The 7th year of the Logical Olympiad Summer Camp – July 2015
Although it seems only yesterday, it is really more than six years since we decided for the first time to organize a summer camp that would be different from most other camps. Some had warned us off, saying it was foolish to undertake something with no previous experience of similar events whatsoever, however our enthusiasm carried us forward, and it was so great that we did not heed their words.
Only now, looking back, do we realize how risky it was. But it might have been exactly our enthusiasm and lack of knowledge that led us to doing things in a way we believed to be useful, which caused, along with a lot of luck, the Logical Olympiad Summer camp to grow more popular year by year, and it is always fully booked from as early as the autumn.
![participants of the Logical Olympiad Summer Camp (photo: Jiri Kotatko) [click on the image to enlarge it]](/res/file/akce/2015/tabor-logicke-olympiady-2015.jpg "participants of the Logical Olympiad Summer Camp (photo: Jiri Kotatko) [click on the image to enlarge it]")
This year, we travelled with a group of children to Krkonose, to the middle of nowhere. Just like in the two last years, we were accommodated in the Diana Lodge, which belongs to the complex of the Vltava mountain Hotel. It is a magical place – mountains and forests all around, almost no people, and with great facilities.
What makes our summer camp so different from the others? One reason is that it can only have 28 participants. Parents often ask us why we can’t take any more children. The answer is simple – this way, everyone gets to know each other quickly, and the attitude of the organizers can be much more personal than in the typical huge summer camps. Another difference is the uninterrupted programme (with the exception of nightly sleep and a short afternoon rest). Something is going on all the time – as the kids say, “it’s one big ride and it ends before we know it”.
The morning programme is devoted to lectures and workshops, where we are strive to give the kids some information they would otherwise not receive. The most popular are the lectures saying “At school, you are taught it is not possible, and we will show you now that under certain circumstances, it indeed is possible.” Before lunch, games start, which then continue after the afternoon rest right through to the evening (and several times over the course of the camp, even at night). Most games are designed in a fashion where it is more useful to stop for a minute and give the solution some thought than to run around wildly. The majority of the programme is also focused on teamwork and active interaction among children. Besides the everyday games, there are two games running throughout the entire duration of the camp.
Children come repeatedly, and as they gradually grew older and it was no longer possible to take them to the camp because of the growing age span, they came with an idea, or rather a petition, to make a separate camp for older children, so that they can continue enjoying the camp in the following years. To be honest, they did not even have to persuade us too hard, and we decided to organize a separate camp for experienced campers, who got so used to the week and a half together that the possibility that they would not be together was unacceptable for them.
Now, therefore, we do organize two camps, one immediately following the other, and we, the organizers, take three weeks of holiday instead of two. People around us often ask us unbelievingly: “Three weeks working for free, with immense responsibility, is it worth it for you?” To which we reply without blinking: “You bet it is!”
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31.7.2015