Jenny Crakes' #summerofrcah at Camp Hoffman in Rhode Island
Because summer's not (quite) over yet, we still have a handful of posts to share in these remaining days before the start of a new semester's classes. RCAHer (and last year's Balocating Prize winner!) Jenny Crakes recently shared her experiences with us, and we're excited to pass along her reflections and photos from Camp Hoffman, a Rhode Island-based Girl Scouts camp that Jenny's worked at for four years now.
This was my fourth summer working at Camp Hoffman, a Girl Scouts resident camp in West Kingston, Rhode Island. Every time I go back, it's great to catch up with friends from previous summers as well as meet new staff from the U.S. and Great Britain. There's a ton of positive energy and enthusiasm bouncing back and forth between the kids and the counselors, so the time goes very quickly. It was my first year as a Program Specialist, which meant my co-worker Ace and I planned large-group activities that the whole camp (60-100 girls) could do together. Some of our favorites were a combination of nighttime hide-and-go-seek, tag and treasure hunt called "Capture the Nightwalker," a circus-themed relay race, Christmas and Hanukkah in July, and a Miss Hoffman Pageant where the kids made up character back stories and talents for their competing counselors. As well as programming, I was a counselor for 9- to 13-year-olds. We had a new group of campers and a new program theme each week. One of the best things about camp is that it gives girls a chance to explore and build independence in the outdoors, which a lot of kids from cities may not have opportunities to do. On our time off we often went to the ocean, which was just a few miles away. The photo above is of Ace and me (we all used 'camp names' and mine is Birdie.)