Summerscape Days 3 and 4!

On day 3 of Spy Camp we perfected our swimming, athletic, and creative skills by hanging out at the pool, playing some soccer and basket ball, and crafting. Aqua-Spys showed off their cannon balls, as well as belly flops in the pool. Sport-Spys scored many a goal and basket in the gym. Art-Spys created accordion folded books and wrote secret messages in invisible ink. At the end of the day all spys were rewarded for the hard work with some Andy's Frozen Custard by the fountains!

Day 4 saw the first Competitive event for the Activity Groups. The Big Little Games included Giant Foosball, Tiny Twister, and Mini Race as well as many other size scrambled games! In the end the Treacherous Platypi came out on top with the Powerful Powers and International House of Pancakes hot on their spy coat tails in 2nd and 3rd.

Summerscape 2017 Days 1 and 2

July 9th and 10th Summerscape campers got to experience several activities where they got to know fellow house group members as well as their RA's! The first night was an Amazing Race around campus with challenges at every stop. The stop by the Findlay Student Center required the campers to solve a popsicle stick puzzle.

On Sunderland Field, we played a giant game of memory with the RA staffs faces as the cards!

At the Library campers played a round of "Contact" a brain game that required out smarting their RA!

Outside Wilhoit theater, the campers completed a word ladder!

The second night of camp we focused on team building with our Activity Groups. The Activity groups will be competing against each other in our annual Pentathlon.  The theme of the team building night was Clue! Each team started with three clues to lead them to the Culprit, Location, and Method of a crime. To solve the crime mystery, teams needed to work together to complete challenges and discover more clues. After discovering as many clues as possible in the given time the teams reconvened in Smith Hall to interrogate each other with the hopes of finding the solution!

DLA 2017

DLA 2017 is well underway! Campers are already forming new relationships as well as reuniting with old friends. Sunday after all of you left your children in our care, all the campers settled into Wallace Hall before doing ice breakers and getting-to-know-you activities with their house groups. Late Sunday afternoon was also used for creating house call-outs and banners. Call-outs are used when the house is all together before heading to a meal or activity together. For those of you who are unfamiliar, the house groups, or houses, are the teams that compete in events where the ULTIMATE GOAL is to win the coveted HOUSE CUP. Since this year’s theme is spy camp, the houses are all named inspired by various spy themes: CONTROL (Get Smart), OWCA (Phineas and Ferb), SHIELD (Marvel), Silly Walks (Monty Python), MAD (Spy vs Spy), and Shush (Propaganda posters).

Then, Mayhem began, unleashed upon us all like a black hole upon our galaxy. Mayhem is a collection of scavenger hunt/team building activities that changes format each year and is a complete surprise to the campers.

On Monochromatic Monday, the campers went to their FIRST DAY of classes and took the StrengthsQuest Inventory, an assessment primarily used in the identification of leadership traits. (for more information, visit https://www.strengthstest.com/strengths-finder-themes).

Then, there was temporary Tat-Tuesday! Along with that fun, it was also TRIVIA NIGHT! The campers were all surprised with Mayhem part 2 as a part of the event of that night. While all the houses performed quite well, the House of Silly Walks took home the most points, winning trivia night.

Yesterday, the kids chose one of three activities: going to the pool, watching the 1992 spy/heist drama Sneakers, or staying back at the dorms and playing board games. Will Mayhem strike again?!?!1 Stay tuned!

DLA Photos

Budding leaders for our community, right? They look so respectful and ready to work in quiet groups...

Of course! At least they know how to have fun! We have a great group of kids learning a lot and making great connections.

Summerscape 2017 Photos

Look at this group of respectable young learners. They're enjoying their camp experience and being polite ladies and gentlemen.

Now we've got a real picture of these enthusiastic creative youngsters! They're having a fabulous time making new friends and learning more than they had imagined!

Meet the Staff (Day 7)

Amanda loves concerts, traveling, and photography.  She has a secret talent of embroidering and will never pass up a chance at karaoke.  She currently lives in Chicago, but calls Missouri home.  She has been a camper in the past and this is her first year as a Summerscape RA.

Allie is back for her fourth summer at Scape.  She works at St. Agnes Elementary School in Springfield.  She loves animals and thinks that Beth's dog Scout is the best dog ever to walk the planet (or at least in the top ten).  She can't wait to be a part of Summerscape this summer.

Meet the Staff (Day 6)

Meet two more of our Summerscape RAs.

Michael Castleman is back for his fifth year as a Summerscape RA.  He loves spending as much time as possible outside or in the water.  As a hobby, Michael also loves finding and try new types of teas (both loose leaf and tea bags).  He has just finished his first year of law school at MU.

Michael Moore loves playing the trumpet!  He just graduated with his degree in Music Education the University of Arkansas, and is starting grad school in August at Western Michigan University to get his Masther's degree in Trumpet Performance.  This is his fourth summer here at Summerscape, and he is so ready to get started!