Camp Administration 101: Managing Camper Conflict
Regardless of how much time is spent acclimating kids to life at camp, there will almost always be incidents of kids not getting along. Examples can range from minor name-calling to severe bullying, fighting, or inappropriate language.
Camp Administration 101: Staff Training And Education
Staff members are a camp’s most valuable assets, so invest in them by providing training, education, teambuilding, and networking opportunities, while empowering them to do great things! Here are some guidelines to make staff members the best they can be!
Combatting The Trauma Of These Times
A few years ago, camping psychologist Bob Ditter and I co-facilitated several conference workshops. Bob would share a critical element in the health-and-wellness realm of camp staff members, and I would share an activity that explored that topic.
Simple Yet Efficient
There is value in sharing expertise. It helps save time, resources, money, and maybe even sweat.
Social-Media Marketing
Historically, camp owners have difficulty promoting all of their facilities’ features and benefits. While advertising in publications invariably pays off, not all camps can afford it; in some cases, there aren’t any publications in a geographic area that would benefit them.
Adapting On The Fly
Many day camps and resident camps had to quickly adjust or unexpectedly cancel their sessions last summer due to COVID-19, but the faculty at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas, made a different decision. Actually, there wasn’t much choice; the week that classes were to begin, the campus closed for the remainder of the year.
Authenticity, Immediacy, And Delight
Running a camp requires leaders to pay attention to more variables, details, and input than they can possibly manage. Children, staff members, bugs, sunscreen, pools, parents, email, homesickness, newsletters, websites, lice, and payments: the proverbial firehose from which camp leaders attempt to drink daily is endless.
Qualified For Anything
The longer I work in the camp and recreation industry, the more I find myself dealing with situations I never expected. I can now say that my background legitimately encompasses marketing, sales, and budget management, while also plunging toilets, mopping the dining hall, having professional conversations with parents about their child’s safety and well-being while at camp, and of course—managing and recruiting staff members.
COVID-19 Testing
Running a summer camp is very rewarding. That said, it’s also a worry-inducing, energy-draining, survive-each-day grind of ensuring each child is happy and healthy from the moment of arrival until the last high-five of the season.
Camp With Purpose
“I’ve learned that you can’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back.” --Maya Angelou
Creating An A-Team
Some of a camper’s fondest memories might be at the art shack with friends, playing a game of Four Square with pals, or being immersed in nature while looking for salamanders in the creek. Another memory may be of a favorite summer staffer.
The Ideal Workplace
Camps have an opportunity to create the “ideal workplace,” a place where every employee is a valued member of the team. While I always felt this to be true, spending a week at the Clifton Strengths Summit last June caused me to see just how ideal it really can be.
Preparing for COVID-19 On Paper
We can all agree—COVID-19 is unprecedented. And the types of lawsuits that have been filed in response to the pandemic have been as unique as the pandemic itself.
Talking Points
This past year has been challenging, unexpected, and explosive in many ways. During the pandemic, the United States experienced a global-health crisis while still reckoning with racial, social, and political unrest, social isolation, and anxieties that will remain for decades.
First-Year Camp Staff Survival
Being a camp staff member is rewarding, but it’s also tough; there are early mornings, late nights, extreme weather, camper crises, and daily challenges that will test staff members to their limits. From socks to soap, from songs to sleep, here are 25 tips drawn from years of camp staff and youth program experience to keep first-time staffers going strong this summer and beyond.
Drive-Through Drop-Off
Just rip off the Band-Aid. Even saying those words is enough to make most people cringe, and yet, there are times when it's best to grimace and go for it. The reality of running a traditional summer camp during a global pandemic challenged my team to devise new and creative solutions, and yes, to rip off some Band-Aids.
Camp COVID
Black Rocket is a technology-education company that has been partnering with camps for 20 years to provide STEM programs. It works with 225 different camps around the country to teach children coding, game design, virtual reality, drones, and robotics.
Get Out Of Your Seat And On Your Feet
For decades, parents have been concerned about the amount of time their children spend in front of the television, but now it is the parents who are watching a screen for hours each day as they work from home, visit with family, and adapt to life during a global pandemic.