Back to School
This time of year, as we head back to school and the memories of our time at camp can seem far away, it’s a good idea to reflect upon some of the important habits and skills we learned during our stay at Rockbrook, and to realize how important they can be throughout the rest of the year. But what are some of those values? What are some of the surprising things camp taught us that can still serve us well at school?
At Rockbrook this summer we learned:
—things are more fun when we include everyone
—you can be creative with just about anything
—making friends is easy when we respect and care for each other
—everything is better in a costume 
Of course there are a lot of other ways camp helps kids grow too.
Peg Smith, the CEO of the American Camp Association, also wants kids to remember what they learned at camp, in particular the “Three Cs” — Confidence, Curiosity, and Character. Pack all these great things in your school backpack. You know camp is awesome; now make that true for school too!
Safari Banquet
Welcome to the Safari Banquet! After weeks of planning and plenty of hard work preparing, tonight the senior line CA campers and their counselors presented the second session banquet. On the very first day of camp they debated and selected a surprise theme for the banquet, and finally it was time reveal it to the whole camp. They chose to make the entire experience a safari, a rich jungle of animals, exotic birds, wild plants, trees and vines. Using paint, paper and a few props, the whole dining hall was transformed so that in every direction you’d see safari animals— lions, zebras, baboons, giraffes —and scenery. The green tables and chairs of the Rockbrook dining hall fit right in. Just guessing, there were probably sixty or so different painted panels lining the walls. The centerpiece was a wrecked jeep, complete with real tires and working headlights (flashlights). No wonder it takes all session to prepare for this night!
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The CAs really designed some amazing, creative costumes as well. Their goal was to create a magical experience for the other campers, making elaborate costumes and characters a big deal. There were monkeys, a couple of lions, birds, a zebra, elephant, a lemur, hippo and gazelle. During the meal, the CAs also presented a series of skits, a multi-act play really, that included music and dances. It told the story of a family on a safari, and how after being split up, the animals and a native group help them reunite. This was a very large group of CAs, so there were plenty of parts of play.
For the menu, they served “Slippery Snake Mozzarella Sticks,” Serengeti Salad,” “Lion’s Mane Spaghetti,” and “Jungle Dirt Bucket.” Of course, there was more than enough candy scattered around on the tables, and in each camper’s souvenir cup too. It was probably hard to eat the spaghetti while chewing a tootsie roll or sucking on a lollipop, but I’m sure no one was hungry by the end!
The evening begins with the CAs in the dining hall, dressed in costume and surrounded by the fruits of their incredible hard work, and all the rest of the campers outside, dressed in their Rockbrook T-shirts. When it was time to let the first cabin of girls enter, the CAs literally erupted with excitement. It had been building for so long, finally they could cheer and jump up and down with each other. Then, with music blasting, the campers crawled through a “starry night” tunnel to emerge into the jungle (dining hall) with all its colorful animals. Here too, it was one big cheer with smiles and surprised amazement from everyone.
Toward the end of the banquet, the oldest cabin groups (the CAs and Hi-Ups) presented songs and toasts to their counselors, and vice versa, the counselors to their campers. This became quite emotional as the songs expressed the friendship and feelings the girls now share after this great session. It’s tradition for the whole camp to sing a few camp songs (e.g., “Rockbrook Camp Forever”) at the close of the banquet as well.
This was simply a terrific night, one I’m sure you’ll hear more about from your daughter.
Rafting Spectacular
Today was the first of our rafting trips for the session, our big adventure out on the Nantahala river. We asked all of the middlers and seniors if they would like to go and came up with a huge list of excited girls. One option was to go over on Monday night and camp at our outpost. Rockbrook owns a 40-acre outpost camp located just past the Upper Nantahala Gorge in Macon County that is set up with simple cabins, a bath house, dining hall and campfire ring. It adjoins the National forest (about 2 miles from the Appalachian trail) and is only about 15 minutes away from the rafting launch site. We took 3 buses to the outpost to enjoy a nice dinner, time around the campfire with s’mores and songs, and a good night’s sleep out in the forest. The next morning we met our guides (Clyde, Sid, Billy, Sam, Andria and Leland) and launched the rafts for a perfect sunny trip down the river, complete with plenty of splashing and screams bubbling up on the rapids. A second group of campers met us for a picnic lunch before heading up to start their rafting trip in the afternoon. We had great weather on this trip as well, happily avoiding the thunderstorm that passed by to the north of us. These whitewater trips are loads of fun and for many girls a highlight of their outdoor experience at camp.
