Week One of First Term is always so magical, our tents are finally full, laughter fills our ears, energy is radiating from our campers and counselors, and we have finally begun our favorite season of the year: CAMP!
Our First Termers are a buzz with the excitement of seeing camp friends for the first time in a year, meeting their counselor and tent mates for the summer, and signing up for their favorite activities. It is no surprise that out of all our wonderful activities, Rifle, Arts and Crafts, and Canoeing are the most popular this year. Rifle holds steady each year as our most unique and popular activity (so popular that we often run out of space on our Rifle Range before all of our Campers have the chance to sign up!) Our brand new A&C Lodge attracted lots of campers to one of our most classic activities. With our river running alongside camp, Canoeing is consistently a fan favorite activity- we love the Greenbrier River!
Leadership and Wilderness
Some other exciting programming that begins in the first week of the term is our Leadership Programming and Wilderness Progression! Our Leadership Programs begin with our Startup Summer (the oldest campers in Junior Camp) and each summer following they participate in more and more leadership classes and opportunities at Alleghany.
From Startup Summer all the way through LIT Summer, our campers get to enjoy new and unique parts of camp life. This week our Leaders-in-Training (LITs), the 16-year olds in camp, departed on their 4-day, 3-night Wilderness Trip at Spruce Knob led by Experience Learning. This trip becomes the LITs’ favorite experience of the summer each year. They return today and we cannot wait to hear all of their stories!
Our Upstarts also had an exciting week, the 14s embarked on an overnight where they cooked dinner and breakfast over the fire- our campers always have the best time on overnights. On Saturday night all of our Upstarts (14-year-olds and 15-year-olds) went on their “night out.” This year they went to Lost World Caverns where they ate dinner out, took a cavern tour, and even got to pet the llama they have on the property!
The Best Part of our Night: Evening Activity!
Our evening activities this week included Unit Night, Blue/Gray Surprise (one of our favorites!), Capture the Flag, NCCC (Non-Camper Counselor Club) Campfire led by Bonnie, Junior Bench Ball, and Senior Lawn Olympics. While it is hard to beat a Blue/Gray Evening Activity, our counselors worked super hard to make sure each evening activity went off without a hitch! Evening Activities are one of our favorite ways to bring together all of camp at the end of the day, get all of our energy out, and add some variety to our daily routine.
Looking Forward to What Next Week May Bring
The Second Week of Term Camp brings with it a sense of calm. Campers have settled into their groove, counselors have made strong connections with all of their campers, and new friendships have blossomed.
We have so many fun activities and events to look forward to this week and I can’t wait to tell you all about them! Let First Term, Week Two Begin!
