Each Summer We Come Here…
Typically when we sing “Each Summer We Come Here” we don’t often consider it may be twice in a given summer. However, after this year’s Mini Camp that’s exactly what we have! Four of our 66 Mini Campers couldn’t resist returning to Camp Alleghany for Girls for a full dose of a three week Term Camp experience just a few weeks after finishing Mini Camp.
They couldn’t be happier.
The colorful, fun filled Mini Camp week offers a taste of what an Alleghany summer experience can be to a young girl. It also gives families an opportunity to see how even one week can make a difference in their child’s sense of confidence and independence.
Moms and Dads Agree
I had the pleasure of speaking to most every Mini Camp family during the days following their return home this June and I smiled as many recounted the visible signs of Alleghany’s impact on their daughters. Parent survey results already collected include comments such as the following:
“She’s not stopped talking about how much fun she had!”
“I am most taken back by how independent she seems; her confidence has grown measurably.”
“She asked me to download reveille on my phone to play to wake her up. When I did she jumped up and started to make her bed!”
“Her manners! She picked up a lot of wonderful habits.”
“We hope she can return for second term, but we’re already signed up for next summer.”
Straight From the Horse’s Mouth!
But what do these four returning 2017 Mini Campers have to say for themselves about their first three-week Term Camp experience? When asked “Why did you want to come back to Alleghany so quickly?” Here is what they each had to say:
Bry: I wanted to do more Archery, I love it. Camp is the best place to be a kid.
Janie: I loved everything at Mini Camp. BA is awesome and promised me she’d be here. Camp is so fun and I’m doing new activities like Cooking.
Alexa: I knew I’d see old friends and make new ones, too. Tennis was so fun and I wanted to take it again.
Kit: I wanted to come back because of the fun people I know here, and I wanted to spend more time with them. Camp is the best time of my life. I love Drama best, and get to be in another show.
Mini Camp Joys
Summer 2017 was the 15th season of Mini Camp, an optional one-week introduction to camp life for girls who’ve not been to camp before and have completed at least 1st grade. The eldest Mini Campers can be rising 5th graders.
This once-only Mini Camp option allows girls to take four activities just like in Term Camp, to be part of a tie dye array of team colors to get a sense of camp’s friendly Blue/Gray rivalry, and to sleep outdoors in canvas platform tents away from modern trappings and technology.
Tent counselor responsibilities are assumed by Alleghany counselor alumnae who are at least 30 years of age; many of whom are mothers.
In addition, a camper’s daily activities are taught by the traditional Term Counselors (typically aged 17-25) who are already at camp engaged in staff training for the summer. The extraordinary ratio of staff to Mini Campers enables us to give a large amount of support, attention, and dynamic experiences that help these first time ‘Ghany Girls settle in quickly, engage deeply with the program, and maximize the short time one-week mini session they have with us.
To date our annual return rate of nearly 80% indicates that Mini Camp is meeting its goal of introducing young girls and their families to the value of an Alleghany summer camp experience. But it doesn’t stop there! Twenty percent of this summer’s counseling staff attended Mini Camp as their introduction to Alleghany!
Don’t let a young girl in your life miss out on this special program! Check out Mini Camp for the young girl in your life. Our dates for 2018 Mini Camp are June 17-23, 2018.
You can also download our FREE e-book, 3 Reasons to Begin Your Child’s Sleepaway Summer Camp Experience Early.
See you in 2018 (and for those coming, see you at Family Camp!)
— Beth Anne Clark-Thomas, Alum and Mini Camp Director, Camp Alleghany for Girls