Overnight Spring Break Camp

ON HOLD UNTIL 2022

2019 EVENT MINISTERIUM II DESCRIPTION:

This is a “flash back event” where participants explore the history of the fantasy world of Etheraz by role playing important historical figures. In this immersive setting, we learn that history is created by a collection of perspectives. In some cases, the historical record is altered or forgotten, and we must discover the truth by living it. We must become a detective, and use our intellect and emotional intelligence to collect artifacts, observe cultures and clues, and gain multiple perspectives in order to find our own truth.

At this event, youth will not play their usual Etheraz players. They will create a new character to fit into the setting and explore the past. Ministerium focuses on the origin of the Heroes Guild itself, the original members of it, and the challenges they faced.

This event will be a five day residential vacation experience for ages 10+. It will be a mixture of event time and workshops, culminating in a 24-hour in-game period.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

What is happening?

Our residential April Vacation camp consists of a fairly consistent weekly schedule that mixes
camp-wide activities, enrichment classes, open activities, and in-game modules. Players are dropped of on site on Sunday evening. Once all students have checked in and finished this activity, we hold a camp meeting to go over our community principles, specific camp rules, and the weekly schedule.

Monday and Tuesday follow the same schedule, though class subjects and activities vary day-by-day. Before breakfast, students are woken by their cabin leaders. After breakfast, we have our morning classes taught by our counselors, with assistance from core staff members. Students take these classes roughly according to their cabin groups (adjusted for even class numbers) and rotate between the staff members each day.

These classes take us right to lunch. After that, open afternoon activities begin. Students are given a wide array of classes under the guidance of an L.A.P. instructor. Classes have included improv acting, herbalism, sneaking and roguery, tracking, wilderness survival, model-making, arts and crafts, special effects makeup, wizard-themed chemistry, and more. 

These classes lead to dinner. After dinner, students have an hour of free time to ready themselves and get centered before the game. Students are encouraged to spend this time quietly and restfully, instead of as casual social time. Evening activities on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays consist of in-game modules. During these modules, the students take on the role of their LARP characters, and are free to explore the dynamic plot crafted by our staff members. These modules offer opportunities for both camp-wide in-game activities and age-appropriate modules that scale up or down for camper maturity and parent request. After the module is over, campers are sent to bed immediately and are overseen by their cabin leaders to make sure everyone is getting enough sleep.

Wednesday and Thursday are slightly different. It is largely a ’24-hour’ game period in which the campers experience the plot in a hugely immersive roleplaying environment. We end earlier on Thursdays, and spend the usual evening module time (7:00-11:11) to either pack up, for those leaving, or clean up, for those staying the weekend.

Friday contains closing ceremonies and packing up camp before check-out.

Who will be there?

You can find out more about our core staff members HERE. They run our “Monster Camp.” They are in charge of making the event run – they craft an engaging story, set up art installations and scenery, and direct all the NPCs that your child will interact with over the course of the camp. We also have “Counselor Camp,” which consists of our experienced counselors. They will play the game alongside the youth, supporting them and helping them with the LARP as well as their real-world needs. We also have a number of Non-Player Characters, also known as NPCs, to help set up, clean up, and play the friendly creatures and nefarious villains that your youth will interact with within the game.

Are adults CORI checked?

All adults who walk on site are CORI/SORI checked before they can begin their
employment/volunteering. In addition, we renew these checks every year to make sure we are kept up to date. All staff members are personally interviewed by the Director and Office Manager and usually come from past community involvement (graduate students, parents/guardians, siblings, etc).

Hazings and abuse?

We hold to a strict set of community principles that encourage modesty, courtesy, integrity, self control, perseverance, and an indomitable spirit. These are a key part of the school year and summer curriculums. In the ten years that we have been doing youth programming individually, and the more recent years that we have offered youth programming as an organization, we have never had a case of internal hazing or abuse. We attribute this to 1) the commitment of all our community members to the principles that we teach, and 2) our preparedness to respond to such situations. In order to uphold those principles, we have daily camp meetings with all youth and we have adult supervision at all times, including in the cabins themselves.

What is the ratio of youth to leadership position?

We hold to a strict 1:10 counselor to youth ratio on-site. In fact, in past years our ratios have been closer to 1:5, thanks to an excellent staff and great community support.

Is there a set bedtime?

Bedtimes can be set by parents prior to the event or at check-in, or they can be left up to youth. Our night activities can end any time from 10 p.m. to 12 a.m. We are happy to encourage early bedtimes, but we find that youth are often very self-regulating and reasonable with their bedtimes. Due to the exciting and involved activities happening all day long, most youth are exhausted and fully prepared to sleep at 10 or 11 at night.

Is there a local hospital or ER?

Depending on where we hold our event, there will generally be a hospital within a fifteen to thirty minute drive of the site. We also have First Aid, CPR, and CERT Safe trained staff present at all of our events. In years we have been running weekend events, we have never had to call an emergency ambulance.

How many youth sleep in a cabin? How are they supervised there?

The campers are grouped by age and gender, in addition to one intern / counselor per cabin. Counselors stay with the youth all day long and participate in the role playing alongside them, forming close bonds with the youth. Group bonding activities contribute to excellent counselor-camper bonds. Most campers identity their counselors as their favorite staff members by the end of the camp session.

All payments are non-refundable, you are purchasing a ticket to an event. This event will run rain or shine.