Staff Week

We are half way through staff week, which involves a range of training sessions and various work projects around camp to get ready for the summer.  Activity areas are all set up, and camp is starting to look like camp. Staff have been in the cold water putting the docks in, the Astor is getting painted and refurbished, the hoop court is getting the final touches, and camp in general is getting a tidy-up in time for when campers arrive next week.

Boating beach and East beach is all set and ready to go…

 

And yesterday the staff spent time putting the sand and water out at West Beach…

 

After dinner last night we had a softball game – Senior Unit staff and Leadership vs Junior/Middler Unit staff. After a long and close game with some surprise hits and unexpected catches and a lot of drama and the odd controversial call, it was the Senior Unit/Leadership team that took the title.

Today staff are back into training sessions with lifeguard refreshers, CPR training, and various other sessions. Tomorrow will be more work projects around camp and continued training sessions and the inter-camp dinner with Camp Nokomis.  Only a few days until the campers arrive…

 

One Week to go!

I leave for camp in one week… For my 8^th summer in the USA, and my 11^th summer in a row.  It’s cold in NZ right now. Well, cold for someone who doesn’t have a winter. I’m ready for the change in scene, and camp life again. Bring on the summer and all its fun and its challenges, I’m ready.  I’ve packed my bags, I’ve rented my room, I’m tying up the loose ends in NZ and in 7 days I’ll be on a plane and on my way.

 

Things are starting to gear up in my American life as we prepare for the summer. While on the plane I will put the finishing touches on the staff training schedule, some big changes this year, and start cabin assignments for the first two sessions of camp. That’s assuming I don’t get distracted by the in-flight entertainment…

 

Once I arrive at camp, we are straight into it with open house tours all weekend and then our Admin planning/training week, staff training week, and then all hell breaks loose when the campers arrive.  Before we know it, it will be August, it will all be over and everyone will be heading back off to their other lives – travel, college, school, office jobs… But for the next 3 months it will be full-on craziness and fun on our island paradise.

 

This summer I hope to post regular updates here every few days (unlike other years, where I was too distracted having fun) so sign up for the notifications and hear about our summer at Camp Lawrence on an island on New Hampshire’s Lake Winnipesaukee…

Session One, Week One

The first week of camp saw us invite over 100 campers to the island for an action packed two weeks.  This week included one of my favourite nights – Casino Night where everyone dresses a little crazy (even the campers got into it this year!).  For the evening we print our own money and every camper starts with the same amount and amid all the craziness and music runs around playing cards, shooting hoops, ricking it all on the ‘stock market’ and other crazy activities in an effort to gain enough money to buy prizes from the prize table.  Prizes included cookies, candy, and other experiences such as throwing a certain staff member in the lake right through to joining me for cabin inspection.  It’s surprising how popular some prizes are…

Dressed up for Casino Night

The very next day was the 4^th July, and what a day it was!  As usual, the 4^th means it time for the first social of the summer with the girls camp, Nokomis.  This year we had a huge social planned.  We had arranged for the entire girls camp to come to Lawrence rather than the usual 50/50 split, and had a live band lined up along with a large fireworks display to end the night.  Although a thunderstorm interrupted things at the start when we were transporting everyone here, the night was a huge success and everyone had a blast!  I’m pretty sure it was the best social yet!

The action continued the very next morning while everyone else slept in for a lazy day (just an hour though) as the CIT’s (Counselor’s in Training) headed off for their CIT overnight Hike with Nate the CIT Director and Jim the Camp Director.  Having been with Nate to check out the location I am jealous of this trip as they are off to some natural waterslides and a huge cliff jump into a natural pool in a fantastic forest location.

While the CIT’s were away, the second year CIT group pranked them by setting up a floor of leaves and rocks in their cabin along with suspending a canoe from the rafters of their cabin.  What amused me the most though, was that as this was happening, the program director, ropes course director, and another senior counselor were in the dining hall pranking the second years by ‘jenga-ing’ the benches.  This prank is a classic camp prank where all the benches are stacked in the middle of the dining hall as you would a jenga game, and as a kicker they inserted to tables – which were set – into the middle of the stack.  Brilliant work by all!

Bring on Week two!

Staff Training

I arrived at camp on the 10^th June, and straight away we got right into planning our staff training and preparing for campers to arrive on the 30^th June.  We are starting a week later than normal this year, so should be well prepared for everyone’s arrival.

On the 16^th June the leadership team arrived for a week of focused training and planning before the rest of the staff arrived on the 23^rd and things really picked up.  All sorts of training sessions were crammed into this time – everything from how to work with children to activity instruction training to dealing with bullying, abuse, homesickness, and different camper types.  I was really impressed with all the staff and how well they took in all the information that was thrown at them, and felt that this year was one of the best staff training weeks we have had.  Not only that, but I am confident that this year sees us with the best staff group I have seen at camp.  We are in for a good summer!

Bags Packed – 10 Days and counting

So not long now until I leave.  I packed my bags last night, and tonight I pack everything else up…  Am I ready – no, yes, maybe, always…  It’s hard to say what I need to be ready for, as each summer is different.  Today I read a news article on Lawrence, MA which a fellow Camp Lawrence staff member shared with another on Facebook.  It proved to be an interesting read, and paints a very real picture of how the town feels to me.  It seems to be a tough environment for a child to grow up in, and a number of our campers come from Lawrence to camp with us.  The Y’s Camping Services office is also located in the Lawrence Branch of the YMCA.

I have worked with youth in both a professional and voluntary capacity for a long time, but it wasn’t until I first went to work at Summer Camp in 2005 that I really got to learn about what the YMCA has to offer and is all about.  The Y is a fantastic organisation, and with a large range of programs, is a great hub for any community. So a big shout out to all the staff of YMCA’s around the world!

Each day I get two inspirational quotes by email.  One from Outward bound, and one from some other random website I found.  Oddly enough, today’s both had a similar theme…

The first is a quote from Tim Tebow, who has experienced some success in American Football:

“Success comes in a lot of ways, but it doesn’t come with money and it doesn’t come with fame. It comes from having a meaning in your life, doing what you love and being passionate about what you do. That’s having a life of success. When you have the ability to do what you love, love what you do and have the ability to impact people. That’s having a life of success. That’s what having a life of meaning is.”

The second comes from Leo Roste, a teacher and academic:

“The purpose of life is not to be happy, but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make a difference that you lived at all.”

Although one certainly wants to lead a happy life, it is important to note the value of contributing to society in some form, and to do so while doing something you love.  I am lucky enough to be able to do this in two countries – both New Zealandand the USA.  In NZ I work with youth in a voluntary capacity and also assist other Kiwi’s in their endeavour to be a part of the American Summer Camp world.  In the USA I get to be a part of an amazing camp community which is also a part of the YMCA and make a valuable contribution to the operation and success of each camper and staff member who joins us for two weeks.  Not only that, but I get to have fun while doing it and avoid winter!  I feel that Leo Roste (and Ralph Waldo Emerson who Roste was paraphrasing) may have got it wrong, or at least been slightly off the mark, so lets try again:

“The purpose of life is to make a difference, to matter, and contribute to society around you, but in order to be truly successful in this endeavour; you must find something you love so that you can share that joy with others while impacting the community around you.”

JFK

I’m not telling you its going to be easy, I’m telling you it’s going to be worth it (another quote I love).

For those of you heading off to work at Summer Camps across the USA over the next couple of weeks, remember how important each and every thing you do is, and be sure to have fun doing it!

A wise man once told me “if you are not better at the end of the day than you were at the beginning of the day, you have wasted that day, and you will never get it back.”