Plenty of Smiles

This, the last full day of camp, is always a strange day of wrapping things up, cherishing moments with friends, and feeling a little melancholy knowing that we’ll all be heading home tomorrow. As we pack and move luggage, there is a certain reluctance to let camp end, even as there are last minute activities and time to be together.

Today we picked up our finished pottery projects. All of the pieces the girls made and glazed during the session have been fired, their shiny colors now leaping up at you from each dish, cup and piggy bank. This is the first time the campers have seen how the kiln has magically transformed their work into these amazing creations, so it’s very exciting for them.  Katie and Will, the lead ceramics instructors, take great care to fire everyone’s work and have it available in time to take home.  It’s so cool to see how everything turned out!

Down and over at Rockbrook’s Equestrian Center, Audrey and her crew of horseback riding instructors invited everyone down for their “Barn Party.” This is an event with riding demonstrations, mounted games, and decorated horses. Everyone who took horseback riding was invited to participate and plenty of other campers came down to the main lower riding ring just to watch the festivities. The funniest game was “Herding Cows” where three staff members, dressed as cows in white t-shirts and black spots wandered randomly while riders tried to guide them to a pen. It was pretty funny to see and hear (moo!). It was a fun, cheerful event for everyone, complete with chilly popsicles as a surprise treat at the end.

Lunch was a classic camp favorite: grilled cheese sandwiches and Rick’s homemade tomato soup. They also served an awesome fruit salad that included the sweetest pineapple. After lunch, we all assembled in he gym for this session’s production of Schoolhouse Rock, our camp-wide musical. This is a play written just for kids and is based on the popular TV series with its well-known songs: “The Great American Melting Pot,” “Conjunction Junction,” and “A Noun is a Person, Place or Thing.” All three age groups had roles to sing with a couple of solos mixed in with choral numbers. These girls have talent!

Rockbrook’s traditional “Spirit Fire” brought our day to a close just beautifully. As dusk approached, the whole camp, all of the campers and counselors dressed in their uniforms, gathered around a campfire circle by the lake to spend some time reflecting on everything camp has meant to us over these last few weeks. We remembered all the fun events, and those moments where things couldn’t be funnier. We expressed our thanks to one another, recognizing that Rockbrook is wonderful chiefly because it encourages all of us to be our best. It inspires us to help each other enjoy camp together. I suspect that’s one of the main reasons it’s such a friendly place. The Spirit Fire can sometimes be a little emotional too as the girls realize the close friends they’ve made at camp are going home in the morning. Tonight too, there were a few tears, but also plenty of smiles.

Following a long tradition, we ended the Spirit Fire by each camper and counselor lighting a small white candle from the central campfire. Sarah and the other Directors first lit their larger candles and everyone else filed by to light their candle. We then spread out around the lake singing a couple of last songs. Standing around the lake, shoulder to shoulder gazing at the candlelight and softly singing with chirping crickets in the background, this is a scene generations of Rockbrook girls have experienced. It’s a truly beautiful moment they will remember for a very long time.

Decisions to Make

One of the distinguishing features of Rockbrook is our tradition of campers signing up for their activities after they arrive at camp. Instead of sending families a form with a list of options, we’ve found it’s important to let the girls themselves, not their parents, make the decisions about how they spend their time at camp. After all, an activity might be more attractive once you learn more about it, see what specific parts of it are like, which counselor is leading it, and who else among your friends has signed up for it. Being trusted with the responsibility to make their own personalized schedule, one based primarily on their interests rather than the assumptions of someone else, is also a great way to gain a sense of independence and self confidence. Furthermore, we let the girls do this several times each session, so they can make those decisions again and change activities if they like… “grown up” kinds of decisions… limited choices that mean selecting and neglecting at the same time. All this can make things more complex and difficult for the counselors and directors to organize, but we feel it’s worth it to provide the campers this kind of flexibility and opportunities to grow. Combined with our daily, scheduled blocks of free time, this philosophy enhances the feeling of freedom and choice Rockbrook campers so enjoy.

With all of the other adventure, sports and crafts activities going on in camp each day, it’s easy to forget about the huge horseback riding program as well. Kathleen, our full-time camp photographer, spent a good deal of time at the equestrian center today taking pictures of the riders. There are 29 horses at camp this summer and lots of girls interested in horseback riding. At any one class period, more than half of those horses will be tacked up for one of four separate riding lessons going on simultaneously. Here too, the riding schedule is rather complex because some girls ride only a couple of times each week, while others take lessons more often because they are more advanced riders or they are simply really excited to learn more. Occasionally campers will ask and change their riding time so they can take advantage of another activity instead, or vice-versa, to ride more days per week. Audrey and her team of horseback riding instructors are always patient and accommodating as girls’ interests wax and wane.

