We want to tell you all about the activities you’ll be able to choose this summer. As
you know, you will be designing your own schedule with the activities YOU want to
do most.
Here are descriptions of MOST of the activities we will have this summer. We will
be adding a few when we meet with the counselors in June and will tell you about
them when you arrive at camp. This catalog will help you think about what you
might want to take. It also gives us information to put together the schedule and
to match you up with your bunkmates. At the end of the catalog are instructions to
fill out your “Activity Preferences Form” on CampMinder (our online database
system).
When you get to camp, we will have an Activity Fair on the first day to show you
the activities and answer your questions. Then you’ll have a chance to talk with
your friends and counselors about what activities to take. We’ll sit with each bunk
to help you make your choices on the 2nd day of camp for the 4 week session and
on the 1st day of camp for the 2 week session. You’ll be taking activities with the
campers in your age group.
For every activity, if you already know how to do it, the counselors will help take
you to the next level. Want to try something for the first time? Great! You don’t
have to know how to do an activity to sign up for it. The instructors will teach you
everything you need to know from the beginning.
As you think about activities you might want to take, plan on choosing at least 2
moving activities and at least one thing you’ve never tried before. Sue (Camp
Director) and Jake Schrader (Program Director), will be there to help you make a
schedule that you’ll love.
Each activity has a symbol as follows:
S
An Activity Choice
,
A Moving Activity
o
Everyone Will Get To Do
Archery
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This is a very popular area. We have a big range with adjustable archery stands,
targets, nets, and shooting stalls for you. Come and learn all the techniques and
safety procedures and see how many bull’s-eyes you can get.
Baseball/Softball
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We have 2 beautiful fields groomed with clay base paths. Campers receive
individual and team instruction in hitting, defense, pitching, catching and
situational aspects of the game. You’ll also use the pitching machine for batting
practice. And yes, we post the box scores all summer so you can keep track of YOUR
favorite MLB team while you’re at camp. Bring your mitt. We have plenty of bats
and equipment.
Basketball
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The 2 lighted courts are always in use. The coaches will teach you the basics or help
you improve your ball handling, dribbling, rebounding, passing, shooting and
defense. Participate in lots of games as well as inter-camp tournaments.
Fencing
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En Garde! Learn everything from steps and jabs to parries and lunges. We use
tipped foils and full protective gear. Fencing is a popular individual sport that you
won’t see in many schools. Check it out!
Fitness
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This summer Fitness will combine aerobics, general conditioning, body weight
training, running, walking and more. Each camper is encouraged to work at their
own pace. Come with your goals and we’ll help set a program. There will also be
fitness opportunities for everyone even if you don’t pick it as one of your choices.
Flag Football
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Be a Wide Receiver catching the Hail Mary pass or be the Quarterback throwing a
spiral. More interested in Defense? Let’s see those big interceptions! Flag football
is safe, fun, and fast paced.
Gymnastics
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Welcome to our huge Gymnastics Center! We have uneven bars, balance beams,
flooring and an Air Trak with Catcher. The Air Trak is perfect for all levels to practice
jumps, handsprings, somersaults and other gymnastic moves. You do not need a
leotard. A bathing suit or shorts/shirt is fine. Our skilled team of coaches teach
beginners to advanced gymnasts.
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Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a fun and fast paced team sport. Learn the rules of the game while
practicing the skills, cradling, scooping and passing necessary to become a good
player. We will be playing non-contact lacrosse. We will provide lacrosse sticks but
you can bring your own too. You will need to bring your own eye guards to play.
Soccer
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Work on the fundamentals including attack, defense, goal tending and ball
handling. Our international coaches are quite skilled and eager to pass on their love
of their “football”. Lots of time for game play, too. If you’re on a team at home, you
will go home a much improved player!
Tennis
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4 hard courts and 2 clay courts mean no waiting to play. Campers receive top notch
personalized instruction. Our pros personally oversee the program. We guarantee
lots of play time, one-on-one instruction (at no extra cost), tennis ladders and intercamp tournaments, too. It’s best to bring your own racket (although we do have
some you can use).
