Summer 2019: New Classes - Part II

We're kicking off Thanksgiving week by announcing three more brand new classes (from even more course areas) to be thankful for! We've got new stuff for everyone in Summer 2019 - and first on the list is class that fits the Thanksgiving feast theme nicely:

Canoe-nity Cooking

One of Camp’s ol’ favorite retired classes is making a triumphant return: yes, Outdoor Cooking is BACK and better than ever as Canoe-nity Cooking. The class will focus not just on the basics of preparing a delicious meal over the campfire, but on using our Canoe-nity Garden as one of the primary sources for our ingredients. Canoe-nity Cooking will feature a crash course in firebuilding, an introduction to some basic principles of cooking, recipe, ingredient preparation, and build to a team iron chef challenge - with bonus points for every ingredient used from our garden.

Team Sports Roulette

(Ages 12 and up.)

An active class for some of our older campers! (Why roulette? Anytime have an activity where we all rotate around and try a bunch of things, we call it a roulette. Why? Because we do!) Some fun in the sun (or light rain), as campers get to enjoy themselves outside playing some classics like volleyball, wiffle ball, badminton, kickball, as well as some not-so-classic, Camp-only team games. We’re thrilled to introduce this new option for our campers who just can’t get enough of running around and playing outside.

Lake Shawanni Adventure

Experience our waterfront in a brand-new way with Lake Shawanni Adventure! What’s involved? A little bit of everything! There will be swimming, jumping, and boating, there will be explorations of every hidden cove and missions dispatched to distant shores, there will be utilization of some water-gear exclusive to Lake Shawanni Adventure. In short, it includes everything our campers love about our 4-H Camp waterfront and more they haven’t even imagined yet.  

This class will be a little different each and every session, ‘cause as our campers know so well, no 4-H Camp adventure is ever quite the same twice.

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December 1st is quickly approaching, the date of WINTER GATHERING and the kick-off of Polar Bear Registration. Sign up early in December to get a spot in these exciting new classes!

Snowvember

Yes, it may be silly to feature snow pictures only a week after autumn pictures went up...

But just because it's silly...

Doesn't mean it's not...

What's happening. 

The downside of the snow...

Is that it's already snow.

The upside of the snow...

Is that it's a great segue...

To remind you that WINTER GATHERING is coming up Saturday, December 1st!

We've already got a bunch of the Camp Family looking forward to joining us: let us know if you can be there too!

And of course, snow means it's basically winter, and winter is when we sign up for summer...

So the snow is another excuse (like we needed one) to start getting excited about new themes and new classes for Summer 2019!

All right, thanks snow. You've served your purpose. You can melt now.

Summer 2019: New Classes - Part I

Every summer at Camp we attempt to accomplish two directly opposite goals: both keep 4-H Camp the same great experience it's been since 1951
and find brand-new ways to improve our program each and every summer. It is with both of those missions in mind that we are excited to introduce our new classes for Summer 2019!

ULTRA Ranger

(BOTH Periods 1 and 2. Ages 12 and up.)

One of L.G. Cook 4-H Camp’s greatest attributes is the acres upon acres and miles upon miles of beautiful forest surrounding us all in directions. In our brand-new Ultra-Ranger double-period course, campers will explore those forests more thoroughly than ever before. For the vast majority of three of their camp mornings, participants will get to enjoy some great walks in the woods only available to campers in our Ultra-Ranger class. These hikes include: a loop both on the trail and off the beaten path through Stokes State Forest, a trip along the Appalachian Trail to one of the most stunning overlooks in the state, and a pack-your-lunch journey following Lake Shawanni’s spillway out of Camp, down to a hidden gem in Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, and back home via Tillman’s Ravine.

(Campers who sign up for this class should be prepared to do a good deal of walking on moderate-to-difficult wooded and rocky terrain, and must sign up for the class both periods 1 and 2.)

