What's the Secret to a Great Day?

Here at camp, we think every day has the opportunity to be the best day yet! To get things started off on the right foot, we kick off our mornings with a high-energy Morning Assembly. The video above is from yesterday, and represents how much excitement is coming from the boys and the counselors each day!

Every Morning Assembly is different, but follows the same basic format. We start with a sports report, where counselors can update everyone on games and news about their favorite teams throughout the summer. Then it’s time for the “staff of the day” recognition, where a counselor gets celebrated (and given the golden plunger!) each morning for doing a great job around camp.

The skit is one of the highlights of Morning Assembly - it can be a funny sketch acted out by counselors, an interactive game with help from the crowd, or a “repeat after me” dance. Yesterday we had one of the latter, led by Scuba! Afterwards, the band is called onto the stage by chanting “woop woop woo!” until they make their entrance. Two songs each morning is never enough! Finally, it’s time for the daily announcements, which share the upcoming opportunities for boys both in-camp and off-property. They have the chance to sign up for trips, or special activities that take more than one period, such as horseback riding, blacksmithing, sailing, or fly fishing.

As Yates told the boys in the video, the announcements are the key to taking advantage of some great opportunities! “You’re hearing all these great announcements, and it’s a chance for you to do something other than the 6 activity periods that you signed up for,” he said. “If you decide to do one of these trips or special opportunities, then you just leave your other periods behind and go do that. It’s your choice!”

Yates explained that if they couldn’t do on a specific thing they wanted for the day, to come tell one of the directors so we could help make their goals happen. There’s a lot to choose from every day at camp, and announcements are important for making sure you get to try everything you want to!

After Morning Assembly, boys rush off to sign up for the activities they heard about in the announcements, or meet the counselors at the designated locations if they’re already going on a trip that day. Yesterday for example, we had boys riding bikes on a special evening trip to Jackson Park, climbing at Gilbert’s Rock, paddling whitewater on the Pigeon, and hiking to the “top of the world.” We also had all our usual in-camp special sign ups, including fly fishing, horseback riding, and blacksmithing. While we’ve already been taking these day trips, today will be the first day our multi-day trips start going out! We know the campers (and staff!) are eager to get those adventures started.

Having a good morning routine is key to making it a great day. We hope this video and snapshot into a morning at camp brought a smile to your face today…GOOOOOOD MORNING FROM FALLING CREEK!