You are invited to learn about a Teen Summer Camp inNorthernHuntingdonCountyrun by Jud & Anne Millar:

 Stone Mountain Adventures!

 Stone Mountain Adventures(SMA) is an coed, overnight summer camp for teens ages12 to 16.  We offer the following activities for young teens: 

• Outdoor Adventure Activities
• Traditional Sports
• Water Sports
• Creative Arts
• Community Service

 SMA will be providing a free, informational slide show and Q & A session for families this Sunday, February 12th at theSpringCreekEducationBuildingat theMillbrookMarshNatureCenter.  The address is548 Puddintown Road,State College, and I will begin slide shows at 2:30 and 3:30.  Feel free to come anytime between 2-4 p.m. if that suits your schedule better. 

What: Free SMA Summer Camp Informational Slideshow and Q & A Session

 When: Sunday, 2/12/12 between 2-4pm

 Where:MillbrookMarshNatureCenter (548 Puddington Rd,State College,PA)

 If you cannot attend the slide show, please feel free to contact me by phone or email if you have any questions. 

 Warm regards,

           Jud Millar

I have pictures on my phone to upload to the blog, I just have tp figure out how to get them off my phone!

Here is the link to the site: http://sma-summers.com/camp-activites/land-adventure-activities

Here it is on YouTube:

By Russell Roeder

I think every parent should figure out a way to get their kid to a sleepaway summer camp. They should go for at least a week (two would be better), and certainly before the child turns 12.

Summer camp is about more than fun, argues Russell Roeder.

Kids need to get out from under their parents’ wings to spread their own. Whether it’s soccer or baseball or dance lessons or music instruction or karate, our kids spend nearly every waking hour of every day being transported from one highly supervised activity to the next. 

As parents, we’ve come to believe that all these structured activities somehow serve the dual purposes of building character and learning about focus and teamwork.

To some extent this is certainly true, but what parents don’t consider is the simple fact that the highly structured and hypercompetitive nature of these activities stifles the most precious and promising elements of childhood: creativity and the joyful freedom to explore, experiment, stumble, recover and succeed on their own terms, and without the unspoken but omnipresent pressure to please us — their parents.

Disagree if you want, but I am pretty sure that if you’re honest you’ll admit that by the time they are 10, every kid has a fairly well-established place in the pecking order of the classroom and school yard. For the 10 percent of kids who are the combination of gregarious, athletic, good looking, funny and smart, this is wonderful. The other 90 percent face the uncertainties of how and where they are going to fit into the increasingly stressful social order.

As well-meaning parents, we do everything we possibly can to get our kids into a better and more competitive position in the social chain by signing them up for all those highly structured activities that we assume will give them a sense of success and bolster their self-esteem.

The problem is that I just don’t think you can manufacture self-esteem in kids. It is a personal discovery. And the more we as parents do to fill their days and structure their lives, the less time and opportunity they have to themselves to find it on their own.

What kids need is a place where they can learn about themselves without the continuous doting eye and well-intentioned judgment of their parents. They need to feel the weird and beautiful exhilaration that comes when you realize you are a stranger among strangers in a safe place and have nothing to lose or prove. You get to discover and be who you really are — not who your schoolmates, teachers and parents expect — or hope you will be.

Russell Roeder

It doesn’t matter if you’re especially good at soccer or dance or karate. What matters is that you’re willing to cooperate in a group of your peers, find ways to have fun and solve problems and care about the people you are living with. When these are the things that matter, growth and genuine self-esteem follow.

I started going to a summer camp when I was 9. I finished as that camp’s program director when I was 21. It taught me honesty, caring, respect and responsibility. It gave me confidence I never would have discovered in the classroom, school yard or even in the loving home I was blessed to have. It gave me lifelong friendships that have continued to this day (I’m 58). It provided a basis for a long and successful career in the health care industry.

