June 23 2012 – July 13, 2012

Tuition: $4120

The GLI grade seven program gives girls the skills to manage their middle school years with grace and courage. Our grade seven campers learn the art and science of how girls relate to one another. Most importantly, they develop an arsenal of choices for how they can respond in a variety of social situations. Campers leave GLI with some of the best friendships of their lives, and the tools to seek out and nourish real friendships back home.

Life at GLI
The Seventh Grade program is a 3-week session packed with empowering and exciting memories. More time at GLI means more time to learn, play, laugh and grow!

Every girl is different. For some, this is a first trip away from home. Others are veteran overnighters. Our low staff-to-camper ratio allows us to get to know EVERY girl and set her up to succeed. The process begins before the girls even arrive, when we carefully look at applications and roommate forms to select roommate matches. Grade seven has three residential counselors who make life at GLI a blast, from their morning music mixes to nightly “love note” writing.  Our mornings are full, with interactive workshops, small-group meetings and community discussions. In the afternoons we relax a bit more, enjoying free time, fitness choices and art projects.

Workshops
Our seventh grade program teaches girls to recognize and take advantage of the choices we have the power to make every day. We focus on personal values as the foundation on which all important choices are made.

One tough choice facing many seventh graders is the conflict between personal values and the pressure to be popular. Campers deconstruct the rules of popularity and reflect on how they want to navigate these unavoidable social power structures.

The workshop curriculum follows two tracks, allowing girls to explore themselves as individuals and in relationship with their community and culture.  The in-depth curriculum gives girls skills to practice forming healthy friendships with their sisters in the GLI community.  These friendships are a model for the relationships that they build outside of camp. 

Project
At the start of the session, each girl chooses a creative project to focus on for ten days.  Guided by teaching artists, campers play, improvise and create unique works of art. If they love their project they can do it again for the next 10 days and develop expertise. If it’s not for them? No worries, they can pick a new project. Last summer’s projects included: photography, theater and improvisation, creative writing, book making and more.

Trips and Events
In the seventh grade program we present campers with challenges to help them experience a sense of real mastery and accomplishment. We visit a high and low ropes course, take hikes and enjoy outdoor adventures.

We also just have fun and relax—that’s what weekends are all about! We head to the lake for a day, visit summer theater festivals and plan over-the-top July fourth celebrations. We finish camp with one big all-camp sleepover.

Food
Every meal is served buffet style. Campers pick from a wide selection of delicious options. Counselors eat with the girls to make sure that protein makes an appearance a couple times a day. We encourage girls to have at least two or three colors on their plate for lunch and dinner.

Schedule
We keep GLI campers moving!
• 8:45 – Theater games and improvisation
• 9:30 – Morning workshops
• 11:15 – Lunch
• 12:15 – Free time. The highlight of this time is mail! Letters and care packages are distributed, and everyone enjoys an hour of snacking on gummy worms, playing games, reading quietly or just swapping stories.
• 1:15 – Small group advisory discussions
• 2:00 – Pick your art project!
• 4:00 – It’s time to get moving. If it’s hot, we head to the pool. Other choices might include a short hike, yoga, basketball, Pilates, soccer, tennis and more.
• 6:00 – Dinner
• 7:00 – Evenings are 100% fun! Activities include game show night, scavenger hunt, mask making, jewelry making, a trip to the theater or movies, and much more.
• 9:00 – Love notes! Hall time, then we get ready for bed. An adored GLI tradition, Love Notes is the time where we gather in the hall, dance to GLI playlists, and write notes to fellow campers who made our day!

On the weekends, we love sleeping in, watching cartoons and eating breakfast in our PJs! After a morning of tie dye, crafts and bubble contests we might head to to the lake for the day, or snuggle indoors with hot chocolate and a movie.

If the stars are out, we might stay up late to find the Big Dipper.

For more information about GLI Summer Camp, please contact Marsha Philitas, Summer Camp Co-Director, at marsha@girlsleadership.org 866-744-9102 Ext 2.