The deadline is arriving soon. Whether it’s the yearbook deadline or the lip sync competition, everyone works hard to meet that deadline. Campers from Oviedo high school practice their routine over and over again. Beauty and the Beat, by Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj blasts out of their teammate’s phone as the girls get into position. They bounce to the beat, their hopes high.
Every year, schools from all over the state of Florida and beyond come together to one convention with the same idea: learn more about yearbook and journalism. This camp gives the yearbook staff from around the state to join, learn, and bond. Being around for around 30 years, people still go to the convention, eager for the traditions to start. So, no matter when you start attending, all of the unique experiences can be your own too.
There are many things that happen at Camp Orlando, and each one is special in their own way and each one has a different place in different people’s hearts. Lawton Chiles Middle School 8th grader Sadie Slater has been coming to Camp Orlando for 2 consecutive years now.
“Camp Orlando is a really fun learning environment, and I have so much fun every year.” says Sadie, “ I look forward to coming to camp throughout the year to have fun and to learn more.”
During the camp, everyone one of the campers gets to learn about a chosen subject, called their core course. It is selected prior to the camp, and is something that most people look forward to, since it is meant to run up their alley. Campers really enjoy their core classes, as Hagerty High freshman Bella Zimmerman tells us,
“My core class is really interactive and there’s a lot of free time to build and work on what we need to.”
Along with learning things in their core classes, they also go to breakout classes. Breakout classes give you a break from your main core classes, and just allow you to take a little break from intense thinking, while still doing the main purpose of the camp: learn a variety of things about
“I really enjoy my breakout classes,” Mitchell High sophomore Jena Kassam tells us, “It’s like a breath of fresh air,”
“And they’re really fun,” Mitchell High junior Hailey Iken adds.
While work is important, the thing that everyone remembers is the fun. Fun is something that everyone looks forward to. It’s something that makes people feel happy, energized, and gives them a great experience to share. Fun is the reason why memories in Camp Orlando live on forever.
Though everyone’s opinion on fun is different, a common thing that people have been waiting and anxious for is the lip sync battle. This is a tradition of Camp Orlando where each school chooses a song to lip sync to, and, of course, add their own spin to it. Most schools have taken the dancing route, where they spin and whirl to the song while mouthing the lyrics. Their goal is to add enough pizazz to impress the people watching them and get enough votes to win it all.
Oviedo high seniors Peyton Wright and Daniela Pollack are psyched for the lip syncing competition.
“We are going to smash lip sync tonight.” Peyton says excitedly, “We’ve been literally practicing since day one.”
Nicole Deridder, an 8th grader from Lawton Chiles middle school is excited to see others perform. “I’m so excited to see them perform. I’ve seen everyone practicing and they seem so talented. No matter if they win or not, I am so proud of the team that is performing for my school.”
It has been said that the lip sync challenge is meant to work on everyone’s teamwork skills, yet be entertaining and exciting. And just like that competition, another one happened early on in the camp called the T-shirt competition. This time, the overall goal is to be as creative as possible. Each school has one T-shirt and allows one person to model. Every school took a different approach, and each came out unique to the people who were making them.
Overall, Camp Orlando is an experience that even though everyone will remember differently, it is still loved and appreciated. Whether it’s a competition or class, the camp is filled with fun. From the lip sync competition to the spirit flag handover, the numerous exciting events are enjoyed by many of the campers. The Vice-Director of the camp, Adam Livesay hopes that the activities motivate campers to do their work and learn more about making yearbooks.
“Everyone being here, and being excited to learn more about journalism, is just so great.” Livesay says.
Learning more about making yearbooks and newspapers is a big part of schools, and Camp Orlando is helping to teach campers more information, in a fun way!
