Director Jud's Blog

Dear Stone Mountain Adventures Families: 

Most children love animals.  If you grew up with a family pet, you know that they can be cute, fun-loving and oh-so-cuddly.  But did you know that having a family pet in your home can benefit children’s lives?

Research has demonstrated that having a pet in your home and having daily encounters with pets assists kids with creating positive qualities. A connection with a furry friends can help kids alleviate anxiety, teach responsibility, keep kids active and while making kids happy.  They same is true at summer camp.  We find that new campers who attend our overnight summer camp and interact with camp pets at least once a day assimilate to live at camp better.

What Animals Do We Have at SMA Teen Summer Camp?

There is a need to support the physical activities of the children as well as their mental well-being for the proper development of the children. For doing so, we should try to develop a growth mindset approach to everything, we do. Kids should be encouraged to make healthy choices and make sure that their academic curriculum is balanced with a variety of extra-curricular activities. Summer camp activities offer this balance for kids.

Camp Director and Owner Jud Millar will represent Stone Mountain Adventures at the Acton Camp Fair.  This will be the 27th year that the and it is sponsored by the Merriam Parent Teacher Organization (PTO).  The Thursday, January
23rd, 2020 from 5:00 - 8:00 p.m. at the Parker Damon Building, home to both Merriam and McCarthy-Towne Schools.  According to the Action Summer Camp Fair Committee "The camp fair committee strives to ensure attendance from diverse, prospective campers and their parents."

What: The Acton Camp Fare

When: Thursday, January 23 from 5 to 9pm

Where: The Parker Damon Building in Acton Massachusetts

Stone Mountain Adventures will be attending the Greenwich High School Summerfare on Wednesday, January 22 from 6 to 9pm. The Summerfare is a Camp Fair that is hosted by the Greenwich High School Parent Teacher Association (PTA). According to the Greenwich Sentinel "SummerFare is designed to give families an opportunity to find exciting and unique summer experiences for their children and teens for Summer 2020." They are expecting over day camps, overnight camps, teen camps, rock climbing camps and travel program to attend this years event.

What: Greenwich High School Summerfare

When: Wednesday, January 22 from 6 to 8pm

Where: the Greenwich High School located at 10 Hillside Road, Greenwich, CT 06830

Stone Mountain Adventures 2 Week Teen Camp Director and Owner Jud Millar will be at the Scarsdale High School Camp Fair.  The Summer Camp Fair will take place in the cafeteria at the Scarsdale High School from 7 to 9pm on Tuesday, January 21st.  This is a new date for the Scardale Teen Summer Camp Fair as is used to take place on the first Thursday after Thanksgiving.  At that time the Scarsdale Summer Camp Fair was considered the fair that kicked off the marketing season.

Camp Director Jud Millar will represent Stone Mountain Adventures at the 2020 Main Line  Camp Fair in Berwyn, PA!  Camp fairs are a terrific place to learn about summer opportunities for your child, meet camp directors and gather information about summer camps.

What: The Main Line Camp Fair

When: January 15, 2020 from 5.30 to 8pm

Where: Conestoga High School, 200 Irish Road, Berwyn, PA 

Stone Mountain Adventures is kicking of the 2020 new camper recruiting season by attending a camp fair at the Chapin School in New York City!

What: Summer Camp Fair

Where: The Chapin School

When: January, 9 2020 from 4 to 6.30pm

Making the decision about whether to send you child to a summer camp is a huge decision with important implications for your child’s future.  We are made up of our experiences.  A summer camp experience has the potential to provide your child or tween with a meaningful growth experience and can be an important part of their development.  These experiences are ones that they can carry with them into their lives.  Here we will look at six life lessons your child has the potential to learn at summer camp:

Challenge Yourself and Expand Your Comfort Zone

Another year is gone; it's finally past.
It sometimes seemed a grind, sometimes a blast.
Looking forward to a brand new year,
My source of joy and fun is very clear.

In all the happy times I can recall
People create pleasure most of all.
As I ponder the new year, each hour and minute,
I'm very glad my life still has you in it.

My appreciation for you is sincere,
So I wish for you a happy, bright new year.

By Joanna Fuchs

Warmest Wishes this Holiday Season!

The Countdown to Stone Mountain Adventures Summer 2020 is on!

Have you ever thought of climbing a cliff or going on an adventurous trip? If so then you should look further into the outdoor adventure activities.  In this article we will look at three exciting outdoor adventure activities: rock climbing, Mountain Biking and Backpacking.  

Outdoor Adventure Activities

It feels great to take part in Outdoor Adventure Activities be it rock climbing, backpacking or mountain biking. However, in order to do it safely you may need special training as well as specific adventure gear. They not only make you feel healthy but also bring out the inner adventurer in you because it is quite clear it is not everybody’s cup of tea to go out of their bubble and enjoy the world for good. So, if you are planning to go out these winter vacations, you should try some exciting and adventurous sports. Here we have compiled some of the sports that you can enjoy during your vacations which will make your experience worth the while

The Stone Mountain Adventures (SMA) Fourth Session was an incredible experience for all involved.  We have combined all of the photos that were take during each of the one week sessions into one awesome slideshow... enjoy!!

Gratitude turns what we have into enough...

Today we join the 7000 overnight summer camps and 5000 day camps in celebrating National Camp Day 2019!!

The sport of rock climbing is essentially the process of safely scaling an outdoor rock face or an indoor climbing wall from top to bottom. In this blog post we will explore 5 essential benefits you will gain from rock  climbing.

The following blog post was written by Beth Lewis:

I attended SMA for 3 summers (2014-2016) and they are still some of the best ones I’ve had. The fact that my parents let me fly from London to Pennsylvania for 3 consecutive summers so that I could spend it with my best friends is testament to that. I rocked up on the first day, was bombarded by people, and was pretty overwhelmed. It wasn’t like anything I had experienced before - these strangers were friendly. From that point I had nothing but fun and KNEW I’d go back as a councillor.

On Saturday, 9/7/19 the Access Fund hosted and Adopt a Crag event at Donation Rocks.  Local Author and Climbing Enthusiast Ken Hull was instrumental in the organization of this event.  He wrote the following “Thank You Letter” to everyone who was involved in making this incredible event happen.  Here is the letter:

“I want to take this opportunity to THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH for your time and hard work to improve access and trails within the Donation Rocks property!!! Not only was I thrilled with how hard you all worked, but quite honestly, I was blown away by the quality of the work and what an absolutely 100% difference it made in all four of the work areas!!! 

A few weeks ago a middle school group from NCCL returned a to Stone Mountain Adventures Teen Summer Camp.  This was their 8th year coming to Stone Mountain Adventures and by all accounts it was one of the best experiences ever!

Founded in 1971, NCCL is a small private school located in Delaware serving students in grades K to 8.  The tag line for NCCL is Small Classes, Big Ideas.