Volleyball
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Practice setting, digging, spiking, jump serving, and blocking while playing this
popular summer sport. There are always pickup games at the volleyball court
where all are welcome.
A Note about Athletics: Sneakers and socks are required for all athletics. All athletic
classes are available to both girls AND boys. The team sports are taught separately
for girls and boys. You’ll be signing up for activities with the other campers your
age. However, if you are a more advanced player and a different group is more
appropriate, we will make sure that you are included in that class.
Every year, the classes in the Art Center change based on the skills and expertise of
our art staff. We’re excited to present the 2015 classes below. When you get to
camp you will learn about any additional art classes. The art classes are sure to
inspire you and get your imagination going. Our campers make some amazing
projects every year. We look forward to seeing you in the Art Center this summer.
Cartooning, Drawing & Painting
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Whether you are into anime, are working on a graphic novel or just love to draw
and paint, this class will provide you with the tools to perfect your skills. Find your
favorite medium to work in. Bring your sketch book to share your ideas!
Fashion Design
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Wouldn’t you love to create your own wearable art, clothing, and accessories?
Learn to work with patterns and use a sewing machine. Bags, garment
customization, and hair accessories were some of the favorite projects last
summer.
Jewelry
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You’ll design jewelry in various mediums. We go well beyond the beads and hemp
with metal fabrication, wire-craft, fimo, and other jewelry making techniques. The
instructor has some surprises dreamed up for this summer, but you’ll have to wait
for the first day to see her samples!
Junk Art
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Giant hammers, hoola-hoop fortresses, and fabulous model casinos. These are
just a few awesome examples of what our previous Emersonians have created
from left over junk. Turn the boring into something fascinating this summer. This
year’s Batcave will certainly need some new gadgets after all!
Mixed Media
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Smores, sundaes, and the famous Camp Emerson water carnival- what do all of
these have in common? They're a mixture of great things! So why should your art
be any different? Create without boundaries and bring something unexpected
back to the bunk!
Newspaper S
We’re excited to bring back the “Emersonian” – Camp Emerson’s camper
newspaper. We’re looking for writers, cartoonists, photographers, graphic
designers and enthusiastic campers to work on publishing and distributing all the
camp news.
Textiles
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Different from fashion design class, here you’ll also use fabric, thread, paint and
more to create a wide variety of projects. You can make pillows, wall hangings,
storage boxes and other unique fabric-based projects. Learn various fabric
decoration techniques including silk screening, shibori, stenciling and batik.
Video
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Write, shoot and edit your own digital films. You’ll learn to handle all of the
equipment yourself after a bit of instruction. Other advanced techniques are
utilized for editing. This is a professional operation taught by instructors working
in the industry. All camp videos are uploaded on the web to share with the world.
Wheel Pottery
S and Sculpture S
With 6 electric wheels and 2 expert instructors, you’ll be spinning pots in no time!
There’s also hand building and sculpting. We’re ordering plenty of clay to keep you
busy. You’ll learn to glaze and fire your projects, too. These are great projects to
bring home. Fun, fun, fun!
Creative Writing – SPECIAL ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE PROGRAM
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NEW for 2015! Camp Emerson is proud to welcome back former camper and
counselor, Leila Sales, this summer for an Artist-In-Residence Program. Leila has
written 3 YA books and may be bringing her 4th for you to critique. If you have
stories or poems you are working on, bring them and Leila will work with you oneon-one. Be ready to share with your fellow campmates too. We know there are a
lot of writers out there and we’re very excited for you to have this unique
opportunity! 4 & 6 Week Campers only – Leila will be here the first part of July.
Leila is also excited to have Book Clubs at Camp Emerson. If you are interested in
being part of the book club (separate from the creative writing class), come to camp
having read the books for your age group.
Lower Camp: The Willoughbys, by Lois Lowry
Middle Camp: Sparkers, by Eleanor Glewwe
Upper Camp: Past Perfect, by Leila Sales
The following activities take place at Plunkett Lake. Campers meet at the Plunkett
Bus Stop at the Main House and take a 30 second van ride to the Plunkett Marina.