Most importantly, it taught me that collaboration is a more effective way to achieve success than competition. I cite this as the most important lesson of camp because our country is in trouble. We need less competition and more collaboration. We need to get our kids to camp because we need a generation of leaders and citizens who are interested in solving complex problems — not just winning battles.

Christmas is coming. I bet your kid (or grandkids or nieces/nephews) already has a house full of laptops, video game equipment and smartphones. Consider giving them the gift of freedom and discovery. Send your kid to camp next summer. 

Russell Roeder of Mechanicsburg is the president of Skipstone Consulting.

November 5, 2011

We have made our Camper & Staff Reflections Packets available on our web site.  Right now we have SMA1, SMA2 and SMA3 from 2011 and SMA1 from 2010.  In the weeks ad months to come we hope to make more available online!

 The Reflection Pactets are located under the ”ALUMNI”  Tab                                                                          
Click HERE to go to the Reflections Pakets on our web site! 

 What is a Camper & Staff Reflection Packet?

On the last full day of the session we asked each member of our group to take a few moments and reflect about his or her experience at Stone Mountain Adventures.  Staff then take time to write about each activity that we do and we combine these along with group & cabin pictures into on big file.

Here is an example of one “Camper Reflection”:

Felice Oltuski, New York, NY, Age 16

Summing up the way I feel about SMA is virtually  impossible but I have to give it a try… Coming to SMA my first year I had just finished my freshman year of high school; I was shy, awkward and overall uncomfortable with who I was.  I came here needing a fresh start, a place where I could simply start over but what I got that summer was so much more.  SMA didn’t let me “start over” instead SMA embraced who I already was and helped shape who I wanted to become.  It became my safe haven where I could be crazy, silly, outgoing, quirky, and even a place where I could embrace multple identities  like “Sheneyney” or “Felix”!  It terrifies me that after 3 years of coming here and knowing that I’ll always have my SMA family to lean back on that it’s over and I can’t come back.  But if there’s one think I’ve learned from you Jud is that SMA surpasses the farm, trouble rock, Diane, Music Jam & all the other awesome activities… SMA is something within us.  It’s something we embody when we let ourselves be silly, when we challenge ourselves on adventure activities, & when we accept & love one another for just being out true selves.  Jud, Anne, Counselors, campers, support staff, dogs, cats, horses, chickens: you have given me more than I could ever ask for in my time at SMA.  I only ask one more thing: please, Please, PLEASE keep the incredible, magical spirit of SMA alive so people can continue to experience the magic of SMA like I have.  Campers: enjoy every minute of camp, it goes by way too fast.  You are all my sisiters & brothers & I hope you know home much I care about all of you.  Just remember to embrace who you are because if there is ever a time to be yourself, to discover yourself, it’s here at SMA.  You won’t regret it, in fact it may just be the most important thing you ever do… trust me, I speak from experience!

October, 23, 2011

Brenton Mitchell, right, and Adam Hoffman both of State College slap hands as Mitchell crosses the finish line of the Tussey Mountainback 50-mile relay and ultramarathon National Championship on Sunday, October 23, 2011. Both men ran for Team Appalachian Outdoors. The race benefited the Bob Perks Cancer Assistance Fund which supports local families in need.

Read more: http://www.centredaily.com/2011/10/28/2966765/this-week-in-photos.html#ixzz1eSeXCkGR

1st Session (SMA1) Sat 6/23 – Fri 7/13 (21 days) $3575
2nd Session (SMA2) Sun 7/15 – Sat 7/28 (14 Days) $2475
3rd Session (SMA3) Mon 7/30 – Sun 8/12 (14 Days) $2475
5 Week Option (SMA5) Sat 6/23 – Sat 7/28 (36 Days) $5950
4 Week Option (SMA4) Sun 7/15 – Sun 8/12 (29 Days) $4850
7 Week Option (SMA7) Sat 6/23 – Sun 8/12 (51 Days) $7000