Date: July 9 - July 15, 2023
(7 days and 6 Nights)
Price: $349 (2023-2024 Girl Scouts)
Ages: 8 - 17 at the time of camp
Location: Camp Goodwill (Camp 1) In Dumfries, VA
Enrollment Status:
3/26 - 23 slots available out of 80
Description:
Due to the degree of the immersive experience, it is strongly recommended that you enjoy fantasy, solving mysteries, using your imagination to make-believe, and going on dungeon crawls.
This camp is a live-action role playing (LARP) experience. With LARPing, participants physically act and pretend to be their characters as they seek to achieve a series of goals within a fictional setting represented by the real world while make-believing with each other. Previous attendees have likened this to a real-life video game and/or immersive movie.
During the Summer Session term, your actions and decisions throughout the day will directly influence your journey during the week as well as the story to come for years down the road. Think of it as the ultimate choose-your-own-adventure. The interactive world is brimming with adventures to be had, villains/monsters to be battled, and mysteries to be solved.
Note:If you have any questions or encounter any problems, please reach out to Ash, the camp director. She is more than happy to help!
If you have an existing account on GSVSC Camp Brain, you will be able to log in. If you forgot your password, there is a reset password option.Step 2: Please select “Trefoil Academy of Magery and Sorcery: The Summer Session (Payback)”.
If you are new to GSVSC Camp brain, you will complete the fields of “New User Set Up” and create an account. It is located in the middle-right hand side of the screen.
While GSVSC HQ prefers payment via a credit card or debit card, it is understood not everyone is able to pay by that method. If you need to pay by check, please reach out to trefoilacademy@gmail.com asap for the check code.Step 6: You will need to submit the cart and pay a min of $10 for the registration to go through. Once you check out of the cart, it will auto-send an invoice to trefoilacademy@gmail.com.
In order to access a scholarship or financial aid opporunity, the camp registration will need to be completed with a min of a $10 deposit.
Families are strongly encouraged to apply for financial assistance early because all GSVSC affiliated camps share the same pool of money.
Here is the Financial Assistance Instructions & Application.
The turnaround time is approximately two weeks. The guardian will be notified of financial assistance eligibility status and next steps. If awarded, the guardian will need to return to GSVSC Camp Brain to pay the remaining balance of summer camp registration fees to keep the slot.
Please see the Registration FAQ to learn about the process and the answers to some common registration specific questions.
If you have any questions or encounter any problems, please reach out to Ash, the camp director. She is more than happy to help!
Once the invoice has been received, a confirmation & welcome email will be sent from Ash, the director.
It will contain a link to the student community center (your centralized hub for information/post enrollment forms + tracking sheet), your student ID number and more.
Refund requests must be made in writing by the parent/guardian and must be received by the director, and the director will confirm the receipt. If you do not receive confirmation within 48 hours, please contact the director again.
Starting | Ending | Slimes 1 & 2 | Slimes 3 & 4 |
---|---|---|---|
8:00 AM | 8:30 AM | Students Get Up | Students Get Up |
8:30 AM | 9:15 AM | Breakfast | Kapers |
9:15 AM | 10:00 AM | Kapers | Breakfast |
10:10 AM | 11:10 AM | House Time | House Time |
11:10 AM | 12:00 PM | Activity 1 | Activity 1 |
12:10 PM | 12:55 PM | Lunch | Slime Mischief |
12:55 PM | 1:40 PM | Slime Mischief | Lunch |
1:50 PM | 2:40 PM | Activity 2 | Activity 2 |
2:40 PM | 3:10 PM | Activity 3 | Activity 3 |
3:10 PM | 3:40 PM | Gathering W/ Snacks | Gathering W/ Snacks |
3:40 PM | 5:40 PM | Adventure Time: Dungeon Crawling |
Adventure Time: Dungeon Crawling |
5:50 PM | 6:35 PM | Dinner | Free Time |
6:35 PM | 7:20 PM | Free Time | Dinner |
7:25 PM | 8:05 PM | Evening Activity | Slime Time | Evening Activity | Slime Time |
8:10 PM | 8:40 PM | Showers | Showers |
8:40 PM | 9:00 PM | Slime Night time Routine | Slime Night time Routine |
Individuals will be sorted into one of four houses:
There will still be a house competition this year because house members will be assigned to different Crunchy Slimes based on one's relative age.
Houses will have a dedicated house period each day. This is to provide time for the house to bond and carry on their traditions.
Towers in each Crunchy Slime will be grouped by houses as much as possible.
Houses will also have a house community board in the Great Hall where they can leave messages for each other.
Students will also get to see some of their other house mates in other slimes during meals while evening activities are with the entire camp.
The units, Crunchy Slime aka Slimes, will be organized by relative age. There will be members of all four houses present and buddy requests made through the camper preference survey will be honored as much as reasonably possible.
At the academy, we believe that actions have consequences, and inaction is an action. Because this is an interactive universe, it seems only fair to allow the decisions of one slime to directly impact the other slimes and as well as the level of difficulty of their objectives. These impacts can be both positive and negative. For example, taking care of a patrolling set of Westgaards could make it easier for another slime to be successful on a stealth mission. Failing to notify another slime of a discovered hidden pit could result in that slime falling into a pit.
Furthermore, slimes will be able and encourage to chatter to each other via walkie talkie. You will be able to eat meals with another slime, and evening activities are with the entire camp.
