“I’m a counselor. You’re a counselor. She’s a counselor. We’re all counselors. Wouldn’t you like to be a counselor too. Be a counselor. Rock-Rockbrook counselor!”
Being a Rockbrook Camp staff member is one of the most fun and rewarding ways to spend a summer. Sleep-away camp counselors provide a nurturing and magical environment for Rockbrook campers. By living in the cabins with our campers (typically two counselors per cabin group), counselors truly get to know their campers and their goals for attending camp. We often say that our counselors are like big sisters to our campers while they are away from home. It’s a wonderful bond that campers talk about for years.
So what makes a great counselor? First and foremost, a counselor must have a strong desire to work with children. Many Rockbrook counselors are planning to be teachers one day. Our counselors are a diverse group of young women usually in the 18-22 age range. We have found that it is wonderful to have long-time Rockbrook counselors mixed in with new counselors who come to camp with lots of fresh ideas. A Rockbrook counselor has to be ready for anything. The camp environment is goofy and fast paced. It also takes a lot of initiative to help plan activities and events with an emphasis on the whole team or camp. By putting their campers needs in front of their own, counselors find their summer experience to be a very rewarding one.
We are currently hiring for our camp staff, so check out the staff area of our website for more details!
During our camp reunion in 2009 one of the most popular events was the hike to Kilroy’s Cabin which is up past Castle Rock. Jerry took a large group of hikers on one of his wild adventures to find Kilroy’s. The group returned with wild stories, dirty clothes and big smiles on their faces!
The legend of Kilroy is famous in Rockbrook history and everyone has their own version of the story. What is your favorite Kilroy story? Just watch out if you have red hair and green eyes… You may not want to go up there!
We are all looking forward to our next reunion which will happen during the end of August 2011! We will gather again to celebrate 90 years of summer fun, friendships, and wonderful adventures (and a crazy hike to Kilroy’s of course). We hope you will be able to join us! Stay tuned for more information…
When girls first begin to learn rock climbing at Rockbrook, they start on our high ropes course climbing tower. It’s an “Alpine Tower” and you may have seen photos of it before here. It’s really the perfect place to learn how to climb because it makes so many different elements of “real rock climbing” so accessible. The girls can quickly learn important safety principles like the belay commands. They can begin to feel comfortable using the basic rock climbing gear like the harness, helmet, carabiner and rope. And, they can actually climb! A lot! The Alpine Climbing Tower provides close to 100 different ways to climb to the top; there are poles, nets, ropes, cables, climbing holds and rock walls to allow a whole range of difficulties and challenges. Girls can sign up for climbing instruction every week at camp and climb a couple of different routes every time they come!
But what do you learn when you first start out rock climbing? The importance of stretching and warming up is a good start. Everyone does better if they are flexible and a little stronger after warming up. After that the first lesson emphasizes the importance of balance, of being able to hold still balancing on one foot, for example, and moving the other leg or arms to reach a certain spot. Next, the girls learn footwork is central to rock climbing. It’s not mainly about finding grips for your hands, but rather about learning to use your feet and legs to move up the rock. Your hands and arms mainly help with balance, and your legs keep you moving. The other beginning rock climbing lesson to learn is more mental than physical. It’s learning to stay calm and focused. Rock climbing is a series of puzzles that requires concentration, and a calm, clear attention to details the rock presents. If you aren’t relaxed on the rock and get in a hurry, you might miss a hold or skip right over the perfect foothold making your route more strenuous and less enjoyable.
All of these lessons can take some practice to master, but there’s so much rock climbing going on at Rockbrook, the girls easily learn them. It’s really not hard to learn how to rock climb at camp, and the girls love it!
Our fantastic counselors from summer 2011 have been popping up recently at the camper slideshow parties. It’s such a treat for Mandy and Sarah to visit with them in addition to the campers at the parties. Here are some updates from those visits!
Chase Nelson dropped by the party in Knoxville, TN. She is currently a junior at the University of Tennessee and is contemplating her degree focus. We can’t wait to hear when she chooses her focus, but most importantly, she can’t wait to get back to Rockbrook next summer. It seemed like she is enjoying being a counselor maybe even more so that her days as a camper.
Michelle Postma with sister Deborah
The next familiar face was Michelle Postma in Atlanta. She drove all the way over from Athens, GA, where she is a sophomore at the University of Georgia. She seems to be super busy with classes. We are excited that she is planning to be back at camp next summer focusing her energy on outdoor adventure trips for our campers. Her wealth of knowledge about orienteering and the trails around camp are invaluable.
Finally, Maggie Cameron dropped by the Winston-Salem party. Maggie worked as a CIT (counselor in training) in 2010 and is very excited to be a full counselor in 2011. She is very busy finishing up her senior year at Mt. Tabor High School. While she isn’t sure where she will be next year for college, she is busy applying and is most excited about Wake Forest and UNC-Chapel Hill. Good Luck Maggie!
Rockbrook counselors are amazing role models to our campers. We would be lost without them and their great experience. We’ll see everyone on the road soon!
While doing some research for the Rockbrook archives we came across this fascinating article printed in The New York Times in 1888. It is another written source that connects Rockbrook, Goodwill Cabin, Goodwill Plantation, Nancy Carrier and P.T. Barnum. What an interesting history!
The New York Times, October 24, 1888
Barnum’s Gift To A Granddaughter.
