Thank you to the Skyland community for the warm, loving support that has been extended in the past week since the announcement was made to cancel Skyland’s summer camp operations in 2020. We’ve connected with many members of Skyland’s alumnae community, as well as every family who has an enrolled camper for the 2020 season. During these calls, we made notes of frequently asked questions so we could answer them for you in this blog.

See the FAQs below.

• Why won’t there be summer programs in 2020 at Skyland?
  • Skyland Camp for Girls has proudly been operating as a small summer camp for more than 100 years. We’ve loved being a small camp because it has allowed us to really get to know our campers and families, and to create a wonderfully supportive and “family” environment. Most campers and staff know everyone else “on the Hill” within a few days, making all feel at ease. And alumnae report years later that when they arrive at Skyland they feel like “they have come home.” We love that!
    Sadly, with the rapidly rising costs of operating a summer camp, this small camp model has become economically unsustainable. Without the economies of scale that much larger camps enjoy, it is difficult to make the small camp model work without additional programs throughout the year. So, we will be working over the next year to figure out if we can create additional programing that can help support the operation of our small camp.

• What new programing are you considering?
  •  We will be evaluating if we can expand two existing “sister” businesses that we launched in 2014 : Skyland Equine and Skyland Retreats.
    Through Skyland Retreats, we have hosted “glamping” experiences for women 21 and over where we offered traditional camp activities as well as classes with resident artists, culinary professionals, and equine facilitated leadership professionals. These retreats turned Skyland Camp for Girls into Skyland Camp for GROWN-UP Girls with all of the luxuries we like as adults and all of the care-free fun that we remember from our childhood. These weekends were popular with women attending from across the country.
    Through Skyland Equine, we have offered Equine Assisted Learning (also known as Equine Facilitated Learning) which included experiential learning opportunities with horses and humans that helped all grow and connect with others in new and different ways. We held programs on-site, and we have collaborated with professionals across the country to bring these programs to horse lovers, teachers, executives, small business owners and college personnel and students.
    We love these two sister businesses but have not had the time or resources to consider how to expand offerings for each of them. Not having summer camp in 2020 will allow us time to evaluate both as well as consider other opportunities for many more people to enjoy being on Skyland Hill. 

• Will camp be back in 2021?
  • We would love to run a summer camp program for girls between ages 6 to 16, but must be able to support the programming in a financially sustainable way. This is why it is important for us to take a summer off to consider our opportunities and begin laying a foundation for a more sustainable future for Skyland.

• How is Bunny? How is Sherry?
  • Many members of our community expressed worry and concern about our own Bunny Brown.  Rest assured, she is doing well as a vibrant 85-year old (almost 86!) can be! She loves keeping up with professional sports on television, visiting with friends and families and watching over her beloved Skyland.  She has been very supportive of our Skyland “reboot” in 2020 saying “Oh … it’s like a Skyland sabbatical for a year. That sounds GREAT!” Bunny is in full support of this change if it means “more Skyland for more people!”
    Sherry is also doing well.  This has been a very difficult decision for her since for every year of her life, there has always been Skyland summer camp, and she knows how important Skyland is to everyone.  She is committed to doing everything possible to ensure Skyland thrives for generations to come and believes a reset is essential for Skyland to grow.

• What renovations will be done?
  • No demotions are planned and it is too early to know what additions will be made. There are two projects that are being discussed, however: adding a cover over our riding ring and resurfacing the tennis courts. Covering the riding ring is a big project that could take up to 7 months to complete, and cannot be done during the cold winter months. If we opt to go forward with this project, construction would be ongoing well into the summer season. Covering the ring would enable us to more easily expand our Skyland Equine programs since it is hard to have outdoor events in the rain, and it rains a lot in Western North Carolina!!

• Will you stay in touch with us?  How?
  •  First, we will continue to blog and to be active on social media.  Our intention is to keep our community engaged, involved, and aware of the shifts as they  are happening on Skyland Hill. This summer, Shanna Clark joined Skyland as our digital media specialist, and she now works full time with us managing marketing and social media. This past summer, she created a beautiful yearbook that captured the people and events of the summer. We’d love to create yearbooks for past decades to capture the fun and memorable moments had on Skyland Hill over the years. We will be reaching out to alumnae of all decades for stories and photos.
• Is this the first step to Skyland closing for good?
  • No. While many small camps HAVE closed because of financial challenges, it is not our plan to close Skyland. However, we know that summer camp, in its current format, can no longer be the sole focus of Skyland. We will be working to assess other opportunities over the coming year to create the sustainability Skyland needs to thrive for the years to come.

Thank you for your support, love and kindness during this time of transformation.