You have been accepted into Trefoil Academy of Magery and Sorcery for Gifted Young Mages. Students from around the world flock to Trefoil Academy to receive specialized training in a wide range of subjects beyond what is normally found in their wizarding schools back home. Are you ready to begin your advanced instruction in the magical arts?
Each day tells a chapter in a story. After hearing the story introduction for an activity, the slime will have a chance to vote as a team on the level of the difficulty that they would like to try. The level of difficulty does alter the objectives as well as the possible rewards if the team is successful. The outcomes of their efforts will then impact the next activity, unlock new opportunities for other slimes, the dungeon crawl for that day as well as Friday's. The success counter resets each day. The day builds up to a dungeon crawl, which can be done via tabletop or LARPing.
Slimes will not necessarily have the exact same activities. Activities will be tailored by age and interest. This is why we request that camper preference surveys be turned in as soon as possible.
Each Crunchy Slime (aka unit) is being lead by a dedicated set of faculty members. However, one of them is guilty of a terrible crime. It is up to you to figure out who the villian is in this who-dunnit mystery.
To learn more, please visit:
A dungeon crawl is when a group of adventurers navigates a maze-like environment. They battle various monsters, loot any treasures they may find, and seek to achieve a particular objective. An adventure may use any object that is on them. This can be a protective amulet that was made during an elective or even the flashlight that was in their day bag.
Furthermore, there are two implementation styles of dungeon crawls. You will have an opportunity to select your preferred style when completing your student parchment forms. The implementation styles are:
New or relatively inexperienced to dungeon crawling? Please do not worry! We all were brand new at one point or another. We teach.
To help get you started before the Summer Session begins, please check out:
Evening activities are currently planned be with the entire camp.
There are also optional evening activities that are offered. These activities are not recommended if you do not like being scared. (You will be able to sign up for them when you are completing your student parchments. The early sign up allows us to create fright groups and schedule a time for the adventure in advance.)
You are about to step into a live-action roleplaying experience. Live-action roleplay (LARP) is where participants physically act out and pretend as their characters. The participants work together to seek to achieve a series of goals within a fictional setting represented by the real world while make-believing with each other.
During the Summer Session term, your actions and decisions throughout the day will directly influence your journey during the week as well as the story to come for years down the road. Think of it as the ultimate choose-your-own-adventure.
Trefoil Academy of Magery and Sorcery exists in an alternate Harry Potter universe. (The reason we do a recreation rather a reenactment is that it is hard to go on the ultimate adventure if you already know the outcome.) Are you ready for an adventure that is full of mysteries, plot twists, epic battles, and an ultimate showdown between good versus evil?
Our story finds the academy in some truly dire straits. We are being framed for a crime that they did not commit. (No really. We are innocent. Trust us.) The International Confederacy of Magery (ICM) is normally an honorable and respectable organization. However, they are now threatening to rip up our academy’s charter and disband us permanently if we do not return the accuser’s stolen property, the Heru Cipher, by a certain deadline. To make matters even worse, our accuser is our long-time nefarious nemesis, the Westgaard Bloodline. They have wanted to see the academy destroyed for quite some time.
Did a member of the faculty go rogue? What really happened to the missing cipher? What is really going on with the ICM? Furthermore, it has historically never been a good idea to give the Westgaards something they were after . . . but our charter is on the line. How are we going to figure our way out of this one? The academy’s future lies in your hands. Are you up to the task?
This year, we will be over at Camp Goodwill (Camp 1) in Dumfries, VA. It is on the same street as Camp 4. While it is also a historic site, the dorms were built in the 1980's compared to 1920's. Updated pictures will be available on the brain.
Each Crunchy Slime (Slime) will be assigned to a particular zone.
Each zone has:
Because Slimes are organized by age, we will strive to group the individual towers by the respective houses as much as possible. Regardless, each student will receive house decorations to put up in their tower to show their house pride.
We care greatly about providing wholesome and balanced meals. The Summer Session is an energy intensive experience, and it is very important that individuals to have enough fuel to fully enjoy the experience.
A formal and balanced vegetarian meal plan complete with friendly protein options (i.e. tofu, beans etc) is available at no extra charge. You are able to sign up for it when you are completing your online student parchment and may change your mind up to two weeks before camp. If you sign up for it, you will be expected to use it the entire week.
If you change your mind after signing up for it, please contact Ash prior to 7/6. Otherwise, last minute signups are not available unless a previously signed up individual decides to switch.
Because we are a not-for-profit and in order to keep camp affordable to all participants, we are not able to provide other specialized meal plans unless it is for diagnosed allergies only.
An allergy plan from a doctor may be required and should be provided at least one month in advance.
It is important for risk management reasons that your health history and proof of recent physical both reflect any allergies.
If any new allergies arise after you submit, please let us know as soon as possible and submit updated forms. This helps us keep costs down and helps prevent next year's overall camp tuition from spiking.
The Director and Head Medical Officer reserve the right to require an allergy plan from a doctor. Any allergy plan should be provided at least one month in advance.
Please be advised that COVID related requirements are subject to change in accordance to GSVSC.
You may see our current full COVID plan here. This is updated annually. As of 12/16, we are currently waiting on the updated guidance from GSVSC. Registered families will be notified by remindme and by email of any covid updates.
A shorter document with the requirements will be provided a bit closer to camp since our full plan is 39 pages long.
Some quick overview notes:
Please be advised that COVID related requirements are subject to change in accordance to GSVSC. We are currently waiting to see what the requirements might be for 2023 Summer Season
Here are some quick overview notes based on last year: