Leadership Training Program for High Schoolers & Cabin Compound Night!

Today on the Camp Balcones Springs blog, we’ll be talking about our Leadership Training, or “LT”, program for high school campers!

Boy campers and girl campers who have finished the 10th grade participate in our LT program for their summer at camp. The LT program is part of our High School Programs Department and bridges the gap between the Senior Camper (Scamper) year and the last camp year on the Work Crew. LTs have a whole host of duties and special activities during each session. LTs run both the CBS Post Office – where we distribute all camper mail, packages, and emails – and the Oasis Snack Shack – where campers gather every afternoon after our rest period to get drinks and snacks before heading onto the second half of their daily activities.

At Oasis, the LT campers serve snacks and drinks to the rest of camp, helping campers move through the line smoothly, keeping the snack shack stocked, and cleaning up the Thicket Area, where Oasis is held, once the time is over. The LTs also update the Oasis Phunanza schedule which shows which special activities will be open that day during Phunanaza, the free period that happens after the final two activity class periods of the day.

In addition to their daily responsibilities, LTs also have the option to become lifeguard certified during their session and participate in team building exercises, take special workshops with visiting speakers and instructors, and help teach classes and coach Team Comp, shadowing counselors to help the LT campers learn what it would be like to return to Camp Balcones Springs one day as staff.

This week, LTs began their term with a series of ropes course team building exercises to help connect them together and build a spirit of leadership and camaraderie they can build on as they work together to serve camp over the next two weeks.

After a day full of Tuesday activities, including boating on the lake, rock-climbing, and arts and crafts, campers participated in Term 2’s Cabin Compound Night. Compound Nights are an opportunity for campers to hang out with the other young people in their age group.** (“Compounds” are what we call each grouping of cabins on the Balcones Springs grounds, organized by age and gender.) Each term, our Leadership Compound Heads plan a litany of unique events for the campers in their compound to take part in on Compound Night.

This year’s line-up did not disappoint! B Compound (elementary school boy campers) hosted an epic water fight, complete with squirt guns, a slip n’ slide, dunking tubs, and water balloons.

Meanwhile, C Compound (elementary school girl campers) hosted an episode of Extreme Makeover: Disney Edition, working in teams to make over famous characters from Disney movies, including Shrek, Belle from Beauty and the Beast, Ariel from The Little Mermaid, and characters from Encanto. The night was full of glitter, hair spray, lipstick, and of course, everyone’s favorite Disney tunes. Shrek took home the grand prize.

D Compound (middle school girl campers) had an exciting photo scavenger hunt across camp! Campers worked in cabin teams to capture photos of iconic camp landmarks and people – including our beloved camp dogs and full-time staff members – as the sun set.

E Compound (middle school boy campers) had a Counselor Hunt across a large section of our property. Counselors camoflagued themselves, and campers worked in teams with their cabins to find and capture their counselors and earn points.

High School campers (F Compound) enjoyed a relaxing beach party at Lake Ted’s Balcones Beach. The night consisted of an evening swim, grilled snacks, a giant Jenga game, frozen slushees, sand volleyball, and cool music.

Be sure to check Waldo and our summer camp Instagram page for more photos from Compound Night!