walk around camp and see the girls in action, it’s easy to notice them create— new arts, new skills, new relationships— and not compete. Certainly the campers don’t think of their camp experience in these terms, but I think emphasizing creativity over competition, encouragement over critique, helps everyone at camp enjoy themselves more and feel good each day.
Today was the day we had to say goodbye to our friends in the first July Mini session. Sadly, their session has ended even as the main session girls have two more weeks to go. All of us will miss those girls. Even in just two short weeks, we’ve done so much together, made so many memories, it’s hard to say farewell. The good news is that most will be back next summer, and will have another chance to see each other, enjoy camp, and recharge at Rockbrook. For the entire staff, it’s always a pleasure to be with the girls at RBC. The sessions are action-packed and full of excitement, but more important to us is getting to know the campers and being with them as they grow closer to each other and begin to feel a part of Rockbrook. It’s really their camp, and they know it in such a short time!
When you see the smiles, and can almost hear the laughter in the daily photos, it’s not just because the girls are being entertained at camp. They’re not just happy they’ve been rock climbing or thrown a pot on the wheel (though they are that too), or merely interested in a novelty or trend. Their happiness is deeper than that and stems from the positive feelings arising from the people around them and the freedom camp provides to explore who they are. Camp is a true haven, a special place where girls can be themselves and be happy about that. Being surrounded by friends, it’s easy to smile!
Staying Cool, Focused and Relaxed
First I have to tell you about today’s muffins. They were amazing! Liz created yet another one-of-a-kind masterpiece flavor: peanut butter and jelly. I’m pretty sure they didn’t teach this recipe at the Ballymaloe Cookery School in Cork Ireland where Liz was trained, so she deserves all the credit. A classic camp flavor turned into a fresh baked muffin. YUM!
As most everyone on the east coast is experiencing record-breaking temperatures this week, we have found plenty of ways to stay cool at Rockbrook. First of all, temps are still falling into the 60s at night, and stay cool most of the morning as it takes a few hours for the sun to come up over the hill. In addition, the lake has been a very popular spot in the afternoons. Even if the campers don’t have swimming as one of their regularly scheduled activities, everyone can go for a dip during one of the two open “free swim” periods each day. That’s also when we open the “Toy,” “Aqua Ropes Course,” or “Water Challenge Course.” As you can see, it’s quite the obstacle. Campers first try to climb up the outside edge, grabbing the ropes, and stand on the top rails. From there they grab the dangling rings and go hand-to-hand from one ring to the next. There are five in all. It’s really tough to reach all five rings (see how it’s sloping uphill?), so we reward anyone who can with a special treat, usually a trip to Dolly’s. Missing means just a big splash!
In the photography activity, former camper and now star counselor Jane, who is majoring in Fine Art Photography at The Corcoran College of Art & Design in Washington, DC, is helping the girls learn how to take better pictures. To make this more fun, she’s planned several games that send the campers scurrying around camp looking for certain color pallets, shapes (e.g., letters), or textures. She’s challenged the girls to take 20 photos of a single small object making sure each is different. She’s also helped them learn a bit about stop motion photography, and make short motion clips using play-doh. We’re planning to show these short movies to the whole camp on Sunday night before the movie. Several are quite good!
Jessi’s yoga classes are very popular with the senior girls. She offers them as special extra activities once or twice each week. With yoga mats and towels in hand, they meet in the upper Hillside Lodge to spread out across the wood floor. Jessi plays nice, relaxing music as she leads the girls through a serious of stretching exercises and yoga poses. The class lasts only about an hour, but that’s plenty for the girls to have a workout. Everyone feels great afterwords… a little more relaxed, limber, and calm. Staying so very busy and active at camp, practicing a little bit of yoga like this is really nice.
All in one day, the RBC girls can stay cool swimming in the lake, focused in photography class, and relaxed doing yoga! 
A Square Dance Saturday Night
One of Rockbrook’s original camp songs, in fact our official “Camp Song,” begins with the line, “In the heart of a wooded mountain, circled by silvery streams.” It so nicely conveys the character of camp, Rockbrook’s woodsy feel, being tucked in a hillside valley between two rock mountains and waterfalls. Every session for generations, girls have sung this song. So much so, “In the heart of a wooded mountain” has become a shorthand phrase to refer to camp. Here’s the rest of the first verse.
