Camp Blog

Now that we’ve finished up our last session of camp, and we find ourselves reflecting on the summer, it’s again a challenge to describe it all. Friends will ask, “How was the summer?” And, I’ll stumble through an attempt to describe it by saying “Great! So many happy people, wonderful!” That’s all true, but it barely scratches what it was really like at Rockbrook this summer. There’s so much more.

Camp was beautiful, beautiful to see children laughing and playing. Beautiful to witness girls relaxing into the rhythms of camp life, being free to explore, play, create, and discover. It was beautiful to see kindness, budding confidence, and willing enthusiasm color whatever we were doing. It was beautiful to hear easy silliness and laughter everywhere at camp. It was beautiful to feel so close to so many people.

The summer was magical too. It was full of delightful surprises, moments when we embraced the wonders of Nature. It was magical how the simplest things were fun, often hilarious, and ended up being a source of deep comfort. It was magical how everyday was both exciting and worry free, filled with new experiences.

Camp this summer was also refreshing. Our drier and cooler weather was refreshing, but so was the feeling of being a part of the Rockbrook community. It was refreshing to connect with the people so easily, to make almost instant friends with everyone, and to be embraced for our authentic selves. For many, it was refreshing to simply be away from the allure of their electronic devices.

Camp was emotional, packed with experiences that we felt deeply. We cheered for each other almost everyday. We were thrilled by all the novelty and adventure of the activities and trips. There were so many hugs, smiles, and sweet moments of affection. Sharing this much, being this open and genuine, made even the challenges we faced both manageable and meaningful.

The third session Spirit Fire brought all of this into focus. Dressed in our red and white uniforms and gathered around the blazing campfire, we couldn’t help but realize that the friendships we’d formed at camp, the experience of it all, were in a way miraculous. The speeches reflected this too. The girls talked about felling lucky to have been at camp, to have found Rockbrook. They expressed such heartfelt gratitude, and marveled at how they’d grown and “become who they are” at camp.

Yes, camp was beautiful, magical, refreshing and emotional —altogether miraculous. It was for everyone, campers, staff and directors alike, an experience that’s hard to describe, but one that we’ll cherish. We’ll remember it fondly, seek its spirit throughout our days, and yearn for its return sometime soon.

So thank you! Thank you for helping make this special experience possible, for your support, and for sending your girls. We miss everyone already. We look forward to seeing you next summer when we can come together at Rockbrook and rekindle the camp spirit we love.

Just ask any of the Senior campers at Rockbrook to tell you about the first camp banquet they attended, and you’ll hear about an incredible, all-out, all-camp celebration that takes place at the end of each session. You’ll also learn that banquets are always a surprise, with a unique theme chosen by our CA (9th grade) campers. These girls take on the challenge of designing, planning, and executing every detail of the party with its elaborate decorations, themed treats, performers in costume (our CA girls and their counselors), skits, music, and dancing. Their secret theme brings all of this together into an unforgettable event. I bet every camper can tell you the theme of every RBC banquet they’ve ever attended.

Banquets are memorable for several reasons. First, the element of surprise combines with the awe that washes over the girls as they step into the dining hall and witness its complete transformation. Virtually every inch of the room is decorated to fit the theme: painted posters cover the walls, tablecloths and decorations fill the tables, and lights, streamers, and other props hang from the ceiling. With characters in full costume dancing around, the music and decorations combine to create an entirely new world. For the younger campers, this first glimpse can be nothing short of mind-blowing. And then, as the CAs perform skits and choreographed dances, the excitement builds into a lively, high-energy dance party for everyone.

Last night’s banquet, for our 2024 third session, was called “Rockbrook in Orbit,” and brought us into outer space. The theme included planets, sparkly stars, familiar constellations, colorful comets, glowing moons floating above, and all sorts of aliens and a few astronauts. Ms. Frizzle appeared too! With twinkling lights strung above and the tables decorated with space tablecloths, souvenir cups, temporary tattoos, and fun stickers for everyone, plus candy treats, the party was set.

For the menu, the CAs served fruit kabobs as an appetizer and then cheese pizzas as the main course. But the main event was the “dance battle” between the CAs dressed as aliens and the astronauts. First, there was a battle, but then another dance when they made peace. The counselors, dressed as astronauts strapped to rockets blasting off, performed their own dance number too. The famous dessert “Rockbrookies” rounded out the meal.

