January 2009
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January 30, 2009

Wearing Many Hats

What do you have to be good at to be a camp director?  Roast a marshmallow without burning it up?  Maintain a smile and motivate 400 people to have fun in the pouring rain?  Be able to explain to a mom why it's a good thing that her daughter hasn't called home all week?  Well, these are some handy skills.  But probably the most important one is to be versatile: be a "jack of all trades" and "wear many hats".  Because it turns out that camp directors end up doing a little bit of everything.

Jeremy and I were talking about this earlier in the week when, suddenly, our main database failed to properly produce the beautiful merge letters we were used to getting with a few simple keystrokes.  So we quickly switched hats and became "database troubleshooters".  Now I have to admit that, at first, all I wanted to do was smash the offending machine (see photo).  Try and try as we might, we just ended up with more paper to feed into our shredder.  But then we remembered, "We're camp people.  We can fix anything!"  And so I put down my hammer and we went to work and, eventually, solved the problem.

That's how it is in the camp world.  One minute we're interviewing a counselor applicant, the next we're creating a new web page, then we're consulting with a nurse about updates to the camp health plan, followed by planning the construction of another ga-ga pit, after which we're updating menus, figuring out bus routes or designing a staff training session.  On any given day we might be writing articles for our newsletter or collating and stapling it together.  We might be planning the summer camp budget or sorting out the unclaimed lost and found for the charity bin.  We could be planning a reunion party or opening the mail.

Some of it is exciting, some a little less so.  But since it's all about camp, we love what we do.  If "variety is the spice of life", then we have very spicy jobs!

Tom

January 23, 2009

New Stuff!

Okay... It's been a crazy, busy month and I've got a lot of stuff to tell you about!

  First up: We've picked a bunk group theme for camp this summer!  It's "Around the World in 40 Days".  As we looked at all the theme suggestions sent in, the most popular were all about the countries of the world.  Tom and I were thinking that's probably influenced by all the great international counselors we had at camp last summer from places like Columbia, England, Wales, Australia, Scotland, Mexico, New Zealand, Germany, and Ireland!  We're going to celebrate a different culture every day at announcements.  PLEASE NOTE: Our counselors will choose the bunk group names from the suggestions you send in.  Please click here and give us your suggestions for the names of bunk groups!

  Second: There is a new online photo game up on the website now!  All you have to do is fill in the chat bubbles for the pictures.  It's great fun.  Enter as often as you like here.  You can also view the past winners here to give you some ideas.

  Next: We're putting together the next issue of the Sundial next week.  That doesn't mean it's too late to send in an article, poem, letter or piece of artwork.  You can email it to us at sundial@campuskids.com or fax it to 973-845-9262.  In this issue we'll be introducing the leadership team, some of the staff assistants and some of the campers!

  Also:  You may have heard some rumors regarding a special project Ryan and I have been working on.  We're calling it WEEK 9!  That's right folks!  We're going on a "weekend adventure style" road trip across Pennsylvania and checking out everything cool.  We'll be stopping at Hershey Park, Skirmish USA, an indoor water park and much, much more!  The trip will feature two nights of camping and 4 nights of staying at hotels.  We're even planning a Week 9 talent show, so start practicing.  The trip will be like a week-long Weekend Adventure-style getaway.  Campers entering 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th grade are eligible to go on Week 9.  All the details for Week 9 will be added to the website in the coming week or so.  There will be a write up in the Sundial as well!  And before I forget, we're finalizing the details for Weekend Adventures for next summer and that information will go out some time in February. 

  Finally, on an unrelated note, I got a new snowboard and I can't wait to ride it!  As soon as I do, I'm going to post some pics from the slopes. 

Keep checking the website for new content!

Take care,
Jeremy

January 19, 2009

It's Camp Fair Season!

January is many things to many people.  It's skiing and snowboarding time.  The start of spring semester at college.  Football playoff season.  Inauguration month.  It's even National Oatmeal Month.

