Low Ropes. High Ropes. Portables. Climbing Tower.

Team-Building.

Across our site, we have over 15 low and high elements plus all sorts of activities

that we use to build community, trust, and courage.

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As campers grow in age, they also grow in which elements the participate in. Typically, kids 3rd grade and younger don't go up anything. We do things with our feet planted safely on the ground. 4th-6th grade students also do low rope elements. Though it sometimes takes more teamwork and thought to do these than the high elements, it's "cooler" to go up, so we save that for the 7th grade+ campers.  Come to camp every year and you'll get to keep adding on to your experience! And as all of you are above the 7th grade, you'll have the opportunity to go up! :)

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One of the big things with the challenge course is managing expectations. We always ask: what's your goal today? It could be climbing up the tree and coming right back down - no walking on cables involved. It could be 10' up the climbing tower or it could be all the way to the top. All that is awesome. Regardless of what actually happens, we talk about what the successes were. It's the same for you as summer staff.

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What are your expectations for the summer? If you're like most people, you have some that are right on target, some that are pie-in-the-sky unrealistic, and some that are way too low. And you know what? All of them are necessary. And it will be super helpful to your summer experience if you write them all down. Seriously. Most of the time we don't think about our expectations and then end up disappointed, but don't know why. The summer was fine; there were good and bad parts, but we knew that ahead of time, so why does it feel like something was lacking? And most will never figure it out. Or they'll blame other staff or the crazy campers or the lack of amenities or something that you knew would be there all along, but you have no other answers.

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During training, we're going to take a deeper look into what our expectations are, talk about whether or not they're realistic, and how we might work with them even if they're not. But for now, just take a moment and write them out. What do you expect this summer? The excellent, the ok, and the bad. What do you think will happen? What do you hope will happen? What do you fear will happen? Put it all down.

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While I really do want you to be thinking about this before arriving, even if it's on the trip out, you don't have to turn it in right now. But if you email it to Sarah before Tuesday, May 22nd, you'll get 2 points, with an extra point for the first four who do.