Movers and Groovers

For campers who like to move, campers who like to groove, and campers who wait all week long for the Camp Schmance...wait no longer! One of the most requested classes over the last few seasons has been a dance class - and we’re happy to deliver with Movers and Groovers. Of course, this will be a Camp style class - meaning if you’ve never considered taking a dance class before, this campy class might be right up your alley, and if you’ve enjoyed dance previously, you’ve never taken a dance class quite like this. We’ll explore the great outdoors through site-specific body and mind connectivity, and campers will join all movement forms to represent their enthusiasm for nature, creativity, and the camp community. And chances are, there just might be an opportunity to show off some of these new moves by leading the Camp in some original choreography at the Friday night Camp Schmance...

Long Range Archery

(Ages 12 and up.)

We’ve found a Camp law that is a constant, true 100% of the time: you can never have too much archery! Which is why we’re thrilled to introduce a third archery class to the 4-H Camp curriculum. This class (as you may have guessed from the title), will utilize our Long Range, and will allow archers to try their skills at advanced distances, building all the way up to shooting from one hundred feet away from the target. These distances will allow campers to adjust tactics to overcome the expanse, hone their accuracy with various kinds of targets, participate in some unique new archery challenges, and height will even be brought into the equation when we bring out our flu-flu arrows. Here at 4-H Camp, we’re all about finding ways to make great ol’ things new again, and Long Range Archery will be doing just that by taking this classic camp favorite to a whole new level.

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Stay tuned, we've still got three more brand-new classes headed your way!

Fall Walk/Fall Reminders/Fall Rainbow

It is clearly stated...

 In the official charter...

Of this Camp Blog...

That I am OBLIGATED...

To present to you scenic...

Seasonal 4-H Camp photos!

Well, consider that obligation for autumn 2018....

Fulfilled!

And while we're at it, let's accompany them with some...

Seasonal reminders! Reminders like:

Winter Gathering is just over three weeks away! Join us for our afternoon December reunion by RSVPing here! 

That means the opening Polar Bear Registration is ALSO just over three weeks away! Check out our  schedule of Themes for 2019, and plan your Camp weeks!

And stay tuned to this very blog, because we'll be announcing some exciting new classes as additions to our course offerings before then!

But the astute blog reader will now say...

"Wait a second! I was promised a fall rainbow in the title of this post. Where's my fall rainbow!?"

HERE'S your fall rainbow.

As promised.

We wouldn't leave you hanging. 

All blog obligations successfully fulfilled.

So yes. Come to Winter Gathering! Check out our themes!

And look at this rainbow!

As I keep trying to find better and different ways to photograph it.

If only I could only figure out how my phone works.

That's the real reason we're a tech-free Camp. Because I don't know how my phone works.

Kidding! We're a tech free camp for many, many, many, WAY better reasons than that.

But seriously. One reason way down the list is because I can't quite figure out how to work my phone.

This blog post was brought to you by Woodrow, The Camp Dog, The Good Boy.

And by an autumn sunset reflecting off Founder's Rock.

Summer 2019: Announcing Sessions and Themes

Session #1: July 1st-6th

4th of July Carnival

We always kick-off our summer with a week of good ol’ classic summer camp, and 2019 is no different as we launch the season with 4th of July Carnival Week! The session will include a 4th of July celebration as only 4-H Camp can offer (featuring our beloved Wednesday Night carnival - more carnival-y than ever for 2019), and a Friday afternoon filled with our famous, larger-than-life All-Camp Giant Board Games. And of course, the biggest draw of this session is the excitement that comes along with being around for the very beginning of a brand-new summer season.  

(Enrollment in Session #1 also comes with a special perk –  Sunday, June 30th, we will hold our Camp Eve Celebration, open to all Session #1 attendees for an extra fee of just $25. Campers who partake in Camp Eve get to arrive a night early, meet the staff and their fellow campers, enjoy some special summer kick-off celebrations and traditions, and get a head start on the summer season. Our standard Monday morning drop-off time will of course still be available as well.)

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Session #2: July 8th-13th

Whodunnit Again?

