As the last week of VAMPY came to a close, so too did the nightly offered optionals allowing campers to decide which evening activity they would like to participate in outside of classes. The third week of VAMPY contains many traditions often taking the place of optionals at night. Some of these have included things like, the annual talent show and talent show practice, the end-of-camp banquet, a dance, the 4th of July Hot Rods baseball game, and others. Because of this, it usually follows that Tuesday or Wednesday is the last day for students to choose an optional, and as a result the counselors often save some special optionals for these last few days.
Two such examples were “Counselor Training” and “Naptown USA” which are both classic optionals typically saved for the final week. Counselor Training was also notable in that it was a 4th year optional where campers in their final year of eligibility to attend camp were given first priority to ensure they could participate. The optional saw campers go through a day in the life as a counselor going to morning meetings and coming up with optionals of their own along with reacting to different scenarios that counselors often have to respond to. Finally, Naptown USA true to its namesake is a period of rest for campers during the final week to regain some of their energy, taking time to recenter from all of the activity occurring during the day and throughout the last week. The last few days of optionals at VAMPY represented camp’s ending as a whole: full of creativity and tradition.