Sports camps have been around for decades in almost any sport that one can conceive. However, it is not easy to find theatre or speech camps that provides opportunities for prospective competitors or actors. But at Glacier High School, these unique camp experiences are available for students each summer. The brainchild for these camps came from Greg Adkins, our head speech and debate coach, and Ivanna Fritz, director of the Wolfpack Theatre. These camps not only provide opportunities for blossoming students, but they provide rich lessons for Glacier students who help to run the camp. Glacier students wishing to become a camp counselor must apply and then be selected through a rigorous process.

Brock Adkins, a 2017 4.0 graduate, state speech champion, and winner of the coveted Founder’s Degree in theatre has been a camp counselor for multiple years. He learned valuable leadership skills, and honed many of his speech and theatre skills while coaching/directing students during the two different camps. As the past Student Body President, Brock used these leadership skills to make GHS a better place and also help propel him into winning the coveted Montana University System’s best and brightest scholarship, which covers tuition and room and board, and the University’s of Montana’s prestigious Presidential Leadership Scholarship through the Davidson Honors College, becoming only one of five student in Glacier’s history to receive this great honor.

At the camps, students learn about the various events in speech and debate. They are then able to select an event that they would like to compete in and prepare for throughout the week. At the end of the week, students compete in their event or events at a counselor-run tournament. For theatre, students learn the basic components of theatre and then they actually perform a production at the end of the week where parents and fans come to watch. With some out of the box creativity and hard work by students and staff, both Fritz and Adkins continue to build some of the best programs in all of Northwest.