For the campers, who came dressed in this year’s RBC t-shirt, the banquet was an exciting mix of party treats, popular foods, the CAs’ performances, and a massive dance party. With great upbeat music pumping throughout, the girls would dance with their friends, eat a little something, dance some more, pause to enjoy the next performance, and then repeat. You can imagine the fun of this. Sure it’s a little hot and sweaty, but together with your camp friends, there’s nothing quite like it.

The final part of the banquet is a tradition where the CAs, and afterwards the Hi-Ups, sing a song to their counselors thanking them and expressing their connection with each other. The counselors likewise sing a song back to the campers. It’s a sweet moment of reminiscing about the session and a beautiful expression of just how close these campers and counselors have become. Now, in front of everyone, they’re crying and laughing at the same time, hugging and leaning on each other. The whole camp then comes together to sing “Rockbrook Camp Forever,” a song that’s been sung at every RBC banquet for as long as we can remember. It’s a perfect way to end the celebration and express our appreciation of camp and each other. As the song aptly reminds us, “Friends, true and faithful” …that sums it up nicely.

One of the lovely things about life at Rockbrook is how much time we get to spend with people of all different ages. The girls who attend camp as campers can be as young as 6 years old, and they go all the way up to 16. And then there are the 17-year-old CITs, the college-aged cabin counselors, and the adventure staff, activity specialists, nurses and directors — all ranging from their 20s to their 60s! It really is true; we’re a community of 6 to 60.

The campers are sorted by grade in their cabins, and they sign up for activities by line assuring their instructors can tailor challenges to their age. Beyond the activity time and life in the cabins, however, everyday connects us with friends who are not our age. It might be when we’re grabbing a muffin on the dining hall porch during muffin break, or tossing our towel on the rock by the lake for free swim, or jumping into the gagaball pit for a game during twilight. Zipping with the awesome adventure staff, talking with the pottery specialists, and stopping by the health hut for our morning medications are other examples where we’re all mingling. It seems like we’re saying hello everyone we see: to the Hi-Ups when they’re setting the tables before lunch, to the Directors up on the porch of the office, and to the mob of counselors and campers in the “Rockbrook Runners” club as they jog by. Older girls talking with younger girls is the most natural thing here at camp.

Our all-camp special events are an excellent example of this too, like the shaving cream fight we held at twilight yesterday. This was such a fun event, literally for all ages.

We rang a bell to alert everyone to come down to the landsports field dressed in swimsuits. With some fun music pumping, the girls each grabbed a can of shaving cream and had a blast zooming around the grassy field spraying each other. The goal was simple; squirt and splatter the white slippery foam on everyone. Chase and be chased. Plunk blobs of shaving cream on anyone’s head. Rub it on their backs, pile globs into their hair, and help them create the wildest hairstyles possible.

Before long, everyone was covered in shaving cream, white and slippery, and looking utterly ridiculous. Of course, everyone was screaming and laughing the whole time too. The feeling of being covered in shaving cream, seeing everyone’s reactions, and watching the messy chaos unfold is simply hilarious. It’s the kind of silly fun we love at Rockbrook.

We also pulled out a sheet of plastic that, with a little water sprayed on it from a hose, made an excellent slip-n-slide. The girls were already plenty slippery, so they just launched themselves down the plastic and shrieked with delight on every ride. Tumbling and rolling, they had a blast.

An evening like this proved once again that these Rockbrook girls know how to have fun together. From the youngest junior to the counselors and directors, we all shared this experience of foamy glee. Where else can you laugh this hard, yet feel so relaxed around friends? Where else does age matter this little? Where else can something as simple as a shaving cream fight bring so much joy? Only at camp, of course!

A little change of pace feels good on a Sunday morning. With this much action, all this chatting, singing, and playing throughout or regular days, sleeping in for a little extra rest is great. Our day today began with a later wakeup bell and the girls drifting into breakfast, still in their pajamas if they wished. For an extra breakfast treat added to our sausage, eggs and bagels, the girls found freshly delivered Krispy Kreme donuts on their tables. Back at their cabins afterwards, the campers changed into their red and white uniforms, ready for the flag-raising ceremony and Chapel gathering.

