Which Session Should I Choose?
There are more similarities than differences between sessions of NBTSC, but if you're confused, we hope this page helps.
Oregon 2-week session
2010 will be our first year combining the former sessions 1 and 2 into a single longer session.
Why a 2-week session?
For many years, campers have asked for a longer camp. A large number of campers attend both Oregon sessions -- in fact, when we've offered to host an unlimited number of people at Camp Myrtlewood for the 3 days in between sessions, we've had as many as 65 campers attend both. Because so many people come to both sessions anyway, we feel the time has come for the schedule to reflect this reality. Also, while we can appreciate the benefits of both a shorter and a longer camp session, at this time we're particularly interested in what a single longer session could offer: the chance for people to get to know each other better, and an opportunity to fit more activities into the schedule while also creating more down time and open spontaneous time.
Over the long haul, we expect that combining sessions will also save money (fewer bus trips, etc.) and thus help us avoid raising our fees.
How does it work to attend just one half of the Oregon session?
Because we want to make this transition as easy as possible for campers who have previously attended only one Oregon session, for the next few years we plan to offer a limited number of spaces for campers who are able to come for just one week. Here are a few things to know about attending for one week:
- "Halfies" will be grouped with other "halfies" in advisee groups. (People attending the full session will remain in the same advisee groups for the duration.)
- Evening events will not repeat--that is, there will be one trust circle, one prom, etc. (As always, we will have several talent shows.) However, both weeks will begin with games or other fun group activities and a shared intention to create a fresh start, and will culminate with some kind of celebration or ritual.
- Projects will take place during both weeks -- most likely 2 days of projects during the first week, and 3 days during the second week. "Halfies" will be able to participate in 2- or 3-day projects, whereas full-session campers can mix and match 2 shorter projects or join one 5-day project.
If you are thinking about coming to just one week in Oregon, and are curious as to what will happen when, here is the most likely scenario as of January 2010. This is not a guarantee of any kind, just our best guess at this point.
- First half: staff show, field trip to the coast, bonding night, live music and dance jam, banquet and dance party.
- Second half: trust circle, project presentations, prom, shared intentions and closing ceremony.
If you have questions about Oregon (or attending half versus all), please email Grace. We may update this page from time to time with FAQs.
Vermont Session 1
You might say that Vermont Session 1 is the "classic" NBTSC session: in one week, you get all the traditional ingredients (talent shows, workshops taught by campers and staff, advisee groups, prom, trust circle, bonding night, etc.). We think it will be better than ever now that we are upgrading to a different site on the Farm and Wilderness property. Tamarack Farm, our new home, offers a heated, light-filled lodge and a fabulous playing field for soccer, ultimate frisbee, etc., as well as indoor and outdoor spaces equivalent to those at Indian Brook, where we stayed 2006-2009.
Vermont Session 2, a.k.a. "Wild Card Week!"
Wild Card Week is our opportunity to play with new ways of being true to the old spirit of NBTSC. If, to you, NBTSC couldn't be NBTSC without (for example) the trust circle or without the workshop schedule looking the way it usually looks, then this session might be too disorienting for you. But if you would relish the chance to experiment with new ways of sharing ourselves vulnerably with each other, or with different ways to assemble a cornucopia of skill-sharing amongst campers and staff, then do please join us.
In 2009, here are a few things we did during Wild Card Week:
- Prior to camp, each advisor chose a theme. (Blake: travel, Matt: games, Ethan: natural history of Farm and Wilderness, etc.) Prior to camp, we shared this list with campers, and campers chose their own advisee groups. Then, each group co-created a day together. Some days included lots of workshops, others flowed around several longer activities. Natural History day had the intrepid collecting plant specimens and snakeskins in the rain; Jasmine's movement day began with a circus; Denise's food day culminated with a sumptuous, elegant banquet.
- Evan's group planned a crazy, wonderful, slightly chaotic adventure in which late at night, under the full moon, we all canoed out to an island where we sang and roasted marshmallows.
- The next night (after our elegant banquet) we watched a movie and had a slumber party in the lodge.
- As usual, we also danced, dressed up, made a lot of music, and instigated plenty of spontaneous magical moments.
Will we do these same exact things in 2010? Nope. Wild Card Week is wild and fresh every year. As our plans for 2010 coalesce, we may post them here.
Attending both Vermont sessions
In 2009, many campers attended both sessions. We welcome you to do so, and offer a $75 discount for both. It's possible that in the future we will offer to host campers during the 4 days between sessions, but we're not ready to take this on for 2010. (It's actually a tricky project, as we've learned in Oregon, since staff really needs their own downtime and it's not easy to temporarily hand over the job of supervising and kitchen coordinating...) We suggest that you return to your own home or to the home of another camper for some R&R.