Summer Camp

Information, thinking and ideas about summer camp drawn using examples from Rockbrook Camp located in the mountains of Brevard, North Carolina.

Youth Camp Girl Educational
• Summer Camp • rbc

What Youth Camps Teach

Youth Camp Girl Educational Activity

As a summer youth camp, Rockbrook’s mission is to be

“a haven for girls, a place of their own, where they can explore the beauty of nature, try new things, enjoy carefree summer living, and make some of their very best friends.”

And of course, camp is all about the fun, the super silliness of it all, too.

But it’s also more than all that, because camp is also a place where you learn a ton. Camp is definitely educational, and in the very best sense of the word. It teaches you how to be more independent, more creative, braver, and more socially adept. Camp helps you learn new ways to get along with others, to trust the people around you, and to feel good about what you do. It’s really true; youth camps help young people learn about themselves.

When you add the sort of caring spirited people that work at Rockbrook, you begin to understand how summer camps can be one of the most valuable educational experiences around.

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Cute Little Camp Girls
• Summer Camp • Jeff Carter

Camp is a Refuge

Cute Little Camp Girls

We hear this a lot, actually: that camp is a refuge.  It’s a place where girls can escape the busy, sometimes overwhelming pace of their regular lives.  For many young kids, each day is a bombardment of stimuli, new information and entertainment.  There are school responsibilities, social demands, and activities at home all demanding attention.  Increasingly, parents have noticed that the intensity of their children’s lives is making them more anxious, fearful, and worried.  There’s so much going on, it’s difficult for kids to really connect with the people (family and friends) around them, adding even more to the burden of handling everything on their own.  Everything around them seems to be shouting, and sometimes it’s just too much!

Thank goodness for camp.  It really can be a refuge, a huge relief from all of this.  Simply being outside, unplugged from rapid-fire electronic stimulation, is a powerful antidote.  Having daily opportunities to engage creative talents, physical challenges, and deep social/personal relationships is so welcome, kids just blossom in a camp setting.  It’s the greatest gift to simply have time to relax, to play in the creek, dress a little silly, or chat with a friend in the porch rocking chairs. The environment of a kids camp is a powerful healthy response to the extreme busyness of ordinary life. It always has been, and these days, it seems like it’s needed more than ever.

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brush your teeth
• Summer Camp • Jeff Carter

Camp From the Past!

Youth Camp Photo Collage

Here’s a great early photo collage of Rockbrook girls from the 1926 camp catalog. Kells Hogan brought it over to us after finding it among his mother’s artifacts. She attended camp in her youth.  We love how the photos show the real spirit of adventure the girls had back then.  It looks like there was plenty of dressing up going on too!

Recognize those waterfalls?

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Camp Kid Reading
• Summer Camp • Jeff Carter

A Quick Quote on Camp

Camp Kid Reading

We ran into this quote the other day and thought we should share it. It’s from Charles William Eliot, who at 35 was the youngest president of Harvard University.

“I have a conviction that a few weeks spent in a well-organized summer camp may be of more value educationally than a whole year of formal school work.”

It’s nice to see the value of camp being endorsed by highly educated people. We agree. Camp is educational in the broadest, but also most fundamental, sense of the word. Through personal experience, it offers opportunities to forge connections and nurture children far beyond what school can provide. There’s really nothing quite like camp!

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Aiming an archery arrow
• Summer Camp • Jeff Carter

Top 5 Summer Summer Camp Directories

When searching for summer camps, it’s always good to look at several to compare them and learn about which might best fit your child. You can spend a lot of time searching the Internet and reading different camps’ individual websites, but you can also visit one of the many summer camp directories out there. These are special sites designed to help sift through all the options. You can narrow the complete list of camps by region, by activity specialty, by gender, by type (sleepaway vs. day, e.g.), even by religion. As you enter your preferences, you’ll be presented with a more manageable list of camps to research in more detail, for example by requesting their catalogs and promotional DVDs.

Summer Camp Directories

Ah, but there are lots of summer camp directories out there too!  So here are what we consider the top 5 camp directories to visit.  Each is organized a little differently and will therefore yield somewhat different search results.  Looking for a residential girls camp in the southeast?  In addition to Rockbrook, each of these directories will reveal a range of options.  After spending some time on these sites, you’ll have an excellent idea about which summer camp will be right for your child.

aca logo
mysummercamps Summer Camps Directory
camppage camps directory
summercamps camp directory
kidscamp summer camps
Camp girl aiming arrow
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girl yoga with hurt ankle
• Summer Camp • rbc

Camp Nurse Jobs

Camp Nurse helping girl

Speaking of nurses and nursing, in particular camp nurses, we want to remind everyone that Rockbrook will be hiring nurses again for this summer’s camp season. We hire nurses for each of our sessions, for 2-, 3-, or 4-week terms. Accepting one of the nursing positions is one of the best ways to experience summer camp as an adult, work with happy engaged children, and get to know this area of North Carolina.

