FLC for Girls: Girls Camp Typical Day

7:30 Reveille
7:50 Assembly/Hoppers Call
8:00 Breakfast
8:30 Cabin cleanup
9:00 1st period Activities
10:15 Morning Snack
10:30 2nd Period Activities
11:45 Free Time
12:10 Assembly/Hoppers Call
12:15 Lunch
1:00 Rest Hour
2:15 3rd Period Activities
3:15 4th Period Activities
4:15 Afternoon Snack
4:30 5th Period Activities
5:30 Free Time
5:55 Assembly/Hoppers Call
6:00 Dinner
7:15 Evening Activities
8:15 Evening Snack
8:45 Call to Quarters
9:00 Taps
9:15 Junior Camp lights out
9:45 Senior Camp lights out

Morning

A typical day in the Girls Camp begins with Reveille call, a “Gooood morning girls camp”, and occasionally a cheerful song played over the loudspeaker.

Assembly for breakfast is at 7:50 am. This is where each cabin comes out of their cabins and assembles together in front of the Girls Office. We all walk over the mess hall together.

Breakfast is at 8:00 am. We have a breakfast bar available every day with cereals, yogurt, fruit, oatmeal, and some type of bread (bagels, pastry, muffins, etc). There is also always a hot meal served; some examples are: French toast with sausage, breakfast sandwiches, or scrambled eggs. As the meal is being cleared and the girls are preparing for morning announcements, our morning songs are sung. “I’m awake, alive, alert, enthusiastic!” There’s nothing like starting the day with some cheers.

After morning announcements, the girls head back to their cabins for cabin clean up. Each girl has a responsibility to keep her bed, drawer, and locker clean and neat. In addition to her individual responsibilities, each girl will also have a cabin chore to complete. This is usually decided by a job wheel that each girl spins as a fair way to divide up the chores. Some of the chores include sweeping the cabin, cleaning the showers, and taking out the trash.

At the end of cabin clean up, the girls re-assemble and the first period bugle is called. First period is generally a sport activity. The girls get to choose their activities on a three-day basis. An example of choice activities for first period may be: basketball, soccer, and tennis; OR lacrosse, volleyball, and field hockey. Of course, there are many other activities that fall into this first period category. What is described here is simply an example of what could be.

The morning periods last 1 hour and 15 minutes a piece. First period ends at 10:15 and there is snack time for roughly 15 minutes. The girls come to the Girls Office to get a snack of fresh fruit (bananas, apples, peaches, etc), and a drink. At the end of snack time, the girls move on to second period at 10:30 with the sound of the bugle.

Second period ends at 11:45, and free time before lunch follows. During this time, the girls often get together on a porch and chat, catch up on reading a book, maybe write a letter, or play some tetherball. If girls have a particular interest in continuing or picking up an activity for 30 minutes, a Girls Counselor will set up and oversee the activity.

Midday

At 12:15 the girls assemble for lunch. Again, we walk over to the mess hall as a group. The girls eat all their meals with in their cabin groups. While our girls don’t spend all their time with their cabin mates (during activities and such), we do encourage, and the girls thoroughly enjoy their time with their cabins. Mealtime is a great example of this. We serve our meals family style so everyone learns to be polite, take appropriate portions, and be considerate to others. Every day, a girl from each cabin is chosen to be the “hopper”. The hopper’s job is to prepare the table for the rest of the cabin; set the table, retrieve all the food from the kitchen and lead the cleanup.

Mealtime in the girls’ Mess Hall ends, or course with singing! Rest hour follows from 1:00 to 2:00. During this time, the girls are required to be in their cabins for some down time. Sometimes this means sleeping, reading, writing a letter home, or maybe playing a simple board game with some cabin mates.

The afternoon activity periods begin at 2:15 and are an hour long. There are three afternoon periods, with a break for snack time at 4:15. Each of the afternoon activities is centered around a certain theme, similar to first period. One period is set aside for the girls to have general swim. This is offered every single day and is mandatory for every girl to be down at our waterfront for that given period of time. Another period is set aside for hobby activities. Again, the girls choose these activities on a 3 day basis and some examples are: drawing, music, drama, and science, OR dance, crafts, riflery, and archery.

The last period is an activity that all the girls do together and is typically done in cabin groups. These activities are usually a change of pace from the rest of daily program and are wide-ranging.

Our last activity period of the day ends at 5:30, and then there is free time till 6:00 at which point the girls assemble for dinner.

Evening

During dinner (as with lunch), there is always a salad bar offered with all the fixings to make a green or pasta salad in addition to a hot dinner. Of course, if a girl has specific/special dietary needs we work with our food service to provide quality and appropriate meals for each camper.

After dinner, the girls head back to their cabins for brief free time before the evening activity begins. Evening activity varies every single evening and often depends on age. Senior campers will have their social events with the boys one night a week. This can either be in the form of a dance, luau at the lake, or even a game of dodge ball. Senior campers also have an opportunity twice during a 4-week session to go on an outing, off camp. Both junior and senior campers often participate in other special activities. A few examples are a camp-wide Square Dance, Outdoor Movie night, Lip Sync or the highest rated “activity”, Campfire. The last week of camp some special evening activities take place to showcase what the girls have learned over their time at camp, such as Music Show, Dance Show, and the Camp Play.

Once Evening Activity is finished, the girls head back to the mess hall for evening snack. This usually consists of pretzels, popcorn, maybe a shortbread cookie, and always a drink. When snack time has finished, the girls head back to camp to have a little more free time before they are required to be back in their cabins.

Call to quarters is at 8:45 with Taps called at 9:00, a proper way to end the day. The junior camp has lights out at 9:15, and the senior camp at 9:45. Everyone rests to get up and do it all over again the next day!