CCG- Dandenong Campus Camp Blog

It was awesome to be able to introduce The Summit to the amazing staff and students from CCG-Dandenong. They were an awesome and very diverse group of humans and the three days they were here were an experience we will struggle to forget. Zoe and I dragged everyone into the Blue Room to introduce ourselves and our Five Keys of Have Fun, Play All In, Make Mistakes, Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable and Don’t Go Home Wondering What If, before waking up Bunya, making our way into the park, playing a couple of games, showing everyone our harnesses and how to set themselves Targets, Stretches, and Super Stretches and getting into our first couple of activities.

We were looking forward to more of a team experience having such a small number of students, and the camaraderie was instant. We started Monday off with our Flying Fox and Cave experience. It was obvious after the first few activities that Chrysler and Alek were experts in teamwork.

That night we went on our Night Walk, a stroll around the grounds past Blind Man's Bluff, where Shannon and Alek decided to scare as many of their classmates as possible, Predators Pass, where Shannon was desperate to make sure there were no predators and Spotlight, where everyone was still worrying about the predators.

After getting over the shock of seeing that Sean had shaved off his arrow haircut, Tuesday morning was kicked off with a chat about things we can say to improve the day of those around us as well as ourselves. We watched a video that gave a great example of how the smallest laugh in an awkward situation can brighten anyone's day.

With our first round of activities, we promised to bring a little competition to their experience and did so when we broke the group up into the Summit K’s and Salt N Pepa. We then did both our Snowy River Challenge and Rock Wall, with both tribes using the concept of teamwork to push themselves further than they thought possible. I mean, Yusuf got his pants wet, so how is that for commitment? It was an awesome morning. That afternoon we tried our Giant Swing, using a break in the other program to get the whole contingent through. The rapport and support for each other were really starting to shine through.

The afternoon was dominated, however, by our epic Monster Course. Two laps around an epic group of tasks and challenges, with more fun than anyone expected. Lysa and Tobias smashed the course, after almost all of their tribe, the Summit K’s withdrew and Chloe hurt her ankle on the second last activity. When the group found out about our second lap, however, Salt and Pepa also lost half of their team, so to reward the resilience of those who lined up for our second lap, and in an effort to maximize our time and experience, we decided to hit the drop slide and water slide instead!

Thursday night was a bit quieter, an evening around the bonfire, and Friday bought our final two activities. We climbed Tash’s Ladder, with Chloe, Ella and Lysa again leading the way in fearlessness. We then moved over to the Sky Bridge, where quite a few of the students had a chance to push themselves as far as they could over the lake.

We then asked everyone to vote on who they thought gave everything they could over the whole camp to be our Values winner or the person that best represented the Five Keys values The Summit holds. Lysa, Tobias and Alek were clear winners and rewarded with a ride in our WW2 Army Tank.

A massive thank you to Michael, Leigh, Julie Janine and all the students and teachers from Community College’s Dandenong campus for all the effort they put in to make this camp as amazing as it was. Zoe and I can't wait to see you back again very soon.

Adam J

The Summit