Interacting with stuff and things.

By Sara Schmidt on August 06, 2013

  

 

Today the campers embarked on their first full day of camp life.  Naturally, the day started this morning with everyone waking up at seven-thirty to enjoy an eight o’clock breakfast- bright and early.  Breakfast was a fun, family style meal (like all of the meals at GRP) and it consisted of eggs, sausage, biscuits, and potato cakes.  It. Was. Delicious.  After breakfast campers were treated to a short skit lovingly known as “Bird of the Day” in which the campers learned about the Carolina wren.  Tomorrow morning will be much the same however “Bird of the Day” will be replaced with “Word of the Day”.  They alternate, see?  

  

After breakfast and all of its accoutrements, campers were divided into Mentor Groups for their morning hikes. Every day after breakfast campers are sent, with a mentor, to various parts of the Preserve to explore, learn, and generally get some immersive experiences in a natural setting. These hikes take campers to cool GRP landmarks, such as Upper and Lower Bald, Uncle’s Creek Falls, and the Indian Cave. Campers rotate where they go each day, that way they get to see as much of the Preserve as possible during their sessions. Mentor Hikes last until lunch, which campers eat at Base Camp.

             

After lunch is a brief skit encouraging campers to keep themselves and the place they live in clean (Beauty: it’s a Woodcrafter Law) then it’s off to Rest Hour which just happens to be every counselor’s favorite time of day. As you can probably guess, Rest Hour is prime resting time for both campers and staffers, giving both the chance for some well-needed naps. Activities follow Rest Hour. These activities include things like BB Skeet, Fencing, Arts and Crafts, Drawing and Painting, Archery, Music, and a slew of other, assorted activities (like Outdoor Skills and Climbing).  

Activities then segway into Free Time which is a lot like unstructured downtime with structure and, obviously, supervision. Campers are allowed to peruse the Front Field, engaging in a variety of activities such as Field Games, swimming, exploring the area, or straight up chilling, either in the field or in Hammockville. Free Time leads into Dinner, which is then followed by another special skit- Ortman and Scruffy, superheroes from a far-off galaxy sworn to fight the Ort Wars forevermore! Our favorite camp superheroes teach the campers about recycling and energy waste prevention.

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It’s a grand time and it just gets grander when we move on to our Evening Program (it’s a different one every night). Tonight’s EP is Predator-Prey and it’s going to be so awesome. Too awesome even (so you should definitely ask your campers about it when you get the chance). Once the EP is over, it’s time to sing Sisters-Brothers and go to sleep so we can get prepped and ready for a brand new day.

-Orion

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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.