Entering Grade 10-12 First Year: July 26th - August 8th, 2010
When you enroll in the GL Core program you are preparing to change your life. This program is for you if you want an expertise in relationships, communication and conflict, an understanding of the complex terms of femininity, and some amazing friendships. This program asks you to look at yourself, your strengths, your leadership style, and your challenges and habits–the habits you love and the habits you want to change. The GL Core challenges you to be vulnerable and to take personal risks in order to build new approaches to making mistakes, receiving criticism, and being assertive. You will be free to be your silly, crazy, authentic self and your amazing GLI friends will love you for just being you.

Life at GLI
We appreciate that you’ve chosen to take part in GLI. In return, we will give you choices. For example, you can choose your afternoon art project and you can often choose whether or not you want to go to fitness or evening activity. Life here is definitely different from spending the summer at home; you get up early, go all day, leave your cell phone behind, share stories and opinions, and live with 42 other girls. It is an intense, fun and transformative two weeks that makes you want to come back next year and do it all over again.

Workshops
These workshops are designed to meet the needs and the interests of our oldest campers. The GL Core program also asks you to think deeply about what influences you and what kinds of the relationships you really want for yourself. We will ask you to reflect on your choices and then push yourself to look at the emotions and thoughts behind those choices. We cover such topics as Raising Your Emotional Intelligence, Ending Blame, Three Reactions To Criticism, Overcoming Assumptions, Good Girl vs. Great Leader, Taking Charge of Your Internal Voice, and more.

Project
Campers choose between two two-week projects. Girls Make Movies is a two-week crash-course in documentary filmmaking. Campers choose movie subjects and then interview each other, tell each other’s stories, select music, and edit their films. Every camper goes home with her own short film. True Voices is a two-week playwriting and performing project where girls work together to create and perform an original piece of theatre. Past performances have included original songs, dances, poems, scenes and monologues.

Trips and Events
During GL Core there are both challenging trips and just-for-fun days. We try out our teamwork abilities on the low-ropes course and we face our own fears on the high ropes. There are also river crossing and raft building challenges to test our new-found communication and collaboration skills.

For fun we head to a lake to relax and enjoy magazines, music, and a bag of Twizzlers. We also may head into town for ice cream or to enjoy a matinee at a local theatres.

Food
Every meal is served buffet style. Campers pick from a wide selection of delicious options. Counselors are aware of what makes it onto campers’ plates and request that protein make 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. To help the girls develop healthy habits we don’t offer fried foods or soda.

Schedule
We keep GLI campers moving! We are on the go.
Here’s a sample day:

• 8:45 – Theater games and improvisation
• 9:45 – Morning workshops
• 11:30 – Small group advisory discussions
• 12:15 – Lunch
• 1:00 – Free time. The highlight of this time is mail! Letters and care packages are distributed and every one enjoys an hour of snacking on gummy worms, playing games, or just swapping stories in the gazebo.
• 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 nothing but fun. Some of our activities include game show night, scavenger hunt, mask making, jewelry making, a trip to the theatre or movies, and much more.
• 10:00 – Love notes! Hall time, then we get ready for bed.

On the weekends we like to sleep in and eat breakfast in our PJs. After a morning of tie dye, crafts, and bubble contests we head to Mass MoCA Art Museum and Natural Bridges Park, followed by pizza in the park, Herrell's ice cream and a night out at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. On Sundays we go to the lake for the day, followed by a bon fire with smores and singing.  If the stars are out we might stay up a little late and find the Big Dipper.