Lauriston Girls School Year 7 Camp Blog

On a warm Monday afternoon, the students from Lauriston Girls School arrived at The Summit, eager to begin their adventure. After checking into their accommodations, they met with The Summit coaches and teachers at the Lodge. There, 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 of The Summit:

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 

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. 

Zoe and Calarnee showed them how to put on a harness and helmet; Zoe then introduced them all to a goal-setting strategy called Target, Stretch, and Super Stretch to make things that are overwhelming into three tangible steps. Before starting their two rotations of activities for the day, they were shown their numbered spots where they would meet up between each rotation. The activities included Abseiling, Snowy River Challenge, Flying Fox, Orienteering, Skybridge Cave, Tash’s Ladder, and a Scavenger Hunt. After a day full of activities, they wrapped up the day by sharing The Summit way of giving written affirmations and compliments; they are called GMIC (Great Moments In Camp). 

Groups were informed of times for dinner and breakfast and given a list of free-time activities. On day two, the girls started with breakfast before meeting Spinks at 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 girls 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 Crane, Tigar, and Egg, which Zoe ran. After three rotations of activities, they had lunch. As their last activity ended, the students got to end the day with the blue water slide. After their showers, they had some dinner and were ready for their evening activity and bed. 

On day three, the girls began their morning with breakfast; after a meeting with Spinks, we started by expressing gratitude and reading some GMICs. The focus of today's intention session was on language use, emphasizing the importance of using an inside and outside voice to benefit not only oneself but also 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 went down to the stage where Zoe led a repeat after-me exercise to get energized. Then, they participated in two activity rotations and had a team chance where they created their team chants based on volume, participation, and creativity. After lunch, they had three more activities and started new rotations, ending their day with some free time, dinner, and trivia for an evening activity.

On day four, the group had breakfast and returned to the Lodge for another session on gratitude and intention. They started by reading out heaps of GMICs, followed by discussing the importance of movement and physiology. They talked about how they can create a great day by using their focus, words, and body to move. Afterward, they played a game called Jockeys and had three rotations of activities before lunch. Next, they performed their chants on the stage, and all the groups did a fantastic job. Then, they danced to the Macarena and Cotton Eye Joe before being introduced to the Monster Course. The coaches led them through one or two laps to emphasize resilience and the importance of self-improvement. The winner had the most improved time from their first lap. Finally, they rinsed off in the lake, had dinner, and ended the day with a movie.

Last day and there were a lot of tired faces in the room, we read out a bunch of GMICs, followed by a gratitude session by Spinks, where they were asked what, and whom they were grateful for. We also set a quick intention as they only had two more rotations to go, and they didn’t want to go home wondering ‘what if’, ended the session by watching a video of Beyoncé singing ‘I Was Here’ to cement that it was their last two rotations to check back in and play all in. The students then reported to the stage to do the final game, students got their bodies moving with a game of ‘Pirates’.

After the last two rotations had been completed, the tribes got to reflect on their camp experience with each other and then proceeded to choose a Values winner for their tribe, someone who embodied the 5 Keys consistently throughout camp (names stated in the table below)

On behalf of The Summit and team we would once again like to say thank you for coming to The Summit, playing all in, and having all the fun!

Spinks, Sam, Calarnee, Zoe, Aron, Sara, Odile, Luke, Jakob, Sam P, Sunny, and Matt