By the way, Leland and Andria have written several books on whitewater boating, one on North Carolina rivers and another on some of the best whitewater in North America. Check them out over at Brushy Mountain Publishing. Good stuff.
Meanwhile back at camp, we were rock climbing, really climbing. Our lead climbers, Maddie, Abby and Mallory organized several groups of Juniors and Middlers for a trip up to Castle Rock. Some of the girls who signed up were brand new to climbing, so for them, just fitting the equipment— climbing shoes, harnesses, and helmets — was a part of the fun. But of course the real treat comes from making progress up the rock, from getting past a tough part, and often, from reaching the top and turning around to see the view. Even the littlest girls are great climbers. They’re so strong and agile, and generally fearless, they just zip right up the rock with very little hesitation.
Dinner tonight was a surprise event for the girls. It started with costumes, as is usually the case at Rockbrook. This time we all turned ourselves into a giant game of Clue. Like the classic board game, versions of Mrs. White, Professor Plum, Mrs. Peacock, and Mr. Green could be seen eating dinner together. Afterwords, the girls broke into their cabin groups to play a camp-wide game of Clue where, like the board game’s mystery that’s solved by following clues discovered in different rooms, the groups ran around camp to find different clues. Each station, the group had to perform a task of some sort before receiving their next clue. Quick name all the RBC activities, or make up a song about trees, or stand in a human pyramid, and so forth. The clues led every cabin group to each of the different stations and finally to the solution— where Sofie was hiding. By the end, there were prizes for everyone, but it was Junior cabin 4 who ran the fastest and performed their tasks the quickest to win overall.
Costume Prize Winners!
November 22, 2010 by Mandy Horton
Filed under campers
Thank you for all of our entries into our Halloween Costume Contest from our last camp newsletter. You gals are super creative! We enjoyed seeing your pictures come in. The following ladies will receive a great camp prize in the mail. Keep up the creative camp spirit!
Drum roll…
1st Place: Elizabeth Trexler as Little Bo Peep with her amazing horse/sheep
2nd Place: Biz Renshaw as a strawberry cupcake
 Little Bo Peep Elizabeth |  Cupcake Biz |
3rd Place: Eliza Witherspoon as the largest green Ugly Doll
Honorable Mention: Logan Robinson as an orange crayon
Ugly Doll Eliza
Crayon Logan
Dance the 80s
What do you do when you need a camp dance idea, something to mix things up a bit and get the girls excited? This past summer, one of our favorite dance nights was when we all flashed back to the 1980s. Through music, costumes, dance steps, even pop phrases, we went back in time and held our favorite retro decade dance party. Looking the part is half the fun, with baggy t-shirts hung from one shoulder, jazzercise tights and sweat bands, Ray-Ban sunglasses, and lots, and lots of really big hair. It was so fun to see the girls really get into it. Plus, for some reason, this girls knew a lot of 80s songs— 867-5309 Jenny, Mickey, I Want Candy, Lucky Star, etc. (Hmmm, now that I think about it, maybe they’ve been watching the TV show Glee…?). They also could bust out a bunch of dance moves from the 80s, like the Thriller dance for example. By the end of the night everyone was hot and sweaty, but also really enjoying themselves.
Oh, I forgot to mention that there weren’t any boys at the dance. This was an all Rockbrook, all girls dance, and probably even more fun because of it!
Under the Sea
Today was the last full day of regular activities. This sent the girls scurrying around to finish up craft projects, climb the alpine tower one last time, try again to hit the bullseye in archery or riflery. It also meant that chances to “hang out” with friends were also becoming more precious. At the lake, a group of seniors were sunbathing, and another crowd of juniors, for example, were enjoying the view on the hill before lunch. The approaching end of camp puts everyone in a nostalgic mood of sorts, and we all want to make the most of these last couple of days.
Jeff has had the Hi-Ups (10th graders) on their 3-day trip since Sunday. They all went to Lake Keowee and Lake Jocassee down in South Carolina for camping, water skiing, hiking and of course swimming. The weather was hot and sunny, and with plenty water all around, we felt like it was a beach vacation. There were lots of thrills as we explored amazing waterfalls and jumped from high rocks into the water.
