Opening Night Show Capture The Flag
Day 1 of Session 1 is in the books! We kicked off last evening with our famous, famous, MOST FAMOUS, Opening Night Show (ONS). Our counselors put on a stellar show last night and had all of camp rolling with laughter. It was our best ONS that I can remember in a while, and the counselors were over and above. My favorite skits included our aliens, who talked in this weird high-pitched voice, and Tommy Hankins’s singing solo (he was transformed from a counselor to a camper by the aliens).
Following ONS we proceeded to the Front Yard, where we began Capture The Flag (CTF). CTF is a favorite night of campers because all of our counselors dress up in crazy costumes as they play CTF with campers. Last night each staff member performed an intro dance as they were being selected onto their teams. It’s funny how campers quickly form a unique bond with their counselors; during the team selection process, campers were yelling and screaming as they pulled for certain counselors to be on their team.
Finally, all of camp wound down with cabin time, which is the 30 minutes or so before lights out where campers get time to spend with just their cabin. Last night our counselors went over a few big things, including expectations for the session (this is big one), cabin rules, and bucket lists. Yes…we do bucket lists, which are a list of special activities the cabin wants to do together before session’s end. As the cabin gets along and loves each other well, their cabin counselors reward them with bucket list items.
We started today off bright and early at 6:45am with SOJ (spiritual orange juice), an optional, counselor-led devotional time for campers who want to take a bit of extra time to grow personally and spiritually. It was an especially peaceful morning, as a gentle breeze blew across Flagpole Hill and the sun peaked out through the rolling clouds over the Asia Bottoms (the low, flat land that lies east of main campus).
Next, campers gathered at the flagpole to raise the flag and put on cabin skits. We ate scrambled eggs, biscuits, yogurt, fresh watermelon, apples, grapes, and OJ for breakfast. We try our best to provide really good food for campers because we know that a good meal can put kids in a happy mood, and bad meal can do the opposite!
Campers are about to hit the ground running to activities. Today we’ll be opening up our fully remodeled swimming pool, which is ready just in time for our first full day of camp. Campers will be participating in swim, trolley, zulu, slide, archery, obstacle course (OC), low ropes, canoes, flag football, and paintball today.
Today is a big day for first-year campers, and our staff is paying close attention to getting every camper involved from the start. During orientation, our counselor used the acronym I.C.E. (Initiate, Creativity, Engage) for how they want to lead activities. This should make first-year campers feel at home as they take their first big step into independence.
Also, I want to encourage our parents to leave comments below where it says “What are you gonna say?” I’d like to hear from you parents as you’re tuning in to what’s going on at Camp. Also, be sure login to your CampInTouch account to see the photos we’ll be posting throughout the day. And finally, please reply to this post below if you’d like a free copy of the book “Homesick & Happy”, which I hope to provide commentary on tomorrow.
On to our first full day of Camp!!
-TEA
