We All Put Our GRP Pants on One Leg at a Time

By Sara Schmidt on July 15, 2013

                                    

Today is a GLP day. That means campers and staffers are doing wicked cool, all-day long activities all over the Preserve.  Some activities are even taking place in DuPont and Pisgah.  For example, some campers signed up for Pisgah-palooza, a day of general fun and frolicking in Pisgah National Forest.  Other campers are spending the day at the Pioneer Cabin and the Lodge, either making neat, folksy crafts or learning all the intricacies of the theatre.  Basically ,GLPs span the activity spectrum, and campers are distributed across that spectrum having a ball of a time today.  

 

 

GLPs aren’t all fun though- that is to say they are, but in addition to that they’re all packed chock full of learning, whether it’s learning a new skill or learning about one’s strengths and weaknesses. That’s part of why GRP is such a great place, because it provides a wonderful environment in which campers and staffers alike can rediscover themselves, realize a newly surfaced passion, or discover a previously unknown skill (like candle making, or fire by friction).  Some of the GLPs are exceptionally taxing, involving lots of hiking, biking, or other physical exertion.  On GLPs like these, campers are given the opportunity to test their mettle, sticking with the group and enjoying the areas they traverse.  

 

                                    

In these, campers are rewarded with some sort of immaterial experience, such as a stellar view or a breathtaking waterfall. Other GLPs are much more about the skills learned and finding a skill to continue once camp is over (which, sadly, does happen).  Today campers are learning how to fly-fish down on the Green River, how to build a cob oven at the Farm, and an assortment of craftwork at the Pioneer Cabin, all of which are skills they can take home with them once the session ends. Eventually GLPs are over, and Free Time ensues.  

                                    

 

 

 

Today Free Time will be a nice chance to unwind and relax from the clamor of today’s activities, and to get ready for tonight’s Evening Program: The Shindig! The Shindig is like basic contra dancing, bringing an old tradition to a young generation. Tonight we’ll have a live band, a caller, and even an instructional video (just kidding, we don’t have a video). Campers get to hype up for the Shindig by dressing up in whatever mountain clothes they brought, or, if they didn’t bring any, they have free reign to pillage and plunder the costume closet as they see fit (assuming they put what they took right back where they found it). After the Shindig, it’s time to call it a night and get enough sleep for tomorrow, which is, as luck would have it, another GLP day.

-Orion

Sara Schmidt
Sara Schmidt

Sara Schmidt serves as the Administrative Director and Registrar for Green River Preserve. She is excited to be part of the GRP family in her role which focuses on “all things camper.” Her primary responsibilities include camper registration and billing, camper retention, and the GRP Camp Store. Sara also serves as the Editor of Green River Preserve’s seasonal newsletter, Whispers From The Preserve, and she manages the camper scholarship committee. Her newest endeavor is to help build GRP’s Annual Fund and partnership program.