Summer camp counselor, Megan, shares her top five favorite things to do at Girl Scout summer camp! Girl Scout resident camp registration is now open! 

Close your eyes and picture yourself at summer camp.  What are you doing?  What kind of activities do you imagine? Archery? Swimming? Boating? Tie Dye? Those are all things that we do at camp, but there is so much more.  As a camper for ten years and a staff member for two, here’s my top five favorite things to do in a single week at Girl Scouts – North Carolina Coastal Pines resident camp.

1 – Playing in the water

The water has so much to offer.  Whether you are swimming for the first time, or a swim team star, camp has a place for you. All three resident camps offer different depths for you to play and swim with your camp buddies. Splashing around in the shallow end, playing marco-polo in the middle, or holding hands as you take the plunge into the deep section.

2 – Guessing your counselors’ real name

One thing I have found that makes Girl Scout camp unique is the counselor’s names.  All camp staffers go by camp names. This creates a fun game for the campers.  I always tried to guess my counselors real names. As a camper, you know the counselors won’t tell you their real names whether you guess it right or not. As a counselor, your learn that you must look like a Sara or a Julie because that’s what everyone guesses.

3 – Friendship bracelets

If you’ve never made a friendship bracelet, there are plenty of people at Girl Scout camp who are willing to teach you. Friendship bracelets are awesome to trade and heartwarming to receive. If you give one away you are almost always going to receive one back. They are things to wear home to remember all your camp friends. Most campers come home with interesting tan lines on their arm from wearing multiple friendship bracelets.

4 – Making new best friends

I run into people from camp all over the place. One day, as a junior in high school, I was walking down the street in Chapel Hill with a group of friends. A girl about our age was walking towards us calling me by name. I didn’t recognize her at first, but she reminded me  we were tent mates at Camp Graham when we were in fourth grade. It all came back to me in an instant; we were best friends that week. We exchanged phone numbers on the street and now we talk and reminisce about our week at camp. As I got older I ran into camp friends at band competitions and sporting events.  It’s always exciting to run into a camp friend.  I find it amazing how close you can get to someone in just one week.

5 – Learning new skills

From cooking to canoeing to cleaning, I learned lots of life skills at camp. Cookout night is always fun including teaching girls knife safety so they can properly cut a watermelon or learn how to start a camp stove or build a fire. My first ever week of camp, I learned how to clean a toilet. Now that I’m in college, I use that skill all the time and my roommate is rather thankful. When my friends want to go spend a weekend at the lake I think back to my second year at summer camp when I mastered the art of canoeing. Camp has provided me with many life skills that I continue to use everyday.

These are just my top five, but when you attend Girl Scout summer camp you’ll walk away with your top five (or more!) reasons why you love summer camp just as much as I do!