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Today the girls woke up to a big breakfast of eggs, grits, sausage and OJ, along with the usual fruit, cereal and yogurt options. It’s been a little cooler than usual these past few days, so it’s nice to start the day with a good warm breakfast. After a few energetic songs in each line’s Lodge, our “Morning Assembly,” everyone launched into their morning activities. Down in Curosty, Kimberly has been teaching the girls how to weave on flat looms, a simple traditional hand weaving technique. With so many colors of yarn and strips of cloth, there are really cool things being made… hand-woven fabrics soon to become place mats, or sewn into pouches or bags. We’ve also seen really complex friendship bracelets being made in Curosty. That place is buzzin’!
The rest of the day was filled with more regular camp activities… painting and drawing, practicing for the play, riding horses, learning to kayak, learning to do a flip in gymnastics, or to throw a clay pot on the wheel. There’s also a nice amount of free time for the girls to just hang out, play in the creek, or head down to the lake for a swim or for some sunbathing.
The big surprise for the day, though, was our dance with Camp High Rocks, the boys camp just up the mountain from Rockbrook. We announced the dance right before dinner, giving the girls only about a hour (!) to get “ready.” After dinner (baked ziti, garlic bread, salad, and a shortbread with fruit for dessert), with hair brushed and dressed in clean clothes, we loaded up the buses and drove the whole camp up to High Rocks.
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The dance was held outside on three tennis courts. This allowed us to spread out and divide everyone into three general age groups for the dancing. It took a while for a few jitters to subside, but soon just about everyone was smiling and having fun. Of course, part of the fun is making mistakes and laughing when you turn the wrong way or grab the wrong arm. The whole event is lighthearted, a little silly, and surprisingly enjoyable for the girls, even though most of them have never tried square dancing before. The counselors are right in their too, so this also encourages everyone to relax and enjoy themselves. We all took a short break for lemonade and cookies, only to recharge and dance for another hour or so. As it began to get dark, we said goodbye and thank you, gathered all the girls back into the buses, and made our way back to RBC for the night. It was a wonderful evening.
Rockbrook Fan Mail
Super enthusiastic campers Ali and Audrey are all set to come to camp this summer in August, but they are already excited. They’ve been following the blog and thinking about camp just about everyday. So much so, Audrey made this poster and sent it our way. We love it, and thought everyone else would like to see it too. Thanks Audrey! We can’t wait to see you at camp!
Welcome Campers!
Welcome everyone to the start of the Second session and July Mini 1 session of Rockbrook! We’re very excited to have you join us in the “heart of a wooded mountain” for a few weeks this summer, whether like most of you, you are returning to RBC, or are new to camp this year. There are so many fun activities and events planned, excellent staff members and new friends to meet, and special trips available, there will definitely be a lot to experience. We’ll try to report highlights of all this action here on our blog, so subscribing to the RSS Feed is a great way to keep up with things at camp.
Opening day for campers is always a mix of excitement and nervousness. When the girls drive up into camp with their parents, meet a small group of Hi-Ups and then Sarah and Mandy, they can finally meet their counselor and some of the other campers who have already arrived. Camp is friendly the moment you arrive, with everyone helping to move trunks and staff members eager to answer questions. Add to that the unique organic smell of the forest and the cool, foggy morning and arriving at camp feels kind of magical. It doesn’t take long for girls to be dashing off to explore the stream, play tetherball or make a quick friendship bracelet.
Soon it’s time for lunch— today, make-your-own sandwiches, homemade potato salad, our regular super-stocked salad bar, and mixed berries— and after lunch, tours of camp and activity skits. Instead of pre-signing up for daily activities, or assigning activities according to cabin groups, at Rockbrook each girl designs her own schedule after learning about the options from skits performed by the staff members. Most of these skits include some kind of song and occasionally a dance number, but they are a great way to introduce what each activity is all about, to see which counselors are teaching which activity, and to stir up enthusiasm for the activities campers will have a chance to try. With more than 25 different activities, these skits can sometimes take a while (!), but they are a great way to kick off a camp sessions and the activity sign up process.
At dinner the Junior Line campers (who are girls having finished the first through the fourth grade) and their counselors decided spontaneously to dress up in all kinds of crazy costumes, not for any particular reason of occasion, but just because its fun. The costumes weren’t ordinary “princess” sorts of things or anything else easily recognizable, but instead highly eclectic, colorful combinations of hats, dresses, glasses, and wigs. It was very funny to look around the dining hall at dinner and see a chicken, Raggedy Ann, and so many wacky hair styles. I bet it was a little difficult to even eat! Be sure to check the photo gallery to see more of these great costumes.
