News updates about the latest happenings, events and surprises at Rockbrook Sleepaway Summer Camp for Girls. Discussions and thoughts about why camp is so important for girls.
As we walk the paths and trails of Rockbrook we are always excited to find unusual species of plants and flowers. On a recent walk, Rockbrook alumnae Barrie B. and Maggie K. spotted this orchid, known as the The Showy Orchid. The Latin name is Galearis Spectabilis. While they are not rare in NC, they are on the endangered list in SC and several other states. The Showy Orchid grows in deciduous forests and can typically be found growing on rocks. It flowers in the spring, the bloom lasting 2-3 months. When the campers arrive in a few short weeks, the orchids will still be putting on a beautiful show. Thanks you Maggie for sharing this photograph with us!
If you missed our last wildflower report, check out this recent blog post on the Trout Lilies that grow at RBC.
We were so happy to learn of the recent nuptials of Rockbrook alumna Kristin Abele. Kristin and her husband James were married on January 14th in Key Biscayne, Florida. A mini Rockbrook reunion took place as Kristin’s sisters Lauren and Madi (both former campers), as well as Anne Romatowski and Kelley Hubbell were in attendance. Kelley, Anne and Lauren were even able to come to Florida a week early for a some fun adventures before the big event. Kristin reported that lots of camp songs were shared that week, even at the wedding. We love that Rockbrook spirit! Kristin even mentioned that many of the wedding guests could instantly recognize the special bond that all RBC girls share!
Rockbrook Spirit
Here is an update from Kristin herself:
“As an update for me…aside from getting married…I started my own business, with my husband in fact. We own and operate The Found Gen, which is a story/scripting group based in Miami that offers writing and editing services with an emphasis on marketing to businesses–we write copy for websites, blogs, newsletters, email marketing campaigns, proposals, marketing presentations, film scripts, commercial scripts, keynote speeches and more–and now after our wedding, we’ve even started getting requests for wedding ceremonies now! And, I completed my first novel last year and now that the wedding has come and gone–i’m aiming to edit it and send it out to be published this Spring.”
Congratulations Kristin and James! We are so happy for you both.
During the recent Rockbrook reunion there were several sets of Mothers and Daughters in attendance. It was such a special experience for Moms and Daughters to finally get to be campers together, sharing bunk beds, singing camp songs and dining around the green tables in the dining hall.
Marguerite and JennieAshley and Fran
During the activity portion of the reunion there were lots of Mother and Daughter sets spotted sliding into the lake on the water slide, hiking together, playing tennis or making crafts. Overall though, the favorite experience for everyone was just sharing time with their loved ones in such a special place. Sharing the gift of Rockbrook with your daughter is definitely the gift that lasts a lifetime.
The years drifted away during the recent Rockbrook Reunion weekend as old friends reconnected in the heart of a wooded mountain. For some women it was their first trip back to Rockbrook in more than 40 years but it did not take a moment to find a friend and jump right back to where they left off. The joy on everyone’s faces as they saw their old friends was magical!
Phyllis and Sparky
Kelly and Jennie
We will post more stories and memories from the reunion soon. It was a spectacular weekend filled with fun!
What an amazing weekend! It was 3 days bathed in absolutely perfect weather, decorated with fond memories relived, and filled to the brim with laughter and conversation among friends… a camp reunion to remember. Rick and his crew took great care of us by serving wonderful meals, including several fresh yummy desserts baked by Alison. Everyone stayed busy on Saturday hiking to Kilroy’s Cabin, climbing the Alpine Tower, making pottery, shooting archery, and zipping down the water slide at the lake, but perhaps most enjoyably, spending a lot of time relaxing amid the beauty of Rockbrook.
Here is a group photo we took after lunch on Saturday (click the photo for a larger version). We also took lots of photos all weekend long and have published them here: 2011 Alumnae Reunion Photos. Take a look!
Stay tuned to our Alumnae Blog for more updates about the reunion. There are many wonderful moments to recount.
Thanks to everyone who attended the reunion. We always enjoy welcoming former campers back to the “Heart of a Wooded Mountain.” It won’t be long before we do it again!