The Hi-Up campers, our seasoned 10th graders, serve as the color guard for the flag raising. With the whole camp circling the flagpole on the hill, they raised both the American flag and a special Rockbrook flag commemorating the camp’s Centennial in 2021. We sang “The Streams and the Mountains,” which is a sweet traditional Rockbrook song, and then made our way to a special amphitheater in the woods for our Chapel program.

At Rockbrook, what we fondly call “Chapel” isn’t a religious ceremony but a communal gathering where we pause and reflect on some of our core values. Each chapel revolves around a theme, featuring songs, poems, and often a story read by Sarah. It’s a time for everyone, regardless of their family’s religious/secular background, to feel comfortable and connected. The campers themselves select the readings and songs, and Sarah invites them to share what the theme means to them. Past themes have included community, generosity, friendship, and Nature. Recently, “Chapel” has become an acronym: Celebration of Happiness, Adventure, Peace, Earth, and Love.

Today’s theme was “Connection.” A few campers shared their thoughts on what “Connection” means to them during their time at camp— “We’re all connected,” “I feel so connected to nature here at camp.” “Connection is friendship,” for example. Sarah read the children’s book, My Thoughts Have Wings by Maggie Smith. She talked about building a “nest of connections” that can hold our thoughts safely. The girls seemed to nod in agreement when said that camp helps us build that nest.

The afternoon was devoted to an all-camp activity down on the grassy Carrier House lawn— a lively Renaissance fair! The event buzzed with excitement, offering a variety of activities that allowed campers to bop from one to the next as they pleased. They could do something active, something creative, have a little snack, dance and frolic with each other. Like Barbie day, the girls knew before camp to bring costumes, so there were some great ones. Lots of maidens, a few jesters and knights, a elf or two, and even a dragon were seen.

Campers could weave intricate flower crowns, try their hand at juggling, ribbon dancing, and hula hooping. We played games like a burlap sack race (“The Burlap Bounce”), cornhole (“The King’s Kernels”), and a hidden table shuffle game with goblets (“Bamboozled”). Campers worked on calligraphy and painting portraits of each other. For another game, they scoured a mysterious path searching for golden doubloons, which they could trade in for prizes. Elsewhere, an intriguing gypsy was telling fortunes, and the “Wench’s Tavern” served kettle corn. Throughout the event, we played Medieval-infused musical remakes of popular tunes to keep things lively.

Be sure to visit the photo gallery to see more of our fun Ren Fair afternoon.

It’s common for Alumnae of Rockbrook to return to camp. They’ll tell you fondly about their childhood experience being a camper here, and how they feel drawn to relive bits of it by coming for a visit. They might be dropping off their own daughters as campers, or working as a “camp mom” one session, or just stopping by while traveling in the area. We love having alumnae back at camp!

One Rockbrook alum who returned to camp this week is Lauren Bonner. She was a camper for 10 years starting when she was in 1st grade, following her mother, who was also a camper in 1980s. She was also a CIT one summer. Lauren now attends the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia, where she is a senior majoring in Painting. She is also an award-winning independent artist. She focuses on realism in her work with pop art being a favorite subject. You can learn more about Lauren at her website, and she has a fascinating Instagram page. Watch some of her Reels to see her painting in action.

Why was Lauren back at Rockbrook? She was here for a few days for a landscape painting demonstration and to teach a painting workshop for our campers. Lauren set up a blank canvas on the hill, and began to capture the view up toward the Junior Lodge. One brush stroke at a time, she spent hours adding careful shades of green, brown and grey, bringing all the details of the scene into view on the canvas. The texture of the walnut tree, the shadow it cast on the ground, and the canopy of leaves embracing the lodge at the center are focal points of the piece. The little red chairs on the lodge porch also draw your eye.

While painting throughout the day, two days actually, campers were invited to paint their own landscape. Lauren helped the girls pick a subject (using a cardboard cutout “viewfinder”), understand the importance of composition, and learn to create a color palette by blending just a few earth tone colors. She demonstrated how to blend colors and the meticulous brush work and patience required to fill out the painting. She coached them not to worry about making a mistake because, she said, “Every ‘mistake’ is a new creation.” You can see from these photos that the girls had a great time painting and learning from Lauren.