Camp is the perfect place to learn these activities.
Sailing
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We have 2 person, single sail Sunfish boats. Instruction starts on land where you
learn about the boat, wind, and nautical safety. You’re supervised out on the lake
until you’re ready to go on your own. A VERY popular sport and a great
confidence builder.
Waterskiing, Kneeboarding & Wakeboarding
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Waterskiing is an activity that most everyone wants to try. With our beautiful
Malibu boats we can get everyone on the lake for many spins. Personal
instruction at your comfort level starts on the dock. Campers learn on both the
tow rope and the fixed boom to build confidence. More experienced waterskiers
can try the kneeboard, wakeboard, slalom skiing or barefoot. Interested in
inflatables? We have those too. This is what camp is all about.
RC Cars & Outdoor Track o
We know you love to race, and now you can help design the track! 2015 is the
year you can help craft a race track with your friends! Arrange jumps and
obstacles to test and hone your skills, name the race track and set your records
RC Car Soccer is also one of the fun new activities we’ll be running to test your
driving skills!
Physics
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Physics is the name of our combined Rocketry & CO2 Car classes. Rocketry & CO2
Car classes are about to take a Step Beyond anything you’ve experienced at Camp
Emerson before. There won’t be a chance for you to get bored. There will always
be options.
CO 2 Cars - We’ve retooled our workshop so that we can harness your creativity
to produce the most intricate designs. We’ll be using Dremel power tools and new
cutting tools to shape your dragster cars out of balsa wood and make them super
aerodynamic. We’ll also have our own dedicated painting station so you can
decorate and decal your rockets and cars with more detail than ever before.
Your cars will race on our 50 foot computerized track and we’ll see where it ranks.
We’re really excited to see what you can create and to break last summer’s
sizzling track records!
While working on the CO2 cars, you design & build your own metric dragster out
of a 12” block of balsa wood. Race it on our 50 foot computerized track and see
where your car ranks. CO2 car makers will be able to see how aerodynamic their
design is with our Wind Tunnel. This summer, we are sure to break some records!
Rocketry - is part engineering and part craft. You will construct and build your own
propulsion rocket. There are many, many kits to pick from level 1 and up. You will
command the launch of your newly crafted rockets from our redesigned mobile
launch pad and use our new altitude finder to measure how high your rocket
travelled before returning to Earth. We launch frequently and you will be taking
your rockets home to show off.
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Chemistry
This year, the chemistry class will be broken into 3 distinct segments. You will get
a chance to participate in a ton of fun experiments during the course of each 2
week sign up period.
 Science – This is where it all starts, we’ll be performing various experiments
including new kits for constructing electric circuits and building wet cell
batteries! We’ll also team up with the engineering class to help build and
test our own Magnetic Levitation (Mag-Lev) train from scratch!
 Mythbusters - Based on the popular Discovery TV show, we’re channeling
our best Adam and Jamie to confirm or bust some of your favorite myths.
 Crime Scene Investigation – Learn forensic science techniques to collect
evidence and narrow down the suspects. We’ll even bring in the theater
staff for an extra touch of mystery!
Engineering
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Do you like to make things? Be a part of building the next big camp creation.
Based on your interests, campers will work with one another using Legos, Rube
Goldbergian ideas, found objects, and other maker materials to construct the next
big engineering marvel. Do you know how to change a tire or check if a car is safe
to drive? Upper camp will have the choice to be taught these key car care skills by
a qualified mechanic! We will have more details and exhibits at the Activity Fair
on the first day of camp.
Cooking
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Develop your culinary skills with this hands-on and delicious activity. We cover
kitchen skills and various cooking and baking techniques. Prepare a variety of dishes
including desserts, soups, main courses, and sauces. You’ll be trained by our
professional chefs and, yes, you get to eat what you make!
