July 15th, 2011
The TAC’s just got back from a two-day adventure! They left early Thursday morning for an unknown destination with their sleeping bags and some warm clothes.
A few hours later, we arrived in Ohiopyle Pennsylvannia. It turned out that we were headed onto the Youghiogheny river to go white water rafting!
It was a great trip. The campers got to experience class 2 and 3 rapids and see some beautiful scenery. After the river, we had a pizza dinner and then headed to the Laurel Caverns campsite for the night. The campers played some games and then had a campfire. Jordan and Alex played some songs on guitar before bed time:
In the morning, we all walked over to Laurel Caverns to explore the largest cave in Pennsylvania.
Everyone had lots of fun exploring the caves and getting wet in the underground streams. (Although it was a little chilly!) Hopefully the teens will be well rested for the next adventures in store for them tomorrow!
Zoe
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July 11th, 2011
Today was filled with excitement for the Teen Adventure Campers. They went Cedar Ridge Adventures for the day! After arriving, they worked on some team building activities with Dan, Dustin and some other Cedar Ridge staff. They also played games with moon and fleece balls. They also set some goals that they wanted to fulfill that day. It was lots of fun.
Then the campers broke into three smaller groups to take part in the next series of activities. They had to undergo challenges like walking through a “mine field” blindfolded with only a partner to guide them through. Natalia had to pay close attention to directions so she wouldn’t step on any explosives and lose a limb!
The campers worked together to overcome a number of obstacles:
Then, after a delicious pack lunch of turkey sandwiches, the campers were faced with the greastest challenge of the day: a high ropes course!!! Dustin taught them how to put on their harnesses:
…and then they started climbing…
It was a great day. The kids fullfilled all of the goals they had set that morning. They pushed themselves, learned more about each other, offered other campers help and support, had fun, and they all got back in the bus in one piece!
When they arrived back on campus, they were excited to find a carnival awaiting them. There were hot dogs and hamburgers for dinner and cotton candy, funnel cake, and ice cream for desert. There were also carnival games, face painting, and a moon bounce obstacle course. Afterwards, the campers did cabin decorating before heading off to bed to rest up for the big day tomorrow!
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July 9th, 2011
Thursday night all the Teen campers had their affirmation circle and final camp fire. There were a lot of meaningful speeches and kind words.
In the affirmation circle a ball of yarn is passed around from person to person. Everytime a person gets the ball of yarn they choose the next person and tell them what they think of them.
Here the campers are performing their Tornado song.
Check out a clip of Thursday night.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2F5BIVj3bJs
Yesterday was a tearful day full of goodbyes and hugs for most.
Everyone, including camper’s parents filled the seats in the Burgin Center. The Tornadoes and Hurricanes did their camp songs and cheers and then the winner of the two was announced. Tornadoes won this years camp challenges! Once the ceremony was over, on the way out there were plenty of hugs going around.
Daniela
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July 7th, 2011
This past Tuesday night our Teen Adventure Camp had the absolute pleasure of welcoming the Tag Party team to our campus. We broke up into two groups and played a combined hour and a half of laser tag. After the group was done playing laser tag we all cooled off with an awesome game of water tag. The perfect end to a hot, but ridiculously fun night. The link to the pictures can be found HERE.
Posted by tim in Adventure Camp | No Comments »
July 4th, 2011
Today, some of the MAC campers went horseback riding for their Great Outdoors trip. When we arrived at the farm, the kids learned about the different kinds of horses and how to distinguish them by their color and markings.
They were also taught how to brush and groom the horses:
Eventually, they learned how to mount the horses and ride them around the barn. They were taught how to get the horses to go, turn left and right, and stop.
Some of the campers already knew a lot about horses and took lessons, and others had never seen a horse before. But regardless of skill level, everyone had a lot of fun. When we arrived back at camp, we got to eat a thanksgiving dinner of turkey, stuffing, and green beans followed by Mercersburgs’ famous PRETZEL PIE! Afterwards the campers had a campfire before going off to bed. What a great Sunday!
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June 30th, 2011
Hey everybody! Derek here!
We haven’t been officially introduced, but I’m with Camp Cam, which is probably the best job of my life. There’s a picture of me below, with my boss, Nina.
She’s cute, but don’t let the whiskers fool you. She’s a demanding taskmaster.
