What To Expect for New Campers

I am so excited you have decided to come to Falcon Camp this summer! There are so many things I could tell you about, from overnights, to weekend competitions, but most of them will seem sort of weird and out of place. Instead, I’m going to tell you what your first 24 hours at camp will be like. This will give you a sense of what camp really is, and, I hope, means that when you come, you’ll know what’s going on, even if you haven’t done it before. So let’s get going!

Arrival

You’ll arrive on a Sunday afternoon. You get to camp by driving for what seems like forever through the woods, and your parents will say, “Are you sure this is right?” at least 3 times, until suddenly the woods will end and you’ll see a bunch of horses, and then some buildings. You’ll drive to the Lodge, where you’ll meet me, Dave, Nici, the nurse, and some other great people. You’ll get to pick out some camp clothes if you want, the nurse will ask you a couple questions, Dave will talk your ear off, and we’ll tell you what cabin you are going to be in. (Before you go to your cabin, I highly recommend grabbing a cookie. They’re delicious!)

To your cabin

From the lodge, we’ll direct you out to your cabin. There will be tons of people waiting to help you with your stuff. Go ahead in, choose a bunk, and your counselors will introduce you to your cabinmates. Unpack a bit, make your bed, and say goodbye to your parents. They’ll write, I promise! From here, you and your cabinmates can take a tour of camp, or you can hang out and play a game, up to you. Your counselors might have some ideas also! Just don’t forget to be back for…

Swim check

Sometime Sunday afternoon, your counselors will tell you to throw on a bathing suit, and your whole cabin will head down to waterfront. A couple cabins at a time, you’ll hope in the water and do a quick swim check. This is not a big deal, it’s just that because we live on a lake, we have to get it done on the first day. You’ll also hear a little bit about the Buddy system right now. This is how we keep everyone safe at waterfront. The most important things to remember are, always stay with your buddy, and don’t forget to get your buddy tag when you get out. And after that, it’s open swim!

Dinner

After open swim, we’ll head to dinner. We announce meals at camp with bells. First bell sounds 30 minutes before the meal, second bell is 15 minutes before. Head to the Formation area (the area in front of the Lodge) when you hear second bell. We call this “Formation” because before every meal, we…formate. Creative, right? When we formate, it’s just a time for announcements. When we’re done, we’ll head in to eat. We sit by table, and eat family style. If you ever take the last serving of something, not a big deal. Just head up to the counter, and ask for more! Don’t forget “please”–they are sticklers for manners in the kitchen! In addition to what’s on the table, there is also a salad bar at camp. We go up to the salad bar by unit. At the beginning of the meal, someone will announce the order. The other big thing to know about meals is that we clean up the table by playing games. We assign two jobs, hopper (the person who clears all the dishes) and squeegee (the person who uses a spatula to “squeegee” all the food waste onto one plate), using different games. Your counselors will be hopper and squeegee on the first night, but they’ll explain some of the games.

Evening Activity

After dinner, your counselors will get mail, and then you’ll head back to your units for Evening Activity. This is something that is planned by your individual unit counselors, so I can’t tell you what you’ll be doing, but it’s usually fun! If you ever have an idea of something you think would be awesome for Evening Activity, let your counselors know! On the first Sunday, we cut Evening Activity a little short to have a campfire. Normally, we go from Evening Activity to Snack at the Lodge, then from snack back to the unit to get ready for bed.

Bedtime

Back in the unit, because it’s the first night, you’ll have a Unit Meeting, where you and your counselors will talk and figure out what will make camp the most fun for everyone. Most of this conversation has to do with respecting everyone and being nice. There’s no crazy specific secret camp rules you need to know about–our secret camp rule is, if you’re nice, we like you. After that, you’ll get ready for bed, and then hang out in your cabins until lights out. Your counselors will be with you. Some cabins like to do official cabin bonding activities, others like to read a book together, others play games. There are a lot of options. Then, lights out!

Monday

Breakfast

First Bell rings at 7:45, so breakfast is at 8:15. After breakfast, you’ll go back to your cabin, make your bed, do a quick cabin cleanup, change clothes if you need to for whatever period is next, brush your teeth, etc. And then…

Orientation

Monday isn’t a “normal” camp day, because we have orientation for the morning. This means you’ll walk around camp with some counselors and the other campers who just arrived, and visit all the activities. The counselors who run those activities will tell you about them, tell you any rules or expectations (like, for example, you always need to wear sneakers to Athletics), and if there’s time, you’ll try them out. If I’m being honest, it’s not the MOST fun, but we try to make it interesting, and just like the first day of school, we have to make sure everyone knows where they’re going and all the rules!

Lunch and Rest Hour

At 11:45, you’ll hear first bell, 12:00 will be second bell, and 12:15 is lunchtime! After lunch, you’ll head back to your unit, because from 1:00-2:00, we have Rest Hour. This is time to hang out, read, write letters, play a game…

Third and Fourth Period

After rest hour, your afternoon schedule is like a normal day’s. You’ll have two, 90 minute activity periods. Each of them will have several options of what activities to do, and you can decide which to go to! For more about this, check out our ACTIVITIES page.

Dinner

After fourth period is dinner, and following that is evening activity, snack, and bed. There! You’re through your first day at camp! And tomorrow will be a completely normal day, with 4 activity periods, rest hour, 3 meals, and evening activity. Now you know what to expect. You’ll show up like a pro, and everyone will think you’ve been to camp before!