Camp Life

Back to School and Farewell to Summer

So, school has started back for most folks and the recent mountain weather here in Mitchell County is a preview of fall.  Summer does not officially end until mid-September but the end of camp certainly signaled an end to summer's activities: long days, lightening bugs, river swims, games of capture the flag, and marshmallows and campfires. Before we put the summer memories behind us and jump into school, soccer, football-whatever-here are some more great snapshots of Camp Spring Creek 2011.  Thanks to Teresa and Mary for providing us with these great images.

Week 8 . . . and that's a wrap!

Oh, how the summer did go by in a flash!  Kids here in Mitchell county are already back in school and many of our campers were headed home for last hurrahs-trips to the beach, family vacations, school shopping.  We had an incredible bunch of campers, counselors, tutors, and staff and we thank each and every person that made Camp Spring Creek 2011 a great summer.  We will miss everyone and wish all of our campers great success in the upcoming school year! One Last Word from our Fantastic Counselors:

Well, here we are, final week of camp has arrived. This week has been an awesome one, with lots going on. For two evenings this week all the campers have taken part in the Pirate Olympics! Both Monday and Wednesday evenings have been taken up with a series of different events, all in some way Pirate related. Monday saw the pool day, with events such as relays, a cannonball competition, diving for treasure and a boat race (the boats had been made in wood shop).  The camp was split into three teams and points were award for each event. It was an amazing evening and everyone had lots of fun. Wednesday was the field day, and the whole camp went down to Bakersville and used the local park as an arena for the next lot of events. The field day included events like a water balloon toss, the four person ski, and a game called Walk the Plank (which involved getting all your team over a set distance using only three thinks, two planks and a foam mat). The day ended with the Pirate Game, a version of the game front of the boat, which has proved popular over the past few weeks. All the campers had a great time and showed very sportsmanlike attitudes and had a lot of fun! Tuesday night saw the girls taking their turn at seeing the glass blowing and making paperweights. During the day, usual activities have continued and even though it is our final week, everyone is still working hard. So, there we go, it’s been an amazing summer here at camp!

Week Seven-seems like yesterday!

From our counselors:  Week Seven has gone by in a flash! Only one-week left, it’s gone so fast; everything is still going well, though. The campers are all still having fun, new activities this week have included the boys being shown glass-blowing and getting to make paper weights, the girls get the same treat next week! Outdoors has seen practice pitching of tents, in preparation for camping at Linville Falls this weekend. Art has been split up this week, with the first half focusing on photography and the second half saw the return of paste paper, as next week our newer campers are making binders. Woodshop has seen various projects, including the conversion of previously made cars into boats, an interesting task. Both tutoring and typing have both been gong well and much effort is being made.  The weekend was it’s usual jam packed self, with the campers going to Linville Falls for the second time to camp on Friday night. This including all the traditional camping activities; cooking food on a fire, the campfire, and even a search and rescue demonstration! Saturday morning saw the second attempt at fishing, this one was also a success. Sunday was equally active, with the campers heading to Crabtree Falls, another waterfall off the Blue Ridge Parkway. The falls were beautiful and the campers had a great time exploring round them. After lunch everyone headed back to Bakersville for Gem Mining! Which led to a collection of very pretty stones being found by all the campers. All in all a lovely weekend. Now a word from one of our campers-who shall remain nameless but she's been here all eight weeks!

We are coming up to our finally week of camp! This past weekend the kids that were 12+  went rafting on the Nollichucky River. We all had a blast. Only 2 people fell out of the raft , but they got right back and and continued down the river. While the older kids went rafting the younger kids went tubing on the same Tow River and they all had a blast too. After dinner we went down to Bakersville soccer field and played soccer,but some of the kids went on a nice walk in the park. After a long game of soccer we went out for ice-cream. On Sunday we went to Wilson's Creek it was a little overcast but warm. We had a short hike, and then got to the creek that was amazing. This week we have been preparing for the Pirate Olympics that is going to take place next week. In swimming the kids have enjoyed doing relay races and learning to dive. In woodshop we are making boats for the boat race. In art we have been doing sun prints with True, and now we are doing paste paper with Luc. In outdoors be have been doing paintball, pitching tents for camping, playing little games in the field and rock climbing. A lot of our outdoor classes have been doing creek hikes.

Week Six and Beyond!

From Lissa Jo, one of our new tutors:

This is my first year as a camp tutor. After 25 years as a classroom teacher I have never seen the rate of success these students are able to accomplish. These kids get hooked on books!

