Those of us who work with cookies up close and personal are always thinking ahead. Cookie season is chaotic, so as we keep moving cookies around, our minds turn to spring and then summer. Those of us who work at the council office love summer because it is our opportunity to get out of the office and enjoy some fun with the girls. We do a lot of planning for summer camp now, while the cookie program is in progress. And that planning is a fun thing, working on programs girls love and thinking of new ones that will attract girls.
In an effort to save money, we will have only
one camp staff this year. Our camp
numbers are decreasing, and it doesn't make financial sense to have two summer
camp staffs. We will have one staff who
will do the first three weeks at Camp Scoutshire Woods and then the last two
weeks at Kamp Kiwanis. We will also
have the Mariners sailing program at Kamp Kiwanis near the end of the regular
sessions.
Each year I
have a parent say their daughter would attend camp, but the weeklong session is
a lot for the first time out. We do
have a three-day camp session for Brownies and Juniors, which is offered at
both resident camps. It is aimed at the
first-time camper and affords them the opportunity to try out camp activities
such as cooking over a fire, singing camp songs, swimming, and canoeing. We do hope you will consider this. It is a great way to get a girl interested
in camp without being gone all weeklong.
We are
planning some STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) programs at camp
this year. If that sounds too much like
school, it isn't. Girls will use the
technology of fingerprinting during the CSI Detective program, learn about
geography during the Letterboxing and Geocaching treasure hunt sessions, or use
simulated space travel to explore the cosmos with our Astronomy program. So you can learn about science painlessly
while having lots of fun in the woods.
There are two
canoe trips planned, the first one being on the Okatoma River during the first
week of Camp Scoutshire and the second one on the Tallapoosa during the first
week on Kamp Kiwanis. This is an opportunity
for older girls to test themselves on faster water than Echo Lake or Lake
Martin. Those sessions require that you
be a proficient swimmer and have experience in a canoe or kayak. These usually fill up quickly.
Another new
session is Camp Theatre! Girls will open
up their creativity by learning performance skills such as stage movement,
improvisation, voice lessons, clown and mime.
Girls will showcase their talents for their parents at the end of camp.
Those girls
who sell more than 600 boxes of cookies receive 175 program credits toward a
reduced camp rate. Applications for
camp are due March25.
We also have
some other big programs where girls can use their cookie program credits. One is an overnight trip to Space Camp at
the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville. This is the first time we have offered this
program in recent history. The cost is
$129 per person, so you can use cookie program credits to attend. Another program to consider is a trip to see
the hit Broadway show Wicked in New Orleans on June 1.
Hopefully,
your girls are excited for these opportunities and others the cookie program
provides.
Thanks for all your hard work during this time of year.