At dinner tonight we announced a surprise evening program, a dance with Camp Carolina. This promised to be a fun night to dress up a bit —silly, of course —and show off a few dance moves. Our Juniors and Middlers stayed here to welcome the younger boys from CCB, and our Seniors and Hi-Ups made the trip across town for their dance in the CCB gym. Two dances at once! With the counselors leading the way, the girls jumped and grooved to popular hits (“Party in the USA” and “Shake it Off,” for example) along with well-known line dances like “Cotton-Eyed Joe” and the “Cha-Cha Slide.”

Both camps served homemade cookies to keep the crowd going, and had plenty of water available to rehydrate. When folks wanted a break from the dancing at Rockbrook, or simply as an alternative, they could go outside and play gaga ball, tetherball, corn hole, or connect four. The girls outnumbered the boys a bit at the senior dance, but they still had a great time goofing around on the dance floor. Silly and exciting stuff like this makes great camp fun.

Over the last few days we’ve found ourselves in a weather pattern that’s common to this area in the summer. The days begin cool with temperatures in the upper 60s, far enough below the dew point for the whole camp to be blanketed by fog. It’ll be so thick that all the lush green of camp becomes more grey and mysterious. There’s also dew on everything exposed, all that humidity moistening our world. By about 10:30am, though, as the sun peaks out over the mountain behind camp, things begin to warm up and all that condensed moisture evaporates. The fog lifts and we can see the distant mountains again with a blue cloudless sky and bright sun. It’s a glorious display each morning.

Later in the day, that rising moisture makes a dramatic return in the form of a thunderstorm. As it rises and encounters cooler air, water vapor condenses forming clouds and even ice crystals that collide creating static electricity. This accumulating moisture and electrical charge eventually becomes unstable and the cloud releases lightning and rain. For us, we see a thunderstorm in the area around 3 or 4pm most days, and ordinarily lasting less than an hour.

Sometimes, these thunderstorms miss us; they pop up nearby, but not right over camp. Other times, however, we want to move everyone inside, protected from the threat of lightning, while the storm passes through. We have an automatic lightning warning system that sounds an alarm when there is a threat of lightning nearby. We all know that when we hear the alarm, even if it’s not raining or thundering, we should immediately seek shelter. The system works great. It continuously monitors the area and will sound an “all clear” alert when it’s safe to go outside again. We’ve heard that system about everyday lately!

On Wednesday afternoon, as groups of campers scattered about for their cabin day activities, we enjoyed a clear afternoon without a storm. One cabin of girls wore their swimsuits for a hike to the “Mermaid Cove.” This is a wonderful spot on the camp property where Dunns creek drops into a protected pool of water. There’s a rock face on one side, a smooth rocky “beach” on the other, and nice waterfall in between. The pool also has a sandy bottom, making it an excellent little swimming spot. A game of “Marco Polo” turned into a wild splashing time.

Another cabin group went in the opposite direction and hiked up the trail toward Castle Rock and to the “Nest.” This is another unique natural feature on the Rockbrook property where a cave has formed in the rock. Generations of Rockbrook girls have visited this cave, and now when we do, we bring hammocks. We’ve added anchor points in the rock where the girls can string the hammocks and enjoy hanging out in that unique setting. There’s a great view of the forest from up there!

Meanwhile, 4 cabins of Juniors took a trip out of camp to Dolly’s for an afternoon ice cream treat, but also to the Puckerup Berry Farm. The farm is a place to explore, to see rows and rows of carefully tended flowers and vegetable plants, and to marvel at its chickens and resident bunny. The girls had a great time cutting and arranging flowers, holding the bunny (so soft!), and getting to play with the chickens. Interacting with animals like this never fails to make the girls smile.

Finally, the needlecraft activity has been working on small sewing projects. Using cut swatches of fabric, yarns, buttons and beads, the girls have been sewing small purses, making stuffed pillows, and really getting into embroidery. The embroidery hoops make it easy for the girls to carry around their projects in a ziplock bag, and adding a few stitches whenever they have a minute of free time. One camper told me she was sewing a pillow for her brother. I said that was nice of her, and she replied, “Yeah, he’s 5 years old.”

Overall, the girls this session are relaxing more and more into the special feeling of camp life. They’re busy with activities while also enjoying the blocks of free time each day. They’re getting to know each other more and finding friends everywhere. Conversations are deepening, laughter is more frequent, and simple acts of kindness are feeling natural. What makes us a community— shared experiences and caring relationships built on kindness —is working its true magic. Each day this all grows stronger, building the Rockbrook experience we all love.