Slip’n Slide!

Who doesn’t love a slip’n slide?! Haley Hudler, a long-time camper and current staff member summed up the benefits of working at a camp when she said, “Camp is great because it allows you to relive the fine points of your youth, yet also it gives you the opportunity to mature and grow due to the responsibility hat is places on your shoulders.” Here’s to slip’n slides, shaving creams fights and  crazy summer nights!

Jane Pierce featured in Optimum Living Magazine

Long time camper and counselor Jane Pierce was recently featured in a magazine for her stunning photography talent. During the summer, she shared her passion with campers – doing stop-motion, scavenger hunts, and much more. Currently, she attends Corcoran College in Washington, DC. She aspires to be a fashion photographer. Go Jane!

Waterfalls at Rockbrook

Many a camper has been to Rockbrook Falls, or at least to the bridge at the bottom of it. There is, however, a larger portion of the falls that can be seen if you are one for adventure. To get there, you have to scramble, climb over rocks, and maybe even get a little wet, but the 60+ foot falls is worth it! Many years ago, water was diverted from its creek through camp, providing a stream to play in and also water for the lake.

There is also a smaller waterfall, Stick Biscuit Falls, located above the upper camp fire circle. You can even climb behind it! This stream runs underneath the dining hall, and through camp.

Rockbrook has many special places that campers have continually rediscovered every summer. Even campers that have been here for a long time still can find a new spot that leaves them awed. There’s no picture here – you’ll just have to discover them for yourself!

Kara Morris is Graduating!

Last year, Kara taught archery at camp and worked the full summer on the junior line. She was a much-loved counselor – probably because she always had a sunny attitude, and clearly made her campers’ experience her top priority. This May, she will be graduating Summa Cum Laude (aka she’s really smart!) with a degree in Early Childhood Education. Congratulations, Kara! Your future students will be blessed to have you as their teacher.

Camp counseling is a unique, fun, and exhausting job. Counselors are constantly being creative, hanging out with kids, and putting the campers needs ahead of their own. Hopefully a summer camp job experience also gives those brave enough to sign the contract an experience that will aid them in their future careers as well. It’s not surprising that many camp counselors at Rockbrook are education majors, however skills such as event planning, working well with a diverse set of people, learning how to generate enthusiasm, etc, are applicable in virtually every field – not to mention practice for parenting!

Rockbrook Garden

This weekend, with the help of Tara Millington and Catherine Goodnight, the first seeds were planted in the garden. What you don’t see yet in this photo are the carrots, beets, beans, corn, onions, peas and more that will soon be sprouting! This is actually the same place that the old garden use to be many years ago. The soil is top notch!

This summer, campers will be able to sign up for garden workshops, where they might even get to eat right out of the garden! Both campers and counselors can pitch in during Twilight (the time after dinner and before evening program) to water and care for the garden.

Common Mistakes for Camp Counselors

3 Common Mistakes
By Bob Ditter, Camp Psychologist

1. Telling children the things you don’t want them to do, rather than the things you do want them to do.

We often tell children, “Don’t fight! Stop running! Quit arguing! Leave that alone!” This way of communicating leaves children with a much better idea of what we don’t want them to do than of what we do want them to do. No wonder many child-care workers are exasperated with the ways children behave! It takes awareness and a concerted effort to break this habit, but learning to say what we want from children pays dividends.

2. The tug-of-war trap.

When a child says, “I’m not making my bed! My parents didn’t pay for me to come to camp to work; I came to have fun,” most unseasoned counselors fall for the bait and immediately get caught in an argument about who paid for camp and whether the camper must make the bed or not. This happens because counselors don’t know what else to do.

3. Missing the feeling tone in what children say.

We become fixated on behavior and forget that a child may be acting out of fear, sadness, or a sense of loneliness. Unless counselors learn to identify and name feelings, much of what campers communicate to them may be lost.

Bob Ditter, Camping Magazine, 1996

The Scent of Wood Smoke

Here is a poem we sometimes read at Spirit Fire.

To An Old Camper
by Mary S. Edgar

You may think, my dear, when you grow quite old
You have left camp days behind,
But I know the scent of wood smoke
Will always call to mind
Little fires at twilight
And trails you used to find.

You may think someday you have quite grown up,
And feel so worldly wise
But suddenly from out of the past
A vision will arise
Of merry folk with brown bare knees
And laughter in their eyes.

You may live in a house built to your taste
In the nicest part of town
But someday for your old camp togs
You’d change your latest gown
And trade it for a balsam bed
Where stars all night look down.

You may find yourself grow wealthy
Have all that gold can buy.
But you’d toss aside a fortune
For days ‘neath an open sky
With sunlight and blue water
And white clouds sailing by.

For once you have been a camper
Then something has come to stay
Deep in your heart forever
Which nothing can take away,
And heaven can only be heaven
With a camp in which to play.

Look Who Stopped By!

Former counselor Eva Jorgensen-Graham stopped by the office today. She recently graduated from Elon with a degree in psychology and is now selling insurance. While at camp, she taught photography and was the head counselor of the senior line. Good luck, Eva!