Our staff is amazing! A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!
Our staff is amazing! A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!
Hey there friends and family of Camp Caribou! We wanted to check in pre-camper arrival and let you know how our summer is going so far.
Camp looks amazing, really and truly, and we are so excited for the arrival of all of our 1st session and Full Season campers!! Our staff Orientation started yesterday, and we already have a wonderful feeling about this group. We have brought together so many interesting, passionate, personable, outgoing and engaging people, and everybody has something special and different to offer. We feel the same way about the camper population that will be joining us here one week from yesterday. We are proud to be bringing together a group of children from all over the world; children who come from warm, loving and supportive families. The last week before camp starts can be a tough one for families, as everyone scrambles to prepare the last minute forgotten items, and send in all the forms. Don’t worry; you’re not the only parent who hasn’t yet submitted everything!
The last week before camp starts up here is just as busy, but in a very different way. We are learning all about our new counselors, and re-connecting and catching up with the ones we already know. We’re making all kinds of observations and evaluations, and thinking about which counselor would be the best fit with which children. Social chemistry, common interests, logistical necessities, all of these things play a part when we’re making bunk assignments and essentially creating partnerships of surrogate parents that will become the role models and mentors for our campers. We take this responsibility very seriously, as these partnerships are the key to the extraordinary world of bunk life.
We spend a huge amount of time over the next week talking about and modeling how to create successful partnerships between co-counselors, and the skills and strategies that they will need to implement in order for their relationship to succeed. We practice the language, demonstrate the strategies, model the behaviors and coach our staff to tap into their “natural nurturing” skills. We ask them to reflect upon all the little things that their parents or caretakers did for them to let them know that they were loved, and prompt them to start thinking about all the things that they do on a daily basis to take care of themselves.. these are all things that they’ll have to verbalize to the children. Is it a little bit chilly in the morning? Are you reaching for your sweatshirt? Time to remind the kids to grab theirs too!
We’re so excited for a wonderful summer together, and the staff already can’t wait to see the kids! We’ll be spending this whole next week preparing for their arrival in every way that we can. Here is one of the tools that we use to impress upon the staff how a parent might feel when sending their child to camp for the first time. Letter to my Child’s Staff Person