This has been an adventure trip week as well. Mattie has taken several groups hiking in the Pisgah National Forest, a Junior hike to John Rock being a highlight. Clyde led a rock climbing trip to Looking Glass Rock where a group of Middlers and Seniors climbed an area known as the “Nose.” I took the Hi-Ups out for a chance to swim at High Falls in the Dupont State Forest. And another group of Middlers and Seniors, again with Clyde, enjoyed a day whitewater kayaking on the Green River. These are optional out-of-camp trips that girls can select in place of their regularly scheduled set of activities. Going on a trip, therefore, means missing whatever is happening at camp. That’s sometimes a difficult decision to make if you really love pottery, riflery or horseback riding, for example, but again, it’s theirs to make and is certainly a chance to weigh one experience over another.

After dinner tonight, during our “Twilight” period of free time, we announced a surprise shaving cream fight and slip-n-slide to be held down on the landsports field, and a short Taekwondo workshop taught by Alex in the hillside lodge. Again, both were optional activities… decisions, decisions. The Taekwondo workshop was a simple introduction to some of the stretching and moves common to the sport. Meanwhile, most of the campers were having a ball running around the lower field armed and ready to smear each other with shaving cream.  There are no rules to this, just a chance to get messy, maybe create a funny hairstyle, and strike a pose for the camera.  There’s plenty of shrieking and laughing, and a look on everyone’s face that they can’t quite believe they’re being allowed to do this.  And to crank it up another notch, we just had to add a slick ride down the slip-n-slide. Too much! It really is almost too much fun for the girls.

Spreading Your Wings at Camp

One of the great benefits of a session at Rockbrook is the chance for girls to spread their wings and try so many new things.  As I walked around camp today I happened to see a group of Juniors (our youngest campers) at several of their activities.  It was amazing to see their faces as they explored new skills.  After speaking with one of the campers, she told me that today was the first time she had shot a bow and arrow, climbed a real rock and even learned a new pattern for weaving a friendship bracelet.  Her face beamed as she described her accomplishments.  At the young age of 9, she was exhilarated by her experience and could not believe that it was only day one!  It’s these kind of experiences that help campers build so much confidence and belief in themselves.

With the arrival of all of our mini session campers yesterday, camp was a flurry of activity today with all of our new friends in attendance.  The excitement was running high!  One activity that was really a buzz was horseback riding.  As we visited the barn this morning we saw four lessons in action with girls being divided up into different classes based on their skill level.  One class was learning the basics of steering the horse, while another class was already cantering.  There are so many great horses and fabulous teachers at the barn, that there is the right horse and teacher for every girl.

The craft activities were also quite busy with beautiful projects.  We really enjoyed our visit to needlecraft where the campers were learning to knit and have been making the most amazing hats.  Even though it is a little hot outside, it does not stop the campers from wearing their creative attire.  The tie-dye t shirts have been really bright and beautiful this summer as well.  The Hodge Podge teachers have been instructing the girls in some amazing new patterns.  One favorite is the pattern that looks like mountains, water and the sun after the shirt is unwrapped.

All in all it was a great day with more fun on the horizon.  With a special twilight activity offered at our garden, followed by skits at evening program, the campers will all have the chance to learn something new, act silly and spread their wings once more!

To Ride, Shoot and Climb

Stopping by the Rockbrook equestrian center is a treat these days. All day long, it’s humming with activity, with horses being tacked up, girls in the stable club brushing and washing different ponies, and of course others taking mounted riding lessons in the rings. Sitting on the porch of the equestrian office, you get a good view of this. The girls arrive there first after making the trip down from camp and through the tunnel under the highway, and it’s there that they will put on riding boots and pick a helmet if they need one. For the lessons, this is also where they find out which horse they’ll be riding that day. Audrey sometimes will switch horses based on how a camper did in her last lesson, or if there’s a special request to ride a particular horse. At this point in the session, it’s taking less time to get ready for the lessons because the campers know what they need to do and how to help, for example by leading the horses to the ring.  Also, we’re seeing excellent riding from these girls.  Lots are posting perfectly, cantering confidently, and jumping joyfully.  And it’s spectacular to watch.

Our longtime archery instructor Chelsea (this is her 3rd summer in that role) is reporting something similar. She’s seeing plenty of girls really take to the sport, improving their shot and hitting plenty of bullseyes. We’ve all noticed that almost everyday Chelsea is announcing during dinner the names of campers “inducted” into the “Bullseye Club” for archery (there’s a similar club for riflery too, as you might expect). Archery is one of those sports that really grows on the campers. They try it, and they’re hooked, probably because with just a little practice, they can see themselves improving. When one arrow is a great shot and the next is not, it makes you want to try again. In no time, they are true archers.