Yes, one of our biggest hits from last summer is back! Back for more mystery, more suspects, more clues, more investigations, more conspiracies to unravel, and more you’ve-got-to-be-here-to-believe-it-moments. Due to mystery and secrecy related reasons, we of course don’t know exactly what will be going down during Whodunnit Again? week, but we can suppose a theory: Our theory is that once again our campers will need to gather clues, unearth scenes of the crime, solve puzzling puzzles, and one-by-one whittle down a list of suspects from our entire staff until we finally figure out (you guessed it)…WHODUNNIT...again!

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Session #3: July 15th-20th

Chaos

For well over ten years, Chaos week has been a mainstay of our season here at Camp. It’s near the middle of the summer and it’s at this point the staff seems to go just a little…off the deep end. A little crazy. A little nutty. A little wacky. A little PRANKY.  A little…chaotic, if you will. As much as we try to keep things calm and orderly with our Wednesday Night “PrankBusters” activity, nothing can seem to curtail the unpredictable zaniness…until near the end of the week when we call in our resident Chaos Expert (a certain Evil Doctor) to preside over a Kangaroo Court and send the counselors found guiltiest of pulling the prankiest of pranks through his patented Chaos Machine. No one can ever tell exactly what Chaos Week will bring...but it’s a safe bet that some of the staff will end up covered in ice cream.

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Session #4: July 22nd-27th

2019: A Space Odyssey

Ba! Bumm! Badd-dum! Get ready, because Session #4 is going to be out of this world: a sci-fi supernova, a galactic voyage of cosmic proportions, all without leaving the comforts of Stoke State Forest!  Who knows what interstellar hijinks will occur when Camp is filled with wacky extraterrestrials, fascinating aliens, brave explorers, and whatever else it is that may be out there. At 4-H Camp, when you stare up at a mid-July crystal clear night sky, though our feet may be firmly planted on the shores of Lake Shawanni, you get quite a view of the stars.

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Session #5 - July 29th-August 3rd

CAmPaNdeMoNiUM

Camp (proper noun) - Colloquial shortened term referring to L.G. Cook 4-H Camp, your classic-rustic-tech-free-new-friend-making-caring-community-building-more-fun-than-you-can-shake-a-stick-summer-home-away-from-home.

Pandemonium (noun)- Wild and noisy disorder and confusion. An uproar.

CAmPaNdeMoNiUM (noun) - Just you wait and see.

As the above definitions clearly show, CAmPaNdeMoNiUM is our newest and zaniest addition to the summer schedule. It’s going to be a switch-up, change-up, up-change, up-switch kind of week: Camp locations will shuffle, activities will jumble, roles will rearrange, and let’s just say we already know that we’ve never had a 4-H Camp week quite like CAmPaNdeMoNiUM.

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Session #6 - August 5th-10th

Epic Tales...of Mythic Legends!

4-H Camp’s about a bunch of things, but one of our favorite things that Camp is about is storytelling, and we’re bringing all the stories we can find and then some to Epic Tales...of Mythic Legends week! Knights, castles, dragons, royal courts and all the medieval drama that comes with ‘em? Sure thing! Wizards, unicorns, and other mystic, fairy tale creatures galore? You know it! Woodland lore, forest folktales, lake adventures, racoon raconteurs? Why in the world not!?   Too many descriptive story-telling words in the session’s title? How could we do it any other way!? 4-H Camp runs wild on wild imagination, and we sure won’t be lacking any of it Session #6, because this week will be...EPIC. And mythic. And legendary. And you get the idea. 

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Session #7 - August 12th-17th

S’moregasbord

The traditional end of summer festival! For our final week of the summer we celebrate all the fun we’ve had all season long by bringing back some of our favorite themes and activities from earlier in the year, as well as enjoying all the classic summer camp elements that make L.G. Cook 4-H Camp so great. S’moregasbord week also features a handful of end-of-summer-only events like our End-of-Summer Fair, ceremonial launching of the Wish Boats, and collection of the greatest hits from the 2019 4-H Camp season. The last week of Camp for the summer is always a special one, so come join all the counselors and staff in wishing the 2019 season a fond farewell.

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Registration for Summer 2019 opens online ONE MONTH FROM TODAY!