My favorite time of day is the morning reading hour. You may see campers snuggled on a couch, sitting on the bridge, on a rock, on a blanket in the grass, or in a hammock reading to counselors or tutors. I can’t wait until tomorrow morning.

Counselor Chat:

There we are then, another week has flown by here at Camp! It’s been yet another busy one too. Swimming is going really well and the campers are coming on by leaps and bounds in the pool, some classes have even been going over different dives this week and demonstrating their skills. Woodshop and art are still giving great enjoyment to the campers, who have been making all sorts of different things this week. Evening activities have ranged from free swims to campfires and are always greatly enjoyed. The weekend saw the camp split up with all the over 12’s heading to the Nolichucky River to go White Water Rafting, while those under 12 got the chance to go tubing! Both activities were fantastic and both groups had an awesome time! One camper and one counselor did manage to fall in during rafting, to the hilarity of others, but both were fine and quickly back in their rafts. Sunday saw a visit to Wilson’s Creek, always a favorite, and the campers once again delighting in jumping into the pools and off the rocks. So, another fantastic week has been had here at camp! We're into week seven and will have more to post next week-stay tuned!

Week Five and into Week Six!

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!

Week Three and a Half and Week Four-it's a MAC thing!

So, my glitch with the tutors and counselors entries from week three was because the text was formatted on a MAC and for the first (and only) time this summer, I tried posting to the blog using a PC.  Ah, so there really is a difference!  Anyway, this post includes the missing posts from week Three as well as posts from last week, week Four.  Week Five is well underway and things are continuing to go very smoothly.  It's a lot of fun to have quite a few new campers but we already miss the first four week-ers.  Read on . . . From Counselor Hannah, from week Three:

I can’t believe we’re already three weeks in to camp! As it is said, time flies when you’re having fun and week three has been just as enjoyable and jam-packed as the previous two weeks. So, after the arrival last Sunday of 5 new campers, we welcomed them in true Camp Spring Creek style with an enjoyable afternoon in the pool, with campers having fun whether they were attempting to build houses with the floating tiles, pool Frisbee or joining in with pool volleyball, a great time was had by all. Art this week has been amazing fun – with campers working on a float for the fourth of July parade, while also having fun dressing up, drawing their favorite animals and face painting! In wood-shop, campers have been making whistles, making the rectangular blocks into round whistles has taken patience but the campers are happy with the results. The week ended in wood-shop with the campers starting to design bridges and working together as groups to pick the best design.

They are all still making great progress in swimming, typing and tutoring and working really hard all round. We have finally got the rock wall in action and campers have had a great time scaling it during outdoors. Our other outdoor activity this week has been setting up an area for paintball, which has kept the campers busy. In  our after dinner activities this week, we have experienced our first Skit Night, which caused great hilarity, the acts ranged from a dramatized retelling of a story to a song and dance number to a very original rendition of jingle bells! There has also been a days of classic playground games, capture the flag and Hunters (a cross between capture the flag, tag and hide and seek.) It has been a busy week, and we ended it with a camping trip up to Lineville falls. The campsite was lovely and the campers enjoyed the adventure of it all. The next day was equally full, as the campers learnt to fly-fish, regular fish and then hiked up Lineville gorge to see the waterfall.  Topped off by a trip to a local high school to watch pre-fourth of July fireworks.

It has been a terrific week and we’re all looking forward to the next one!

Hannah - Girls Counselor

From MATH world by Judy

Our math students, ranging in age from 8 to 15, are strengthening their skills, all the way from counting and adding to graphing  equations. Group projects so far have included exploring the Fibonacci sequence and spiral; drawing circles and hexagons with a compass and ruler; using Cuisenaire rods and fraction circles, to get the feel of quantities; calculating the number of pans our chef needed for pizza last week!

Our oldest student, who plans to become a teacher, is immensely helpful with the younger campers.

We have a spacious, sunny math room, furnished with books, manipulatives, posters, and games for all levels. We are fostering team spirit, helping each other so we can rise together.

And on to Week Four-our counselors speak out!

 

Week four has definitely been an exciting 7 days! A lot has happened, since our return from camping last weekend. We have gained 2 new campers who are fitting in well, but we are about to lose our first 5 campers as their time at Camp Spring Creek is over.

