Evening Program: Loot the Vault!
You might think that the day starts winding down after the final activities wrap up and we finish eating dinner - but that’s just when Evening Program gets started!
Every night at camp we enjoy a group activity that ranges from all-camp-games, to Cabin Line events, to Campfire. On Tuesday night, we played a brand new game called Loot The Vault!
During dinner announcements, camp was transported into the year 2048, where everyone was survivors of the climate collapse, and all but the heartiest of plants and animals have gone extinct. The story went on to say that, “Among the Survivors, a select group hold memories of what came before the Collapse. And they all held childhood connections with a place in North Carolina, where they and their friends liked to go. It was called…Falling Creek.”
The survivors were split into competing factions: the Nucklites, Riverolics, Philisloans, and Pharrbylonians. They were all fighting to seize control of Falling Creek’s Brussel Sprout supplies! Chef Dee’s Brussel Sprouts were the only native plant with the genetics to survive.
To start the game, all faction members reported to Morning Watch to put on flag belts, and the faction with the most flag bets pulled at the end of the game would win an extra “about seven” sprouts for their vault. Each faction was assigned a Vault in a different location around camp, that they were responsible for defending. The Vault is a small circle within a larger boundary marking a faction’s territory. Every Vault contained 30 Brussel Sprouts (playballs) to begin.
Teams had to raid other vaults for the precious Brussel Sprouts, while simultaneously defending their own! The goal was to finish the game with the most sprouts, thus outlasting the other teams and winning control of Falling Creek for the end times. They also received Green and Gold points, valuable currency in the Apocalypse.
On Wednesday night, the Evening Program was another All-Camp-Game: Control vs. Chaos! We detailed the rules and backstory of this game in a June Camp blog, which you can read here. It was a campers vs. counselors battle to see whether control would be regained, or chaos would take over!
Trips that returned yesterday:
- Lower Green River paddling day trip
- Jackson Park evening trip to mountain bike on the pump track
- French Broad River paddling day trip
- We also had several multi-day trips go out on adventures paddling, biking, hiking, and climbing off-property, so we can’t wait to tell you more about those when they return at the end of the week!
Notes about Homesickness:
By now, you might be getting some letters home, describing these trips or detailing new friends and cabinmates. While we know that many letters will contain fun stories about new activities and cabin adventures, we also know that many will share feelings of missing home or feeling upset. We wanted to make a note of encouraging you as parents in case a few have begun to receive homesick “snail mail” letters, reflecting boys’ feelings during the first few days of settling in at camp.
Now that the boys have been here for a couple of days and camp is still new to them, this can be a time when homesickness could begin to show in some of them. Homesickness is completely normal and we’re prepared to work with each boy, as no situation is the same.
Our counselors are great at working through homesickness with campers, and some of them can speak from experience after overcoming these same feelings themselves as campers. We wrote a blog about this during the June session last summer, which you can read here.
If you do get a homesick letter in the mail over these next few days, don’t panic. These feelings are common for all campers at some point throughout the session. The challenging times for them can be when things are moving at a slower pace, such as during Rest Hour or at night. This is also usually when they have the most time to write home!
Please be assured that if your son shows any continuing signs of homesickness, we will be in touch with you. A good rule of thumb typically is that no news from us is good news, and the homesickness usually passes quickly. Getting them doing things is the quickest way to get their mind off of home and distracted by the fun trips and activities.
The boys are learning to be independent and resilient, and you are giving them a great opportunity to do that by allowing them to be at camp.
We’re looking forward to another great day at camp today!