We live in a society that sometimes struggles to provide girls with positive role models. Certain pressures can force young girls to try and become something that they are not simply to fit in. Girls think they need to be prettier, richer, skinnier, smarter, quieter, louder — the list goes on and on. The point is, we never feel like the person we are is good enough because we’ve been told over and over that we’re not. This is why when I heard about Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls at the Party program I was so excited. The motto for Amy’s program is “Change the world by being yourself.” How refreshing. Check out the episode below of Smart Girls in which Amy highlights the cool things about being outdoors, something we care a lot about at camp!
Kudos to Amy Poehler for letting girls know that not only are they OK as they are, but that by being themselves, they are exceptional.
Although girls naturally foster a sense of self-esteem and independence merely by being away from home at a sleep-away camp, Rockbrook goes out of its way to create the camp structure that best allows for girls’ growth and autonomy. One of the best ways Rockbrook allows for the self-direction and experimentation necessary to create a sense of independence is by giving girls the opportunity to design their own camp experience.
One aspect of Rockbrook that sets us apart from other camps is that rather than sending our campers to pre-assigned activities, we ask them to choose which activities they’d like to take themselves. Twice a week, counselors go from cabin to cabin with clipboards displaying the choices for each of the four activity periods. Each camper gets to pick the four activities she desires, and her counselor fills them out on an activity schedule card.
Girls, especially teenage girls, can often struggle with making decisions and expressing assertiveness. Rather than making the intimidating choice to express an opinion, they might instead opt to feign indecisiveness. This can be attributed to a variety of social pressures girls might feel; they could be worrying about making a decision that might upset others, or that making a choice could reflect poorly on them, making them look “dumb” or “weird.” Since each and every girl is asked to choose her own activities, free from the influences of family and friend groups from home, Rockbrook’s system of activity choice allows girls to enjoy the empowerment that comes from designing their own camp experience in a way that also preserves them from the anxieties created by peer pressure.
Although sometimes campers do not at first get to take their “ideal” schedule because an activity has been filled to maximum capacity, we go out of our way to ensure that each girl takes her most desired activity at least once by the end of the session. On Fridays we offer an extra “choice activity” to accommodate for the girls who have not yet had an opportunity to take some of the more popular activities here at camp.
In addition to picking their own regular daily activities, girls can also choose to sign up for special activities such as overnight backpacking trips, day hikes, and kayaking and white water rafting trips to nearby rivers.
One of the benefits of staying for a longer session at camp, such as our 4-week session, is that we have more time to fill with these special trips and activity sessions that girls can pick-and-choose from to create their own unique camp experience. For example, this session we have offered an unprecedented daily “roll clinic” to help aspiring kayakers learn how to “roll” their kayak back into an upright position if it flips over. We have also had special hikes to Quentin Falls, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and other nearby areas.
By not only offering a wide variety of exciting activities that girls are unable to do at home, but also allowing girls to choose for themselves which of those activities they would like to try, Rockbrook really does set itself apart as a “place where girls can grow.”
Folks who arrive at Rockbrook are often struck by how being here, even for a short visit, feels so different from ordinary life. “Everyone is so friendly and enthusiastic,” and “Everyone seems so happy” are comments we often hear. It’s true; camp life is charged with a special form of community energy, one defined by caring, compassion, and kindness.
Walking around camp today, I thought of another reason to explain this deeply felt contentment the girls enjoy here at Rockbrook. It’s because the collective spirit here, our “Rockbrook Spirit,” provides all of us unconditional support. Everyday, no matter the activity or the outcome, we know that our “true self” will be accepted, appreciated and respected by those around us. Rockbrook is simply a friendly and welcoming place where everyone is included, encouraged and supported. We’ve written before how camp is an antidote for “Community Deficit Disorder,” and as such is also a source of great contentment for girls. They will tell you “it’s so much fun,” or that they simply “love it,” but I think it’s this community spirit that’s really at work.
