This week, Camp ROGA transformed into a high-energy global adventure. From obstacle courses to creativity challenges, campers raced across continents, tackling strength tests in every nation on Earth. Each day brought new destinations, skills, and nonstop action. Whether our racers were climbing through the Alps or on a stealthy trek through the jungle, they embraced the thrill of the journey. Here are just a few highlights from this whirlwind week around the world.

For Camp ROGA’s Amazing Race Around the World week, many preparations had to be made by our racers to ensure they were ready for the journey ahead. One of the biggest needs was transportation, so throughout the week, they prepared vehicles for every occasion, whether it was by land, air, or sea.

Here we see our racers in the beginning stages of constructing their racing airplanes. These airplanes would be made from sturdy straws, construction paper, and tape, all designed to have the minimum possible weight to ensure maximum airtime. In designing these airplanes, the name of the game was aerodynamics. Before any vehicle construction began, the racers knew that Camp ROGA would be holding a race for each of the vehicles they made during the week to see just how fast the ingenuity of our racers could take them. This lit a fire within the competitive spirits of the racers, and every effort was made to increase the flying capabilities of their aircraft. Many designs were tested, with test flights occurring regularly, to see which design would give the racers that competitive edge. Under the advice of the coaches, racers attempted to reduce the drag of their aircraft as much as they could. Racers discovered that many small things made a big difference – rapidly rubbing at the tape of their aircrafts to try and sand away any creases in the adhesive, meticulously straightening any crumpled paper, folding the paper edges of their craft to make a more rounded and less air resistant front end. All these micro adjustments would prove to be for good reason as the coaches would have a surprise for our precocious racers come racing day.  

All the focus on the speed of the aircraft left each airplane sorely lacking in endurance, but never fear, we had just the solution for the long rides over open water. For the next leg of their journey, racers needed to outfit a boat to take them across the many oceans they would need to cross during the race. Here, style and elegance took precedence over speed (at least for the body of their boats). Racers chose between a variety of gemstones they found on their journey to decorate their bows, trophies of lands seen and conquered as they went, and reminders of fond memories. When it came to the sails, though, the racers’ competitive spirit rose again. An intense discussion was held over the benefits of stickers covering the sails of the ships. One side suggested that by using stickers to cover the sails of the boats, racers would be weighing and slowing down the mechanism by which their ships were meant to speed along. The other side claimed that putting stickers on the sails was cool, and that lamer ships would travel slower. The debate wore on, along with a promise to settle things on racing day. 

Beyond vehicle readiness, preparations extended to the skills racers would need to pick up to brave the perils of whatever stood in their way. This meant much jumping and climbing of ropes, obstacle courses, and assorted blocks to ensure they had the strength and agility to climb over the mountains and through the jungles along their journey. Some concerns were also raised about what would happen should their airplanes malfunction while in the sky, so the coaches decided to run them through a practice simulation about how to use their parachutes. The procedure was taught, and the coaches made sure to run them through the gauntlet of what they should do if debris fell on their parachutes (foam blocks) and also taught them how to hide from any dangerous jungle cats they might encounter during their travels (played by their teammates).

The racers were also taught how to set up shelters for nightfall along their trek. Here we see a few of our racers using foam blocks to construct a fortified base camp at the center of the gym, which they would use to run a simulated defence of their fort against intruders. Many a woe and a foam block would befall any unlucky enough to step within range of their beloved fort. These temporary shelters would eventually need to be demolished and moved elsewhere in the gym, from the front floor, the TumblTrak, and into the red pit to simulate how the racers would need to move along as the race progressed. Eventually, the racers would come to love kicking down their forts as they prepared to move along, and it became somewhat of a competition to see who could do it the fastest.

Also important for any journey was knowledge of where you are journeying to. Set up around the gym were various walls full of flags of all the countries of the world. The coaches would periodically quiz the students on every flag in the gym to make sure the racers would know where they were, wherever they might find themselves. Racers were initially hesitant to join in and do a little homework outside of school, but when coaches began offering them 10 seconds of extra free time for every correct guess, the race was on to see who could name as many flags as possible. It wasn’t long before the racers began quizzing the coaches on the flags, and it became a point of pride for the racers if they could trip a coach up on a particularly difficult flag. 

Racers worked up an appetite with all their preparations. Among the Camp ROGA snacks this week were banana sailboats, race car fruit, wafer airplanes, and cheese and apple pirate ships.

At last, it was race day. Racers geared up and readied their crafts for a day of nonstop racing and competitions as they each tested the ingenuity and mettle of their designs against each other. Lots of cheering was heard across the gym as racers goaded on their teammates as they competed in mini-tournaments against each other. But the racers were also in for a surprise as the coaches had made preparations of their own. When the time came for the vehicle races, the coaches unveiled massive behemoths of their own, vehicles made to crush the competition – airplanes made out of a hundred straws and with conical heads, and ships made with many masts. Our little racers had to team up against this threat and take them down for good. In the end, the plucky engines made throughout the week by the racers dominated the larger, slower engines made by the coaches, which sank or plummeted far too fast to outpace the light and agile engines of the racers. 

When the racers finally eked over the finish line, with the race over and won, they had time to relax on the beach (ROGA Lawn and water slides) … and also to pelt the coaches with water balloons for ever daring to try and beat them at their own game.

And with that final climactic battle, the Amazing Race Around the World came to an end. Join us next week for Magic and Illusion week at Camp ROGA!