3 Vital Points for Camp Staff Training
Today, I had the pleasure of staying well away from the office and filling in as a counselor for an area day camp. It’s been five years since I last worked at a day camp, so I was excited at the chance. Beth serves as the assistant director for the camp, which is how the opportunity came my way. With very little responsibility, it was a different role than I’m used to – lots of time to watch how the actual counselors do their jobs. Having spent most of my childhood (including my summers from age 9 until 16) working at similar day camps, entirely under the direction of my father, it was interesting to think back and come up with a list of 3 vital points that you must get clear during staff training.
1. Counselors are the role models. When a counselor stands in front of campers, she is their model for everything. Be it behavior, dress, style, or interest, campers will follow the counselors. Because of this, counselors must always, ALWAYS, be on the same page. Is it or is it not okay to walk on picnic tables while campers are eating lunch? If one counselor says nothing while the other fusses, then it IS okay. During song time, is it or is it not okay to stand off to the side and not sing? If even one counselor does it, then you can bet campers will want to as well. Is it or is it not okay to chat while a counselor is talking? Any chatter by counselors will be matched with louder and more obnoxious talking from campers.
All these examples are demonstrations of how important it is for counselors to understand how they are seen by campers. Thus, focus on this from day one of staff training. It’s an easy point to lecture, demonstrate, and discuss. Counselors must leave staff training week with dual consciousness (apologies to W. E. B. DuBois). They must see themselves and see how others see them. Without that, discipline and order will suffer, and campers will not have the structure that makes camp a lot of fun.
2. A problem, any problem, is the counselor’s problem. If something related to camp function needs doing, then it is a counselor’s job to fix the problem or find someone who can. While it is obvious to expect a counselor to report a wasp’s nest or broken faucet, this also applies to basic daily tasks. If there is a piece of trash on the ground, the counselor’s first instinct must be to pick it up. If there are personal items (water bottles, jackets, et cetera) left at a picnic table, the counselor should immediately pick them up and bring them to lost and found (or even better, find their owner). If there is a lull, the counselor should not be lounging but instead searching for something that needs fixing.
To drill this into counselors’ skulls, it is best to make part of staff week a massive camp cleanup effort. Once counselors have spent a few days cleaning camp from top to bottom, they should be more focused on efforts to keep things clean. To make sure the message is reinforced, unscheduled time should be turned into cleaning time. Especially at a day camp where the counselors also return home, it is not wise to assume that such cleaning will get done after campers leave. Counselors are likely looking forward to going home just as much or more as the campers. By scheduling time for cleaning, counselors will be reminded of its importance and be more likely to make it part of their daily routine.
3. All counselors have specific roles and functions. If a counselor is assigned to be a group leader and escort campers from area to area, then that counselor does not need to be taking the lead when explaining the rules of a sports game; that’s the job of the sports area counselor. If a counselor is assigned to lead the nature program, then that counselor should not be hanging out poolside. If a counselor is new, a counselor-in-training (CIT), then that counselor should not be bossing people around. Without this kind of order and structure, campers have trouble figuring out who to listen to.
By focusing on role and function during training, counselors get both responsibilities and privileges. Each counselor does have specific functions to fulfill; failure to achieve these should result in discipline. But also in the counselor’s function is a wide array of jobs tasked to other counselors with different functions. Yes, a group leader will have to tell his campers to get off the table, stop hitting each other, and eat their lunch. But that also means he doesn’t have to plan and lead arts and crafts sessions that the campers will find interesting. It’s all about give and take. This point should be stressed during staff training.
In the end, there will always be difficult campers whom no one can reach, no matter how trained the staff. And there will always be counselors who need to be reminded, on a daily basis, of the three points above (not to mention all kinds of camp-specific minutia). But with a focus on the above points, staff training will be more effective and these valuable points will go into practice much sooner. The best way to approach that first week of training is to think about the mid-point in the summer. It’s at that point when counselors start to get tired; lap 3 of the mile is always the toughest. Usually, at the midpoint, the director should stand up and give a talk to encourage the counselors. As the director, do you want to be rehashing the basics that you wish everyone would understand? Or do you want to do nothing but compliment and encourage? If it’s the latter, then you had better get the basics right from the beginning.
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