BOULDER – Six children, ages 10 to 12, are 300 feet under the ocean. They are wearing dive suits made of coral, using swords and various spells to fight off a giant crab.
Except the children are actually at Willow Creek Park in Longmont, the swords are foam, and the giant crab is their counselor, Chris Smith, running sideways and making crab noises.
It’s all part of Renaissance Adventures’ Summer Adventure Quests, a day camp for children ages 6 to 16 that allows groups to play out interactive, imaginary quests filled with adventure.
The Boulder-based company has multiple types of camps throughout Boulder County and beyond – half-day, whole-day, indoor camps and family adventures. In Longmont, the half-day Griffon Quests and whole-day Dragon Quests are offered.
On Tuesday, it was Day 2 of a Griffon Quest camp. Three groups, divided by age, were at various ends of the park, negotiating with traders, fighting off crabs and deciding whether to trust a captured pirate. All the groups were led by a quest leader, helping them through the various challenges and plot points.
“Our mission is to trade medicine and weapons for spices,” said Zachary Berkowitz, 10, explaining the group’s quest.
“Yesterday, when we got to a place, we found a prisoner pirate and are trying to decide what to do with him,” said Brielle White, 11, explaining the group’s current problem.
Brielle has been attending Renaissance Adventures for five summers.
“It’s awesome,” she said. “It’s different every year. It’s our own decisions; we decide what to do.”
The groups follow a loose script, acted out by their group leader, Smith said. But the children get to decide whether to take certain actions, and the children play rounds of “rock, paper, scissors” with Smith to determine if certain actions result favorably or not.
“Sometimes things go really poorly,” he said of the turns the script can take.
Smith, who has served as a quest leader for seven years, said the scripts are designed to teach kids different skills. There are physical challenges, combat challenges (sword fighting), moral challenges and logical challenges. On Tuesday morning, his group decided whether to release a prisoner or leave him to die, steal or barter for certain items, sword fight and solve a logic puzzle.
Aaron Pirnack, operations and publications director for Renaissance Adventures, said he’s created a lot of the scripts, but they are more templates than strict guidelines.
“The scripts themselves are just ideas and templates, and it’s the quest leaders that are the true storytellers,” Pirnack said. “They might improvise something totally different or use some of the encounters and challenges to inform things. The quest leaders need to empower the kids, so they may need to invent a lot of stuff.”
The camps have existed since 1995 and, according to the website, are designed to “develop self-esteem, team-building and creative problem-solving skills.”
According to Pirnack, the organization started as an educational after-school program and grew from there.
“I think once a kid comes to our camps, usually it’s one of their favorites,” he said. “They get empowered to play a character they craft themselves.”
Throughout the summer, the camp has three sites running at all times, and each site has anywhere from 12 to 18 groups, with each group consisting of about six kids. In addition to summer camps, the company has grown to host private events and birthdays, holiday quests (such as Halloween, Thanksgiving and winter break), quests for families, corporate events and more.
It has also expanded to offer programming throughout the greater Denver area and has a branch in Bellingham, Wash.
The quest leaders go through over 100 hours of training. Smith took three years off to work as a full-time massage therapist but decided to come back this summer. He said he loves the game and the kids.
“I love being outside with these creative individuals,” Smith said of his campers. “It’s fun to see how they solve problems. I try to create an atmosphere where all the kids can be heard.”
