Off to camp

New London sixth- and seventh-graders are spending time this week at an outdoor camp, including an overnight stay in tents.

Forty sixth-graders arrived at Camp McBride near Burlington on Tuesday for their two-day adventure.

Thursday, the seventh-graders will arrive to spend two days at the camp.

Usually it is just sixth-graders who attend, but last year’s sixth-graders were denied the trip due to the pandemic, so they were invited to go this year.

The sixth-grade students arrived on a bus Tuesday morning and then had to haul their sleeping bags and other gear up the hill to the lodge where many of the activities took place.

The students spend their days canoeing, hiking and doing a variety of craft projects. They are divided into four teams. One of the first activities Tuesday was making tie-dyed shirts.

There were classes on boat safety and the environment. Lunches and dinners are grilled, and meals are served in the camp lodge.

At night, the students sleep in tents.

Teachers, many of whom have been coming to the sixth-grade camps for years, marveled at the recent upgrades to the lodge. Camp McBride has 118 acres set in a forest in the hills just north of Burlington. It is owned by the Burlington Area YMCA.