I screwed up this summer.

Not in some, "Yo! Call the insurance company!!!" way.

More like a missed opportunity. Something I can kinda see clearly now, but was pretty blind to when the summer was starting.

It’s late August, so a bunch of us camp folks are in that post-summer, deep breath, looking back window.

Summer still burning fresh in your memory, but hopefully you’ve put your feet up, took a load off, and gotten enough distance to see what actually worked and what didn't.

Because you'll never have a clearer view of what you want to change and what you want to keep than right now.

My Miss: The Cold Start

Here’s my whoops: I didn’t spend nearly enough time getting to know staff before the summer started.

You’re probably like, “Jack, you literally work at camp. How do you not know your staff?”

Great question. I was coming into K&E as the new guy, trying to learn everything about how this place works while also prepping for 200+ kids to come piling off the buses.

I was spending my time trying to talk to parents before summer, figuring out how to get from Spruce Lodge to Hut 6. That kind of stuff.

So when staff showed up for training, there I was scrambling to figure out who was who, strengths, personalities, energy, who could be relied on for honest feedback.

But mostly totally starting from zero with people I needed to be collaborating with from day one.

So what happens (which is totally predictable in hindsight, and in the moment)? Spending the first couple weeks playing catch-up.

For instance, there were a couple of staff who know “everything”. You know the kind of folks I’m talking about. All the gossip, the way things really work, all the real dynamics, what was actually happening.

Took me weeks to figure out this out.

By the time I realized these staff had their figurative fingers on the pulse of the whole place, we were already in something like Week 3.

Because of this, I missed a bunch of opportunities for the real tea (this is code for gossip).

Things like:

What did people actually think about certain unit leaders?

Were there program changes that would have made everyone’s lives easier?

Running around putting out fires instead of building ways to prevent some of those fires in the first place.

Next summer, I’m starting earlier. Waaaay earlier.

Weekly office hours leading up to camp. Just hopping on Zoom, available for anyone who wants to check in, share ideas, or whatever comes up. Will have a loose plan for these so it’s not just staring silence.

Getting to know everyone ahead of time, figuring out the honest perspectives, and getting voices plugged in before the first big meal starts.

What’s Yours?

For a lot of you (probably most of you), you don’t have this issue. For everyone, it’s going to be a different thing.

The main question is finding something you would have done differently this summer.

Program design

Facilities upkeep

Activity block schedules

Maintenance issues piling on

Steady parent communication

Getting to know more campers

Whatever it is, now’s the time to actually name it.

While you can still remember exactly how it felt when things went just a little not right, or totally sideways.

Just pick one thing to be like, “There has to be a better way.”

Next spring, it will get all fuzzy, and you’ll convince yourself it wasn’t a big deal.

The Thing About Reflection

Admitting a screw up, like I just did for like half this newsletter, isn’t some massive failure. It’s just being a bit thoughtful and trying to get better.

The camp folks I respect most are always looking for ways to get better. Not because anything is broken, but because the bar can always get a little higher.

So yeah, maybe something got screwed up just a bit this summer. All good. Let’s do something about it.

You got this,

Jack

​WriteFromCamp.com​

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