Last night, 9-11 campers and counselors enjoyed the last SEP dance of the summer. The theme was rat kings and witch queens - inspired by Steve's infamous rat king character on the Counselor Dating Game. The dance was truly a royal ending to Session 3 of SEP. 

On Sunday night, Session two campers and counselors took to the field for 9-11 field day.

In teams, they rotated through five stations that required them to skillfully carry ping-pong balls on wooden spoons, toss water balloons, pass a hula hoop while holding hands, squeeze soaking sponges into buckets, and complete a complicated relay race that included a crab walk and squawking like a chicken.

In between rounds, campers gathered in the center of the field for dance contests and counselor impressions. Regardless of the score, everyone had fun!

The Mental Challenge is one of the best-loved traditions at SEP. Combining problem-solving, team-bonding, and silliness, the Mental Challenge captures a lot of what's special about SEP.

This year's 9-11 mental challenge required campers to make an umbrella out of 8 plastic cups, 10 popsicle sticks, 2 arm-lengths of string, 3 arm-lengths of tape, and blue paper. The creations were judged based on quality of design, functionality, style, and mystery.

Megan, a counselor, evaluated the umbrellas by pouring a cup of water on each team's representative counselor while the counselor used the umbrella to try to keep dry. Then, in round two, the umbrellas had to withstand two cups of water. MegDo's team claimed the Session Two victory with an effective and stylish paper umbrella. 

An SEP tradition, the Counselor Dating Game features wacky characters, probing questions, and failed attempts at match-making. Counselors pretend to be characters like Krunch the surfer, Todd the full time dad and father of eight, Southern Brad, and Ryan (whose answer to everything includes an obscure animal fact).

In character, the counselors answer audience questions in the hopes of gaining the affection of another counselor, this time the lovely MegDo. Session Two questions included: What is your most prized possession? and If you were the last person on Earth what would you do?

​Although MegDo failed to find her perfect match, the counselors succeeded in making the campers laugh and that's the real purpose of the Counselor Dating Game. 

Gulping Gargoyles! Session Two courses are already well underway. To add some magic to the middle of the first week, counselors dressed as wizards. The whisper on the street is that there may be more Harry Potter fun on the way - we'll have to wait and see! 

This year's session one talent show featured several amazing suite skits and one show-stopping guitar solo act. As always, the 9-11 campers and counselors gave it their all and created some high-quality entertainment. Below are some snapshots from this one-of-a-kind SEP experience. 

The campers were a hard act to follow, but the counselors closed out the show with a song. 

After the talents show, the 11th grade (Junior) campers presented the counselors with the coveted Paper Plate Awards. With their sincere speeches, creative award titles (e.g., Most Likely to Have a Succulent as a Class Pet;  Most Likely to Adopt a Hairless Cat and Put it in a Sweater), and lots of hugs, this was arguably the highlight of the night. 

Sunday afternoon on Hereford Field, Session One campers competed in the field field day event of the summer. Divided into 11 teams, each hungry for victory, the 5-8 campers rotated through 5 exciting stations. 

To determine the field day champion, the counselors report their scores and the two top scoring teams faced off in an intense game of water balloon toss. 

Bri and Alex's team (the 330s) claimed victory with Chris (a.k.a. Waffles) and MarDo's group coming in second. The winning team celebrating by a friendly water balloon fight with the counselors. Fun was had by all. 

We have videos of the winning team's celebrations and we're working on uploading them to this site. In the meantime, enjoy the photos above! 

Click through the gallery below to view and read about a few pieces created by students in the 5-6 course, Traveling Artists, taught by Kate Peeples. 

The pieces below were created by students in the 7-8 class "Anything but Canvas: Making Art Through Science."  The collages were inspired by Henri Matisse's "Beasts of the Sea," and are meant to depict a term or concept from life science/biology. The mobile was inspired by Alexander Calder's mobiles. Students studied his process of designing and constructing mobiles, as well as the engineering required to install one of his large-scale mobiles (specifically, the one in the East Wing of the National Gallery). 

