Today was spent at the Autism Society of North Carolina’s main offices in Raleigh.

I was very surprised at how large the office actually was with around 40 employees working there. How the Autosm Society supports these employees is through their large network of donors and fundraising events. My first task was unwrapping Christmas presents!! These presents were donated last December, but never unpacked to send to families affected by autism. I got to take inventory and help assign the presents to certain families.
Next, I worked writing thank you cards to the many donors that donate to camp Royall. Not only individuals, but many well known businesses donate. Autism is becoming more and more common with 1 in 59 NC children being affected and donations to research are so important to help understand this rise in cases.

Next, I was able to help insert names and contact information into the large data base of donors. Even though my tasks today weren’t as fun as at Camp Royall they are so important to help places like Camp Royall function!

– Fiona

Today was my last day at Camp Royall :(( After setting up the Courtyard Art for campers, I worked on organizing the Arts and Crafts activity with the other Activity Directors. The theme for the day was “The Circus” which means crafts included cotton candy painting, lion masks, and clown coloring sheets. Another activity that day was boating and after helping get out the boats I actually got to help lead the activity! I got to tell campers and their counselors what each station was and play with campers at the bubbles and corn hole stations while they waited for the boats.

After lunch, I helped with the evening acitivity which was set up to look like the circus to follow the theme. The playground was covered in a parachute to look like a circus tent and circus music was playing while activities included a “flying trapeze” or a zip line and a face painting station. This was by far the best activity I got to help out with! After cleaning up the amazing activity directors I have been working with for the past two days presented me with a going away gift.

I am so grateful to have been able to volunteer at such an amazing place! I will definitely be going back to volunteer this summer and hopeful will go as a counselor in the future!

– Fiona

Today was another day of training with day campers and I again got to help our leading activities. The first activity of the day was courtyard art, which included bubbles and chalk drawings on the porch near the dining hall. The next activity was held at Shady Circle, a circle of benches placed in the middle of a shady patch.

Here, counsellors lead campers in a couple of fun campfire style songs to provide a break in the day. Next, I got to help with the horses! The camp doesn’t have its own horses, but has partnered up with a local farm to bring in three horses every Tuesday for campers.  The different activities including petting the horses, walking around with a horse, and painting horse shoes. There was even a cute little baby horse for smaller campers. The last activity of the day I helped out with was Music and Motion. This activity includes songs, games, and  movements to relax the campers. Below is a picture of the set- up along with two Activity Directors; Seth and Sarah.

The campers had lots of fun in this activity especially. This was yet another fun day at camp!

– Fiona

Today was the first day at Camp Royall where Day campers arrived. Although the camp hasn’t official started, this week is called training week for new counselors this year. Fifteen campers came from about 10-4 and were paired up with one hands-on trainer and three observing new counselors. I got to help out setting up, leading, and breaking down activities that the campers participated in throughout the day. I first helped out in the Arts & Crafts activity where campers were giving three different crafts with a Disney theme. Below is a picture of the Arts and Crafts Center.

Next, I helped with the Gym activity which helped let the campers get some exercises through walking, stretches and playing with a parachute. After lunch, I helped setting up for a Dinosaur themed evening activity, which in this case was held in the afternoon to give campers a sense of a normal day at camp. The different activities there were so creative and they included a Dino ring toss (pictured below), Dino tag, Dino chalk art, and even Dino yoga!

Then, I was allowed to go around and take pictures of the camp for my blog posts, since unfortunately I can’t take any pictures of the campers. I did find this amazing painted sign in the playground though!

-Fiona

Camp counselors were arriving at Camp Royall today, which meant that they were doing mostly “get to know everyone” type of activities. Instead of driving out, my day was devoted to learning as much about Autism as I could. I went to the library and picked up these books to use as resources which I spent most of the morning reading in the CA library.

Dr. Mac also sent me a link to “Autism: The Musical” which follows the lives of 5 autistic children and their parents as they organize a musical production. This movie was available on YouTube, so I watched this to learn more about the varying types of autism each of these children has. I also found a book in the CA library titled “Born on a Blue Day: Inside of the Mind of an Autistic Savant”, which was the autobiography of Daniel Tammet a man with savant syndrome which means he is not only autistic, but has mental capabilities far beyond the norm. In Tammet’s case, he is able to perform complex mathematical problem in a matter of seconds and associates shapes and colors with numbers. He references the classic movie “Rain Main” in the book which led me to do some research on the movie. Although I was unable to watch it, I read the plot and watched the trailer to find it is a story of an autistic man and his brother. These movies and books are all great example of how the media is an amazing way to raise awareness for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

-Fiona

This morning, I cleaned off yoga mats the campers use for an activity called Music and Motion. It was explained to me that since kids on the Autism Spectrum often are very sensory oriented this activity allows them to combine the listening of music with dancing.

Then, Mrs. Allen came by to visit the camp and see what I was working on. Jada, the volunteer coordinator, helped explain what Camp Royall was like as well as how my work is preparing the camp to open in two weeks. After, I began labeling all of the mailboxes for counselors in the staff lounge. Since they hadn’t been used since last summer, I had to dust them off a lot as well. I also helped clean out the kitchen in the staff lounge for the remainder of the afternoon and some of the summer counselors arrived. So far, I have only been working with directors and assistant directors (a group of 15 or so), but there are about 50 staff in total that will be working here this summer.

The actual campsite is gorgeous and the large campsite allows for many animals such as two ducks that are residents year round. Overall, a fun and productive day!

-Fiona

Today at Camp Royall, I worked mostly on sorting out binders as I did yesterday. Once I realized what was missing in each one, I had to find the correct components in the arts and crafts area. Many simple things such as expo markers and construction paper were limited though as the camp relies mostly on donations for their supplies. For the second half of the day, I cut name tags and laminated them for counselors and other staff during the summer. The counselors all ate lunch together, so I enjoyed talking with them about past summers at Camp Royall. They each have specific kids they are really fond of and can’t wait to see again this summer. I wish I wasn’t already busy this summer so I could help out, but it’s possible I could volunteer for a week or two.

– Fiona

Today was my first day working at Camp Royall: a camp that specializes in working with kids with Autism Spectrum Disorder. My first job was helping set up for a Special Needs class from Carrboro High School that was coming in as a field trip. The first activity was boating which consisted of helping the kids into either a big row boat or smaller paddle boats and letting them boat around the small lake. Then, we set up a campfire and sang campfire songs which all of the students loved. My favorite part though was the hayride we took all around the camp. I wasn’t expecting to be able to interact directly with these amazing kids, but I’m so glad that I was able to hang out with them. What I learnt was how wide the spectrum is for kids with Autism. The varying symptoms and degree of the neurological disorder is why Autism Spectrum Disorder is often referred to as an umbrella term for different types of diagnosis including Asperger’s, classical autism, and high-functioning autism. After the school group left around 1:00, I was assigned to sorting out binders for every counselor that comes to camp this summer. It was quite a tedious job, but an important one as the binders allow counselors to create a visual schedule for each individual camper.

I learnt that kids with autism are often very visual and might really like the structure and order which they get through schedules. Overall, I had a great first day!

-Fiona