Campers check in on the first Sunday of a session. They will go to four program areas on Monday/Wednesday/Friday and four different program areas on Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday. There is a special day at Camp on the middle Sunday. Campers then check out on the second Saturday. You will have time off during changeover.
Our daily schedule for two-week overnight camp contains four program activity periods a day. Every camper has swim lessons and seven other activities during the session, which are run on a Monday-Wednesday-Friday, and Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday schedule.
You may have noticed in the schedule that at 5:15pm every day we have Vespers. Vespers is a very special time of day at Coniston. This is where we all gather at a Campfire ring and one member of staff tells a story/speaks about something that is important to them. It is the one time of day at Camp that everyone is calm and quiet, it’s a really peaceful time in a very busy day. All staff are welcome to go to Vespers. Check out the video to see a Vespers by past staff-member Maya.
Every evening after dinner and flag lowering, the program directors organize an evening program for all campers. Past evening programs have included:
Capture the flag, The Talent Show, The Drama Show, The Dance Show, Zombie Apocalypse, Division nights, Run arounds – stations are set up around camp, Coniston Festival, Science Fair, Campfires, Cabin nights, Circus night and Color War.
Campers arrive on the first Sunday of each session. On that day, if you are in cabin you will probably be greeting your campers and their parents at your cabin, unless you are assigned to another job. If you are out of cabin you will be assigned to a job, it may be greeting campers and their parents as they first arrive, giving directions or helping the nurses etc. If you are in cabin you will spend the rest of the day taking your campers around camp giving them a tour, and helping them get to know each other etc. If you are out of cabin you may be assigned certain jobs for that day or you may be with your adopted cabin.
The second Sunday of a session is different to the regularly scheduled days. Campers and staff get some extra time to sleep in this day. We then go to chapel. It’s a beautiful location on Camp, and campers and staff can sing or tell stories etc. Campers and staff tend to dress up for chapel, so feel free to do this! We then have a big brunch in the dining hall. The afternoon is then a mix of a big Sunday program and free time. There is then a cookout (bbq). In the evening there is the ICS (the Ice Cream Social).
Once a session, each cabin goes on an overnight. So if you are an in-cabin counselor, or someone who adopts a cabin and wants to go, you will be leading an overnight. On an overnight, you will take your campers and hike or canoe them out to an overnight spot, somewhere around the lake. You will take a bag of food, prepped by the overnight staff, and make a fire and cook the food for you and your campers.
Overnights are really fun and you can play games, or use them as a time to help the cabin bond. You will then all sleep out at one of the overnight spots (they all have some shelter) and hike back in the morning.