Today Clyde and Maddie took a group of Middlers out of camp for a rock climbing trip on Cedar Rock. This crag is located on the southern edge of the Pisgah Forest and requires a long, almost 2-mile, hike from the parking pull-off area just to reach the base of the rock. Consequently, the group packed a lunch with them (along with all the climbing gear— ropes, harnesses, helmets, shoes, carabiners, etc.) so they could spend all day out there. This was a great idea because they could all climb multiple pitches. They set up a climbing route called “Oh, Mr. Friction,” which is a nice medium difficulty crack, and the “Orangutan Flake,” a much more difficult face route. They even set a third rope up on a short climb that’s not named. This photo gives you a sense of the challenge these routes provide. The girls really had to be strong, concentrate and balance up some tough stuff. And these girls are really good! They have excellent climbing instincts and fine strength/weight ratios. Most of the time they handled every challenging part of these routes. Oh, and by the way, every girl who climbed wore a helmet and was “on belay,” meaning she was being held up by a rope with a tensile strength exceeding 3000 pounds. The girls climb high, but they are super safe doing it. With all that climbing and all that hiking, it was a very big, and tiring, day out. Be sure to check out the photo gallery to see more photos of this trip. They’re great!

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.

Testing the Birthday Paradox

With all of the adventure, crafts and sports going on in camp, it’s easy to forget that through the tunnel and across the road at the Rockbrook fields, there are campers riding horses everyday. They are girls being introduced to English horseback riding, with its emphasis on balance, posture and seat position, and others improving their riding skills in mounted lessons. They are getting to know the Rockbrook equestrian staff, led by Cara and Audrey, and the 29 horses at camp this summer. It can get pretty busy down there at the stables with horses being prepared and led back and forth from the barns, campers dressing in their boots and helmets eager to learn who they’ll ride that day, and lessons being taught in all three riding rings. If you add to that taking care of all those horses, for example when the ferrier makes his weekly visit, you have quite a hive of activity. During any of the activity periods, and even in between, you can see examples of this engaged enthusiasm and hard work. It’s impressive!

The middle picture here is of Cool Beans and his little sidekick Cloud Nine, two of our celebrity ponies at camp this summer. You may have met them on the opening day of camp. They have been well-loved this session, especially by the juniors.

Have you heard of the Birthday Paradox, the surprisingly high probability that two people in a group will share the same birthday? The magic number is twenty three; if you take a group of 23 randomly selected people the odds there will be two with the same birthday are about 50% (1 in 2). So what happens when you take an entire summer camp of 223 campers and 60 staff members? The probability is greater than 99.9999999999999999999999998%!

We tested this paradox tonight during our special all-camp birthday night dinner. We rearranged the dining hall so everyone with the same birth month could sit together at one giant table for each month. Everybody born in April sat together, May together, and so forth. This meant some of the tables, like September, were huge and others had only 10 or so. Throughout the meal everyone compared birthdays, and sure enough we had about 4 different pairs sharing the same day. Each table also thought of other famous people to whom they could shout out a birthday greeting… “Happy Birthday Justine Bieber!” Or, “Happy Birthday William Shakespeare!” It’s not clear how many of these were true, but that wasn’t particularly important. What mattered was coming up with funny examples for everyone to hear. The biggest bubble of excitement, however, erupted when the cakes came out, one elaborately decorated, in a “Candyland” theme, birthday cake for each month/table. As you can see in this photo of the April cake, Alison baked up simply gorgeous cakes, again, all from scratch. These were big cakes, and believe it or not, there were several tables that couldn’t finish theirs! An example of being good, but maybe a little too good!

Everyone’s Birthday

Visiting the equestrian center these days is a real treat. It’s just alive with big action and big smiles. The girls who selected riding as one of their activities are now well settled into the daily lessons. They know how to get dressed properly (helmet, boots, etc.), in most cases, how to lead their assigned horse out to one of the riding rings, and even how to mount. The riding staff is doing a wonderful job in the mounted lessons keeping each camper engaged and excited.  As the session progresses, it’s neat to see how much everyone’s confidence and skill has improved. It’s also fun to hear the campers talk about their favorite horse at camp, someone they’ve ridden a lot and gotten comfortable with. Maybe you’ve already received a letter from your daughter and heard about one of the great horses she’s been able to ride.  Learning to communicate with a special horse, and learning to trust him or her, is one of the most rewarding parts of horseback riding, and it’s happening just about every day around here.

