Jack's Camp Friends Newsletter |
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I'm back after going M.I.C.A. (Missing in Camp Action) last week. Two quick things:
- Check out the best ways to engage with parents showing interest in camp. 7 Camp Lead Sequence Fixes to Make Right Now. Free and a place to start with these automated series.
- This week's Write From Camp on Substack is all about better ways to write about camp benefits and also how I'm thinking about making videos.
Ok, let's get to it. The trial of the century.
Last week, two of my counselors threw me in the lake.
I was "dressed up" in a sport jacket and everything. Though, in fairness, I had it coming. I'd just been convicted, in front of about eighty people, for the "murder" of Greg Golf, our Marketing and Hill director, who was very much alive an hour earlier.
This was staff training, night one. Maybe two hours in.
Earlier that night
We gathered everyone over at the freshman compound. Grills going, frisbees in the air. Typical summer night.
Gave a welcome speech, and we did a cheer for the summer.
Then Greg hit the ground. He totally played it up. The “I’m dying!!!” bit went a little too long, in the best way.
From there, the murder mystery was on.
We broke into small groups, each with a captain. The mission was to walk the property and visit a list of suspects (Jacki, Bob, Scott, and a few others) and ask them why they might have wanted Greg offed. The suspects were in absurd costumes.
Each captain pointed out spaces along the route. It doubled as a walking tour of camp for the new staff.
Then everyone came back to the campfire pit for the trial. Presided over by the Honorable Judge Golf’s ghost.
Greg returned with flour all over his face doing a weird-ghost-burnout-hippie-music-festival character, which I cannot adequately describe.
He asked the crowd if anyone had any clues.
Lede stood up. She runs tennis at K&E. It’s her third summer here, and she accused me. An incredible prosecutor.
I pulled a life insurance policy out of my pocket showing I’d taken one out on Greg.
That didn’t help my case.
The conviction was swift. Jack and Jordan threw me in the lake.
The verdict came down that the Potter Place Phantom had possessed me, and once I dried off, we all ate ice cream.
End of night one.
What we were actually training
Camp is going to ask counselors to be silly sometimes. The job needs people who can raise their hand, bring some enthusiasm to a moment, and not worry about looking like a total weirdo in front of a kid.
That’s a real skill and it doesn’t come from a job description.
I think the hardest moments of being camp staff are the ones that aren’t on the schedule. They’re the ones where someone has to step up and say “hey, let’s do this thing. It’ll be awesome.” Without that, camp is just activities.
So we start training the skill the first night they’re here.
TBH the returning staff were nervous about it. They were sure no one would buy in, and the whole thing would land flat.
Sometimes silly stuff doesn’t land at camp and that’s a real risk, on a social level.
The scary part is owning it. They have to say “I’m in charge of making this awesome.” For most young adults (and adult adults), that’s terrifying.
Which is why the director goes first.
Only one person got thrown in the lake, and that was me. If the director can’t get publicly silly, none of the staff below will either. Permission is granted from the top.
There’s a deeper thing too. The silly stuff makes you want to compete harder with those people later. You do something weird together early, and when it’s time to run a big event or organize a Color War, you feel like part of something instead of just showing up.
When you actually use the skill, you realize it’s easy, and it’s awesome. But you don’t know that until you’ve used it.
A few days later
Jonah came up to me wanting to bring back Kenwood water aerobics, a silly tradition from a few summers back where two counselors led the boys through hair-brained water activities.
Of course, we’re bringing it back.
If Greg can be the ghost burnout hippie, Jonah can be the silly water aerobics guy. The skill compounded in days, not weeks.
What I think Jonah actually saw on night one = it’s okay now.
I’m hoping that becomes the expectation.
Camp started yesterday. I’d rather not get thrown in the lake again unless there’s another mystery to solve. But I will if it helps everyone else do their version too.
You got this,
Jack