Everyday at Rockbrook includes adventure too. It might be hiking through the woods, climbing a rock face, paddling a canoe, or even facing something personally challenging like jumping off the diving board at the lake. This morning at breakfast, Christina announced that she would be taking groups of girls down our zipline throughout the day. Campers from all three age groups could sign up for an activity period (instead of whatever activity they had already scheduled) and take a couple of zippy rides in the woods high above the back of the camp. These two photos nicely evoke what this entails: some special equipment, walking across a high, rather wiggly, plank suspension bridge, and flying along a steel cable on a pulley. It’s at first a little scary to step off the launching rock, but with en-couragment and support, it’s all smiles in the end.
Perhaps a different kind of adventure, the evening’s activity got everyone excited, the kind of top-of-your-lungs screaming excitement that happens around here— a dance with the boys of Camp Carolina. In fact, we held two simultaneous dances, the Juniors and Middlers staying here in our gym to dance with the younger boys, and our seniors loading up buses to drive over for their dance in Camp Carolina’s dining hall. We also made a “Dance Alternative” activity available for those girls who thought dancing wasn’t their thing. Overall these dances are fun for the girls because they are mostly about jumping around with your friends, being silly and singing to the music. They are the kind of lighthearted entertainment we all enjoy.
At 8:00 this morning, as is usual, the girls were awoken to the clear tones of the iron bell ringing throughout the camp, but also today to the tapping of rain on every roof. It was one of those rare mornings when raincoats came out for breakfast, when the temperature is cooler, and droplets of mud seem to spring up on most things at camp. On a day like this, some girls resist the weather and gear up completely with waterproof hats, jackets, boots and umbrellas, while others just embrace it, stomping around in flip flops, wet hair and soggy clothes.
Either way, there’s something important going on; the girls are showing their resilience, their ability to carry on despite the rain. Even with the minor discomfort and reshuffling of plans a rainy day presents, the girls coped just fine, confidently and without a parent determining every step. Life often includes moments like this when unexpected misfortune rears its head, so learning to be resilient, to land on your feet ultimately, is a crucial skill, and it’s something that camp is perfectly suited to teach. Here’s an article discussing how Rockbrook teaches resilience, what our program, staff and overall philosophy provide to help our girls handle setbacks later in their lives. (Please take a moment to read it.) We’ve said it many times before, and this is an example; woven into all the excitement and fun of camp are really significant lifelong benefits for kids.
Today’s rafting trips are another example of your girls’ resilience. After a great night camping at our outpost located further upstream on the Nantahala River, complete with s’more making and wildlife encounters (a beautiful Eastern Box Turtle, a couple of girls discovered by flashlight), we woke to a light rain. By the time we reached the put-in to begin rafting, we had a steady, let’s-get-wet, kind of rain. Without hesitation or any sign of dampened spirits, the girls were soon suited up in blue spray jackets (for a little added warmth), PFDs, helmets and paddles, and ready to go. It’s hard to hold back an excited group of girls, and this was no exception. Even before the first rapid, boats were singing, cheering, bouncing around in the rafts, and doing “high fives” with their paddles. Rain or no rain, perfect conditions or not, these girls were having big fun.
At camp, lunch was an elaborate taco fiesta, complete with Eulogia’s homemade guacamole to top ground beef, black beans, diced tomatoes, Mexican rice, cheese and salsa. Each table/cabin had a plate of crunchy and soft taco shells, and an unlimited supply in the kitchen for seconds. There was a little action over at the peanut butter and jelly station, but not much. Oh, and the muffins today were another of Katie’s creative combination recipes: Krispy Kreme, Applejack Muffins. Yep, they had chopped doughnuts in the batter and Applejack cereal blended in “for color and a little crunch,” as she put it. And for dessert tonight, Katie surprised everyone with homemade cinnamon rolls that she baked with just the right amount of sugar rolled up in a thin dough, sliced, and lightly glazed. We had no trouble gobbling those right up!
After dinner, a group of counselors presented a new, action-packed Twilight activity called “Gold Rush.” Working in cabin groups, the girls learned that hidden around the camp were “golden nuggets” (wiffle balls painted gold, actually) and that they were to find as many as they could, with the cabin gathering the most winning a special treat (spending rest hour by the lake, for example). They also stationed “Bandits” around the camp who could steal a cabin’s gold if the girls couldn’t sing a certain RBC song or answer a trivia question correctly. This was a high-energy event with the campers looking high and low all over the camp. In the end, we awarded several prizes to each age group. It was an evening spent enjoying the wooded setting of camp, the cool, fresh mountain air, and the company of friends playing a silly game… Exactly the kind of evening we love around here.
