Rockbrook has over 25 different activities for campers to choose from when making their daily schedules. Lots of camps have families choose ahead of time a few activities their camper will focus on. RBC believes making choices for oneself is an important part of growing up, and camp is a great place for kids to practice doing just that! One of the distinguishing features of Rockbrook, however, is the unique sign-up process aimed to provide campers with a wider range of opportunities to participate in all that camp has to offer. At Rockbrook, campers choose a set of 4 activities and 3 days later choose a new set. This means mini-session campers can try 12 different activities, 3-week campers can do 20 and 4-week session campers can try 28!
All of the activity classes have a limited number of openings, so it’s quite common that the most popular activities fill up the fastest. To make this fair, we rotate the sign-up process so that different sets of campers have the first choice.
We have found that campers who understand the sign-up process are much happier with their activities, so here are some tips to make sure your camper is “in the know.”
- These are the activities that fill up the fastest: Archery, Riflery, Climbing, Curosty, Hodge Podge, and Pottery. If your camper has any of these high on her list of activities to try, she should sign up for them as soon as they are available to her. If her cabin group has first pick of an activity during one sign-up time, it will not be first for that activity again. For example, if Riflery is an activity that your camper really wants to take, she should sign up for it when there are slots available!
- Many campers are pleasantly surprised when they sign up for an activity that wasn’t on the top of their list. They find that learning new things is fun! We encourage campers to be open to trying something different, whether it is an activity, food or making a new friend.
- Horseback Riding has a different sign-up process. Campers meet with the Equestrian Director on opening day, and she assesses their riding level. They are then placed into a class that meets regularly throughout the session (up to 5 days a week). Campers do not have to sign up for riding more than once. Campers can, however, choose to sign up later or drop the class if desired.
- When campers are signing up for a set of the activities, they are given cards where they write in their schedule for the next 3 days. If they have horseback riding, this will already be filled in so that they don’t “double-book” for that period.
- Out-of-camp trips are announced each day in the dining hall. Most are designated for certain age groups. If interested, campers meet with the trip leader to plan for the trip. Being on trips means campers miss their regular activities during the trip.