Deep Water Evaluation o
We are required by law to evaluate everyone’s swim ability at the beginning of
camp. This is for everyone’s safety. In order to swim in the deep end of the pool
(8 feet) or to participate in Plunkett Lake activities (Waterskiing and Sailing) we
need you to show us that you’re confident in the deep water. If you are better than
a beginner or advanced beginner swimmer, you’ll have no problem. The deep water
test involves, swimming 2 lengths of the 75 foot pool without holding on (you can
float for a few seconds) and then treading water for 1 minute. The swim instructors
will go over the details with you. If you have any problem with it the first day, you
can try again. If you haven’t been swimming since last summer, you might want to
go swimming a few times before camp starts just to get your strength and
confidence back up. Questions? Just ask.
There are 2 more things to know: 1) Anyone who is a beginner or advanced
beginner swimmer (level 1, 2, 3) must take swim instruction. This is
Massachusetts law for the safety of the swimmer; and 2) Parents can require their
child to take swim instruction, if they want. Your Parents have a Swim Instruction
Request Form to tell us if they want you to have swim instruction.
Competitive Swimming
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NEW for 2015! This activity is designed for the competitive swimmer seeking
improvement in the sport of swimming. We’ll break down your technique and
turns to improve your performance. Our focus is to help you achieve your
personal goal so bring it on! Always wanted to be part of a swim team, here’s
your chance. No experience required.
Junior Lifeguarding (for ages 11 and above) S
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NEW for 2015! Junior Lifeguarding will build your knowledge, attitude and skills
about what is required to be a lifeguard. The course will introduce you to
lifesaving skills, such as in-water rescues, use of a rescue tube, and first aid, CPR
and AED. You’ll also have the opportunity to shadow lifeguards to get a real sense
of being on the job and to prepare for meeting the Lifeguard course prerequisite.
Swim Instruction - All Levels - Beginner to Advanced
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We conduct a full American Red Cross swim instruction program – Levels 1 – 6.
We’ll put you in a class that matches your ability and help you get to the next
level. Of course, there will be plenty of fun and games too!
Water Fitness
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NEW for 2015! Love the water? Get in shape with our combination of aqua
aerobics, laps and toning and strengthening exercises. Combine low impact but
high intensity exercises in the pool all to your favorite music. Sound like fun.
Water Sports
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NEW for 2015! Waterbasketball and waterpolo are just 2 of the team water
sports you’ll try during this fast-paced class. We might even try some underwater
sports too!
Lake Activities & Free Swim o
We know you all want free swim in the pool and Lake Emerson. Don’t worry, there
will be plenty of water time on the schedule to enjoy Kayaking, Canoeing, Iceberg,
Zipline, Water Trampoline & Creature Catching.
On Lake Emerson, next to the pool, we do both canoeing and kayaking. Enjoy the
pleasure of flat water paddling under your own power on our beautiful private lake.
Learn about safety, various strokes and proper paddling technique. Deep water
swimmers will get to try out the water trampoline, iceberg and zip line. Everything
is tons of fun and safe (we wear life jackets too). The swim instructors will show
you how to do it and will be there every step of the way. It doesn’t get more exciting
than this, trust us!
Acting
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In addition to the theater productions, we are offering acting classes for all ages.
You will work on the basics, projection, diction, stage awareness, and character
work while exploring many different theatrical acting techniques. At the end of
each session the acting class will get a chance to perform for the whole camp.
Dance
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The dance instructor is bringing some great music and you should bring some too.
You’ll combine the best of jazz, funk and hip-hop to prepare performance routines
for camp talent shows and your own classes. Learn body isolations to build
coordination and rhythm. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned dancer, you’ll
get plenty of new moves.
Improv
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Improv is acting spontaneously without a script. While it is often funny, it can also
be serious. Learn how to build exciting stories, create fascinating characters, and
present them in creative ways. This class is not just about playing improv games,
but also about using improv as a tool to devise comedic sketches or serious scenes
to present to the entire camp. This year we are adding lessons in Stand-Up Comedy.
You’ll have fun, learn to work with others, and find your own unique voice.
Drums
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Always wanted to learn to play the drums? Here’s your chance. Already play? You’ll
improve your technique this summer. We teach beginners to advanced players in
our Rock Band Garage.
