Day in the life: Girl Scout camp

7:30am: Wake up 

There are no tannoy announcements on Girl Scout camps, they get themselves up the good ol fashioned way of an alarm clock or their counsellor 'mom' waking them up! Girls can also vote at the beginning of the week to do morning activities before breakfast. These activities start at 7am and vary from yoga, polar bear swim (morning swim) and a morning hike.

8:15am: Flag ceremony

All of camp attend the flag cereomy each morning, which is led by a unit of campers each day (on a rotational basis so every group has a chance). This is where the group pledge allegiance, raise the US and Girl Scout flag and say the Girl Scout promise.

8:30am: Breakfast

Breakfast begins with line-up outside where any important announceents for the day are made, songs are sung and graces are made. Grace is done before every meal time and isn't like a typical grace - think the Harry Potter theme tune, re-worded and sung to form a grace. All of camp sit and eat breakfast together, and girls can choose where they sit which is perfect to catch up with friends who aren't in the same unit as them. There are plenty of options for breakfast, a variety of cereal is always available, then there are hot main dishes that vary day-to-day such as pancakes & bacon, french toast, biscuits and gravy and more!

9:30am: Camp kapers 

This is time where girls carry out simple chores with their unit such as cleaning their cabins, but also helping with the main areas of camp where each unit does a different area each day e.g. pool house, dining hall, laying tables for meal times is one of them, and leading the flag ceromony is another. Cabins are inspected throughout the day and each day at dinner time, cleanest cabin is announced and its a competition who wins it the most, to recieve the 'golden dustpan award' and take home some prizes!

10am: 1st Activity

11am: 2nd Activity

Girls follow a schedule for the week where their activities are based on the programme they signed up for, for example; Girl Scout camp is typically run on a weekly basis, where girls sign up for specific programmes based on their age group. Our camp had around 5 programmes running a week, and each programme had themed activities to participate in relating to that programme, for example a week of water based activities involved canoeing, kayaking,  water crafts and extra pool time. Girls however, would also have the option to fill the remainder of their time with activities of their choice from ropes courses, zipline, free time, etc. Girl Scouts often run trip programmes too, so my camp had a few programmes that were based around theme park trips, water park trips, caving, white water rafting. One of the best things about Girl Scout camps is the flexibility girls have in their programming - as long as they do the activities that are set out in the programme guideline, they have the choice of how to spend the rest of their week...if they want to do a 30 minute hike, 30 minute of crafts, then spend 30 minutes just playing games...they can!

12pm: Lunch 

Just like breakfast, lunch begins with line up and grace outside, and consists of meals such as hot dogs, burgers, sandwiches, etc. 

1pm: Turtle time (An hour of rest/quiet time)

This is time given to the girls to relax - girls usually recieve their mail during this time, can write home, hang out in their cabin with their friends, or play quiet games/activities. 

2pm: 3rd Activity

3:30pm: 4th Activity

One of the two afternoon activities is scheduled pool time, as this is usually the hottest period of the day and allows the girls to cool down and have fun with their camp friends. The other afternoon activity is usually something that requires more time, for example; zip lining, ropes courses, canoeing etc.

5:15pm: Flag Ceremony

All of camp join together again to put the flag down for the day.

5:30pm: Dinner

Dinner is run just the same as breakfast and lunch, and has things on offer such as spaghetti, meat roast,  tacos and much more. Salad bar is on offer for every mealtime, along with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Something else Girl Scouts do, is cook their own meals over a fire, with their cabins. On my camp, we had 3 meals other a fire. Wednesday dinner, Thursday breakfast and Thursday lunch. Meals over a fire consisted of things like hot dogs, pie iron pizzas (my favourite), walking tacos and whatever else the girls could think of with the available ingredients...not to forget a whole lot of S'mores! 

7:30pm: All Camp Activity

Usually between dinner and all camp activity, campers are given free time to hang out in their cabins, do another activity or use it as shower time. All camp activity starts at 7:30 and the whole camp participate in activities such as talent shows, capture the flag, campfires and more! It's a great time to meet with people you're not typically spending the day with and getting that last bit of energy out before bed-time. 

8:30pm: Snack and camp dispersed

Following on from the all camp activity, all campers and staff head to the dining hall for an evening snack, then each unit does their own thing whether it's a night activity, showers or back to the cabins.

At the end of each day, campers and their counsellors usually sit as a unit to reflect on the day, share positive thoughts and discuss the next days plan of action, then it's lights out and ready to rumble for another day! 

So that's the day in the life of a Girl Scout camp, not all Girl Scout camps will follow the same schedule/ideas however typically Girl Scout camps run on week based, themed programmes so will follow a similiar kind of structure.