Opening Day B Session!
Dear Parents and Friends,
Opening Day for B Session was the best. Beautiful weather, great kids and a smooth transition to the valley. Hope you all had a safe trip home. As I write I’m sure most everyone is snuggled down in their camp beds after a very full day filled with the anticipation of returning to camp or coming for the first time. Gwynn Valley makes everyone feel welcome no matter your experience. Dinner was the usual opening day meal of mac and cheese, pears, salad, and fresh broccoli from our farm. To top it off we had a giant cookie with their cabin name written in icing. The first couple of meals we sit with our cabin groups and tomorrow at lunch we’ll move to our table groups which gives the campers a chance to meet other campers and staff from every part of camp.
Mountainside had their closing ceremony on the Mountainside Green tonight and Anne and I attended to honor them and their time at GV. Many of those campers had been in the program for 7 years. Their adventures were grand and I actually went out and met the Bikers yesterday at Dupont and rode with them to Bridal Veil Falls (a scene from the Hunger Games and Last of Mohicans was filmed there). It was fun to be with them for a couple hours. What a great crew up on Mountainside and also a great staff. Hat’s off to the staff for putting together such a great session.
All activities in Main Camp were running full steam ahead today complete with all the camp having their swim assessments. It takes a while to get through all those but it’s worth it and allows us to determine which campers need some help with their strokes. We also held skits after lunch to help campers decide what they wanted to take over the days ahead for their morning activities. This too is very important because there is so much offered in the morning and in the afternoon. Each day in the morning campers are involved in activities that are skilled based and the afternoons offer them a chance to go back to some of those activities or experience some new aspects for camp for just a day. Cabins were introduced at campfire tonight via Cabin skits which is always a fun event the first couple of nights at camp.
As morning activities kick off tomorrow know that your children are learning and “living the GV dream” as one camper said. Camp takes children to a new level of community life that I feel school and family can’t always imitate. Campers have a chance to make choices and become more independent in their life with us. It creates a sense of confidence, self-reliance and resilience. Camp also offers a sense of belonging to something that is greater than oneself where we still practice the GV values of simplicity, acceptance, and a strong connection to the natural world. We’re looking forward to a session of the simple joys of childhood for the days ahead. Stay tuned!