An example of a Yurt Village

This new program will provide leadership orientation for all Dudley Aides. After this orientation, Aides will return to their cabins and campers better prepared to fulfill their leadership roles. The Aides Experience of the last 10 years focused primarily on building leadership skills through outdoor education. This is only one part of an Aide’s summer.  While outdoor experience will continue to play an important part, the new program will provide training in the four pillars of daily life at Camp Dudley- Arts, Athletics, Spiritual and Outdoors. It is simply a well-rounded and all-inclusive approach to an Aides’ summer and our effort to better support our youngest leaders.

Part of the vision of a forest playground at the Camp Dudley Yurt Village

Aides will arrive 3 days before Opening Day, check in at the office and then head out to the new Aides Leadership Village. The 3 yurts that Camp Dudley purchased last summer will be taken down this spring and rebuilt on Camp property in the Stacy Brook Wilderness. The Yurt Village will, in the future, also be model for environmental sustainability. The Aides will live and sleep at the Yurt Village, taking ownership of this amazing place and program. Click here for a complete itinerary for the first and second sessions.

Outdoor Program Director Scott Steen scouting Dudley wilderness outings

At the village, the boys will be split up into 3 groups, about 10 boys per yurt, and settle in. The next two days will be filled with small and large group activities, a service project building the first elements of the “Ewok village” forest playground at the Yurt Village, and readying themselves to greet parents on opening day. Aides will have the chance to meet with their cabin leadership teams before opening day and to discuss the upcoming summer. They will join their respective cabins for breakfast on opening day, and spend that day shaking parents’ hands, helping campers to settle in, and assisting with the first night vesper.

Aides Experience leader, Mollie Farnham, in the Stacy Brook Wilderness standing at the site of a yurt.

The following day, the boys will finish preparation for the wilderness portion of their Aides Experience and head into the woods that afternoon.  Each of the three groups will be paired with two veteran Dudley leaders and Staff. Incoming Aides can look forward to a trip with Mollie Farnham, Bill Harper, Tom Arnold, David Langston (Lang Fu), Bob Langston (Fu 2) or Scott Steen. These very experienced staff members are Dudley’s finest in terms of outdoor education and wilderness safety. All 3 groups will head off to the Adirondacks for 5 days of outdoor adventure and leadership training.

Young leaders and young campers on the Cub Diamond

The boys will return to the Yurt Village after the 5-day wilderness portion of their Aides Experience for a final 2-3 days of group activities in further preparation for becoming an active leader in a cabin. While the Aides are in the midst of their 10-day orientation, spending much of their time talking about the cabin that they will soon join, the cabins themselves will make sure to support their Aide and to prepare themselves for his upcoming arrival. From D-heads and cabin leaders making visit to the yurts, to shared vesper planning and letters from campers to their Aides, the cabin and Aide will stay connected even while they are out having an amazing time at the Yurt Village and beyond.

A gathering and a celebration outside a fellow Dudleyites Keene Valley yurt.

For the following remainder of the session, each Aide will be back in the cabins with their campers. Aides will take on the traditional role as part of the cabin leadership, beginning by leading a vesper their first night back. These Changes in the orientation to Dudley Leadership will help each boy in the following ways:

• Increase their self-reliance in the outdoors and give them the tools they need to lead cabins and outdoor trips in the future.
• Provide intentional leadership development with a standard curriculum in a group setting.
• Provide a set of practical applications, giving Aides a chance to play a larger leadership role on camper hikes and canoe trips and also give them a better understanding of how to help out with the four program pillars.
• Provide each Aide sound leadership mentoring and check-ins throughout the session- including feedback and evaluation in a formal setting so that they will know how they are progressing.

North Point, Camp Dudley, summertime…

As storage space is limited in cabins, we ask that campers bring ONLY what is listed below. One nice outfit with flat shoes is needed for end-of-session banquet. All other clothing and shoe wear should be appropriate for use at athletic activities. Please do not send expensive items.

NO Cell Phones, TV’s, IPods with Video and NO FOOD!
We suggest that after you pack, you tape this list to the inside of your daughter’s trunk to refer to at the end of Camp.
* Girls are not permitted to use sleeping bags in their cabins. Their use is confined to hikes and trips.

* Boys are not permitted to use sleeping bags in their cabins. Their use is confined to hikes and trips.
Camp Dudley campers live in cabins. Each boy has a bunk bed with a mattress and a closet for keeping his clothing and personal effects. A small sized trunk (no larger than 34” length x 14” height) is recommended for sending his equipment and belongings, and a duffel bag for bulky items, e.g. blankets. We recommend two trunk keys, one to be turned in at the Camp Office upon arrival and one for your son’s use.

David, Caleb, Anna and Jonah Florence

The Rev. Anna Carter Florence, #19230
Decatur, Georgia

The Rev. Anna Carter Florence #19230 of Decatur, Georgia began her career in Minneapolis as a Presbyterian youth minister. She taught at Princeton Theological Seminary in the mid-90s, and in 1998 was named the Peter Marshall Associate Professor of Preaching at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur. Dudley Chapel attendees have enjoyed hearing Anna speak on several occasions.

Said Anna, “One of the things I like most about Dudley is that it has kept resurfacing in my life in different forms. Friends spoke of it first, in hallowed tones (Ian Clark, Wayne Meisel, John Brust). My mother walked around the grounds once and telephoned me immediately to say the boys simply had to go there. Dudley was almost a cliché with my spouse (the Reverend David Carter Florence) and me before we even saw it: what was this place, a cult?! We weren’t at all sure . . . until my sons Caleb and Jonah became campers, that is. And from the first, we saw and understood: Dudley is different. Best of all, it has become an integral part of our family’s life because it has helped my sons to discover who they are.”

Anna will serve on the Compensation, Program, Diversity and Risk Management Committees. “What I bring isn’t a wealth of camp memories or financial assets. But I do bring a newcomer’s perspective, a knowledge of spiritual development among adolescents and adults, a breadth of ministerial experience, and the fierce love for Dudley my sons have imparted to me. I believe in this place and its leadership. I believe in the young men and women it nurtures. If I can help Dudley to grow from strength to strength, I am glad to serve.”

 
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