Update for 2011 DLA campers

Your copy of the 2011 DLA slide show should arrive by the end of August. Sorry for the delay.

It's Over (and we are very sad)!

It is hard to believe that it has been an entire week since we said good-bye to all of the 2011 campers who took part in Summerscape and DLA. We hope that you have had a chance to unpack, sleep and do some laundry. If while you were unpacking you realized you may have forgotten something at the dorm, email us at drurysummerscape@gmail.com or druryleadershipacademy@gmail.com and we can let you know if your item(s) have turned up.

Attention all DLAers -- the slide show DVD should arrive at your house by August 15th. If it doesn't, email us (address listed above) and we will make sure you get one.

We are already planning for 2012 and can't wait to see you all next July! Enjoy the rest of your summer. Almost forgot -- we have started a page on Facebook --Drury University PreCollege Programs. Like our page and get updates about deadlines, classes, scholarships and all things camp. Have a great (and hopefully cooler) August!

DLA Day 7 by Mary

Today (Sunday) passed in a blur.

There is such an air about the camp that everyone is suddenly and very painfully aware of the shortness of our time together and that, despite what we would have, summer (and camp) are drawing to a temporary end. There is never enough time. Time, time, time. It passes too quickly at DLA. Could I want for more? Yes. There should be more. More time for DLA.

To the point. Today passed by in a blur. Waking up to music that I can't understand, but still love, and cold, blatantly processed breakfast that I do understand and will never love. We had the end of Midnight Mayhem (Can I get a "Finally!" in the house?) and of Dark Jungle's (Hoo ha ha! Take that, Desert Sand!) too-short time in the winning Quidditch brackets. Amusing myself at those Quidditch games and applauding my decision to not play and instead be a creepy little spectator. Writing heartfelt notes to the citizens of Joplin. Food. House group meetings. Free time. More food. And terrible heat throughout the whole of it.

The day ended on a somewhat melancholy note: Poetry Slam. DLAers submitted for judgment their original works of poetry. Some mournful, others reminiscent, but all of them fantastic. Immediately following that was Poetry Night, in which there were still more original works and recitations of others' work, non of which were judged. Tears were shed. Pasts revealed. Masks shattered. It was a truly bonding experience and a fantastic last note for the day.

It's pure MADNESS!

Back when I used to be a Scaper, we participated in a yearly event called "Midnight Madness" - don't worry, it wasn't actually at midnight, but it was a series of physical and mental "maddening" challenges in which the activity groups had to work together to solve an overarching problem. Sounds complicated? It kind of was, which explains why after my first year of Summerscape and after a rather large batch of RAs couldn't return the next year, I never got to do Midnight Madness again...

...until last night! For the past week and a half, the RAs were hard at work planning this year's madness theme, characters and problem. "Isabella Giovanni," the arch-nemesis RC at our imaginary rival camp, SummerView, had stolen all of the color from Summerscape! It was up to this year's campers to help bring color back to camp (hence the theme of the dance, "Color Catastrophe") with the help of some colorful characters, played by the RAs.

At 7:00 PM, we piled all the kids into Lay Auditorium, most of them completely clueless as to what was going on. Then we showed them an opening movie featuring all the RAs as the colorful characters and introducing the challenges to the campers.

A popular room was Seth's safe/laser room - the kids had to crack a code to break into our "safe" and then crawl through the lasers to retrieve his family diamonds:

Here's a clip from the challenge of "Madame A" (played by our RA Amanda) - the kids had to decode Mad Gab-type phrases:

Other challenges included making pendulums, throwing frisbees into hoops and boxes, crawling through a giant "spider web," lining up glasses of water to play a song, and recreating tangrams. In the end, it was Travis's team that pulled together and won Midnight Madness 2011.

Summerscape Updates Pt. II

Question: What do 87 gifted middle schoolers do to have fun on a Friday night?

Answer: Participate in Summerscape Trivia Night!

It's RA Elizabeth here again. Our kids had a blast answering questions about inventors, famous statues, physics, current events, and RA facts at our annual trivia night - congrats to Seth's activity group who swept the competition (fun fact: Did you know that Seth met his best friend when he went to Summerscape in 7th grade?).

I also know I promised in my last post to update the blog with some videos from the Messy Olympics - this one's from "Hose in the Pants," an event where the groups had to weave a hose (turned on all the way!) in and out of their clothes:

The kids also had a great time at our service project on Thursday, when we helped Kids Against Hunger pack over 15,000 meals for families in Africa. Despite it being hot, the campers were troopers and had a ton of fun. I think my favorite line of the night was when one of our sixth grade boys came up to me during evening free time and said, "You know, at first I wasn't that excited but then I got really into it and didn't even notice the time passing! I just felt really good that we got to help people tonight."