On Friday, students from Engineering: Storm Monitoring Systems learned that there is much more to Dell pond than meets the eye. Although it looks like a simple duck pond, Dell pond is actually an important source of storm-water management for the surrounding area. 

A concrete and stone passageway connects a small natural stream to a portion of the pond specially designed to catch and filter sediment. Engineers designed the pond to manage storm waters after heavy rains while also reducing pollutants in nearby waters. 

Students compared the velocity of the water in the natural stream to the water's velocity in the man-made stone channel.  They learned that the area of the stream or channel that the water is flowing through affects the velocity of the water. Jeff Sadler, the teacher, explained that the flow is always going to be the same, so if the area is different then the velocity of the water must change. This relationship between flow, velocity, and area is a critical component of storm monitoring systems. 

After a week of learning about storm monitoring systems, students were able to see storm-water management in action. They also witnessed how complex engineering can work in harmony with nature. Who knew storm-water management could be so beautiful? 

Dr. Kerrigan explained that years of research about how the human body moves led to the development of OESH shoes. Based on her research, she determined that shoes would be healthier if they had a completely flat sole. She showed the students the difference between OESH shoe's flat sole and the curved sole and higher heel of other shoes. 

OESH shoes are also special because of the materials used to make them. The springy soles of OESH shoes are both recyclable and biodegradable. The soles of typical tennis shoes, on the other hand, can take thousands of years to decompose.  The students were able to feel the material in pellet form and also touch discarded soles. The discarded soles will soon be made into new OESH shoes. 

Dr. Kerrigan explained how the injection molding machine transforms the pellets into soles using molds. This is the only injection molding machine in Charlottesville! 

Dr. Kerrigan and her team also make soles using 3D printers. Although printing the soles takes much longer,  it is more versatile and doesn't require a mold. The students were able to watch the 3D printers at work and take home samples of the printed material. 

Renata Germino, the ​Imagination and Innovation instructor, said that she hopes students left the factory with a greater understanding that inventing is a long process - it's difficult and requires a great deal of research as well as a willingness to be constantly changing and improving your ideas and products. By hearing from Dr. Kerrington and seeing her work, Renata hopes that students will be inspired to keep inventing, not to give up, and to become more aware of all the interesting things going on in the world. Before coming to the OESH factory, students may have never considered how their shoes are made or what materials are used, but now they will! They now have a new perspective on invention and on this aspect of their daily life. 

Many counselors have said that creating, performing, and watching skits is one of their favorite parts of the SEP experience. Over the course of the two-week session, the counselors put on a lot of skits. The purpose of the vast majority of the skits is to creatively and memorably introduce the classes. 

Here's a sample from the 5-8 afternoon classes. 

SEP administrators and leaders have been working all year to ensure that SEP is a wonderful experience for each camper. During the week before SEP begins, counselors and teachers begin preparing intensely for the campers' arrival.  This week of excitement, anticipation, learning, bonding, decorating and lesson planning is called Orientation Week or O-Week. 

A first-time counselor, Tory, explained that the purpose of O-Week is to prepare and train counselors, both new and old, to understand how the camp works. Alex, also a new counselor, added that O-Week events help the residential staff bond as a team so that they can better serve the students when the time comes.

For the counselors, O-Week events include creating elaborate, themed suite decorations, completing a ropes course, learning camp rules and procedures, tie-dying t-shirts, asking questions, practicing the camp games, making new friends, and asking more questions. 

For teachers, O-Week means getting the first glimpse of their classrooms, unpacking and setting up supplies, polishing lesson plans, touring the Saint Anne's Belfield campus, and sending copy request after copy request to our wonderful program coordinator, Melody.

First time SEP teacher, Robby, is bursting with excitement to teach the curriculum he developed this summer. Alex can't wait to watch his campers perform in the talent show. Tory is most excited about creating skits to introduce the classes. Everyone is excited to meet the 2016 campers.