Cornish College Year 10 Camp Blog
On a warm Monday afternoon, the students from Cornish College arrived at The Summit gates, eager to begin their adventure. After checking into their accommodations, they met with the coaches and teachers at the Lodge. Team Leader Spinks introduced them to the space and the camp, then introduced the rest of The Summit coaches. Calarnee introduced the group to the Five Keys to a great camp:
Have Fun
Play All In
Make Lots of Mistakes
Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable
Don't Go Home Wondering, ‘What if.
Since there were Five Keys and five days, they focused on one key per day, building on the previous day's key and practicing it in the park.
Before starting their two activity rotations, they were shown the stage and played a game called 50 Up. Mim and Spinks showed them how to put on a harness and helmet; Sam then introduced them to a goal-setting strategy called Target, Stretch, and Super Stretch to help break activities down into more manageable steps, and then they moved to their numbered spots. Their first lot of activities were Snowy Rover Challenge, Flying Fox, Snake and Nails, High Wire and Laser Skirmish. To wrap up the day, Spinks explained The Summit's way of giving written affirmations and compliments; they are called GMIC (Great Moments In Camp); the students were informed of times for dinner and breakfasts and provided a list of free-time activities.
On day two, the students started with breakfast in the Lodge. Spinks led an intention session where they discussed things out of their control, such as the weather, people, and activities at camp. The students then set their intentions and decided who they wanted to be for the day. They played a game to get their bodies moving before starting the activities; the game played was Jockeys. After 3 rotations of the same activities, we had some lunch and began our new ones: Giant Swing, Summit Window, Tribe Identity, Bush Challenge and Cave.
On day three, the students began their morning with breakfast; after a meeting with Adam, we started by expressing gratitude and reading some GMICs. The focus of the intention session was on language. Mim emphasizes the importance of using an inside and outside voice to benefit oneself and the team. The goal was to set their attention on who they wanted to be for the day and how they wanted to show up for their team. After the intention session, they left The Summit campus and took off on their service initiative to help give back to the local community. We returned for lunch and finished the last three activity rotations for the day.
On day four, the group had breakfast and returned to the Lodge for another session on intention with Adam. They started by reading out heaps of GMICs, then discussing the importance of taking action and leaving their mark on their camp experience. They talked about how they can create a great day by using their focus, words, and body to move. Afterwards, they played a game called Pirates and had three activities before lunch. The new activities were Inflatables, Leap of Faith, Orienteering, Rock Wall, and Sky Bridge. After lunch, they all performed their very own team chants where they were judged on their volume, participation and creativity, the tribe ‘The Smufs’ won this, well done. Next, they moved their bodies to Macarena, Cotton Eye Joe and the Nut Bush before being briefed on the Monster Course. The coach led them through not just one, but two laps of the 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, then had some dinner, and ended the day with a movie.
Last day there were a lot of tired faces in the room, Sam ran the group through a recap of the previous intention sessions and talked to them about gratitude, starting the session with watching a video called Give and Get a Complement. To cement that it was their last day at The Summit, ask the students to check back in where they were asked what, and whom they were grateful for. We also set a quick intention as they only had one more rotation to go and a final tribe game, they didn’t want to go home wondering ‘what if’, The students then reported to the stage to do the final game, students got their body moving with a game of Huckle Buckle on the volleyball court.
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 leave behind). After having some lunch, they assembled back at the stage for the last time for a camp wrap-up, we then took a big group photo and said our goodbyes.
All students then made their way to the buses and exited the camp being waved off by The Summit coaches.
On behalf of The Summit and the coaches, we would once again like to thank you all for playing all in and joining us in having all the fun, all the best for the rest of the year!
Spinks, Adam, Mim, Calarnee, Sam, Taylor, and Franziska
Comments