At the end of last summer, most camp directors were already thinking about summer 2020. That’s because most camp directors I know are problem-solvers, and whatever might not have gone so smoothly in 2019 was already in their sights to improve for 2020. Then the unthinkable happened: a virus we can’t see upended the world, and along with it, the plans of many camp directors for the coming summer.

Summer camp is a beneficial experience for both the campers and the summer camp staff, who learn valuable professional skills that translate to their future careers.

While some youth safety practices from in-person programming transfer over to the online world, there are a number of additional safety precautions to consider. 

This guide offers tips for starting and running a virtual summer camp.

Hello camp friends, and thank you for taking a moment to think about evaluation during a time when evaluation seems less critical than the other big challenges you are likely facing right now. We know from previous blog posts that the evaluation systems you’ve built over time will survive, even if they are less of a priority for summer 2020.

Fatigue at camp is like inclement weather at camp. You’re going to have it at some point, but if you spot it before it happens, you can take steps to be prepared for it and reduce the impact it has on your staff and program.

With shelter-in-place orders affecting camps nationwide, many camps have turned to virtual gatherings to keep their camp community engaged and encouraged. But with virtual programming comes a variety of new child safety precautions.

We outlined best practices for keeping online programming safe in a previous blog post; now, we take a deeper look at some of the popular platforms and the safety features of each.

Hello camp friends, and welcome to the second in our short Research 360 series focusing on evaluation during the time of COVID-19. In our first blog we suggested that, like trees, your evaluation systems might contract as you focus on the health and safety of your camp community — and that’s OK! Those systems will expand again when things get back to normal.

As camps face stay-at-home orders in most states across the country, now is a great time to rally your camp community with online programming.

Staff retention is a significant challenge for many seasonal camps. Although camp managers do their best to achieve high or even equal retention rates of their seasonal staff, it is still very likely that they face both attrition and turnover, annually. Reasons that counselors may choose not to come back to camp, include: