Mount Alexander College Year 7 Camp Blog

On the stunning afternoon of 25th March 2024, the Summit welcomed the year seven and leadership students and teachers of Mount Alexander College.

Students were promptly shown to their accommodation, where they would be staying for the next couple of days! After settling, they were welcomed into the Lodge, where coach SPINKs introduced the camp and the coaches: Zoe, Mim, Anthony, Matt, Sam and Jakob! Mim then informed the students about the Summit’s recipe for the best camp ever, and the ingredients were the Five Keys of camp. These keys are:

1. Have Fun

2. Play All In

3. Make Lots of Mistakes

4. Get Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable

5. Don’t Go Home Wondering What If

Before leaving the Stadium, we played a game of Crane, Tiger, Egg. Without further ado, we all head down to the Stage. Zoe and Jakob taught everyone how to put on a helmet and harness, followed by Zoe discussing an epic goal-setting strategy called Target, Stretch, and Super Stretch that would help us to grow our comfort zones and conquer challenging activities.

Campers started their first activity with an initiative challenge that involved working together to solve a puzzle. This tested teamwork and leadership, but teams rose to the challenge! Then, we moved on to our first activity rotation. The activities that campers got to do at the camp were Laser Skirmish, Summit Window, Giant Swing, Rock Wall, Snowy River Challenge, Inflatables, and Scavenger Hunt. This range of activities challenged people’s bravery, team spirit, support, trust, creativity and problem-solving (to name a few!) 

Day one ended with introducing the students to a camp tradition called GMICs, which stands for “Great Moments in Camp” - this is all about writing down and acknowledging some of the incredible moments we’ve seen.

Day two started with an epic talk about setting a morning intention with Spinks, learning how important it is to focus on the things we can control, mainly weather and people. Using the power of words and watching a video, “20 Things to Say More Often” by the Kid President, students were then asked to think about who they wanted to be and how they wanted to show up for themselves, others and, of course, the activities. We then played a quick game of Jockeys before getting into the park and beginning the three activity rotations.

After lunch, students had one more activity to complete; the tribe challenge was a series of 10-minute rounds that included Gaga ball, shoe bowling, volleyball, and two ball knockouts. Tribes went head-to-head to gain points for their team. In the afternoon, we danced to the Nut-Bush, Cotton Eye Joe and Macarena; once our bodies were warmed up and ready, it was time to do the famous Monster Course; this was a feat of teamwork, strength and resilience. As students completed the course, the groups were unaware they were running two laps of the course, so they got themselves together and then got the second lap done! The winner of the run was the team that had the most significant improvement time from their first lap. All teams improved by 2 minutes and 32 seconds or more; stretches and super stretches were achieved; well done! To end the day, the groups got to go through the last obstacle, the Mud Crawl, where the students became mud monsters!

As the last day rolled around, heaps of GMICs were read out. Spinks took the kids through a gratitude session, where the students were asked to think about who they are grateful for and what they are thankful for, not to go home wondering ‘what if’ and to ‘check back in’ for the last two rotations of activities to go. Heading down to the stage for a game of Pirates with Zoe to warm the students up, and as the final rotation came to a close, the students were asked to vote for someone in their tribe who represented/embodied the Five Keys the most throughout camp. (These are listed below along with the results), after being announced, they got to have a ride in The Summit’s very own army tank.

On behalf of the summit and coaches, we would like to once again say a big thank you to you all for coming to camp and joining in the fun and fully embracing the Five Keys, all the best with the rest of the year!

Spinks 😊