First Term Opening Day Welcome Information
We cannot wait to welcome your son(s) as Alpine opens its gates this Friday, June 5th at 8 AM CDT for First Term. Be sure and take some photos this week of your son getting ready with his gear and tag us: Instagram, @alpinecamp4boys, Twitter, @alpinecamp4boys, and facebook.com/alpinecamp! Use the hashtag #alpine2015
In preparation for Opening Day, we are sending several important updates. Please take a moment and read the entire email. By now we should have received your transportation form informing us of how your camper is traveling to camp. If we have not heard from you we will assume you are bringing him to camp.
The drive up to camp is a great time to remind your boys that we want to know if they are having a problem at camp, physically, emotionally or with a camper or counselor. They are their best advocate and we can only help if we know about an issue. Also, remind them that a little homesickness is very normal. It means they like home! Tell them to talk with someone if they are feeling homesick. Remember never to make a promise to come pick him up – this will hinder his smooth transition into camp.
Update from the Camp Health Center:
Your son’s health is our top priority. Before lunch on Opening Day, each boy will receive a health screen by our medical staff as a means of a health orientation and screening for fever and lice. Also, if your son has fever or other symptoms of illness, please do not bring him to camp on Opening Day. Please call the camp office and consult with one of our camp nurses about his arrival time.
LICE: Please be sure to check your son for lice or nits (lice eggs) before he arrives at camp. Upon discovery of either at the health screen our nurses will consult with the directors and notify the parents. Then an Alpine staff member will drive your son to Birmingham, to The Lice Place, where we have an arrangement for their specialists to remove all lice and nits. Cost for their services is $95/hour plus a $25 lice comb and will be the sole responsibility of the parent. Most cases will take about 30 minutes. In addition, Alpine will bill a $150.00 processing fee to your account, covering laundry and transportation to Birmingham. Please avoid this by thoroughly checking your son prior to his arrival. A camper must be free of all lice and nits to enter a cabin.
Please feel free to make our medical staff aware of any other medical concerns at the office on Opening Day. If your son has medications, daily or as needed, please deliver these to our nursing staff at the Lodge. All prescription medications MUST be in their original packaging. Our health center staff cannot dispense medication that is not in its original packaging. If you have not turned in your son’s health form and/or insurance information, please bring those to the office as well.
Instructions and Password for the Camp Website:
We would also like to introduce you to Alpine’s website, www.alpinecamp.com, and give you login information for our password-protected section. It provides you and other family members a daily window into the world of Camp, while protecting your son’s privacy by restricting access to the Alpine Family.
Click on Log In, and enter your email address. These are the same steps you used when accessing the forms to be completed for your son.
If you do not remember your password, select “Retrieve/Set Password”. A reset email will be sent to your email address with instructions on how to reset your password and proceed.
A successful login will take you to your main account page. Please scroll down to find the “Online Community” section which includes several colored boxes that are links to Email, News, Photos, Guest Accounts, and more.
The three links that you will likely use the most are Email, News, and Photos. Email allows you to write a one-way email to your camper that will be printed and delivered to him with the rest of his mail. To send these emails, you’ll need “camp stamps,” which can be purchased by clicking on the orange credit-card link on the “Online Community” page. The News link allows you to read the daily Alpine Newsletter, and the Photos link allows you to browse pictures of daily camp life.
To create accounts for grandparents, friends, and siblings, click on “Guest Accounts” and follow the instructions.
If you have any questions or problems regarding the website, please don’t hesitate to contact Monique Fielder. You can email her (summer@alpinecamp.com) or call her in the camp office (256-634-4404).
For CampMinder system issues, please click on the ‘Help’ link next to the ‘My Account’ link once you have logged in to your CampMinder account. The Help page offers valuable information about setting up guest accounts, using the email program, viewing and purchasing photos, etc. and also offers you the ability to send a trouble ticket to CampMinder if you have a system question or an issue. The CampMinder staff is great to work with and will very quickly respond to your question.
Package Policy:
In the past, the large number of packages received by campers promoted a competitive atmosphere at camp and overwhelmed our small camp post office. As a result, we have a NO PACKAGE POLICY. Any envelope larger than a letter envelope is considered a package. Please inform family and friends of our no package policy and remind them not to send food, candy, gum, mints or sunflower seeds in letters. Campers are not allowed to have food in their cabins.
Cabin Assignments:
Alpine groups cabins based on the grade a boy is finishing in school. One of the real benefits of a camp experience involves meeting and making new friends from different places. Alpine does its best to honor cabin requests whenever possible. Cabin requests are not guaranteed and the Director’s placement is final.
Cell Phone Policy:
Campers may not bring a cell phone to camp. If a camper is found having a cell phone or using a cell phone (his or anyone else’s) more than 24 hours after arrival, he will be sent home.
Music/Electronics Policy
We value recorded music at camp and use it regularly for special events and activities. However, our desire is to provide the most wholesome atmosphere possible for your son during his stay at Alpine. We want campers to enjoy the sights and sounds of Lookout Mountain, Little River, and live musical instruments away from the streaming music and images that dominate our culture. For this reason, we do not allow MP3 players, radios or any other electronic listening or playing devices at camp. This includes iPods, iPads, PDAs, Game Boys, PSPs, Kindles, tablets, etc.
The gates will be open Friday morning at 8:00AM CDT. We’re looking forward to your son’s arrival and another great summer on Lookout Mountain!
Warmly,
Glenn and Carter Directors
