Sixth-grade camp is a week of discovery and fun not only for the Sixth graders but the high schoolers. They will carry the skills that they learned with them for the rest of their lives.
Owen Intermediate School plans a Sixth-grade camp every year at YMCA Camp Copneconic in Trenton, Michigan. The camp runs from the third to the seventh. Teachers, Mrs. Bias and Mr. Bogrow took over the process of planning the exciting week of camp this year. They first have to find twelve girls juniors or seniors and eleven boys high school juniors or seniors to be camp counselors. There were over 100 applicants according to Mrs. Bias. There were only two days of interviewing for the position and they had to get down to twenty-three counselors. Through a hard process that was based on the interview and recommendations, they had some hard decisions to make.
Sixth-grade camp is meant to be a time for bonding and strengthening relationships between sixth-graders and high schoolers to create new memories with people they would have probably never met before or talked to in school before camp. When camp counselor and Senior Ella Garland was asked why she wanted the position to be a Sixth-grade camp counselor she said, “I loved camp when I was in Sixth grade and wanted to be a role model for kids like my counselors were.” This shows that Sixth-grade camp left so much of an impact on her life when she was in Sixth-grade camp that she wanted another kid to have the same experience she had.
Sixth camp is also supposed to leave a lasting impact and bring out new skills and face fears or even just learn something new about yourself, through making fires, ziplining, or even just working in groups to create something and not just for the kids but the counselors as well. When asking camp counselor and junior Eddie Henry how sixth grade changed him as a person and what is something he either learned about himself or learned in general he said, “Being a counselor at Sixth-grade camp helped me not only discover my patience but also further develop my communication skills just by spending the week with them.”
Of course, sixth-grade camp doesn’t just leave a lasting impact on the counselors but the sixth graders themselves. During the week of camp, they learn new skills like how to make campfires or how to collaborate in groups and how to face fears they might not have even realized they had at the start of camp, all while having fun and making new friends along the way. According to National PTA, the skills that children learn and gain during the sixth grade are one of the most important for college and career readiness. Sixth grade is a very vital age in a child’s life and the skills they learn at the camp not only help them get ready for the future but help them face fears and discover something new, by getting them out of their comfort zone even if its just for a couple of days.
