Sleepaway Summer Camp

Snow in Brevard! We thought you’d enjoy this photo of Goodwill taken after our recent snow “storm.” “Goodwill” is the old cabin just below the dining hall that has the camp library. It’s where the Journalism and Photography activities meet as well.

Overnight Traditional Summer Camps

We often describe Rockbrook as a “traditional” summer camp. Being founded in 1921, its age is one good reason for this. Likewise, when you step into many of the buildings at camp, each of the three stone lodges or the “Goodwill” cabin for example, you have that feeling of being back in time. Then, of course, many of the camp activities have deep roots going back to the earliest years. Girls today still enjoy horseback riding, hiking and camping overnight, archery, canoeing, and crafts, for example. Perhaps most significantly, there are many special events and aspects of daily kids camp life that make it uniquely itself. For example, there’s the end-of-camp “Spirit Fire,” the camp songs sung in the dining hall, and the encouragement girls find to try new things, meet new people, and live simply with an appreciation of the natural world.

There are certainly modern aspects of camp as well, but understanding these features, you can see how Rockbrook is, at its heart, a “traditional” summer camp.

A Place to Grow

In her book, The Blessing of a Skinned Knee, Wendy Mogel critiques what she sees as a troubling trend in parenting these days— an excessive tendency to shield children from any kind of discomfort.

“Parents are so busy protecting their children that they don’t give them a chance to learn how to maneuver on their own outside home or school.”

Spending time at summer camp serves as a welcome counter force to this trend. As they choose their own activities, sleep in rustic cabins, live with and make new friends, young people at camp are given a great opportunity to grow. Far beyond what parents might orchestrate at home, camp encourages kids to become more independent, to try new things, and to learn from the experience.

It’s a lot of things (like a really fun time!), but perhaps most fundamentally, camp is a setting for exploring who we really are.  Stepping out of our normal routines, we can try new things, endure discomforts and setbacks (try again), and marvel at unexpected accomplishments.

Harry Potter at Summer Camp

In fact, a whole camp of Harry Potter and Hogwarts fun! Here’s a photo from last summer’s special celebration.