Caroline, Emily and Hannah -Nancy Carriers Great- Great Granddaughters with their Aunt Helen and Grandfather Gus
Each summer we are always thrilled to have campers in attendance whose family members are also former campers. This year we were especially excited as we had three campers during our Third Session who are the great-great granddaughters of Nancy Carrier, Rockbrook’s founder! It was so great seeing their enthusiasm about camp and knowing how proud their great great grandmother would be to see them as campers!
Today we closed Rockbrook’s 90th season and said farewell to our Third session and August Mini session campers. After these weeks together, it’s astounding how close we’ve all become, girls of all ages and staff members sharing experiences and growing together as a family. We’ve laughed together and cheered for each other. We’ve learned together and helped each other. All this proving once again a remarkable thing about Rockbrook: everyone here is part of a loving community, supported, encouraged and appreciated. Being a part of it is a marvelous feeling.
That’s one of best reasons girls develop such a deep love for camp. They not only get to do so many amazingly fun things and live with so many great people, they cherish the feeling of freedom and the regular moments of excitement every day brings. Life at camp is different from the rest of the year. It’s of course missing modern comforts (and technology), but also, strangely, feels more real.
Thank you everyone! Rockbrook is magical because everyone— our great girls, counselors, directors, support staff and families —makes it that way. Thank you for your efforts and support this summer. It’s truly been fantastic!
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.
Everyone likes taking pictures, but at a place like Rockbrook where there is something wondrous or beautiful at every turn, it’s exciting to try and capture the experience in photography. The photography activity, or what we call “Photo Phun” around here, gives the girls a chance to explore and take— no make pictures all over camp. Jane, the lead instructor, starts them out by explaining how to use the digital cameras and when to select certain settings given what they’re shooting. She teaches them the basic notion of adjusting shutter speed and aperture relative to the amount of available light, for example, and how changing these settings affects the depth of field and motion effects. With this background, the girls will often head out to explore, looking for “cool photos.” To focus that sometimes, Jane will challenge them with a scavenger hunt where each photo has to have a different main color, or a represent a different letter in the alphabet. She’s taught them about stop motion photography and light painting as well. See why we call it “Photo Phun?”
You probably can also see why having a skilled, energetic and enthusiastic activity instructor is so important to the success of something like this. For Photo Phun to really be fun for the campers, Jane has to be both a skilled technician who really knows her stuff about photography, but also a creative teacher who enjoys working with kids. Rockbrook is full of great activity instructors like this. They instinctively know how to take something maybe a little technical, like archery, tennis, horseback riding, or rock climbing for example, and present it to the campers in a way that’s safe and informative, but also inherently fun. There are a few tricks to this that we present during our staff training week, but we also work hard to hire counselors who “get it” instinctively. Pull together a bunch of people like this, young women who love what they do, creatively and imaginatively, and who sincerely love being with kids, and you’ve got a sense of what makes the Rockbrook staff special.
Beyond the scheduled activities offered each day, it’s often the simplest things that mean the most to a girl when she’s here at Rockbrook. Playing tetherball on the hill at twilight, sitting in the sun on a huge rock by the lake, or racing your flip-flop down the creek— these can be the best memories of camp. Of course, the most important ingredient in everything at Rockbrook is the people, the incredible community of spirited folks who share camp together. They form the core of these memories. Certainly Rockbrook is a beautiful place and the activities are excellent, but it’s your cabin mates, your counselors and all the other support staff (Rick, Alison, Clyde, Elaine, Richie, Katie, Will, the many Directors and so many others) that truly make these little moments that add up to be “camp.” The magic of camp starts with people.
Tonight after dinner we sent word for everyone to dress up and come down to the gym for a surprise evening event. The girls must have been saving up costume elements because we saw amazing wacky wigs, goofy glasses, colorful dresses, boots and hats in any combination (There are some great photos of this in the gallery). When they arrived, they found the gym transformed into a game show, with our friend Bill Grimsley ready to host a trivia question and answer game using his podiums and scoring system. He randomly selected contestants from the audience, pitting girls from the same line against each other. Some of the questions were about Rockbrook, and others about pop music, TV and movies. Occasionally he would announce a “challenge round” where for extra points the contestants performed a task like hula hooping, or for the counselors, eating something “not so appetizing” like canned pig brains in gravy. Ugh! Of course, the audience thought this was hilarious. Prizes, like a giant cookie cake, went to cabin groups, and at times when the contestants were stumped and the audience knew an answer, the whole crowd won a little treat. Silly and oh so good!
