COVID-19 UPDATE
We are operating at the capacity of 30 students per week for Summer 2021. Campers are being separated into small groups based on chosen activities and age. This page will be updated if more information becomes available during the camp season.
2020 recap
We are so thankful to have successfully operated Abigail Academy in 2020! Our campers, more than ever, needed to be together and enjoying our hands-on activities alongside counselors and other children. We operated 8 sessions, split into groups of 5, and socially distanced all groups in order to keep everyone safe with same counselors all day, masks, changing clothes, and seperate wash stations. We learned so much and we are grateful for the families who signed up in 2020! Instead of the larger group structured style of camp we’ve run for 10 years, we gave each group of 5 a schedule of activities, led by their own counselor. This was an unexpected well loved environment for every age of our small group, especially the life long Abigail Academy campers who expected larger and louder groups all week, so overall many campers enjoyed the activities more than they thought they would! There were many positive lessons learned from 2020 that we expect to implement in future seasons. Since all activities at Abigail Academy have always been with small groups and inside and outside, we felt confident we could run camp without spreading the virus. We did not have any cases amongst our camper population, we feel very strongly that extra hand washing, changing clothes, cleaning surfaces, and being outside often helped us tremendously!
Plan for 2021
We plan to return to our original style of camp in 2021 within the KY guidelines (masks until June 11th, then no masks) in addition we are including some well loved changes that we learned about with our campers last year: small groups with hands on structured activities with same small group counselors through out the day. Campers will still get dropped off in the morning carpool and have temperatures taken and attend classroom time for morning prayer, theme instructions, and then vote on daily theme activites this year. Campers will wash hands through out the day and get to select those theme activities of the day, work at a personal pace throughout the week to complete projects, while staying in a small classroom flow together with snack and lunch breaks, as well as afternoon show and tell opportunities for any parents wishing to come in and see the days work. We plan to be social media free for the first time during the camp day this year, and invite parents to come in every afternoon for photo opps, enabling each camper the chance to present and display what they have been creating all day at camp during 2021.
However, we know that anything is possible to change, and we know that after a safe 2020, we can adjust and overcome as necessary if other restrictions or health guidance are enforced.
Summary
In conclusion, while we are hopeful to return to our normal structure of camp, we want to make safe choices for your children and our community. We will continue to make adjustments based on local Covid cases, and work in step with our local health department to provide a safe experience for your children. Thankfully we have a blueprint for how to run a successful camp in our instructional small groups, and with much less capacity. We may not have to use our backup plan, but if we do we promise your children will have fun at Abigaail Academy in a safe environment. As always, we are here to teach your girls life skills while having fun and growing their confidence in a Godly environment. We will do everything we can to provide this experience to your girls, and support them in making new friends and being lead by our wonderful team.