Anyway! We’re having a great week. Here are some of the highlights… in photos, since pictures are worth so many words. =]
We’ve been rock climbing…
We’ve also been white water rafting…
Eating delicious food in the cafeteria…
Being Tornadoes and Hurricanes wherever the days take us…
And generally rocking out at the campfire.
…There. That should be about 15,000 words worth of pictures. Any more and you guys would get bored. =P
We’re having an amazing time here at Camp. Me and the staff just as much as the kids. Be sure to check out our Facebook and Flickr for more pictures and updates!
You’ll definitely be hearing from me in the coming days, so lets be friends, okay? =]
And now… (suspenseful pause!) more from Zoe.
The Teen Adventure Campers spent the day white water rafting. Tonight, they’re still off campus, camping overnight at Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park. Tomorrow, they’ve got even more big adventures ahead of them! Daniela will bring photos and updates when they return in the afternoon.
The MAC campers also spent the day off campus. They split into different groups and experienced a variety of great outdoors adventures including wilderness skills, geocaching, rock climbing, kayaking and more! After the long day, they sat around the campfire and sang songs, jumped around, made strange noises and had a lot of fun.
-Zoe
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June 29th, 2011
It’s only day three of Mercersburg Adventure Camp and the kids are already going on big adventures. The Junior and Senior campers left early in the morning for white water rafting. (The Juniors went to Harpers Ferry in West Virginia and the Seniors went to Ohio Pile right in PA) Both groups had loads of fun in class 1, 2 and 3 rapids.
Since it was such a beautiful day, the river was busy with many groups of rafters. There were lots of splash battles (all in good fun of course!). Along the slower parts of the Junior MAC trip, the guides explained some of the Civil War history of the local area. They taught us about John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry and the campers learned some of the history of the Shenandoah river. They also got to see some wildlife. Blue herons kept flying past the rafts and several turtles were getting some sun on half-sunken logs.
When it got too hot, the campers had the chance to jump off the rafts and float along in the cool water.
The campers also stopped for lunch. The Junior’s had a delicious meal of fried chicken, potato salad, and watermelon. Mhh.
Both trips ended with big rapids that got everyone’s blood flowing!
Afterwards, the campers were pretty tired but they had to keep going because they were in for a real treat. Dinner was a BBQ on the Ford Patio and was followed by soccer and other games. What a busy day!
-Zoe
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June 27th, 2011
After a rough early rise and breakfast the Teen Adventure Camp hurried over to Cedar Ridge, an awesome high ropes course! We spent the morning playing name games and doing team building activities. The team building activities brought the campers closer together from the awkward start.
After lunch, everyone was ready to start climbing. The campers got to participate in zip lining, jumping off the pamper pole and other climbing activities.
When we got back to campus in the late afternoon, we had a little down time but soon after the campers were surprised with a carnival!There was food. face painting, a dunk tank, an inflatable maze, and other various carnival games.
After the carnival, the campers got to play capture the flag and then they were all off to their cabins to clean up and decorate the halls.
Check out a quick video of the girls doing the Cha-Cha slide!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1-T8pXtA5Y
Daniela
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June 27th, 2011
MAC campers have trickled in for registration throughout the day (with the last campers arriving from SPAIN at nearly midnight!!) and now everyone is here and super excited to get down to the business of fun!
AARGH! Here thar’ be pirates! The counselors put on a introductory show for the campers and their families. Pirate gear and accents abound in these parts, mateys!
After introduction, we played some games and got to know each other! Jake, front and center in his favorite straw hat, took the MACsters on a zig-zagging tour between activities.
One of those activities was a relay race! Campers ran, jumped and dove through the course, cheered on by their friends, both old and new.
The hurdles were no problem for this group of campers!
Later, the campers met up for dinner at Ford and sang camp songs around the campfire…
…before heading to the cabins and getting cleaned up for some well-earned rest.
We had a great first day of camp. Tomorrow can’t come soon enough!
Posted by lphoto in Adventure Camp, Camp Cam, Mercersburg Summer, Totally Awesome! | No Comments »
June 21st, 2011
The Counselors have arrived! Everyone is super excited for camp to start. We spent Monday training and getting to know each other and the campus.
We played games and learned about each other.
Yeah, probably the best job-training ever!
Aargh! Is that a pirate? Nope, it’s Tim, getting into the spirit of camp!
We finished up singing camp songs around the fire. This is going to be a GREAT summer! =]
Posted by lphoto in Adventure Camp, Camp Cam, Mercersburg Summer | No Comments »