We also had a fun-filled, class-free day yesterday at Jordan Valley Park and the Springfield Art Creamery. The kids spent the afternoon tie-dying t-shirts, making duct tape wallets and painting mixed media collages. Even the guys got really into the crafts, as you can see here:

Tonight we have one of Summerscape's most famous, secretive and fun events - Midnight Madness (don't worry, it actually only goes from 7 to 9 pm). Then it's the talent show on Tuesday and toga party on Wednesday and another year at 'Scape will already be over!

DLA Day 6 by Melody

Today was an interesting day. My philosophy class was watching "Doctor Who." We watched one too many episodes, and we basically missed lunch. The funny thing was that no one really regretted it.

My next class was Undiscovered Country, which is studying different afterlife beliefs. We watched half of The Others, and then we went to the computer lab to start our projects. After that, we finished the movie.

Today was also the dance! The team was Color Catastrophe, and it was awesome. Everyone had a lot of fun!

DLA Day 5 by Morgan

I'm not a sports person. And by "I'm not a sports person," I don't mean that I'm not that good, but I'll play if needed. I mean that I don't play sports. I tend to hurt the team rather than help them. But, today against my will, I was forced to play Quidditch. Our seventh player couldn't play, so I had to step in. Despite complaining more than necessary, I actually had a lot of fun. The main goal is to catch the Snitch, which my team managed to do, but we still lost. In any event, it was really fun.

The rest of the day was just as amazing, albeit less physically strenuous. It started with my morning class, Philosophy. It's really interesting and made all the better because we watch episodes of "Doctor Who?" to help explain the theories. Today, we talked about Occam's Razor, the theory that the simplest answer is often the correct one. We also watched some "Doctor Who?" dealing with utilitarianism, the theory that the majority's needs overrule the minority's needs.

In my second class, Sociology, we put together our "Society is..." Powerpoints. Yesterday, the class went downtown and took photos of how we perceive society. It was really fun to do, and what we're doing now is putting the picture into a Powerpoint with captions to show how we captured what society is.

A small but amazing part of the day was the ice cream sundaes that were available. There was caramel, and I just had a bowl of caramel and ate it with a spoon. It was wonderful.

After my (very healthy) dinner, we headed to The Skinny Improv, the improv show downtown reminiscent of "Who's Line Is It Anyway?". The tiny, hole-in-the-wall theater was very warm with all 91 of the DLAers and RAs. But, it was very much worth it. The show was hilarious.

The night ended with a mini-dance party in the second floor lobby. The rest of DLA is guaranteed to be as amazing as tonight was.

DLA Day 4 by Tommy

In the morning session at "Living the College Life," we discussed the correct eating habits and how much of each food group we should eat. We filled out charts that had fast food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and we had to keep the calories from 1600-2200. I learned that some fast food restaurants had much more or less calories than I expected. For example, Arby's has some of the highest calorie food. After the morning session, we went to lunch. We were all very excited because today was Bastille Day! My class had to leave early from lunch because we were going to downtown Springfield to tour the YMCA and climb the rock wall. I tried to climb the "medium" rock wall at first, but I didn't make it very far. However, I managed to climb to the top of the "easy" rock wall! We had some time to kill after climbing the rock walls, so we decided to go into the gym and play basketball. After I destroyed everyone at Knock Out, we went back to Drury and signed up for stations. My house, Frozen Tundra, played Quidditch today. Unfortunately, we were outmatched and lost the game. I was exhausted from running back and forth and almost fell asleep during dinner! After a hearty meal, we participated in Trivia Night in our house groups. There were many hard questions, but the most difficult topic was definitely "History of the Printed Book," chosen by Chad. A party was held on the second floor immediately following Trivia Night, complete with dancing, music, and card games. This Bastille Day was exhausting, but a lot of fun!

DLA Day 3

Hello, blog readers. Audrey here with a recap of our third full day of DLA. I started out my day by repeatedly hitting the snooze button on my alarm clock. After we all got ready, we walked to breakfast. I ate my customarily healthy breakfast of Cocoa Puffs, fruit punch, and the required cup of water. Before we knew it, it was time for morning classes.

My morning class is Digital Photography and today we finished our projects about perspective and started our contrast page and the cover for our portfolios. I don't want to reveal too much about our binder covers, but you will definitely want to check out the Photography table at Open House. It's going to be cool.

