TPS Summer Camp – Paintball, Confidence Course, Climbing Wall, Campfires + More!

TPS Summer Camp 2023 registration is open!

TPS Summer Camp 2023 is June 4-10 at Miracle Mountain Ranch in rural Pennsylvania. Spend a week with TPS friends doing activities like paintballing, craft shop, confidence course, archery, team sports, horseback trail rides, team games, rock climbing wall, sporting clays (shooting), horsemanship lessons, and more!

Meet TPS teachers and staff. Parents are welcome to come and relax or participate in select camp activities, and there is optional programming just for parents. There is also some family housing available for those who want to bring younger kids. At the end of camp, everyone is invited to the TPS Graduation ceremony.

When is TPS Summer Camp?

June 4 to June 10, 2023 (arrive between 3:00-4:30pm on June 4 and depart 9:00am on June 10).

Who is eligible to participate in Summer Camp?

TPS students, their siblings, parents, and friends. Students must be entering grade 7 in 2023 (min age 11 years) up to graduating high school in 2023 (max age 18 years). Younger children are welcome to attend camp with their parents in a family cabin. TPS grads from prior to 2023 are welcome to participate in the week as volunteers at a reduced rate (please contact us at SummerCamp@pottersschool.org prior to registering to discuss what volunteer opportunities are available).

Where is Summer Camp located?

Miracle Mountain Ranch in Spring Creek, PA. We are excited to offer you this opportunity in partnership with MMR, who has over 50 years of experience in offering excellent Christian camps and events for teens, adults, and families. The leadership and staff at MMR hold values consistent with those of TPS. For more information, visit them at mmrm.org.

What kinds of activities does MMR offer?

Craft shop, ropes confidence course, archery, team sports, trail rides on horseback, lots of creative team games in the field and gym, rock climbing wall, a hayride, sporting clays, paintballing, horsemanship lesson, and more! (Additional fees apply for sporting clays, paintball, and horsemanship.)

What are the opportunities for parents?

Parents of campers are encouraged to share the excitement of the week with their kids, while also using the camp as their own relaxing break or a chance to get a little work done in a laid-back setting (there is sufficient internet for email and web-browsing – no streaming). Most of the activities are open for parents to participate with the kids if they choose, and the after-dinner game each day is specifically designed for parent participation. Everyone is encouraged to attend evening chapel.

There is also optional special programming just for parents, including worship, prayer, Bible teaching and seminars on home education topics like transcript-building, college selection, TPS course selection, and more. On the first night, parents choose topics from a list (or suggest other topics) for the education seminars. The topics that are most requested or suggested become the optional parent seminars for the week, so parents get to design their own week!  There are also opportunities for one-on-one meetings with TPS advisors.

What are the accommodations?

Campers will be housed in bunkhouses on the MMR campus. There will be 6-10 campers per cabin, with cabins grouped by age and biological gender, and two counselors in each cabin. Campers may make rooming requests when they register (not when they arrive), but due to cabin size and age-gender grouping limitations some requests may not be accommodated.

Parent accommodations will be in bunk houses with other parents (males and females housed separately). We have a limited number of private family bunkhouses for parents bringing young children, but they go quickly. Request one when you register.

Gender, Age, and Social Considerations

The camp is offered as an inclusive social, relational, and spiritual opportunity for students to build platonic friendships outside of cliques, exclusivity, or social hierarchies. Single event gatherings based on shared interests (e.g., TPS French students eat at the same table for a particular meal) will be encouraged and supported. Exclusive groups (e.g., small group of students who spend all unscheduled time together exclusively) will be actively discouraged. “Couples” behavior, both physical and non-physical, between students will be proactively prohibited for the entire duration of the camp, even if the students are in a long-standing relationship and both students have parental approval to behave as a couple.

For security, safety, and privacy reasons, bunkhouses are segregated by biological age group and gender. Bathhouses are segregated by biological gender. The camp is a rugged and rustic setting with no facilities or provisions for other age or gender considerations. There is also limited family housing available for parents with small children (below camp participation age), but family housing may not be used to include older students (i.e., students old enough to be registered as a camp participant). A certified camp staff adult will be assigned to each bunkhouse, but no other adults (including parents) will be permitted in the student bunkhouses.

Photos, Devices, and Privacy Considerations

Devices distract students from the rustic context and relational opportunities of the camp, and also introduce privacy concerns where photos, videos, and information about others may be recorded without their permission (or knowledge). Students are not permitted to bring computers or tablets. Phones are permitted, but they will be held for safekeeping by the camp staff. Students who bring phones will be given access to them for a short period each day to call parents (students may also use a camp phone to call parents, so they are not required to have their own). For those who want photo and video memories of the week, camp staff photographers will actively shoot photos and videos all during the week and make the content available for download at the end of the camp.

How do I register?

https://pottersschool.wufoo.com/forms/tps-summer-camp-2023-registration/

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