Camp Conejo

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Camp Conejo Rocks

Camp Conejo 2012 was a huge success. We are underway, getting ready for camp registration for 2013. This year, camp will run from June 24-28th in Thousand Oaks. Our camp theme this year is "Brave." We will have archery, zumba, tons of crafts, basketball, dancing and we will be kicking off the first day of camp with a Luau, hula dancing and all! We are also proud to announce that Paula from Right Road Kids will be leading the girls in a workshop about empowerment and honoring their uniqueness. Last year, we had the local fire department come on the last day of camp and they hosed down the girls with a blast of cool water. It was so much fun. Engine 34 will be back this year to cool us all off again. We will have dutch oven cooking, making ice cream with kick the can, more games and a scavenger hunt. Last year, the board members that helped me were amazing. Jayme and Tammy ran a creative and amazing program. Heather handled registration beautifully, while Kelly ran an awesome outdoor kitchen with dutch ovens, box ovens and solar cooking. Other wonderful women on my board included Jennifer (Treasurer), Karen and Adrienne (PA Directors), Roxana, Sanaz and Noor (Program helpers), Tabbi (Volunteers), Maryam (Volunteers), Melissa (Camp nurse), and countless sponsors and parents who jumped in to help. We are excited about the 2013 camp and we will write more as we get closer to camp in June.

Ventura County Star Article 2012

About 220 Girl Scouts are participating in the new Camp Conejo this week at Glenwood Elementary School in Thousand Oaks.

Camp director Denise Burke, a volunteer unit manager for the Conejo Valley service unit, began working on a day camp for Scouts last fall. The "Going for Gold" theme represents the Olympics and 100 years of Girl Scouts.

With the help of about 40 adult volunteers, the Scouts take part in such activities as arts and crafts, yoga, Zumba, volleyball, Dutch oven cooking and box oven cooking — making an oven from a box, lining it with foil and charcoals and cooking in it.

Some of the other activities — developed by Jayme Hofteig, project director — were geocaching and a charity challenge.

The biggest hit seemed to be archery. The sport was the favorite activity for Kylie Chung, 9, of Thousand Oaks.

"This camp is really cool because you get to do a lot of stuff you don't get to do at home," Kylie said. "I also like painting and hanging out with my friends."

Anh Thu, 10, of Thousand Oaks, also named archery first on her list.

"I also like volleyball and basketball," Anh said. "At opening ceremonies we sing songs. We also have learned how to sew."

"I like volleyball, basketball and crafts and cooking." said Leah Luck, 10, of Newbury Park. "We cooked a muffin where the cup was an orange peel, which was really good."

Kate Waldman, 9, of Thousand Oaks, enjoyed making the camp journal but said archery was her favorite.

"It's so much fun," Kate said Kate. "Since we have the Girl Scout promise, the teacher shows us how to use our three fingers to hold the arrow."

Emily Richmond, 9, of Thousand Oaks, also loves the archery.

"It's something I've never gotten to do before," she said.

The girls will earn about 10 badges during the week.

Maya Alvarado, 11, of Simi Valley is a program aide. "I love hanging out with the kids and helping them and the parents with things," Maya said. "We tell ghost stories at snack and lunch, and the kids really like that, and I enjoy singing with them."

Monday, June 18, 2012

Going For Gold

Camp Conejo is almost here and I couldn't be more excited! Last summer when I was working for Girl Scouts of California Central Coast, I decided that the Conejo Valley needed to bring back their Girl Scout Day Camp. All I needed to do was to find someone to run it. I couldn't have been happier when I brought it up to Denise Burke and she jumped on board and got the ball rolling. Denise, along with 8 other wonderful volunteers formed the camp board from three service units and Camp Conejo began to take shape. Now that I am back to being a volunteer, I have been able to dedicate time to be one of the Program Directors for camp and I couldn't be happier. I am going to apologize in advance, I am going to misspell some of these names, but I just want to say thank you to the following 9 volunteers who have gone above and beyond to make this day camp possible. Quite honestly if it wasn't for Heather Novak, camp sign up would have been on a google doc sheet probably missing a lot of information. Heather has just AMAZED me by her organization and dedication to get all of the registration done efficiently and she is just so dedicated to this camp. She is just amazing and everyone will have the chance to meet her on the first day of registration. Did I mention her dedication? Jennifer Loyd is our camp treasurer and I honestly think she keeps our meetings grounded. Melissa Lapides, our camp nurse is also running all the first aid stations. She is also trained to teach first aid and CPR. Maryum M signed up to be our volunteer coordinator and recently we have added Tabbi Bigdeli to our Volunteer Coordinator list. The primary focus of their job will be to make sure that you the volunteer...get what you need. Renee, (ya I am not even going to try to spell her last name :) has taken on the boys unit and I also have to add that because of Renee we will have archery! Not only would I like to thank Kelly Greer for stepping up to be our snack coordinator, but she has also jumped into the roll of outdoor cooking coordinator and she has had some really great ideas! The last 2 people I want to thank for all of their hard work is Tammy Adams and Denise Burke. I want to thank them for taking on the BIG huge rolls that they did. Tammy has been working with me to create the programs and Denise is.....well running the show! Every step of the way has been nothing but fun and as we get closer and closer, I will continue to post more fun information. During camp I will update the blog every day with pictures and stories from the kids at the camp! Thank you for signing up and supporting Camp Conejo!! -Jayme Hofteig