After an amazing lunch of chicken tenders and sweet potato fries, I went to my afternoon class: Sociology. On this day, we made road maps of our lives with foam sign stickers. We also discussed our field trip downtown tomorrow and started prepping our quote decks. We painted large sheets of paper with watercolors and we will cut them into cards and write quotes on each one.

The rest was relatively normal until the RAs walked to the Science Center for "Trivia Night." As it turned out...it was Midnight Mayhem! The rest of the night was full of madness and difficult challenges and adventures. There were stations requiring you to decipher movie titles, fold paper cranes, gather eggs from a fountain, find Wayne the RA through history (think "Where's Waldo?"), and crack codes. That isn't even the best description. The final event was called off due to time constraints. Frozen Tundra completed Mayhem first with joy, but the scoring hasn't been completed. And that's all for today, folks!

DLA Day 2 by Mayci

The third day of camp; the second day of classes; we're kicking it off. After a relatively uneventful morning round-up and breakfast, the campers shoved off to classes. Philosophy for me, taught by the legendary Scott Henderson, otherwise known as the coolest teacher ever. Today's class consisted of "Doctor Who," and a newfound fear of statues as a result. Also, we discussed the ideas and beliefs of various pre-Socratic philosophers, such as Democritus, Thales, and Pythagoras. The class was concluded with the beginning of "The Adjustment Bureau" and the appearance of a frightful statue.

After the morning class, students trekked through the heat to the cafeteria to get their mandatory glass of water and their nom-noms on. At my table, we participated in Branson Carmichael's renowned game: Urban Legend. The game relies entirely on your decisions and dialogues, as well as Branson's imagination and subjectivity. By the way, you ALWAYS die.

Students proceeded to the afternoon classes. Mine? Extreme Math. It's as fun as it sounds. :)

Next? Free time. Pool, games, dorm, and so on. Afterwards, we shoved off to dinner, where the atmosphere became tainted with the fear of the infamous Midnight Mayhem. But, y'know, who knows if we'll ACTUALLY do it this year? ;)

After dinner, we went to our committees, and then Beth's leadership activity. Now, the campers were convinced. Midnight Mayhem? Totally going to happen. We proceeded through various strategy and teamwork activities, and then...!

No. No Mayhem. New suspicious date has been established...

Thursday.

I say, "Bring it."

Minute To Win It

Hello all! Summerscape RA Elizabeth here. It's been a busy and fun-filled couple days over here at Wallace Hall, with our most recent event being the Summerscape edition of Minute To Win It. This was a new event that we introduced this year, but judging from the kids' reactions last night we're sure it'll be a tradition that will continue for future sessions!

For the days leading up to the event, the RAs were hard at work planning and picking events for Minute To Win It, making last-minute Walmart runs for supplies (you get some weird looks buying tons of bulk packs of yo-yos, tissue boxes, cookies, ping-pong balls...), trying out the events... All of the RAs will admit that we mainly chose events based on the entertainment value of watching the kids do them. But judging from this preview movie we made, the RAs had fun trying out the events, too -

But trust us, the kids definitely had even more fun than we did. Our personal favorite event was "Bobblehead," in which players had 60 seconds to reach 75 steps on a pedometer attached to their heads. We had such a hard time keeping quiet during our late-night duty because we decided to watch some of these clips in the hall. Dare you to watch this next clip without laughing...

The night also included each activity group showing off their group chants and a camp-wide Rock, Paper, Scissors battle. More posts to come about the Messy Olympics we had on Monday and the service project we'll be doing tonight!

DRURY CAMPUS PHONES DOWN

The Drury campus phones are not working and may not be working for a few days. If you need to reach us, Betsy's and Chance's phone numbers still work. If you need additional numbers, please e-mail us and we can give you more emergency numbers.

Summerscape #1

Our lunch entertainment yesterday included the RAs singing "The Banana Song." Hope someone got that on video. Last night we got to name our activity groups and create a banner. Then we went and found out about our personality types with Brandi and Beth. Tonight -- the Messy Olympics.

DLA Day 1

Dani here! It’s day one for classes. Today started with a 7:15 wake-up call (or 7:30 for some of us with sleepier RAs). Then was breakfast and off to class. I’m in Bio-ethics. Today we started with the basic rules, then transitioned to “The History of Suicide” and got an idea on the different philosophies from various (mainly Western) cultures. After that we discussed the morality of suicide. Everyone was very open-minded. The conversation was very insightful.

