On a cool Wednesday afternoon, students from Bairnsdale Secondary College arrived at The Summit eager to begin their adventure. After checking into their accommodation, they met with the coaches and teachers at the Lodge. The team leader introduced The Summit coaches, and Spinks introduced the group to the Five Keys of camp.

1. Have Fun
2. Play All In
3. Make Lots of Mistakes
4. Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable
5. Don’t Go Home Wondering “What If”

Before starting their 2 activity rotations, they played a game and were shown the Stage, including all the important locations around the park. They then moved to their numbered spots to test their initiative and work together for the first time in smaller groups, their tribes. This is also when many of the groups came up with their Tribe Names, resulting in, from numbers 1 to 15: Copy and Paste, 2 Good, Wok Foo, Silly Monkeys, Bushfairys, Marshmallows, Treestumps, Chungus, Legends, TNT, Yabbies, Georgie Pigs, 200’s, Butterfingers, and Dino Nugies.

It was then back to the Stage, where Logan and Christopher demonstrated how to put on a harness and helmet; Sam introduced them to a goal-setting strategy called Target, Stretch, and Super Stretch to help break activities down into more manageable steps, then it was back to numbered spots for activity rotations. The activities groups 1 to 7 shared were: Leap of Faith, Bush Challenge, High Wire, Giant Swing, Cave, Summit Window, and Scavenger Hunt. Groups 8 to 15 shared Bag Blitz, Snowy River Challenge, Rock Wall, Inflatables, Jump Free, Laser Skirmish, Abseiling, and also Scavenger Hunt. To wrap up the day, the students were explained The Summit’s way of giving written affirmations and compliments; called GMICs (Great Moments in Camp); the students were then informed of times for dinner before receiving some final information from teachers and enjoying some free time.

On day two, the group had breakfast and returned to the Lodge for a session on intentions with Sam. They discussed the importance of setting an intention, taking action, and trusting the process. Afterwards, a game was played to be in a state ready to face the 3 activities before lunch. After which there was a Tribe Challenge and the Monster Course. The balloon toss tribe challenge was chaotic and wet, a precursor for what was to come. For the Monster Course, coaches led them through 11 obstacles; Holy Buckets, Charades, Tarp Catch, Sleds, Ball Puzzle, Big Cargo, Small Cargo, Brucey, Ball Pit, Barbed and Dangerous, finishing off with the mud angles in the mud mounds before crossing that finish line. But they weren’t finished. It wasn’t just one, but two laps, a two-lap obstacle course, to emphasize resilience and the importance of self-improvement. The winner had the most improved time from their first lap. Finally, they rinsed off, had a shower, and had some dinner, before ending the day.

Last day, and there were a lot of tired faces in the room, Calarnee ran the group through a recap of the previous intention sessions and talked with the students of Bairnsdale Secondary College about gratitude, reading out a bunch of GMICs, cementing that it was their last day at The Summit, asking the students what, and whom they were grateful for. But soon there were only two more rotations, which once completed, the students reported to the stage to have lunch as The Summit staff said their goodbyes. All students then made their way to the buses and were on their way back to school.

In the last rotation of camp, the tribes got to reflect on their camp experience with each other, and were given a debriefing strategy called; Rock, Stick and Leaf (something that rocked about camp, something that will stick with you and something that you would leaf behind). They also voted for a member of their team they believed followed the Five Keys the most during their whole camp experience, and the winners of those votes are as follows:

1. Luke
2. Tyrell
3. Raven
4. Sharni
5. Edward
6. Elena
7. Kip
8. Lucas
9. Jack – Lacey
10. Hope
11. Riley
12. Reef
13. Harry
14. Jasmen
15. Isla

Meaning EVERYONE had a minimum of five minutes improvement from their first lap! This is yet another indicator of how much everyone pushed themselves in this camp.

On behalf of The Summit and its coaches, thank you for your participation and for joining us in having fun. I wish you all the best for the rest of the year!