News

Dear Parents & Friends,

It’s cooled off a bit after a brief shower this evening.  Our first full day of camp brought a host of new activities and campers joining in to make it a super first day.  The climbing wall was extremely busy this morning with Mountainside and Riverside there.  Riverside was working on their ground school to learn the basics and foundational skills needed as their trip to Linville Gorge begins tomorrow.  They’ll pull out of camp just after breakfast and should be climbing by noon if the weather holds for them.  Mountainside started their first day of mini-adventures and each camper will try out the four activities they’ll choose from for their final week.  We also had a group of bikers at Dupont, paddlers at Lake Julia and Pioneers across the road at the Hunt Farm.  Definitely a good day to be outdoors.

In Main Camp the action started off at the Farm where those baby calves eagerly await the arrival of campers that feed them each morning.  Corn, tomatoes, potatoes and peppers were all picked and we had that fresh corn for dinner tonight complete with baked chicken, rice, cole slaw, salad, and green beans.  Only the chicken and rice didn’t come from the Farm.  Archery has been a popular sport this summer and everyone wants to get a bulls eye.  We have also been doing some distance shooting over the past several days.  Archery as was done in middle ages trying to hit a target laid out on the ground farther away than our traditional distance.  Basketball got some play today and everyone out there got to shoot and make a difference.  At GV we believe in participation and that is where everyone wins.  Score doesn’t always matter but contributing does and we do a great job to make sure that everyone is learning in the process.

Learning to make a mask is a still activity where one has to have their face covered in plaster of paris with a breathing hole and then when it dries the fun part begins as to how you will decorate it.  Kayakers were learning what it’s like to be in unfamiliar surroundings as they learned how to wet exit by turning their boats upside down.  This is a prerequisite to the next level of learning how to paddle with your spray skirt on while on the lake and then the river.  There’s always that chance that you’ll turn over and one has to learn to wet exit or roll your boat back upright.  A few are learning how to roll but it takes time.  Speaking of safe waterfront activities, Jr. Life Guarding really teaches campers all about the aspects of knowing what to do if someone gets into trouble swimming.  It’s a good skill to learn and practice while in our setting.  Some cabins are already taking advantage of off-program time and it looks like some were out tubing on the mighty French Broad today.  It’s a lazy section of the river that is cool and much is shaded from the hot sun.

When we finish a meal in the dining room and have time before announcements each table usually try’s to play table games.  Looks like they were also checking all the “silly bands” that were on wrists at the table.   Your table group is another way to meet people from all over camp and have another group of friends that you get to know.  We sit together for a week and then change.  This morning as I was sitting at the table a young man from Echo walked by named Drew.  He had a butterfly on his nose and he walked out the door and the butterfly flew away.  As he walked back in, I asked him how he happened to have the butterfly on his nose.  He said it had been attached to the screen inside the dining room since he arrived yesterday and it looked like it wanted to get outside.  He stuck his finger up to the screen and it crawled onto his finger and after a while up his arm and then by the end of the meal onto his face.  At that point he slowly exited the building and yes, freedom at last.  He acted as though it was just an everyday thing to save that creature.  Compassion, acceptance, patience and a desire to make a difference.  These are all traits we can learn from this youngster.  We’re all learning here at camp! Stay tuned!

Dear Parents and Friends,

Opening Day was the best.  Beautiful weather, great kids and smooth arrivals.  Hope you all had a safe trip home.  As I write I’m sure most everyone is snuggled down in their camp beds after a very full day filled the anticipation of returning to camp or coming for the first time.  Gwynn Valley makes everyone feel welcome no matter your experience.  For dinner we had camper friendly mac and cheese, fruit, bean salad, watermelon, regular salad and fresh bread.  To top it off we had a giant cookie with their cabin name in written in icing.  After a full day of travel, arriving at camp and activities this afternoon, some of the children were literally falling asleep at the table.  It’s a full day here at camp.