My afternoon class is Sociology. We began with a slideshow, asking us about individuality, cultural and social influences, and other things. Then for introduction purposes, we made “All About Me” posters. That was great. Who doesn’t love coloring? After that, we began puzzles detailing the impacts and influences in our lives, which included people, places, events, things, and books, to name a few. I’m really excited for tomorrow, since I’m providing the playlist – mostly soundtracks, like “Pride and Prejudice,” some Broadway stuff, and some Haley Westerna.

In the evening, everyone participated in a massive art project. Everyone was given a 6x10-inch piece of posterboard, a few markers, and water to fight the heat index. We passed every piece around to the left every 60 seconds until we got our original paper back, covered in doodles. They are all different and so lovely. Mine is going on my bedroom wall when I get home. It was a little hot, kind of scratchy in the grass, and my legs ache from sitting cross-legged for over an hour (leading me to marvel at all those who seriously meditate, because they can do it for hours on end). But whatever. That’s nothing in comparison to how fun it was.

Happy Independence Day

Happy 4th of July (one day late)! Hope everyone had a happy and safe holiday. We are gearing up for camp and the residential staff arrives on campus on Thursday. Start packing and we will see all of you on Sunday.

Dormitory Life

Summerscape campers will live in Wallace Hall this year. Wallace was renovated last summer and features suites with four students sharing one bathroom. The first floor lobby provides a great place to talk, play games or create some art. There are kitchenettes on each floor and the laundry facilities are located in the basement. The oldest dorm on campus will provide a great living space for all 'Scapers.

Drury Leadership Academy students will reside for the 2nd year in Sunderland Hall. This dormitory has four single rooms in one suite with two bathrooms. A first floor classroom serves as an art and game room. Laundry rooms are located on each floor. A positive learning and living environment is provided by this dormitory.

Things To Do On Campus

After classes each day, campers will have the opportunity to access some of Drury's resources. Students can swim, play tennis, go to the library, use the computer lab, visit the bookstore or just hang out in the dorm. A variety of activities will also be planned including tournaments, art activities and games. This is a great time to relax after class and enjoy some fun events. Whether you are talking to friends in the dorm or playing a game of tennis, you will find some activity to make you smile every day.

Showcase your Talent

If you are coming to either of the Drury PreCollege residential programs this summer, make sure to be prepared to show off your talent. Besides competing in your house or activity group to win exciting activities, there will also be a talent show for each program. On the second Tuesday, each group will gather to celebrate the talents of their fellow campers. Whether it is a piano solo or a dramatic interpretation, we can't wait for you to share your talent. (and I hear that the RAs have some amazing acts of their own.)

The Dance

Darkness has descended and the student center is dark and dreary. Only shades of white and black exist throughout the ballroom. We can't let this spread! What kind of camp would it be without color? What can we do about such a catastrophe? Please help us bring color back to camp by wearing the brightest colored costumes you have (the more obnoxious the better) to the dance and we will dance our way to a brighter day!

Celebration

Did you know that this is Summerscape's 30th Anniversary and the 25th anniversary for the residential program? We are so excited that you are going to be part of this summer. There are so many fantastic activities planned for you and we can't wait for you to arrive on campus.

Summerscape will be residing in Wallace Hall this year. This dormitory had a complete makeover last summer and we are excited that Scape will be housed there. Sunderland Hall will again play home to the Drury Leadership Academy. We are also excited that many members of our residential staff from last summer will be returning to camp. Betsy will be leading the way at Summerscape and Chance will once again travel to Missouri to lead DLA.

For the next two weeks, we will be posting daily information about camp on this blog. Keep checking back to find out about exciting activities and the wonderful residential staff.

Leadership in Action Committees for DLA

Calling all DLA campers,

Please let us know which Leadership in Action Committee you would like to be on as soon as possible. There are limited spots for each committee and they will fill up quickly. We have added a mystery committee this year which will be a blast! You can email druryleadershipacademy@gmail.com with your top three choices or mail your requests to:

Drury PreCollege Programs

Lay Hall

900 N. Benton

Springfield, MO 65802

Thanks!

Two More Months

It is hard to believe that everyone will be arriving on campus in just a little over two months. The residential staff is hard at work planning some fabulous activities and the teachers are getting everything ready for some exciting classes. We have changed the address of our blog to fit with the completely amazing new logo that Betsy has designed for the PreCollege Programs! I hope that you all have sent in your applications, but if you haven't, there is still time to sign up! Watch this site for more information about camp as we get closer to our FIRST DAY!!!! See you soon.