Overwhelming Joy

Today, the final full day of this camp session, was a great day for marking some of the amazing accomplishments we’ve been seeing over the last few weeks. All of these Rockbrook girls have a lot to show! It might simply be becoming a really good friend for someone, but probably includes a colorful creation of pottery or cloth and a new skill shooting, climbing or riding as well. Most importantly, these girls have created for themselves a haven where they can be adventurous, feel very good about the decisions they make, and have the (silliest!) time of their lives.

For the horseback riding girls, today was an exciting day because the Equestrian Staff planned a “horse show” for them. Not a horse show with competition, judging and ribbons, but it was more of a party with great mounted games to play. One funny example of this was “Herding Cows,” where three campers, dressed as cows (their white t-shirts had black spots on them), roamed about the ring while riders tried to keep them from wandering off. Another game involved girls holding “dollar bills” between their legs and their saddle while attempting to walk, trot and canter without dropping the bills. Several of the advanced riders even jumped while holding the bills tight.

Up in the ceramics studio, head instructors Katie and Will revealed all the pottery the girls had made over the session. Fresh from the kilns, all the sculptures and pots looked fantastic glazed in dozens of different colors. This session there were trays, cylinders, coin banks, and plenty of cups and bowls. It’s always fun for the girls to see how their pieces turn out. Glazes often do unexpected things in a kiln, so it’s generally a surprise.

This afternoon, the whole camp assembled in the gym to see the performance of our camp-wide musical, Schoolhouse Rock. Adapted from the popular TV series, this is a wonderful play comprised mostly of songs and choral numbers, several of which are very well known: “A Noun is a Person, Place or Thing,” “Conjunction Junction,” and “The Great American Melting Pot,” for example. Several parents attended the performance and everyone was thrilled by the singing. The intermission gave the dance classes a chance to perform as well. All three age groups presented, in costume, a choreographed dance number they had been practicing. Here too, we were all very impressed!

Our traditional “Spirit Fire” ended the day just perfectly. After all the action of camp, the big fun that happens everyday around here, it’s nice to finish up with a quieter time to think about what our experience has meant to us. With the whole camp gathered around a campfire, we all sing songs and take turns talking about how we feel about Rockbrook. From the littlest Juniors on up to the Seniors, Hi-Ups and counselors, the girls spoke so eloquently last night. One junior camper simply said, “I think Rockbrook is great and should be for everyone… except for boys.” Hannah really provided some insight when she explained she loves Rockbrook because it “ignites our childhood spirit.” And Michelle summed up her experience this session as simply “overwhelming joy.”

We ended the Spirit Fire by each camper and counselor lighting a small white candle from the central campfire. Sarah first lit hers and, following this long tradition, everyone then filed by to light their candle. We then fanned out to stand around the lake and sing a couple of last songs. As the candles flicker in the night, casting a warm glow on the girls faces, and as chirping crickets in the distance blend with soft singing, it’s a beautiful scene. We are all a little emotional about camp ending, but we know that what we’ve shared will stay with us and Rockbrook will welcome us back another day.

Summer Dancing

Today started out with unusually cool weather accompanied by a very slight drizzle off and on. Given the warmer, more ordinary summertime heat we’ve been experiencing lately, it was a nice change for camp. And that drizzle sure didn’t slow us down any! We were happily enjoying all of our regular activities. The drama class, which usually meets inside the Junior lodge, was playing a funny improv game called “Bus Stop.” Using just a couple of props, the girls take turns creating a bus stop scene with some crazy, unexpected character waiting for the bus. As the scene unfolds, the goal is to guess who the mystery character is in the scene. Inevitably, the game includes actors and audience members cracking up.

Down in the Lakeview Lodge, the Middler and Senior dance classes were rocking out practicing routines for the end of camp dance show. Led by the “two Lindseys” (Both dance counselors are named Lindsey this session), there are some technical moves in the choreography, making practice pretty important. The Junior classes spend more time playing games— Freeze Dance!! —and learning more basic dance moves.

Down at the riflery range the girls are really improving their skills. It seems like everyday at lunch, Leah and Molly the riflery instructors are announcing new girls who shot bullseyes. There’s been so much shooting down there, Richie had to replace the target hangers because they were completely shot up! It will be interesting to see the giant pile of shells leftover at the end of the summer.

For lunch today, Rick made us a Mediterranean feast with homemade hummus, freshly fried falafel, toasted pita bread, olives, feta cheese, tomato and cucumber salad. I heard several comments about the hummus being “really good,” probably because it had just the right amount of lemon and salt. There was some action at the peanut butter and jelly station and salad bars too, but not as much as you might think. For dinner, Rick and Alison teamed up for a special dessert: ice cream cake. They took some of the leftover, un-frosted birthday cake and layered in slabs of ice cream and even more chocolate cake. Chocolate frosting and a little icing decoration was added to make these works of art! When it was all over, not a crumb was left.

Tonight was also a dance night for the whole camp, this time with the boys up at High Rocks. It was quite an operation to get all 220 campers up the mountain (two shuttles using all of our vehicles, plus some borrowed from High Rocks), but we all made the trek to enjoy a square dance out on their 3 tennis courts. After the girls got over some initial jitters, they were soon having a surprising (to them at least!) amount of fun. It’s all very lighthearted and silly, with part of the fun being learning the moves, but also messing up by turning the wrong way or grabbing the wrong hand. After a short break for cookies and lemonade, we were back to the dancing— winding the clock, trapping a birdie in the cage, and lots of partners being swung. On the ride home several senior girls commented that they enjoyed the square dance even more than the “pop dance” we had last week. I’m not too surprised, but happy to hear another example of camp providing a new, and surprisingly enjoyable experience for our girls.