You’ll notice there are a few pics of Riverside on the site tonight.  They will take off on Tues. so we’re trying to capture some photos before they hit the climbing adventure in Linville Gorge.  You’ll also see some photos of Mountainside from today’s goings on at camp.  They begin their mini-adventures tomorrow.  Lots of group games and initiatives today were happening for Riverside & Mountainside.  It’s a good way to help with bonding and the group dynamics aspect with both those programs.  What a great crew of campers in both programs and coupled with a great staff should make for a super session.    All Main Camp activities were running full steam ahead today complete with all the camp having their swim assessments.  It takes a while to get through all those but it’s worth it and allows us to determine which campers need some help with their strokes.  We also held skits after lunch to help campers decide what they wanted to take over the days ahead for their morning activities.  This too is very important because there is so much offered in the morning and in the afternoon.

Tonight we held the first night of Cabin Skits when every cabin introduces themselves to the whole camp through skits and songs.  They were original, fun and musical.  The last this evening was Raines Cove boys who played out the whole Star Wars theme in several acts.  It went on for a long time but well worth the time.  The special effects were almost as good as the real thing and the acting was superb.  We’ll finish up the skits at tomorrow night’s campfire.

As morning activities kick off tomorrow know that your children are learning and “living the dream” as one camper described it from last session.  Camp takes children to a new level of community life that even school and family can’t always imitate.  Campers have a chance to make choices and become independent in their life with us.  It creates a sense of confidence and self.  Camp also offers a sense of belonging to something that is greater than oneself where we still practice the GV values of simplicity, acceptance, and a strong connection to the natural world.  We’re looking forward to a session of the simple joys of childhood for the days ahead.  Stay tuned!

Dear Parents & Friends,

As we wind down today I want to thank you for sharing your children with us this past session.  This is our 75^th summer serving children at Gwynn Valley and the summer to the point has been terrific.  We will miss the joy that comes from our campers who have been here for several years as well as the new ones which just experienced their first year.  We’ve had a wonderful session and I hope it was evident as we held our closing for Session C/C-2 this morning.  It’s been a beautiful and hot day here and we couldn’t have asked for more.

Soon you will receive an evaluation via email, sent to you by the camp and we hope you will take the time to fill it out and send it back.  This provides us with feed back to help make our program better.  The eval will come through a service called Constant Contact.  They will not solicit you in any way and you get only one correspondence from them.  We use their services and design the form here at camp.  We appreciate you taking the time to help us keep Gwynn Valley an outstanding program.  On a similar note the North Carolina Youth Camp Association, of which we are a charter member, is working on an economic impact study done by NC State University.  The camping industry in NC is a big part of our economy in this part of the state and we’re trying to get a handle on how the industry affects other parts of the economy.  You may get a questionnaire that asks some questions about your days surrounding camp drop off and pick up.  We will use this information to further the educational values that camping creates as well as become a more powerful voice with our state and national legislators. Thank you for participating in this survey.

For those of you that want to experience Gwynn Valley after the season, we are celebrating our 75^th reunion at the end of the summer the weekend of Aug. 20^th.  If you want to attend 1 or all days, we would love to have you.  We’ll be doing a bike ride on Friday the 20^th to benefit our campership program.  Come join me for a 25, 50 or 75 mile ride that day.  Cost for the ride will be $75 per person and all proceeds will go toward making camp affordable for children who otherwise wouldn’t be able to attend.  The terrain will be rolling with no severe climbs.  We hope you can join us.

Placed in the hands of a mature staff a camper really gains a good bit from “playing outside which produces growing inside”.  Camp is just that and creates what we call camp DNA or good memories filled with learning and gaining confidence.  From all of us, thanks again for a great session.  Wonderful children, great staff and the Simple Joys of Childhood at Gwynn Valley!  Hope to see you next year.

PS  I’m putting some video up either tonight or tomorrow.  Check it out from C Session Paddling Trip.