How August Camp Works - New Camper Blog Series

Age of Girls

Girls at our August session are older than those at Junior Camp, with girls finishing 1st – 6th grades. However, compared to our June Camp session, the age of the girls overall is younger (we accept more of the younger ages into August than we do at June Camp, making the camp group as a whole younger than at June). With many brand-new campers attending August, and with many girls who have switched to August from Junior Camp, we take the time to explain what is happening very slowly and repetitively to our August campers. We want them to feel confident about what is going on each day. And like our Junior campers, our August campers pick up on things very quickly!

How the Day is Structured

Our August schedule is the exact same schedule as our June and Main camp schedule, and you can see it on our Explore page. Campers will take 5 classes in the morning and then 2 in the afternoon. This flow of the day has proven to work so well for our August campers and ensures that many of our afternoon thunderstorms hit during Rest Hour and hopefully do not disturb classes.

How Girls Schedule

Our August campers will work on their class schedule with their counselors and cabinmates after arriving on Opening Day. Counselors are trained to be very hands-on as girls find a wonderful schedule with a great mix of activities. Many August campers sign-up for classes with their cabin friends if they are interested in the same activities – it’s a great way to make sure you have a friend in your classes!

When the cabin has completed their schedules, they will turn these into our office to be entered into our computers. We make sure each camper takes the classes on her list; however, if a class has a bunch of campers signing up for the same class period, we will move the girls in the cabin to a different class period with a better class size. After all this entering, we’ll return the schedules to the girls, so they are ready for their first day of classes. Also, just to know, if campers ever want to change their schedules, we let them do this! It’s an easy process, and we explain how to do this throughout their first few days of camp.

How Classes are Structured

August campers attend the same 7 classes every day during their session. Due to the shortened timeframe of August, this allows the girls to really dig into their class schedule. It helps prevent confusion and homesickness as well; campers feel more confident more quickly when they attend the same classes every day. Campers will change classes when they hear a bell, and our staff spread-out all-over camp to help girls know where to go (after 2 days of changing classes, girls don’t need help anymore!).

We also take classes on Sunday afternoon during August Camp to help the girls stay in their routine (something we don’t do at our longer sessions); it also gives these girls one more day of their afternoon classes – a win-win! We offer most of the same classes at August Camp that we offer during our other sessions, with some exceptions. Because the girls only take 7 total classes, we do simplify some of our options for the shortened timeframe. Make sure to check which classes will be offered during August Camp so you can get excited about all of our wonderful options!

How Girls Eat in the Dining Hall

At August Camp, campers are assigned to a table in the Dining Hall and will sit at this table for both of their weeks at camp. Halfway through the session, the counselors will rotate tables so the campers can meet fun new counselors during meals. All girls are assigned to a table with a friend from their cabin, so they will know at least one person at the table when they arrive. We eat family-style at camp, and girls quickly jump into the fun and excitement of the Greystone dining experience!

After Dinner Activities

During August Camp, girls experience even more of our favorite Evening Programs due to a few extra days at camp compared with our Junior session. Campers enjoy a mix of activities where they are active participants (such as Lip Syncs, Carnival, and Group Nights) and activities where they cheer on their fellow campers and counselors (such as Talent Shows and Banquet). We will talk more in another blog about packing for our evening traditions (coming in April!), but just know that girls do love having a mix of fun costumes available for our evening events. You don’t need to bring many, but throw in an old Halloween costume, dance recital outfit, or some other fun dress-up attire when packing your bags.

How Girls are Placed in Cabins

Campers will be placed into cabins by grade so they can enjoy time at camp with girls that are their same age. Just like our other sessions, we do our very best to place campers with girls who have also requested them. We want everyone to be thrilled with their cabin placement! Make sure to fill out our Cabin Request form (available now!) so we know what you want; also, be ready to meet new people. August is a great mix of brand-new campers and returning campers, making for a rich cabin experience for everyone.

What it Feels like at August Camp

Our staff often describe August Camp as the “dessert” of the summer, as we feel like we’ve saved the best for last! Our August campers have so much genuine excitement and delight over everything we do at camp. And these girls have been waiting all summer for camp to finally arrive; you can feel that excitement! Our August campers run everywhere as they just can’t wait for the event or program to begin. They cheer louder than any other campers at any of our other sessions all summer long (it’s unbelievable!). Because we structure August Camp like our longer sessions (just with a simpler class structure), girls experience the very best of our 100+ year camp schedule, making August Camp feel just like a shortened version of our June and Main sessions.

Anything Else to Know

As we near the summer, we will email you often! These emails will have updates, reminders, and quite a few “don’t forgets!” as you prepare for camp. At the end of the summer, we have warm days and cool nights, so just because it is August, don’t forget to pack a sweatshirt and warm blanket for sleeping. Rest Hours can sometimes feel long for August campers, so pack a few things to do (we also pass out Rest Hour printables – like seek-and-finds and crosswords – after lunch each day of August Camp!).

What other questions do you have about August Camp? We can’t wait to welcome so many of you to August this year – it is a wonderful camp session.

Alright, we’ll be back next week for another new camper blog – see you then!