Girls enrolled in Upper Camp are housed in living units called Decks. They compete in a variety of athletic and Naval competitions. Girls may choose activities from any Schools they wish: Aviation, Horsemanship and Naval Schools. The selected activities must total five or six periods daily.

UNIT BREAKDOWN

Cadets are divided into 6 decks:

Deck 1, Deck 2, Deck 3, Deck 4, Deck 5, Deck 6

HISTORY

In 1960, Catherine Martin, whose husband William was hired as Director of Theater for the new Eppley Auditorium, established a Summer Theatre School for girls. This was the forerunner for the larger Culver Summer School for Girls.

In 1965, Culver Superintendent Delmar T. Spivey wrote of the success of the newly established Summer School for Girls:

“The [summer] girls program has exceeded our fondest hopes. The young ladies [enrollment of 120], over half of whom are daughters or sisters of alumni, are engaged in virtually every activity in the Upper Schools. I proudly report on its progress, and I recommend the program to those of you who have teen-aged daughters.”

LEDBETTER CREW

Second classmen may try out for the crew of Culver’s flagship, the R.H. Ledbetter – the largest fully rigged square-rigged vessel on fresh water in the world. The 21 top scores are selected as the crew with seven first classmen from the previous summer’s crew appointed as officers. The crew sets sail every Wednesday evening.

TROOP HIKE

This is an 8 mile hike around and beyond campus, over differing terrain, and takes the campers out of their comfort zone and teaches teamwork and the Culver ideal of leadership, using the horse as a tool.

The Hike is compulsory for the Troopers, and the girls who are enrolled in horsemanship sign up for the Hike. All Troopers and 30 girls participate and go in separate groups each with supervising staff members. Each are three days and two nights under canvas in tents. Horses are tied to picket lines.

Activities include trail rides, free rides in the confines of the 80-acre pasture, games, swimming and a movie each evening. The campers divided into groups and tend to meals and the care of the horses over the 24- hour period.

MOUNTED DRILL TEAM

The Summer Mounted Drill Team is composed of the best riders in Troop and the ladies' mounted unit. The team performs before Garrison parades and at special events on weekends.