Also, today was a big day for whitewater rafting on the Nantahala river. We took all the middlers and seniors who wanted to go on either an overnight camping/rafting trip or on a day trip down the river. The Nantahala is famous for being rather chilly (somewhere near 50 degrees) even in the heat of the summer, so we were lucky to have bright sunny weather for both trips. Great weather like this makes it much more fun to splash and play while rafting, even at times jumping in on purpose when the guides say it’s OK. Rockbrook is the only girls camp with a permit to raft the Nantahala (we’ve had it since the 1980s), so we also can hire our own seasoned raft guides. On this trip Clyde, Sid, Billy, Leland, Michelle and and Andria guided the boats, making up a team with more than 85 years of combined whitewater experience! These folks truly are the best. Rafting trips are always very exciting for the girls, and also pretty tiring, so it was no surprise to see most everyone conk out in the bus on the ride back to camp. This kind of adventure and fun needs some rest too!

Back at camp in time for dinner, there was a big surprise waiting. Birthday Night! This is a special dinner where the dining hall is rearranged so that everyone can sit according to their birth month… twelve big tables, one for each month. It’s really fun for campers and counselors to sit together and get to know better other girls from different cabins and age groups. This time, to give it a even more Rockbrook flair, we had a theme for the dinner: Candyland. And never missing a chance to dress up, this sparked some very creative costumes from the counselors and campers. They dressed as different types of candy and characters from the Candyland board game. In addition to lollipops and gumdrops, we saw the Duke of Swirl, Mr. Mint and Gramma Nutt. Even Sarah dressed up as a Hershey’s chocolate kiss with almonds! The highlight of the night though was the cakes, the homemade cakes Alison baked for each month that she then decorated as scenes from Candyland. They were both beautiful and delicious. There were some pretty huge pieces of cake for the girls in some months. Yum!

Wonder, Creativity and Adventure

Camp was full of wonder, creativity and adventure today, with so much going on. A big group of seniors and middlers headed over to the Nantahala River for a whitewater rafting trip. We packed up our gear, a great picnic lunch, and pulled the buses out of camp after breakfast. It was about a 2 hour drive, but with a quick bathroom/stretch/snack break, we arrived at the edge of the river in time for lunch. We really lathered on the sunscreen because it was a bright sunny day— perfectly warm to balance the cold river water. Clyde, the Rockbrook Adventure Director, and his crew met us at the top of the river with the RBC rafts blown up and ready to go. Every girl is outfitted with a life jacket (PFD), helmet and paddle before dividing up into groups of 5 for each raft. Then it’s 9 miles of rapids going down the river with the finale being the class III Nantahala Falls. True adventure!

Meanwhile in camp, the girls taking pottery were hard at work on their face mugs.  These are fun creative projects that start with slabs of clay they shape into a cylinder.  Then after attaching a handle, each mug gains character with an individualized face… eyes, nose, mouth, even teeth and eyebrows sometimes.  The final step for the girls is to paint on several colors of glaze before the pottery instructors fire the pieces in the kilns.

Down at the equestrian center, Cara and Audry along with the other horseback riding instructors are keeping the campers happy with the Rockbrook horses.  If you haven’t seen them in the photo gallery, they are a great looking bunch, from our smallest Welsh Ponies up to our 17.1 hand thoroughbred gelding Gordon.  There are lessons going on all day down there, from first time riders to girls learning to jump.  It’s always amazing to see the look of wonder on the girls faces as they learn to ride comfortably these great horses.

On the other side of camp, the alpine tower was crawling with campers, quite literally!  Every age group, from the youngest Juniors to the oldest Seniors, can sign up to climb this 50ft high ropes course tower.  It provides all levels of climbing challenges, and the staff members are great at starting girls out with the best route to match their ability.  There are easier ways to get to the top, and really tough obstacles for the more experienced climber.

Dinner tonight was a big surprise for the campers; it was “Restaurant Night,” but also with a dress up theme, the game of “Clue.” All the girls dressed up as players of the game in some “mysterious costume” they created, and the counselors dressed up as characters from “Clue” like Mrs. White, Professor Plum, and Ms. Peacock. The staff served the campers a wonderful meal of roasted chicken, pasta, salad and fresh fruit, but afterwords the game began. Each cabin was given an initial clue that when solved sent them to another part of the camp to meet one of the game’s characters and to receive a new clue. Each station/character also required the whole cabin group to perform some kind of challenge before receiving their next clue, challenges like singing a particular song, untying a human knot, or everyone telling a joke. Ultimately, once a cabin solved all the clues/riddles they were led back to the dining hall for prizes and treats. Wow, what a game! Everyone loved the action, the costumes, the imagination and cabin group cooperation it required, not to mention how much fun it was.