The last week of camp’s first three weeks session ushered in the color run in athletics classes, so if girls come home from camp with white shirts splattered in color, that’s why! For the color run, girls run one or two laps around camp and get splashed by other campers with colorful paints at certain intervals. It was a hot day, so there might have been some walking instead of jogging, but everybody still had fun.
The evening was also a special one for seniors in camp crafts classes, all of whom got to join the heads of camp crafts, Vaughan Sanderson and Sarah Nelson, on the senior overnight. This long awaited trip is one of the joys of a camper’s experience so everyone was ecstatic when it was announced. The senior overnight campsite is just a couple of miles away from camp, but is still adjacent to our beautiful Cowpasture River. Dinner was hotdogs roasted on the campfire and people slept in tents, hammocks, and on a tarp with sleeping bags, so everyone got to fully embrace the outdoor camping style. When they arrived back in the morning it was clear that every camper enjoyed their trip and had stories to tell of songs around the campfire, swimming in the rapids, and sleeping under the stars.
While most of the seniors were away, the remaining seniors and all of the juniors headed to the LHS field to play in the Junior Soccer team competition. Every junior got a chance to play and everyone cheered loud enough that you could not even tell there were so many people missing! The Greens won the game.
On Tuesday morning each camper woke up confused to the sound of Taps blowing through the Walkie Talkies as each counselor excitedly announced Opposite Day! Everyone headed straight over to dinner (breakfast pizza) and after dinner we had the evening activity at 9:00 in the morning. We played the fan favorite, Dance Bingo, where we play rounds of Bingo broken up by intermittent dance party breaks. It was a great way for us to get active in the mornings. After a quick clean up since inspection would now be at night, everyone went to their sixth period class first. After breakfast for dinner, we had a flag lowering ceremony and everyone went to their cabins for inspection and went to sleep. It was nice to break out from the typical schedule and all of the classes played fun backwards games to continue the spirit.
On Wednesday after all of our classes got back to normal, and with flag raising in the morning not at night, Junior Row led vespers talking about their favorite sounds, sights, and smells around camp told through acrostic poems. Wee Woman led the group describing their favorite sounds of camp and each girl artistically described their appreciation for the wind, feedbag laughter, and sounds in their cabin. Pony Express shared their favorite smells around camp and they ranged from the sweet smell of meals in the feedbag to the beloved horse poop up at the barn. Finally, Sleepy Hollow closed out Junior Row vespers with their favorite sights around camp. It is always fun to see how creative the juniors get with their acrostic descriptions and it is telling of how insightful and appreciative each camper is of camp even at a young age.
After days of practicing, the long-awaited Talent Show finally arrived on Thursday night! Many campers took to the stage to perform their dances, songs, and acts in hopes of winning the chance to perform for parents during Parents’ Weekend. I love watching how creative each group gets and the confidence that all campers have to go on stage and perform for everyone. The winners were Eliza Vincent singing “Wide Open Spaces”, Kate Nordman and Mary Frances Rivera with a duo dance, both the Senior and Junior Dance classes, and the Junior Counselors singing a song they wrote to “Brown Eyed Girl” about camp.
The first three weeks are coming to an end and every camper is enjoying the final days before the parents come for Parents’ Weekend and sadly the first three weeks depart. It has been such a joy the first three weeks and the last week was full of fun traditions and evening activities to wrap up.