Benefits of Camp Nursing

Being a camp nurse is a wonderful way to experience camp life, to spend time outdoors, to work with amazing people, and to compliment so many of your nursing skills. It’s a chance to join the camp community, make lots of friends, and enjoy a special place for a few weeks of your summer. Just like the campers, odds are you’ll love camp and you’ll want to come back summer after summer.

How to Apply

If you, or someone you know, might be interested in one of our camp nurse jobs, please let us know. We’d love to tell you more about it.

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camp lisa songs
• Summer Camp • rbc

Lisa Loeb’s Songs for Camp

Lisa Loeb Camp CD Cover

Lisa Loeb, singer and songwriter best known for her hit song “Stay,” has released a new CD of songs inspired by her time as a kid at summer camp. It’s a fun collection of original compositions and traditional songs all about going away to camp, the friends, the food, the fun, of just being at summer camp. She explains,

“The inspiration was the actual songs based in camp songs. In camp, we have gross-out songs, and ones like the peanut butter and jelly song. One of the things I loved most about camp is that you’re singing all the time. You did sports, and arts and crafts, ate a lot of fun food — you were singing everywhere.”

The CD has some cool guest artists helping out too, people like Steve Martin (who plays banjo) and Jill Sobule. We also like a lot of the great camp lyrics on songs like, “Are You Ready for the Summer?” “It’s not Goodbye,” and “Best Friend.”  If you’ve been to camp, you’ll really enjoy this CD.

You can hear the song “Best Friend” over at Lisa’s website. And then check out all of the great Rockbrook camp songs.

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teen girls at summer camp
• Summer Camp • rbc

Camp Builds Teen Self Esteem

NC Teen Camp Girl

It’s not something we talk about much— mostly because it happens without any extra effort —but camp is a place where everyday you can achieve something great. You can make something, do something extra-ordinary (if ordinary is what happens at home or at school), meet some challenge, and feel good about it. For a teen girl, especially, camp proves you can do it, and you can believe in yourself.  It’s a real boost to your self-esteem. Sure things can sometimes go badly, like when you can’t quite hit the target at first, but camp is also a place where you get plenty of encouragement and support from the people around you. Particularly at Rockbrook, we’re not competing. We’re all trying new things and enjoying each other’s company, no matter what our “score.” Here too, it feels so good when you realize that these people are your friends, no matter what. Ask the teen girls that come to camp every summer, and they’ll tell you. It’s just like this.

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Summer Camp Staff
• Summer Camp • rbc

Bend It Back

Helping the Girl at Camp

There are people in my life who I admire, who I emulate, because they, without hope for award or acknowledgment, joyfully and selflessly give all that they can in service to others. Many of these people are campers and counselors at Rockbrook Camp.

Rockbrook campers are often recognized for their good deeds by being awarded colorful, way-cool Bend-It-Back bracelets. And I mean that. They truly are way-cool. A mark of pride and contribution to the community.

I watch my co-workers exemplify selfless generosity every day as they put campers first, and I watch campers recognize this generosity and give forth to others on their own as well. From volunteering to do the dishes to making a card for a friend who doesn’t feel well, RBC folks are about helping out.

To give selflessly – to put others before oneself – is a daunting task. But once the joy that is the product of such giving is recognized, it becomes the lifeblood of one’s daily action; it is the lifeblood of this place. This is a joyous place that depends upon gracious giving and gratitude. May the bracelets be a reminder of this joy and the camp that thrives in it.

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rockbrook camp entrance sign
• Summer Camp • rbc

New Rockbrook Camp Sign

Rockbrook Summer Camp in Brevard North Carolina

When you drive down highway 276 south of Brevard, North Carolina, there’s an entrance to a summer camp. You’ve read about it in the most recent RBC newsletter, but what does it look like? Well, here it is, the new Rockbrook Camp sign! The old one couldn’t be repaired, so we asked local Brevard artist Matthew Lee Hoxit to design and build a new sign for the camp entrance. After showing him some vintage Rockbrook catalogs, and selecting one of the old fonts we liked, Matthew put together this design, found the local materials (oak and locust), hand carved the sign, and installed the whole thing. We love it, and think you will too!

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