The sounds of summer have almost fully returned to the Greenbelt Youth Center after two years of non-traditional summer camp due to the Coronavirus pandemic. After a virtual format in 2020 and a half-day camp last year, Camp Pine Tree campers are enjoying their first full camp days since the summer of 2019. The only significant difference in this summer’s format is the omission of weekly Tuesday field trips. However, campers and staff alike are enjoying the return to a full schedule packed with traditional camp favorites.
Because the staff is comprised of mostly veteran members or former campers, the positive camp environment has refilled the rooms of the Youth Center and its environs. On a typical Monday afternoon at Camp Pine Tree, campers may be adorned in face paint as they compete in a game of Australian Escape – a camp original similar to Capture the Flag – on the grass of Braden Field. For the younger campers, Wednesday afternoons culminate in a two-hour swim session, while the elder groups enjoy free swim time on Fridays. All campers also participate in swim lessons multiple mornings each week.
With many of the staff members having attended camp since their days in some of the youngest aged groups such as Sugar, Lodgepole or Loblolly – each group is named after a variety of pine tree – the camp staff has focused on recreating the magic of previous summers, while
inventing some of their own. In addition to the whole-camp activities, the campers cycle through a daily schedule of arts and crafts, sports, group games and variety hour. Additionally, camp staff has scheduled in-house entertainment throughout the summer while also organizing hands-on activities, to ensure each camp day both physically and mentally engages the campers. Longtime counselor Jenna Whelan’s Camp Pine Tree mottos are “Try everything once” and “Smile, it’s camp.” And with a full summer, it can be assured that campers are regularly trying new activities and they are definitely smiling.
