From the Tutors: It is hard to believe we finished week five and six of summer 2011 at Camp Spring Creek. With five tutors, staff, energetic campers, wonderful counselors and the van der Vorst family all working together, this year at camp is proving to a blast! Along with the daily activities of tutoring, typing, reading, swimming, hiking, building and painting, the campers continue to venture out on exciting excursions throughout the Blue Ridge Mountains. As tutors, we have been bonding into the late hours of the night to make summer tutoring exciting for everyone! We have enjoyed getting to know each camper more personally through our individual tutoring sessions, hours of read aloud and feasting over delicious meals. . It is incredible to see these campers grow academically, socially and emotionally. We are sadly beginning to say goodbye to some of our campers and staff, and we bid them farewell with hilarious skits, awards and books. As we reflect upon the weeks already past, we tutors are finding that these students are impacting our lives and helping us grow professionally in our endeavors to become stronger OG tutors. We are looking forward to the last three weeks of camp and all the fun still to come!
. . . another perspective!
I am so glad to be a part of Camp Spring Creek’s 2011 summer staff. What a great all around experience for these campers. As a retired special education teacher, I can say with strong conviction, that the entire staff is working as a team to address the needs of each individual child. Each day, we watch kids grow in confidence, academic performance, social skills, pride, physical and mental well being, ………. I could go on and on.
Big “kudos” to my fellow staff mates: directors, tutors, counselors, art teacher, woodshop teacher, culinary staff, and all those that help to make Camp Spring Creek such a nurturing environment. I am so impressed with you all!!!
To this year’s campers, I must say thank you. Although I am the one who is tutoring students, I have, in turn, learned so very much from you. Believe me when I say, the hard work that you put in now will pay off in the future.
As we begin our last two weeks of camp, we are all dedicated to maintaining the high energy level that has pervaded the camp since day one. We will pack this time with lots of learning and fun.
Camp Spring Creek, what a great place to be!!!
A Shout Out from the Counselors:
All is new here at Camp with the addition of 13 new campers and the camp has doubled in size. The new campers are a mix of returners and completely new campers, but all are settling in well. These weeks have been as busy as our previous weeks with new campers getting a great introduction to camp life. The week has included our usual mix of tutoring, typing, art, wood shop and swimming. Older campers have been wonderful showing our new arrivals the ropes in various classes. Swimming is going well, with most campers becoming more water confident by the day! Activities this week have ranged from the ever popular Capture the Flag to a Treasure Hunt. This week also saw our third Skit Night and our second dance - both of which were great evenings! The weekend was probably our busiest yet, with activities crammed into both days. Saturday saw the camp heading down to Spruce Pine for a Storytelling Festival that was enjoyed despite the rain, especially one story which allowed certain campers to join in and display their acting skills! In the afternoon we all went bowling, as the initial plan to go for a hike was rained off. Bowling was a great success though, with everyone having fun and knocking down those pins! Sunday was another awesome day, with the whole camp taking a trip to Asheville, where the morning was spent at a local climbing wall, using one of the skills that is being developed in Outdoors. The afternoon was then spent seeing the film ‘Cars 2‘! The campers are still raving about the seats in the movie theatre (which were like sofas!) and the film itself was enjoyed as well. So it has been another action packed week here and we’ll see you next week! Enjoy the photos!
