Hello Junior Families!
Another week down and another week of making memories. As we cling to these last few weeks, wishing it would never end, the Juniors got ready to debut their show! They worked all week, learning songs such as “Love is an Open Door”, “Let it Go” and “In Summer”. We finished off the evening with an all camp film of “Mary Poppins Returns” as another storm rolled in.
We woke up to beautiful weather, and just in time for Grandparents Visiting Day! As Grandparents arrived for those who could visit, older girls surprised the younger ones by dressing up as their ‘grandparents’ for the day. Everyone attended activities such as gymnastics, small crafts and adventure, and the Junior Grandparents finished up the day by watching our first performance of Frozen! A sense of pride was shared amongst family and friends, as we watched them put all their hard work into practice! We ended the show with an almighty cheer, it was so amazing to see what they have accomplished.
After our farewells to the grandparents, Daniel called us all to the flagpole for our annual Treasure Hunt! In groups of every division, the girls ran all over camp deciphering codes and answering camp trivia questions. Once they had collected a series of numbers, they ran back to the flagpole to attempt to unlock the treasure chest! Inside, we discovered the camp gift of a pillowcase and sleep mask, covered in our beloved Romaca logo, as well as Romaca jibbitz and a beautiful door sign.
To end the night, we got decked in red tutus, hats, glasses, necklaces and face paint, to show our Junior pride at the campfire. We were led by Romrec, singing all their favorite songs at the top of our lungs. Daniel talked about the weeks that had passed, and to treasure our remaining time here at camp. As we reflected on the summer, the Juniors had an opportunity to think about everything new they had tried this year, skills they had brought with them and developed, and all the new friends they had now made for life.
Monday morning brought us an abrupt wake up from the Debs! They ran around, banging pots and pans, pumping the energy up for their summer event: Deb Carnival! At flagpole they announced the theme, which is Debs Story (Toy Story), and set up their event themed with Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Mr & Mrs Potato head and many more! Many of the juniors had their first taste of the event, witnessing traditions, like being married outside the lodge and the Slip n Slide, to newer additions like the haunted house! After all that excitement, we wound down the afternoon by making thank you letters and notes to our support staff at camp, to thank them for all their hard work making us meals, cleaning the camp, keeping us healthy and maintaining the camp’s beauty!
Tuesday brought another fun filled day of activities, as we finished up developing our skills in areas such as Creative Arts, Land Sports and Tennis. As we got ready for our divisional evening activities, an exciting announcement was made of the loudspeaker; “All Campers and Counselors, please head to the basketball courts.” We ran to the courts, to find people in all black, holding the torches. We followed them up to Atkins Field to find a sign that said ‘Olympics 2023’, and as they set it alight, we saw a group standing above us on the softball field! They lit smoke bombs in red, white, green and blue and revealed the flags for our Olympic countries, before we all ran to the gymnastic pavilion to watch the Senior Bs be crowned and be assigned our teams!
Day 1 of Olympics, we started our events with High Ropes, Softball and Fitness. At the ropes course, the juniors were timed on how fast they could complete each wall for their team and in softball we played against the other teams, with a series of points for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. We then moved into the track meet, completing relay races, 100m sprint, sack race and hurdles! We finished up the evening by answering camp trivia and cheering on our teams in the Rec Hall.
Day 2 of Olympics brought us our Gymnastics and Landsports events in the morning and our swim and skiing events in the afternoon. The Captains placed the girls in the event where their skills would shine the brightest, bringing in the points for the team. Each Captain and Lieutenant worked with their team to create a skit that was debuted for evening activity, giving the crowd facts about their countries culture, food and landmarks!
Day 3 of Olympics held the Small Crafts and landsports events! Small Crafts had the Juniors completing a set of relay races, on various small crafts, up and around the buoy! In Landsports, the Juniors competed in a Kickball competition, against the different teams! Our final Olympics evening activity was Sing, a collection of chants and songs created by each country and performed for all the staff.
It’s so sad to think that we’re going into our last week together for this season, and writing these blogs has been an incredible way to reflect on the incredible achievements of the Juniors this summer. I could not have asked for a better summer, and we will continue to treasure every minute together as Departure Day creeps closer.
Love, AJ