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The big event tonight was something the entire camp has been anticipating all session— the big surprise banquet presented by the CAs (9th graders). They pick a secret theme, plan all of the decorations, food, costumes, music, skits, dances, and do all of the work getting ready for tonight. It’s a huge undertaking! So what was the theme this session? “Under the Sea.” The entire dining hall was transformed into an underwater paradise with fish, blue cellophane overhead, a whale, a submarine, seaweed, and shark mouth at the main door. The CAs were dressed as the movie characters Sebastian, Dory, Nemo, Flounder, Whale, and the counselors were scuba divers. For dinner (not counting all the candy on the table ) they served “Fish Sticks with Tartar Sauce,” “Crabby Patties & Ocean Algae” and “Sea Foam” (mozzarella sticks, hamburgers, jello). For the campers, this is a magical experience and something they’ll always remember.
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Tournaments and Halloween Dinner
This morning our tennis, archery and riflery “teams” traveled to Camp Carolina to challenge the boys in a tournament. This is a long tradition for both camps. We select 3 girls from each age group (Juniors, Middlers and Seniors) for each of these sports, and get together for a friendly competition between the genders. It’s fun to see us load up the buses because we bring our own equipment— our sharp shooting riflery team with their guns, the strong, steady archers with their bows, and our tennis girls carrying their rackets. Many of the girls wore their matching Rockbrook t-shirts to build up a little team spirit as well. Most of the girls are a little shy at this event, with the possible exception of some of the seniors. We can report several excellent showings and high scores, with a couple of bullseyes and aces in our column, but overall the Carolina boys won the title this session. It was a fun morning to show our stuff, and next year, we’ll have even more to bring!
Back at camp, the day’s muffins caused quite a stir. Liz created yet another original flavor she decided to call the “Rockbrook Double Whammy.” They were chocolate chip and sprinkles! Sweet, colorful little cakes, fresh-baked and oh so good!
Dinner was out of this world… for a couple of reasons. First the food was absolutely delicious. We had mounds of homemade fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and steamed broccoli. The potatoes were so creamy and the chicken seasoned just perfectly, the girls kept coming back for more and more. In case you haven’t noticed 
Rockbrook girls like to get dressed up in costumes, but not just costumes you find on a shelf in a store. They like to create costumes, and tonight was an excellent example of that as everyone came to dinner for “Halloween.” This is really a lot of fun because the cabins work on their costumes together, mixing and matching different “elements” to achieve a certain effect. That’s why you shouldn’t be surprised if you see something you sent with your daughter being worn by someone else. Tonight we had zombie brides, cats, Egyptian princess, witches and so many other unfathomable characters. You’ll have to check out the photo gallery to see how all this creativity turned out. Awesome stuff!
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Disney World Banquet
Tonight the second session banquet was finally revealed to all of the campers and staff members at camp. After weeks of working and keeping everything secret, the CA campers (9th graders) transformed the dining hall into Disney World, and called it “A Day at Disney World.” The dining hall became Animal Kingdom, the Magic Kingdom, and Epcot Center. The campers entered through the porch decorated like a monorail, and found themselves on Main Street USA with Cinderella’s Castle, Space mountain, and toward the back, the Animal Kingdom Tree of Life. There were Disney attractions and rides painted on every inch of wall space! Music from the parks, and dance numbers with the characters really added to the feeling of actually being at Disney World.
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It was particularly impressive to see the costumes the CAs had prepared. They had 31 different Disney characters, including: Chip and Dale, Ariel, Jack Sparrow, Mickey Mouse (of course!), Princess Tiana, Peter Pan, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, The Mad Hatter, Jasmine, Captain Hook, Pooh Bear, Mary Poppins, Pocahontas, Piglet, Goofy, Aladdin, Minnie Mouse, Lilo, Belle, Tinker Bell, Cinderella, Alice, Wendy, and Simba… just to name the main ones! They were all so realistic and well-suited for the girls playing each part. Many of the younger campers even thought several of the girls were the real characters. We really had Ariel, Snow White, Cinderella at Rockbrook! The character were also signing autographs, just like at the Magic Kingdom.
For dinner they served “Magical Mozzarella Sticks” and “Goofy’s Corny Corndogs” as appetizers, “Mickey and Minnie’s Pasta Palooza” with chicken for the main dish, and “Razzle Dazzle Crispies and Cotton Candy Kisses” for dessert. Of course there was plenty of candy and other treats on the table too (like a souvenir banquet sticker and decorated cup).
The CAs often say they’ve just put on the “best banquet ever,” and in this case, we think they are right up there at the top of the list. It was amazing, excellent fun.