From the Columbia (S.C.) Register. October 18
It is evident that the renowned P.T. Barnum has a good opinion of South Carolina real estate, for he has recently given to his granddaughter, the wife of Henry P. Clarke, $100,000 for the purpose of buying and equipping the noted “Goodwill” plantation, which was formerly owned by the late Judge Edward Elliot Huger. The transfer of the property took place yesterday. Mr. Clarke owns another plantation near Eastover, where they have resided for several years. “Goodwill” is one of the finest estates in the South, containing upward of 7000 acres, including a magnificent water power. Several hundred acres of the richest river bottoms are protected from overflow by a levee extending for five miles along the banks of the Wateree River. The other improvements on the property are upon the same scale.
Right around the time that Nancy Barnum Clarke and Henry Clarke received their gift from P.T. Barnum they also purchased 300 acres in Brevard that would later become Rockbrook Camp. Their daughter Nancy Clarke Carrier grew up spending time between Brevard and Goodwill Plantation. She founded Rockbrook in 1921. Goodwill and Curosty are two cabins central to the heart of camp and are still in use today. What an amazing gift from P.T. Barnum!
What a gorgeous time of year it is in Brevard ! The beautiful fall colors have arrived at Rockbrook and boy are they amazing. Even though it is quiet without the sounds of summer, it is a wonderful time to see the splendor of the changing leaves. The smells of woodsmoke and the crunching of the leaves are magical!
Take a short walk around the heart of camp and you’ll see bright popping color in every direction. The Junior Lodge is speckled with yellow leaves. The giant maple tree in front of Curosty proudly displays a show of red and orange. The walnut tree in the center of the hill is littering the ground with black walnuts.
Every trail in the camp is a multi-colored cascade of delight.
Here’s to the changing of the seasons! Happy Fall everyone.
Here’s a real surprise. It’s a postcard from 1923 showing the mountain view from the “Lakeview Lodge” at Rockbrook. Now, of course, the trees behind the lake are much, much taller and this view is obscured, so it’s wonderful to see what it was like soon after the Lodge was built.
The postcard was mailed to a “Miss Oakley” who lived at “Oakburn” in Asheville, NC. A camper named Fanny mailed the card. We’re not sure who these people are (Let’s us know if you do!), but it’s nice to see this snapshot of Rockbrook’s history.
For quite some time now, we’ve talked about summer camp providing children valuable lessons, unique opportunities to learn that can’t be recreated in traditional educational contexts. If you mention this claim to just about anyone associated with a summer camp, you’ll find full agreement. Summer camps are “Youth Development” organizations. Camps are heaps of fun, but are also something kids need to foster their growing up.
The American Camp Association has articulated these educational benefits of camp most extensively. Following broad research initiatives and years of collecting data from summer camps across the country, the ACA continually makes a strong case for what children gain from a camp experience. The list of these “outcomes” and “competencies” is now well-known: self-identity, self-worth, self-esteem, leadership, self-respect, compassion, contribution, commitment, caring, honesty, generosity, sharing, resilience, resourcefulness, ethical awareness, responsibility, and communication skills. We have discussed many of these benefits on this blog, here and here for example.
The next question to ask, however, is not “what gains do children make at camp,” but “how does camp provide these benefits?” There is a lot to this, of course, but let me point out one crucial reason summer camp has this unique educational power, and again, power above and beyond what traditional classroom educational settings offer.
Residential summer camps are uniquely educational because they are first and foremost communities dedicated, through first-hand experiences, to broad personal, social and physical well being. Camps are experiential learning communities. Led by admirable, caring adult role models, summer camp communities are tightly-knit groups of people who not only live (eat, play, make) together, but also grow personally by virtue of experiencing so much together. So many of the “outcomes” and “competencies” above, those personal qualities we all recognize as valuable— honesty, compassion, responsibility, generosity, etc., can be traced to what individuals gain from fully participating in a vibrant positive community. Summer camp communities are dedicated to, thrive upon, and thus foster, these kinds of personal traits.
Equally important is the full-time nature of the summer camp community experience. These aren’t lessons taught sitting at a desk in idealized abstract language. This is learning that’s lived. At camp, the “teachable moments” actually happen, involve real people, and carry real personal consequences. Just about every moment at camp is this kind of “teachable moment,” an opportunity to learn from the interaction with others and the natural world. At summer camp, there is a teacher in everything!
Being at summer camp is almost non-stop fun, but it also brings out the best in kids by asking them to pay attention to the people around them, and to build positive relationships of all kinds. It’s this kind of direct experiential community learning that gives camp the power to shape young people so profoundly.
We were saddened to learn this week of the passing of long time Rockbrook friend Sybil Dodson. Sybil, fondly known to us at Rockbrook as Mrs. Potter, passed away Friday, October 8 in Asheville, NC.
Sybil and her husband John were the founders of the pottery program at Rockbrook. In addition to creating and running Rockbrook’s pottery program, Sybil also managed the camp store as well as her family’s shop Mud Dabbers Pottery. Sybil was like a mother to many of the campers that she interacted with and lots of girls spent time at the camp store just so they could visit with Mrs. Potter. Her kindness and bright smile were a gift to all of us at Rockbrook. Her contributions to RBC will be long remembered.
A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. on Friday, October 15 in the Memorial Chapel of the Brooks-Howell Home, Asheville NC. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that memorial contributions be made to Brooks-Howell Home, 266 Merrimon Avenue, Asheville, NC 28801. Condolences may be sent through the Morris Funeral Home.