Guitar
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Are you the next Eric Clapton or Eddie Van Halen? We’ll teach you electric or
acoustic guitar. Bring your own instrument and amp or use the great equipment
we have. All levels of players are welcome in this rocking activity.
Rock Band
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Have you always dreamed of being in a rock band? If you already have experience
playing, then grab some friends and make your own band. On the first day of camp
we’ll meet with everyone interested in being in a band and will help put you
together. By the way, all instruments are welcome to be in the bands (woodwind,
brass, strings, etc.) as well as vocalists. We will have a space to keep instruments
locked up. Bring your guitars and amps, if you want.
Songwriting
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Bring the music you’ve written and we’ll help you work out the finishing touches.
In Rock Band, campers have written their own music and performed it at camp.
Sound exciting? Join us for this creative activity.
Theater
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Our theater puts on 4 productions each summer…one for each age group in the 4
week session and an all camp show during the 2 week session. Everyone who wants
to be in a play is automatically in. NO CUTS! As you sign up, you will just do a quick
audition to find out what part you will have in the production. Don’t be nervous,
we will make you feel very comfortable. Campers with lead roles may have
additional rehearsal time outside of the normal scheduled periods.
The performances are designed to give you a chance to experience what is like to
be in a play and to bring out the best possible performance in each camper. We
make the shows fun, while working hard. These are full productions with lights,
music, costumes, sets, and props. The entire camp comes to see every show. Many
of our campers are very serious about the theater. In the past, camp experiences
have led kids to become more confident performers in their school and town
productions.
Here are the 2015 plays:
4 week session:
Lower Camp: Hansel & Gretel: Gingerbread Detectives
Middle Camp: Aladdin
Upper Camp: We Will Rock You
2 week session:
All Camp: Batman: a Camp Emerson Parody with Music
If you’re not familiar with Parodies, they are plays that play off of well-known
characters and stories. There are parts for everyone!
Extreme Adventure
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Do you consider yourself an explorer? This is the class for you. Our wilderness staff
are experienced adventurers and need your help in discovering the world around
Camp. We’ll hike the trails around camp, explore the forest, and learn how to
navigate in the wild.
Naturalists
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If you like to hang around the side of the water and dig in the dirt, this is for you.
Hunt for bugs, fish, frogs, crayfish, turtles, tadpoles, snakes, newts and more. We’re
building a terrarium to watch them. You’ll be amazed as you discover the wildlife
around Lake Emerson!
Survivor Skills
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Learn the skills necessary to camp and hike. Activities include: map and compass
skills, building shelters, selecting clothing and equipment, setting up camp, safety,
first aid, and low impact camping. This activity choice is for campers who love the
outdoors.
Fishing o
We have fishing rods for you to use. Learn bait techniques and have a great time
catching bass and trout in our own private lake. The best times to fish are before
breakfast and after dinner – we’ll announce at the meals the fishing times.
Overnights o
Everyone will have an opportunity to camp out on our property. Campers sleep in
sleeping bags in tents, enjoy dinner on the open fire, make s’mores of course and
relax in the great outdoors. Each group will have a slightly different program - it
could be flashlight tag, hiking, frog hunting, singing around the campfire or building
a raft. If this is your first outdoor experience, you will find it to be a relaxing, fun
and eye-opening one.
Ropes Course o
Have a blast while building confidence, team work and leadership skills in our low
ropes course. You will walk away from our course motivated and realizing your
ability to accomplish things you never thought possible. Each cabin will have a
chance to participate in the ropes course during the summer as part of their
overnight and at other select times.
Got an idea for a new activity? Let us know. Many of our current classes came from
campers like you!
You’ll also get to try other things during evening activity each night. We guarantee
to squeeze in as much excitement as we can and to work very hard to teach you
lots and make it fun at the same time.
Ask your parents to take you onto CampMinder. There is a place to let us know
the activities you are most interested in this summer. These will NOT be your
choices but will help us in choosing your bunkmates, counselors, designing our
program and to make plans for your arrival.
Please complete the Activity Preferences Form by May 15, 2015.
Questions?? Email directors@campemerson.com or call 800-782-3395 anytime.
We’re counting the days until camp starts and hope you are too!