Closing Campfire

Each session, the Hi-Ups, our oldest (10th grade, 16-year-old) campers, go on a three-day outdoor trip with Jeff. It’s a special trip packed with adventure, really great food, and time to relax and enjoy being together. It’s impossible to mention all the highlights, but they include things like wake boarding, waterfall hiking, camping, swimming, rock climbing, and cliff jumping. At one point, the girls swam up to a waterfall and climbed up several rock ledges to pass through the falling water into a small cave behind. The pounding cold, cold water and the roar of the waterfall made this such an intense feeling. When jumping into the lake from different heights, we could always count on hearing big happy screams. And the food… steak burritos and burgers for dinners, lunches of sandwiches and wraps, and eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, blueberry and chocolate chip pancakes… Yum!

This session our camp-wide musical was Schoolhouse Rock, and today was the big performance for everyone at camp. This is a wonderful play that has lots of parts and plenty of familiar songs making it easy to includes campers of all ages. Based on the popular TV series, we heard A Noun is a Person, Place or Thing, Three is a Magic Number, Conjunction Junction, and several others sung by different groups of girls. The audience was thrilled to several solos and plenty of dancing, really giving several girls a chance to ham it up!

The final event tonight was our closing campfire, the “Spirit Fire.” This is a tradition that goes back to the very beginning of Rockbrook. It’s a special campfire attended by the whole camp dressed in their “whities” (camp uniform and red tie), and is a chance to sing songs, recognize and reflect upon everything we’ve accomplished over the session. Girls take turns speaking about their time at camp, and about what Rockbrook has come to mean for them over the years. It’s a wonderful, calm time to remember our camp friends, as well as the fun and excitement shared during the session. To end the Spirit Fire all the campers and counselors light a small white candle from the central campfire and then stand together for a last couple of songs. With all the lights off in camp, with the sounds of the creeks and crickets, and with the whole camp softly singing by candlelight, this is just beautiful, and a very special time.

Celebrating Third Session 2010

It’s easy to celebrate the session when you look back on all that we’ve done over the last few weeks. It’s celebrating, though, that we do today, our last full day together. Foremost, perhaps, the girls mark their place as a cabin group by designing and painting a plaque for the inside of their cabin, something with all the their names and the date that can be hung in the cabin for girls who come after them to see. The girls spend so much time together as a cabin group, and share so much (at every meal, for example), it makes sense to want to preserve that group feeling. Of course, there’s always the cabin photo, but this is something extra.

Down at the barn, the girls who have been riding celebrate their experience by presenting the “Horse Show” for the rest of the camp. This is a chance for the riders to show off their new skills, ride their favorite horse again, and perform horseback riding drill team routines. Instead of a competition with prizes and ribbons, this is a real show with everyone welcome to demonstrate their horseback riding abilities and to have fun doing it. It really is a cheerful atmosphere, complete with popsicles to help everyone to stay cool as the late morning sun came up over the mountain.

We also celebrated the amazing dramatic, vocal and dancing talents of our campers with the presentation of this session’s musical, Annie. After weeks of working on their parts, rehearsing, building scenery and designing costumes, everything came together for an amazing show. We had more than 80 parents attending, and with the entire camp also there, the gym was packed! If you didn’t get to see it, you’ll be able to catch it on this year’s DVD yearbook. No worries.

We’d held off long enough for another “Rockbrook Surprise” everyone loves: Biltmore Train! That’s our special all-you-can-eat ice cream bonanza recalling the Biltmore Dairy’s ice cream truck and its camp visits. Think tubs of ice cream, stacks of cones, and the campers going back for more and more. Certainly a little decadent, but it was also a great way to celebrate everyone’s success with the play and to enjoy some time socializing with the families who came to see the performance.

Perhaps the biggest celebration of the day came at the end when we held our Spirit Fire closing campfire. Since it’s very first summer in 1921 Rockbrook has closed its sessions by gathering everyone around the fire ring on Vesper Rock to reflect upon and appreciate everything we’ve shared over the last few weeks. Through songs, memories, tributes and recognitions, we all celebrate each other and what camp means to us. It was remarkable to see these girls choke back tears as they hug each other and about their love for each other and for Rockbrook. Camp, how it makes them feel and how it helps them grow, is so important to them. It’s humbling to see it in action.

The final day of camp is full of celebrations. Throughout the weeks of camp, these Rockbrook girls accomplish wonderful and amazing things. They learn more than they can say, and grow more than they realize, but most importantly, feel at home at Rockbrook. It’s their camp.

With all of that, it’s easy to celebrate.

Kudos for Claire

News from Charlotte. Sixth grader Claire M. recently competed in the regional Shakespeare Competition, and out of 210 middle school students, placed into the final round. She was the only sixth grader to do so. It was a tough competition too because each student had to recite from memory (no note cards!) a complete Shakespeare sonnet and a monologue from one of Shakespeare’s plays. Claire performed Sonnet VII and Katherine’s final soliloquy from “The Taming of the Shrew.” This was Claire’s first year of being eligible to compete, so we’re all quite proud that she did so well.

Congratulations Claire!

Summer Camp Songs

It’s one of those things we do at Rockbrook… at meals, on the bus heading to the river, during skits, and all together at assemblies… we sing camp songs! From the crazy and silly songs, like the “coconut song,” to the more serious and traditional songs, like “Rockbrook Camp Forever,” there are easily over 100 different songs in the Rockbrook songbook. When you come to camp, and more than likely come back year after year, these songs really stick in your head, and then years later, maybe when you’re married and have your own kids (!), they’ll pop up again, and you’ll know every word.  Ask anybody who’s come to camp, and she’ll have her favorite camp song.