But what a way to spend their last week. Monday was of course a special day, being the 4th of July and everything. The campers joined in the festivities by taking part in a local parade, they dressed up in fantastic costumes and marched, sang, chanted and danced their way along behind the float they had helped create with this weeks art teacher, True Kelley. They were so amazingly enthusiastic that Camp Spring Creek won the audience award after the parade. The evening was topped off by a fabulous fireworks display, so a happy Fourth of July was had by all.

The week continued in a high, with Tuesday marking our first camp dance - the campers all boogied down in the dinning hall, which had been fixed up which lights and a disco ball for the occasion.

Thursday saw our second Skit night take place, in special honor of our departing campers, although everyone was opening to a little roasting and laughter was a constant. The skits ranged in focus from some of our campers more hilarious moments, to some of our tutors ones as well. The counselors, campers and staff all had a great time laughing at ourselves. The evening ended with awards being handed out to the 5 campers who are leaving, a lovely way to cap off their time with us!

So there we go, the week has also been the usual mix of hard work and good fun, and ended with this years first trip to Lake James. Which despite us not being able to get out water skiing was still a great day out.

So that’s all for now, see you again soon.  Enjoy the photos!

 

Week Three-Another Great Week at Camp!

From a Tutor’s Perspective…..  week 3,  July 9, 2010             On my first day at Camp Spring Creek, all campers, tutors and counselors gathered immediately after breakfast for the Reading Hour.  What amazed me was the remarkable organization of the event.  Book selection was based on student reading and interest level.  With the focus of building an enjoyment of reading, the reading partners enable students to build reading stamina as camp progresses. 

            When a student finishes reading with a partner, the number of pages read is recorded.  A daily total of pages read is transferred to the Trail of Pages which we post and celebrate weekly.  The first week we read 884 pages.  On week 2 we read 1068.  On week 3 we read 1651!  What growth we’ve seen from our campers already!

 

            Our students benefit more than academically from the Reading Hour.  It’s a time for us to sit outside in the crisp mountain air and share the experience of a good book.  Reading practice is an activity often neglected.   Here at Camp Spring Creek we’re establishing great reading habits to continue for the rest of our lives.

From everyone else:

Okay, Okay--not quite sure what's happened to all the posts that everyone worked on for last week.  I went to load them onto the blog from the flash drive and got multiple error messages---ahhh!  Let me see if I can fill in and our apologies.

The 4th of July Penland parade and the camper's participation was incredible.  Each and every camper was involved and Camp Spring Creek won the award for "Most Spirited Audience Support" or something along those lines.  This years theme was "Dare to be Different" and campers dressed in costume, wore face paint, and danced and played their instruments they've made in woodshop.

We hosted a dance last night in the dining hall and it was great fun.  Counselor Mike used his DJ computer program to keep everyone moving and grooving.  One counselor maybe did a little too much moving as he split his pants on the dance floor!

We had two more campers join us last Sunday and they have fit right into the swing of things.  This Friday we will say goodbye to 5 of our campers and welcome many new faces on Sunday.  If you're one of those faces, we look forward to seeing you very soon!

Everyone is very busy with all of their academic and recreational classes.  Meals are quite social and we are continuing to reinforce table manners, conversation, and tasting a little of everything at each mealtime.  The salad bar is quite a hit (again) and so far, beets, carrots, edamame, green peas, and mandarin oranges have been the most popular. 

It's nice to read all of your comments, and we often share them with the camp at lunch so keep 'em coming! 

Week Two--a wee bit late!

In Steve’s words-We’ve had the smoothest first weeks of camp ever!  We just seem to have the right blend of campers, tutors, counselors, and support-staff this year—all to say this is the best summer since . . . last summer!

The campers are AWESOME!  Their personalities are rapidly growing on us and their participation in all activities is 100%.  So far, there has been record low home- sickness and some very stiff competition in “Room-Inspections.”

We have a great balance of skills, talents, and experience with the counseling staff.  In their interactions with the campers, they display a healthy level of fun-ness, fairness, and firmness.

The overall smoothness of these first weeks seems to have a very positive effect on the happiness of the campers and should set the stage for great individual academic progress.

Oh yeah, did I mention the food?  French toast made with homemade cinnamon bread, fresh pineapples, a fantastic salad bar . . . just AWESOME!

