The Seven Absolutes of Camp Counseling

     I made this handy graphic at the beginning of summer to post in my camp’s staff house. It’s all stuff we cover in staff training but anyone who has worked at camp can tell you that counselors are human too.  We sometimes forget the really important stuff come week seven, when we are so tired, so burned out on songs and games, and so easily pushed to behacing just like our seven year old campers.  It happens. 

    

    That’s why it’s SO important for administrative staff to help their unit staff. Boost morale. Make sure they’re getting breaks. Make sure they are getting water! As them if they are feeling OK.  It’s the small stuff and we’ll talk about this more in-depth soon.

    So, I posted this in the staff house as a reminder. This is, however, just the brief version.  These “absolutes” are from a much longer article from the ACA’s Camping Magazine.  While I find some of them aren’t entirely “absolute,” they should still be followed 90% of the time. 

Follow the jump for the full article, then tell me what YOU think counselors must ALWAYS remember! Are these the same as your list? What would you change?

What’s your camp name?

Or “what I’ll be telling the help desk at the store to call over the loudspeaker.”

When I tell people I work for the Girl Scouts, or when a friend of mine calls me Stormy, I often get asked why are nicknames necessary? Why have nick names at camp? Honestly, my initial thought is along the lines of "Why not? Wouldn't you like to be called something else for three months out of the year? Isn't name calling supposed to be positive?"
That's not the real answer.

When Girl Scouting was founded in the US by Juliette Low in the early 1900's, it was inappropriate for young girls to call their adult leaders by their first names, but it was also agreed that Girl Scouts was not such a formal environment that girls should refer to their leaders and other trusted adults by their surnames ("Ms. Low"). The solution to the problem was the start of the Girl Scout tradition of "camp names" or nicknames to be used in place of real names. Our own founder, Juliette Low was known to most as "Daisy" (hence the naming of our youngest age group, the Daisy Girl Scouts). 

A camp name is a name that describes you in some way. It could be an animal or insect you relate to, a favorite food, or plant, or any sort of name that you connect with. Once you choose a camp name you must always keep it. The only way you can change it is if you change camps, and even then, it's usually not something you would want to do unless you have to. You're name could be "dolphin" or "flipper" because you love to swim and play in the water. Or it could be "Pokey", because that was your favorite pet turtle's name when you were a kid. My name is "Stormy" because she was my favourite character in the TV show Rainbow Brite, because I like summer storms a lot (unless of course it makes the campers cry).
 

Camp names serve all kinds of purpose in the camp environment. They clear up confusion when you have staff who have the same name (Any counselor named Ashley or Sarah will agree). Camp names give the counselor some anonymity outside of the camp environment. Camp names are easier for campers to remember, and give the campers a way to relate to you. As you go on throughout life, and as people find out you worked at a Girl Scout camp, they will likely ask you your camp name. They are a way for Girl Scouts to relate to one another as sisters. Having a camp name is a rite of passage for CIT's (Counselors in Training), and counselors who are taking pride in working at camp for the first time.

When I went to camp we didn't get to know the counselors names unless we were good, or had been there for years, or had the decency to write to them when they were at camp or during the school year. Now it’s often the norm to tell campers your camp name at the end of the week (I personally hate this, though I understand the reasons why).

Other nicknames I have considered included "Shamrock," but we already had a Clover at my first camp; "Narrin" but it was halfway through the summer before I thought of that one; and "Godzilla." And even though I have switched camps before and can technically change it my mom made this point to me: “Stormy is now your professional reputation. Your camp directors know you as Stormy, when they give a reference it’s for Stormy. Changing your name is changing who you are.”

Funny enough, the first girl scout camp counselors I had at Narrin had us pick camp names as well. I'm sure they got in trouble for it (you must know your campers real names, in case of emergencies), but my first camp name, at age 10, was Kirby. Kirby was my dog, and she was named after the vacuum cleaner. 

About Me.

“HEY! MY NAME IS STORMY, I’M FROM DETROIT, MICHIGAN AND I’LL BE YOUR PROGRAM DIRECTOR THIS SUMMER!”

And thus was my introduction to campers for summer 2011. My name is Stormy, and for better or worse I will be your author here at On the Loose. I am, or at least I try to be, a “camp professional.” In reality, I’m more of a professional camper.

Previous to working for the Girl Scouts at various camps I worked for a co-ed teen leadership camp sponsored by M.A.D.D. For the Girl Scouts I have worked for three different camps in three different councils, and volunteered at a few others. This summer I’m hoping to make it four and four, but we’ll see what happens.

My first summer with the Girl Scouts actually paying me to camp and not the other way around, I was the CIT leader and leadership director. The camp was very small, my CIT’s were few, You could count the unit staff on your hands, and it turned out to be the last summer the camp would host resident camps.  It was, nonetheless, an amazing experience.

The next two years I spent my summers at camp as a Nature Specialist and camp photographer, as well as an all-around fill in for the ad-staff. I absolutely love my experiences there. I attended my first ACA conference, was certified in Project Learning Tree, and grew as a staff member exponentially. I absolutely adore teaching ecology and nature and other sciences at camp with experiments, studies, and games. Night hikes are my favourite camp activity to lead to this day.

This last summer I moved south and worked in an unbearably hot climate, and yet still never got a proper tan. What gives? I was a Program Director, which was my first “official” job involving the supervision of other staff members. I also was the creative force behind campfires and all-camp activities. I became a logistical mastermind at a GS camp that usually hosted around 200 campers and around 50 staff members. Ever try to plan a game to be played fairly on 400 acres of land while evenly dividing 200 girls and 40ish staff, planning around staff breaks, time constraints, and when the Brownies have to go to bed or they will be cranky? I have. It was both thrilling and aggravating. (Ever plan that game and then get thunderstormed out, thus ruining an afternoon of work? Yeah.)

My goals for this blog are to share programming ideas, games, and staff information. I hope it will not only b a blog for others to enjoy, but also be a small bit of my own personal summer staff handbook. I want to discuss issues that affect the camping community, the business side of camps, and also share ideas for ways to keep camp fun and thrilling for campers in a “technology age.”