Success Camp~ Summer 2017

Week One

Monday, July 24

The first day of camp was a rainy one, so most activities were moved inside. Bagels, orange juice, and coffee were provided as everyone gathered in the library to introduce themselves and put on name tags. This year is the largest group of campers yet, with 58 incoming Freshmen signed up to attend. The day was started off with a scavenger hunt around campus, meeting teachers and faculty that the students will be working with at BBA, and learning what each building on campus is. After a summer reading introduction and lunch, campers set out to do some trust activities- including trust falls, blind folded trust walks, and group juggling. 

Tuesday, July 25

Campers spent the morning with an iPad orientation and summer reading. They were able to access their summer reading assignments on OnCampus, the portal that they will become familiarized with during their four years at BBA. The afternoon consisted of the low ropes course, with team building exercises and group challenges such as the Whale Watch and Spider net. 

Wednesday, July 26

Freshman Mentors spent the day with campers to give them a full campus tour, and participate in the group activities that were planned for the day. The campus tour consisted of 7 different groups, with each going through campers schedules, and showing them where their classes will be in the fall, and explaining other important things along the way. After summer reading and lunch, campers headed up to the Ropes Course for some more team building activities and a try at a harder element, the wall. 

Thursday, July 27

The final day of week one was an exciting one for many campers. The morning was spent with the climbing wall and trust falls activities, and eventually moved on to the beginning of some of the high ropes challenges. Those who wanted to climb first had the opportunity to try some of the high elements, including a new one. Campers were introduced to the Pamper Pole, the Giant's ladder, and the newest climbing element that has yet to be named. It was a day of fun and adventure for many. 

Monday, July 31

Week two started off bright and early with a college visit trip. Campers visited Castleton University, and Green Mountain College in Poultney. Since there is such a large group this year, campers split into two smaller groups for the tours. Everyone met at Castleton for a nice lunch in the dining hall, and tours continued afterward. Campers were able to get a look at two different styles of college campuses, and even got to spend some time with the farm animals on the campus at Green Mountain. 

Tuesday Aug 1- Thursday Aug 3

Tuesday-Thursday was intensive week at camp. The campers were split into four groups- Mountain Campus, Fitness, Art, and STEM (science, technology, engineering, math). The Mountain campus intensive focused on being outdoors- learning about watershed, condensation, rivers, nature, going for hikes, and keeping journals. The fitness intensive learned the proper way to squat for lifting, the importance of cutting out sugars, participated in crossfit activities, and hiked. The arts intensive explored the art room and became familiar with resources, tye-dyed shirts, and painted the dugouts at the Manchester rec park. The STEM group learned about strategizing and making plans to build catapults, then launching those plans into a series of trials, improving each catapult with each trial. 

Monday, Aug 7

Campers spent the day on the ropes course, challenging themselves on the high elements. The actual course is new, it was changed up recently. There is a new element as well that campers were able to tackle. They were also able to finish up their summer reading writing assignments. 

Tuesday, August 8

Campers split up into boys vs. girls for a day of ropes course and berry picking at Wildwood farm in East Dorset. They had a competition to see who could pick the most berries, and then used the other portion of their day at the high elements on the ropes course. 

Wednesday, August 8

Campers spent the morning creating statements about their artifacts that they collected during camp, something significant that was important to them or reminded them of something special about camp. Mid morning was spent on the high ropes course, with a walk over to Equinox Pond to eat lunch and a short hike to Robin's Lookout.

Thursday, August 10

This was the last day of Success Camp. Campers spent the day transforming the cafeteria and Birchbrook (the Headmaster's house) into a celebration and presentation area for the final celebration. Parents, friends, and family gathered to see what campers did during the three weeks. Each intensive group presented their thrills during camp, their artifacts, and the projects they worked on in their intensives. To close the day, everyone walked over to Birchbrook to mingle and eat pizza.

Photos by Brooke Champine