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by Jeffrey Leiken, M.A.
Greg was a first-time camp counselor. He went to college in the Midwest
and could teach tennis. There was nothing remarkable about him on the
surface. He was a nice guy, got along well with his peers, and did what
he was asked to do. When the campers arrived, however, something transpired.
Campers from all ages congregated around him. Even some of the toughest
campers in camp liked him. At his mid-summer evaluation the head counselor
dared to ask him this question, “What is your secret? What are you
doing that all these kids are drawn to you?”
Greg’s answer was simple, yet poignant.“I consistently do
the little things that matter, and I do them when others don’t.”
At a recent two-day winter retreat for twenty camp counselors from a
northeast summer camp, the intention was to engage them in activity and
dialogue that would gather ideas, suggestions, and insights on how to
improve their camp. The secondary goal was to get this core group working
together as a team to bring a heightened spirit of seriousness and commitment
to the staff.
One activity asked them to imagine and describe their “ideal camp” — specifically
what it would look, sound, and feel like — to think of a time in
their history at camp when it was most like this ideal and to describe
what the factors were that made it so. This led to a rich and vivid sharing
of stories — mostly of what they called “peak moments.” Most
of the stories happened around big events or at the final campfire — the
moments when sworn enemies came together, when a horribly homesick camper
wouldn’t let go of his counselor when his parents arrived, when
a “loser” camper grew up to become a director.
These stories are a significant part of camp folklore and mythology.
Many camp professionals went into this field because of moments like
these — the defining moments we teach our counselors to expect — the
special event days that we look forward to with great expectation before
the campers even arrive. Often when a counselor struggles in week five
we tell them, “Wait until the buses are ready to leave — and
the kids cry and don’t want to say good-bye. Then you’ll understand
what an impact you’ve made.”
The implication of all this is that it is okay to wait while the tension
and drama builds — to wait for the extraordinary moments to occur.
Many of the most effective camp counselors take a very different approach.
They don’t wait. They make every moment important, and they act
on it. Greg, for example, made it a point to go up to three random campers
each night at the flag lowering ceremony and privately give them accolades
for something he liked or admired about them. No one knew he did this,
and over the course of fifty-four days of camp, more than 150 campers
received unsolicited attention and praise from this young man. Some of
the compliments he gave were the defining moments for these campers.
Imagine for a moment a camp where every counselor followed this practice.
Benchmarks
Last year, one camp director wanted to dramatically increase the attention
and priority her staff put on doing the little things that mattered most
to the campers. Rather than emphasize this during orientation, only to
have it fade into the hustle of daily camp life, she established it as
the most essential consideration for her staff. Each week she began staff
meetings by requiring every counselor to share a story about how they
had done something to positively impact a camper’s life — calling
these benchmark moments. The more subtle and unexpected the counselor’s
act and the lengths the counselor had to go to do it, the higher the
bar was raised. The results were magnificent. She had her closest knit
staff ever and the least amount of discipline issues among campers. In
addition, she had virtually no parent complaints — a benchmark that
most camp professionals would dream to achieve.
Peaceful Bedtimes
At night, after lights out, coverage is a challenge at many camps. The
effort to allow staff time off often means leaving one counselor to cover
several cabins at night. It is no surprise that so many problems arise
between campers at night when there is the least coverage. One camp decided
to change its policy and require one counselor to be on duty and in the
bunk with his or her campers until they were asleep. The camp compensated
by making a later curfew for those on time off. During orientation, an
entire session was spent on how to do bed- times in a quietly and orderly
manner. Staff were taught how to lead discussions, tell stories, and
create positive bedtime rituals.
One counselor started a ritual that spread to his whole unit. Before
turning the lights out, he would get every one quiet. Then he’d
go around and give each person thirty seconds to talk about the highlight
of his day. This was followed by each camper getting thirty more seconds
to either thank someone or share something they had learned that day.
The campers loved it so much that they came to look forward to their
bedtimes! More impressive than that — so did the counselors!
Current Events
Another part of the mythology of camp is how isolated or “cut off” we
are from the rest of the world. One camp counselor was deeply moved and
inspired during the summer of 2002 by the story of the coal miners in
West Virginia who survived waist deep in near freezing water for three
days until they were rescued. In particular, he was compelled by the
way they tied themselves together and took turns being on the inside
of the huddle to keep each other warm. He learned how they took turns
writing notes to their loved ones and sealed them in a waterproof container,
not knowing if they would be alive to see them delivered.
That story of the coal miners and their courage became his bunk’s
bedtime story one night — only he added a bit. He emphasized how
these men survived by relying on one another and working as a team. He
then asked each camper to take a minute and write a positive, personal
note to each of the other campers in the bunk. He told them that he would
collect them and distribute the notes in three days time — much
the same as these miners did when they were rescued. This group of eleven-year-old
boys quietly scribbled away notes to one another for nearly an hour.
When they finally received the notes written to them, the whole mood
shifted in the bunk — they became one of the most unified groups
in camp.
An Unordinary Day
A camp counselor decided to take her own initiative to get past the
mid-summer slump in week five. She spontaneously woke her campers one
morning to the announcement that “today is Unordinary Day.” Her
thirteen-year-old campers looked puzzled. She explained that everything
they did that day would be unconventional, unordinary. They began by
dressing up for breakfast. Then they went and made other cabins’ beds.
They enthusiastically participated in all activities! As the day progressed,
they become more and more unordinary. The campers decided the most unordinary
thing of all that they could do was to be on time and quiet for announcements.
They took it upon themselves to get the whole camp on time and quiet.
There was such a sense of solidarity and unity among the camp that day
as the director walked out to the evening line up and was greeted with
total silence and attendance. This counselor had a ball as her campers — and
all those around her — broke out of the mid-summer slump and made
an ordinary day into an extraordinarily unordinary day to remember.
What each of these examples — and the hundreds more camp professionals
have experienced — have in common is that the counselor acted intentionally.
These counselors decided that they would take action now, rather than
wait until some special day. Those who do it consistently make summers
happen that are magical for those around them. They have summers filled
with the kind of moments for which others hope. And they raise the mark
of expectation — they make us realize that all things are possible
with the right intention and right action — that any moment can
be extraordinary. What better time and place to begin exploring what’s
possible right now at your camp this summer.
Originally published
in the 2003 May/June issue of Camping Magazine. |