Packing for Camp Like a Pro
We’ve always known that Charlotte knows her stuff when it comes to camp, being at camp, and getting ready for camp. So it wasn’t too surprising to learn that the Coleman Company, that makes lanterns, tents, coolers and all sorts of outdoor gear, wrote an article about Charlotte’s tips on packing for camp. It’s a short, easy article, so you should go check it out. You can read more about Charlotte’s packing tips in the Rockbrook Parent’s Manual and on our web site.
A Full Camp Day
It was another full, busy day at Rockbrook Camp today with campers signed up for trips, special activities available, and a fun day-long theme to add even more silliness to the mix. Everyone was excited to learn about the surprise theme— Cartoon Character Day. This is when campers and counselors dress up as their favorite cartoon character. It’s certainly optional, but it was fun to see Minnie Mouse, the Tasmanian Devil, several princesses, and even spider woman running around camp. There are some very creative girls here who are always looking for a reason to dress up.
After our excellent breakfast of bacon, home fries, fresh cut fruit, yogurt and cereal, several outdoor adventure trips packed up to leave camp. Clyde and Kelsey took a small group of senior girls for a day of whitewater kayaking on the lower section of the Green River. Also, the oldest campers, our “Hi-Ups” who have finished the 10th grade, went hiking in Dupont State Forest. They hiked to Hooker Falls and climbed down to the pool of water below to wade in a bit (and take photos of course!). After the early morning fog burned off, the skies were a wonderful sunny blue, making this a beautiful trip.
Every few days or so, Jessi leads a morning Yoga class for anyone interested. Everyone gathers in the stone “Hillside Lodge,” spreads out across the wood floor with their mats, and moves through a series of beginner Hatha Yoga poses. With calm music playing, and good friends all around, it’s a very relaxing time, and it feels so good! It’s surprising how much enthusiasm there is for these yoga classes, even from girls who have never tried it before. Jessi’s teaching is a big part of that, I suspect.
For our evening activity today, we had a very special campfire with our friend Gary Greene who is a talented story teller and musician. All the campers and counselors gathered at the Spirit Fire area to enjoy Gary’s stories (“Peanut Butter,” for example) and to sing several songs (e.g., “Little Cabin in the Woods” and “The Frog Song”). Michelle helped by staging a few jokes, and leading several RBC songs as well. One highlight was his reading of Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky while a few campers and counselors acted out different parts. Everyone was really engaged and entertained all evening. We loved it!
The smell of wood smoke outdoors, the sounds of crickets and frogs from the lake, being together like this in such a beautiful setting, signing and laughing … that’s real camp.
Rockbrook is Open!
Hooray! Rockbrook is now open for the 2010 summer season! After months of planning, hiring staff members, and preparing for the summer, it feels so great to have campers arriving. It’s what we look forward to all year long, so it’s wonderful to finally begin.
Excitement was everywhere this opening day. It literally jumped out of the cars as the campers arrived. For most of the campers, they haven’t seen their camp friends all year long, and now that they are back together, it’s hard not to squeal with delight and give each other big hugs. It doesn’t take long for groups of two or three old friends to be happily stomping around camp. Several parents commented how quickly and easily their girls feel right at home at Rockbrook. When you have this many friendly people in one place, that makes good sense.
When cabin groups begin to form, the counselors right away begin helping everyone get to know each other by playing group games. New campers like being able to hop right in and learn everyone’s name, and everyone is happy to meet their cabin counselor. The barn staff bring up a few horses to the opening day events so the campers can meet them, and get excited about riding this summer. Cara Thompson the equestrian director is busy throughout the morning meeting all the girls who want to ride and assigning them lessons.
At lunch, our first meal together, Rick and his crew prepared us some great comfort food: homemade macaroni and cheese, fresh steamed broccoli, fruit and salad bar. Later for dinner we had homemade chicken noodle soup, sweet potato biscuits, apple butter and fresh green beans. And for dessert Liz, our baker, made a chocolate caramel bar. It’s always amazing to see what the kitchen crew prepares for us at camp. Always fresh, always homemade, it’s real home cooking!
Later that afternoon, we all enjoyed skits performed by the counselors introducing the activities they teach. Signing, dancing, costumes, and lots of silly funny acting came together to make everyone smile. With 25 different activities, you can imagine this was quite a variety show!
Next we rotated through camp tours, swim tests (“demonstrations”), and activity sign ups, with each age group taking a turn. This checks out everyone at the lake, where they receive their buddy tag. It orients everyone to the camp activity areas and other important landmarks around camp. And it lets the girls select the first set of activities they’ll have this week. It’s very exciting because, at this point, even if they are new to RBC, they are familiar with the options, have met their cabin mates, and can sign up for the activities that most appeal to them.
After today, all of us are ready for camp, and it’s fun already!