But in the camp world, it's also Camp Fair Time!  This year Campus Kids is being represented at many camp fairs in the NJ-NY-CT region (here's the schedule).  Weekends are busy for us because some of our staff are at the camp fairs while others are conducting the tours out at camp.

This past weekend, for instance, I  had the pleasure of touring a number of families around our beautiful Blair campus -- a real winter wonderland experience.  Meanwhile, Ryan was doing his second weekend of camp fairs, Saturday in Eatontown (assisted by Stevey) and Sunday in Bridgewater (assisted by Paula, as you can see from the photo).

At a camp fair, anywhere from 25 to 60 camps of all kinds set up their booths and provide information to the parents and kids who come by looking for camp information.  It's fun to meet everyone (whatever camp they choose) because talking about camp is always FUN!   We like helping people learn more the fantastic world of summer camp and giving them tips for choosing the right camp for their children.  Campus Kids stands out because we are the only weekday sleep-away camp and because we give kids daily choice of their activities.  Plus we have such a wide variety of activities and we offer the choice of a campus camp or a cabin camp.

So remember, it may be National Hot Tea Month, but it's also Camp Fair Season!

Tom

January 12, 2009

White Blanket of Snow

Camp was covered in a beautiful white blanket of snow this past weekend.  Unfortunately, we had to postpone our Saturday tours, but the roads were clear enough on Sunday for us to make the journey to Blairstown to meet the hearty families who came out for a summer camp tour.  It was beautiful, as you can see, but very cold and windy.  I did the tours and, during a break between them, took a hike around campus to snap some photos.  I think I'll enlarge a couple of them and put them on my dorm room wall next summer so on a hot summer day I can think cool thoughts.

Camp tours are really fun because we get to meet kids and their families and talk about camp.  The best part is answering questions and finding out all the activities that the new campers are looking forward to.  On this particular weekend we were happy to see that the new athletics building construction has moved to the final stages.  The field house (two gyms, fitness center, 7 squash courts and aerobics room had opened up a couple of months ago.  This weekend the "performance gym" re-opened after its beautiful renovation, as well as the swimming pool (yes, there were swimmers in the water on this cold winter's day -- proof that the pool water is heated).  That leaves only the new student center (our "canteen") to be completed in about a month.

It was a busy weekend at Blair, but most of the students and faculty were inside, so the campus was quiet and almost desolate.  Some footprints in the snow were the primary evidence that people were around.  And then, when the sun came out and the wind died down, some young sledders took advantage of the sloping sides of "the bowl".

Another thing I did to keep warm while waiting for tour families was to enjoy the artwork in the Armstrong-Hipkins arts center.  In addition to the gallery with its rotating exhibits, the lobbies and halls of the arts center have lots of interesting paintings on the walls.  I share a sample here.

We also had a Campus Kids booth set up at two camp fairs this past weekend, one in Parsippany and one in Teaneck.   Thanks to Ryan for taking on camp fair duty on both days and for Stevey's help in Teaneck on Sunday.  (Paula was supposed to help on Saturday in Parsippany, but we didn't want her driving in the snowstorm.  Sorry, Paula!)

I hope your new year is off to a great start.  The pace here at the camp office goes from fast to very fast as soon as the holidays are over, but it's very exciting.  Tours and camp fairs are just a part of what happens around here.  We'll be sharing more office stories with you throughout the year. 

Oh, one more thing.  Liz S. visited us just before she had to head back to Buffalo for the second half of her sophomore year.  She left in the midst of our measly little snowstorm for the city where Lake Erie dumps "real snow" on you.  Stu always wonders why anyone would want to live in Buffalo (he did for a brief time many years ago), but it doesn't seem to faze Liz.  Better you than me, Lizzy!  Good luck to you and all our college students who are heading back to their academic studies.  Which reminds me . . . we also enjoyed visits over the holiday break from Josh K., Jessica L., Erica G. and Lauren B., more of our former campers who are now attending college.

Tom

January 2009
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