|
|
|
Schedule
Caring ... Honesty ... Respect ... Responsibility
Participants arrive at Echo mid-afternoon, are greeted by our staff members, and meet their counselors and group members.
The afternoon consists of a rotating schedule designed to help participants learn important rules and procedures, complete the required swim evaluation, go through the health check-in.
After making all the necessary stops on Main Camp, Rangers head out to the Birches.
Once at the Birches, the group is able to make their living space their own and begin to form their own community.
|
Rangers make Their own Schedule
|
Rangers is a unique program that designed to be flexible and tailors to the needs and goals of each group.
By living at the Birches, which is a in a self-contained space in the woods away from Main Camp, Rangers are able to design parts of their day through group discussion and consensus.
With Rangers Directors facilitating a productive discussion, your group will create their own goals and a schedule for the session.
Instead of entering a pre-designed program, you and your group members will be the driving force behind a two-week experience that results in a tightly-knit, thriving community.
Your group may choose to plan an all-teen gathering at the Birches, participate in an environmental activity, take a short bike trip, play sports, or do an on-camp service project.
The flexible design of the Rangers program empowers to make appropriate individual choices, stick to goals, and play an integral part in a community.
Depending on the group, each Rangers session takes on a new feel and has a unique experience.
Even though the group largely determines the Rangers experience, the program is embedded with several consistent experiences to ensure its success.
Your group will have plenty of time to build cohesiveness through initiative games, the team elements course, and the high ropes course.
As active members of the community, you will share in the duties of the upkeep of your wilderness site, cooking meals, and campfires.
You will have the opportunity to bond with your group off camp property by embarking on a three-day canoe trip (weather permitting) on one of Michigan's local rivers - most likely the Pine River.
You will also be able to reflect on you own personal growth and development by spending a night in the woods by yourself (the SOLO).
For the first week and a half, you'll prepare for your SOLO by taking large group nature hikes, small group explorations, and "still hunts" (spending small amounts of time alone at your chosen location).
As a culmination of these preparatory activities, you will be encouraged to spend the night alone.
Throughout the evening, counselors will check on you to ensure your safety.
However, they will try to maintain the integrity of your SOLO experience by not making themselves noticeable.
The SOLO is a unique time of solitude, reflection, relaxation, and simplicity - a contrast from the rest of your Rangers experience.
The SOLO outing is optional and can be tailored to address the concerns of each camper, adhering to the "challenge by choice" ethic that guides all of Camp Echo's adventure-based activities.
On the morning of departure, participants make a final breakfast at the Birches and load their gear onto a tractor that will bring it to the busses.
After breakfast, the group hikes to Main Camp to prepare for depature with the rest of camp.
At 10:30 camp time, participants load the busses, which depart for the McGaw YMCA in Evanston promptly at 11:00 camp time (10:00 in Chicago).
Each participant is provided with a sack lunch for the bus ride home.
Bus progress towards Evanston is posted on the internet.
Please follow the bus updates link on our home page.
Back to ...
Rangers
|
|
