Camp Pok-O-MacCready

The 6th grade went on an overnight trip to Camp Pok-O-MacCready, an annual event that I've been able to participate in for the last 8 years...it's a really fun trip, and a great way to get to know all of the kids in the 6th grade...we sleep in cabins with the kids, eat family style at every meal, and have lots of fun in their excellent outdoor educational programming...


We arrived in the morning, and formed a bucket-brigade to unload our stuff from the yellow buses, then mill around a bit to try and find our stuff...


Thursday was a beautiful and sunny day, we broke up into our groups (about 10 kids, 1 Pok-O staff member, and one LP chaperone per group), and headed off to various parts of camp for our first session...during our visit, each group would rotate through team-building activities, wildlife ecology, sensory awareness, canoeing, and a low-ropes course...


The staff is well-trained and always provides intro activities to get the kids set up for the coming session, as well as thoughtful (and thought-provoking) debriefing when we're done to help them understand what we learned and to help process the experience...


Because the Pok-O staff is in charge, we chaperones get a welcome opportunity to get to know the children that we're working with in a more informal setting, and to watch them all interact from a "fly on the wall" perspective"...


A variety of fun starters at base camp got the kids ready for the more involved activities up in the woods around the property...


Kids have to challenge their usual roles and comfort-levels with the change in environment and demands from the classroom, but the stress and stretching is hidden beneath a fun game (often described as involving piranhas or lava or nuclear waste)...


We all had lots of fun on the low-ropes course, a kinder/gentler/safer alternative to high-ropes challenge courses...


Balance and teamwork and planning were all important to success, and it was cool to see the kids work together to help everyone in their group accomplish the goal, and cheering on the other kids in a cooperative rather than competitive environment...


It was a gorgeous day, sunny and in the 60s, and simply perfect for having fun in the woods...


The Pok-O staff made sure that everyone, LP-staff and students both, were aware of safety considerations, and that we could all be safe and have fun...


Sometimes during our visit, additional challenges, like blindfolding one or more students or not allowing an outspoken leader in a group to speak, would force the group to re-focus on how to approach a given challenge as a group in order to succeed...


Both before and after lunch, between activity sessions, we had some time to enjoy some freeplay down at camp...George got out his guitar and played some...


Some kids played volleyball or tennis or soccer or just ran around...


We also had a visit from Devin, the camp director, to talk a bit about the really cool night time activity, Pok-O's "Underground Railroad" experience...

A role-playing activity that takes place at the 1812 Homestead. Students play the part of run-away slaves, while teachers and chaperones serve as their conductors. The Pok-O staff fills in as abolitionists, bounty hunters, court marshals, and more. The “slaves” must rotate through a series of stations where they answer questions about the history of slavery in America while avoiding capture by the bounty hunters. The evening ends with an in-depth debrief about their experience and slavery today. - from the Pok-O website

We spent some time studying for our roles as "conductors" in the activity...


In the afternoon, we had another session, and this time I went with a group of kids that started out with some sensory awareness exercises, including a "blind hike"...this entails following a rope through the woods...experiencing the changes in elevation and slope and texture...


What normally would seem like a simple and short looping walk in the woods got to be amazingly complicated and arduous when blindfolded...


We then headed over to a team-building course up in the woods a short walk away from camp, and the kids had to work on their communication and planning skills to overcome some group challenges...


Again, some of the people who had either tried this sort of thing before, or were naturally leader-tastic were asked to keep silent and/or blindfolded to maintain/increase the challenge for the rest of the group...


Before supper, we had a bit more downtime, and some kids who had had enough outdoor play chose to have some indoor fun and games...

After supper, we got dressed for the cold and ready for the "underground railroad" activity...it was a ton of fun, and likely the most memorable part of our trip for lots of the kids...


The next morning, we got up and were ready for the day by 7am, and had a choice of canoeing or feeding the farm animals for our pre-breakfast activities...I went with the kids who opted for feeding the barnyard beasties...everyone loved watching the pigs eating the slop generated by our table-waste...


The goats followed us around the entire farm, talking to us and subtly nibbling our clothes and boots when we weren't looking...


The chickens were a big hit with the LP kids, as were the eggs, which were brown and not as uniform as store-eggs...


After breakfast, another group did some group and team building activities before heading up to the confidence course for their turns...


Everyone from Lake Placid, students and staff, had a great time at Pok-O!

The outdoor educational activities were fun, the staff was knowledgeable and fun to work with, the meals were really good, the cabins were nice (although some of the kids could have gone to sleep a little more quickly), the "Underground Railroad" activity was awesome...and we got a great chance to get to know the kids we'll be working with this year (and vice versa) outside of the classroom...