The annual VAMPY convention (V-Con) has come and gone. This year’s theme was Despicable V – oh wait, no . . . It was Fantasy vs. Sci-Fi. Counselors try to keep the theme secret every year until the V-Con opening ceremony. I feel confident in saying we prevented it from leaking this time. At the opening ceremony, we showed a short film written and directed by counselors Coleman and Mario, that established the high stakes battle of the genres. Half of our counselors dressed up as fantasy characters such as Tinkerbell and Hermione, while others dressed as sci-fi characters like Luke Skywalker and Rick from Rick and Morty. Campers are also invited to dress up as their favorite characters, just as you would see at a Comic-Con.
After the opening skit, V-Con starts with the nerd triathlon where various teams compete in three activities to find an overall winner. This year’s activities were cup-stacking, code-cracking, and pitching the next V-Con theme.
Afterward, students were dispersed to various activities. This included our annual Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tournament and Magic the Gathering draft. Magic has not been as popular these past couple years but has taken quite a resurgence for this year’s camp.
Other activities included epic pool noodle battles, writing fan fiction, and making slime. Mario and Coleman also had their own classic V-Con activities. For Raiders of the Lost Ark, they had campers write and act out their own Indian Jones adventures. Their other activity was Apocalypse Run, which had campers try to get from one Wikipedia page to another as fast as possible using only the links on the page. When asked why it was called Apocalypse Run, Head Counselor Mario explained that “having all this convenient knowledge is what will lead to the end of the world.”
After the activities, the campers gather for the closing ceremony, which features our closing skit. In the battle of Fantasy vs. Sci-Fi, Sci-Fi looked like it pulled through with the victory, but due to some infighting, fantasy walked off with a Pyrrhic victory as fantasy always wins in the end. That brought another incredible V-Con to a close. We’ll find out next year if the pattern of counselor battles shall continue.
– Wade V., counselor