The girls in our photography class this summer had fun making short stop motion videos. They would build something out of play-doh and take a series of photographs slightly moving each object in their scene. Stringing these still photographs together creates the illusion of motion. Add a little background music and you have a pretty cool video. Here is a series of final productions from first session. Take a look!
What makes the best girls summer camp? It’s funny, but you see that claim now and then. “We’re the best girls camp ever!” or “Welcome to the best girls camp in North Carolina.” Most of this can be considered akin to team spirit, the folks from a camp expressing how much they love their particular camp, how proud they are of it, and how they know their camp really is excellent.
Of course, in reality, you can’t say objectively which girls camp is the best. Here in western North Carolina, there are so many great girls camps, each with dedicated and experienced directors, outstanding counselors, beautiful facilities and diverse fun activities. These camps also have very strong supporters, families who have found the camp perfect for their children. You will certainly find happy enthusiastic campers at all of these camps.
So is there really a best girls camp? Only to the extent that a camp is right for you. The subtle differences between camps, their particular strengths or emphases, will probably make you feel more at home at one girls camp or another. To put it differently, there are of course differences between camps but they do not distinguish which camp is “best.” That is something that follows from how much you love your camp, and that’s what makes it best.
So yes, for many reasons, generations of girls believe Rockbrook is the best girls summer camp. They believe it because they’ve experienced it and love it as their own.
Most Sunday afternoons at camp, we have an all-camp activity, a game or event where all of the age groups get together and play. Here’s an example where we split everyone up into three different teams (pink, blue and green!) and had different relay races… egg and spoon, leap frog, fill the cup, three-legged race, dizzy lizzy, balloon-knees, and so many more.
These are all great games that require some individual skill and a touch of physical coordination, but also plenty of cooperation and shared effort among each team’s members. The best games for girls always require both.
In the end, we might keep score (though that’s often optional) and one team might “win,” but everyone has a fun time playing.
My favorite thing is returning year after year and spotting a friend from the previous year and knowing that even though you didn’t see each other since last summer… you instantly had a best friend for the next couple of weeks.
Yep, making these kinds of friends is probably the coolest part of coming to camp.
We’re back from the American Camp Association national conference in Austin, Texas where we enjoyed hearing Dr. David Elkind talk about the power of play (free and unstructured play) in children’s social, emotional, physical and cognitive development. He was invited to address the conference of sleep away camps because he understands traditional summer camps as excellent contexts where this kind of play is encouraged. Dr. Elkind explains in his new book entitled, The Power of Play: How Spontaneous, Imaginative Activities Lead to Happier and Healthier Children.
Here’s a quote that jumped out at me. He writes,
Not only does summer camp provide children relief from the pressures to achieve, it reacquaints children with the natural world, with the importance of friendship, cooperation, and the fragility of the environment in which we live.
The book, of course, goes into lots more detail and provides specific advice about how to encourage this kind of beneficial play, but here are a couple of the main points.
Cut TV time to allow for playtime.
Get children together so they can initiate play.
Avoid providing too many toys too often.
Keep free time on the schedule.
Spend time outside.
There is much to say about each of these, but it’s neat to see how summer camp, and particularly a sleep away camp like Rockbrook, can really encourage them. Camp is just one of those places where kids can be kids.
Here’s a question that people ask frequently. “What are the different activities offered at Rockbrook Camp?” Or, “How many different activities can the girls do at camp?” It’s really quite a list, but if you can imagine all the fun things girls would like to do at camp, Rockbrook covers the bases. Here’s the list.
Four different general categories— Skill-based, Creativity-based, Adventure-based, and Equestrian-related— that’s 28 in all! There’s certainly a lot going on. Lots of action! And this doesn’t count any of the extra special events! Learn more about these camp activities.
