13 | NEWS letic teams. “I think they could have come up with a solution, because taking on the camp counselor leadership role is very beneficial to students in ways that sports may not be. Clayton High School strives to make us all well rounded students and this seems to be a flaw that I think is fixable,” Markenson said. One proposed solution is for the athletic department to plan around the dates of Sixth Grade Camp. When scheduling games and meets, the athletic department could avoid the days of Sixth Grade Camp as much as possible. This way, student athletes would miss a minimal number of games. Terri Lawrence, the Sixth Grade Camp director for the past 15 years, said, “I wish that since the week of camp is known a year in advance, that when possible, the number of athletic competitions be limited that week.” CHS Sophomore Sarah Centeno wanted to apply to be a counselor at Sixth Grade Camp this year; however, because of the tennis season, she could not. “Sixth Grade Camp also happened to fall on the last week of the season for me, so I would’ve missed an important chunk of our season,” Centeno said. Another solution is for the Sixth Grade Camp organizers to change the dates of camp. If it was instead help over a three-day weekend, then students would only miss two or three days of practice and games, rather than four or five. Counselors could also do much of their training at school before they leave. “We could maybe have better timing when we have Sixth Grade Camp,” CHS Athletic Director Bob Bone said. “It puts a real hardship on some of our programs, and I know in some sports you may have three or four or five kids off of a team to go to Sixth Grade Camp.” It is possible with greater communication and collaboration between the athletic department and the Sixth Grade Camp organizers, more student-athletes could apply to be camp counselors, while athletic teams remain intact for competitions. “I have not thought about structuring camp to have high school students miss only two school days instead of four,” Chisholm said. “But it is something I would consider, if it meant more students would apply and try out the camp program.”
Photos from Sixth Grade Camp courtesy of Terri Lawrence
“Sixth Grade Camp is a pretty big commitment and missing that much time is never an easy thing. Plus, the pool of students this kind of opportunity attracts are usually involved in many different activities, so it is also a problem for students in other activities.” -Christopher Chisholm