See our timeline illustrating how the weeks at Adirondack Camp are crucial building blocks for personal growth as well as skills development.
Going away to sleep away camp for the first time can be daunting – at any age. This is not necessarily about missing home, although that may enter into the equation as well. Children who pushed their parents to go away to summer camp may have second thoughts. Those who dragged their feet may get the hang of it without any issues. You never know. Adirondack Camp is about individual choices within the summer Camp community. This may be the first time a camper makes his or her own bed, uses a broom, or sets a table for sixteen. Sometimes these experiences of independence can be more challenging than physical feats such as getting up on water-skis or hiking a mountain in the Adirondacks!
The key to starting a child off in the right way is vigilance. Vigilance at the cabin counselor, nurse and Chief Camper Advocate levels with respect to having read, understood and acted upon the new campers' confidential information. Vigilance with respect to assuring that every first time camper is warmly greeted by the “old hands”, that the very little ones are adopted by the older campers, that a tour of the facilities, guidance through the daily schedule, a welcoming campfire and introductions all around are first order events.
Vigilance and love. Toward this end, the Adirondack Camp staff watch carefully in the cabins and coordinate cabin activities to encourage bonding and the prevention of cliques. First–time campers are given very careful scheduling attention by our Program Director to ensure that their voice has come through loud and clear in designing their activity schedule. Our Chief Camper Advocate works to get to know each child individually and teams with the Line Head to ensure that each child receives individual love and attention as outlined by their parents’ requests on the Confidential Questionnaire.
Structure... at our traditional summer camp our counselors sleep in the same open-air cabins as our campers. Typically, there are three counselors in a cabin of 10-14 campers. The younger the campers, the more weighted in favor of counseling staff are the ratios. There is, in addition to mature, experienced cabin staff, a full array of counseling and support staff available to campers and parents any time day or night. These include activity heads, cabin Line Heads, 2 registered nurses, Program Director, Camp Director, Assistant Director, Owners and a Chief Camper Advocate who live on site. To understand this structure is to understand how well protected our first time campers are.
Above all, a prevailing culture of inclusion and respect. New campers will find their cabin-mates encouraging them and helping to provide solutions if problems arise. Our summer camp counselors are trained to be encouraging and supportive of campers trying new things and seeking out their interests – whether that be: going on a wilderness adventure, trying out a new activity, speaking out, playing a guitar at a gathering or becoming an Adirondack Brave and claiming hard earned coups awarded in the activities.
Finally, the time honored set of objectives that our families each year tell us we have continued to meet and that remains exactly the same for each of our young charges – which is, to give each of our campers (new and old) nothing less than the summer of his or her life, while having each return to his or her parents, possessed of new accomplishments, greater confidence and, by and large, of stronger heart and character.