From our wonderful, worldly counselors . . . Well, there we go, second week of camp has flown by just as quickly as the first and it has been just as much fun this week as last. Again the week has been a mixture of hard work and good fun. Tutoring and typing has come on by leaps and bounds, with the campers putting in a lot of effort and applying themselves well. Equally they are working hard in art and woodshop, expanding and improving upon last weeks work and moving on to new projects. Art, this week, has focused on making paste paper, and has been greatly enjoyed by all the campers, who have delighted in creating colourful (UK spelling!) patterns on their paper. While in woodshop, the campers have been making Logger-phones, an instrument made with bottle caps and bells that makes a lovely noise when banged against the floor. The designs the campers have created are a great mix of colors and they will look and sound amazing when they get a chance to show them off! In outdoors, prep is being done for rock climbing and paintball which will hopefully take place in the next week or so. Campers have also attempted to dam the creek, taken leaf and tree rubbings and helped with a 1000 piece jigsaw when the weather forced outdoors to become indoors. The junior girls celebrated winning the first week of cabin inspections with a film night, which despite a slight mix up in film was still enjoyed. There was also great fun had over the weekend, with the campers spending the night in Virginia camping out then cycling the next day, which despite the weather trying to derail the fun still created good stories to tell. The weekend had a more relaxed finale with the campers going tubing down a nearby river, a very enjoyable way to spend an afternoon! So all in all its been another awesome week here at Camp Spring Creek!

Summer Camp-Week One!

So, here we go with our new blog . . . hopefully, parents and friends of Camp Spring Creek can be a part of our camp community by following our weekly posts.  Each week, one of our tutors and counselors, along with Susie, will write a brief summary of the week at camp, including camper activities, trips, and academic achievements.  We'll also include some photos so you can see the many smiling faces.  Enjoy and feel free to comment, and stay tuned for next week's posting. From Susanne, one of awesome tutors:

What an incredible start to camp! This is my sixth year as a tutor, and I have never seen such a bonded group of enthusiastic counselors. It is obvious that they are loving it and have the “free” time for the kids so well planned. We have such a wonderful group of students that have started our summer camp. They are eager to learn and even take homework seriously during their vacation! I am so glad to be tutoring alongside with Amy, who is another returning tutor, and we both are impressed with our new math tutor, Judy. All campers and staff have their energy level up due to the gourmet meals produced by our chef, Erin. Every meal is a treat. So we are off and running for another great summer of fun and learning.

Our counselors speak out:

Well, it’s been an amazing first week of camp, and so much has happened already. So, here’s a brief overview of our week. Campers arrived on Sunday morning, and in a flurry of activity camp officially began. The week has been full of great moments and hard work. The whole camp; tutors, counselors and campers have all worked together and achieved a lot in these first 7 days. Already projects are being completed in art and woodshop, great gains are being made in swimming and all the campers are working hard in tutoring and typing. In woodshop, not only have the campers made name-badges for pretty much the entire camp, they’ve also created small box drums that they all made and decorated themselves. In outdoors, campers have taken part in activities ranging from creek hikes to putting up tents and have had great fun doing so. And finally the campers very quickly made us counselors aware of a general love to Capture the Flag, but have also done treasure hunts and even board games and table football when the rain prevented outside games. So all in all, it’s been a wonderful start to the next eight weeks. Let’s keep it up!

In Susie's words . . . 

I live for the summer! This is when I am in my glory, surrounded by these great thinkers. We are so excited to have such a great group of campers. We started our season with 10 campers-- half of which are returning campers. Since we do not have a password protected section on our site yet, we will allude to our campers by vague descriptions that parents should know without naming them directly until we have a more secure way to blog.

Our counselors seem to be the best we’ve had yet with lots of great ideas and incredible energy and enthusiasm. We’re off to enjoy weekend of camping and bike riding. Let’s hope it won’t rain. (Well it did rain, and we spent Sunday washing some very muddy laundry!) On Sunday after we added another camper from Winston-Salem, we plan to go tubing, so look for pictures in the coming days…

A "Must Read" Book for All Parents

If you haven't already read it or heard about it, grab a copy of Nurture Shock, by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman.  Get one today and find a cozy spot to jump into some fascinating reading.  "The central premise of this book is that many of modern society's most popular strategies for raising children are in fact backfiring because key points in the science of child development and behavior have been overlooked."  Susie was so impressed with the chapter on sleep that she changed the camp's schedule to allow for an hour more sleep each night.  Other chapters discuss the praise, lying, sibling relationships, teen rebellion, and language skills.  It really does make you take a step back and look at raising children in a new way.