Jack's Camp Friends

Jack's Camp Friends Newsletter Subscribe Here Quick Note: This is a guest post from Doug Norrie, who was with me at Tri-State last week. Asked for his thoughts on the summer camp industry, or at least what he saw in Atlantic City. Plus, 3 extra things Staff Training Sprint Cohort → So excited for this. 50+ camp pros are already in! Let's get your camp there, too. 4 days building out a staff training. More details at the bottom of this email. Dirtbag Rich: High Freedom, Low Income, Deep...

Jack's Camp Friends Newsletter Subscribe Here Had an awesome time at Tri-State. Saw so many of you in the halls, the sessions, at Camp Idol, at Campchella. These conferences are the best. And also got to run a staff training session for about 400 camp pros. Everything was going great. Getting into different groups based on songs of the summer and a bunch of other shenanigans. But then the projector broke. Whoops. It happens. So what did we do? What camp staff always does: we pivoted into...

Jack's Camp Friends Newsletter Subscribe Here Two amazing things before we get started. Staff Training Sprint Cohort → Live and already has a bunch of people in. You and your team next? 4 days building out a staff training. More on this at the end. But just skip the wait and sign up now. Camp Career Accelerator → Looking to get into summer camp full-time? This is **4-month immersive, paid fellowship for future camp leaders. Travel. Learn from the best. Build your path into full-time camp...

Jack's Camp Friends Newsletter Subscribe Here Getting to the newsletter in a sec, but if you’re going to be at Tri-State, I want to hang out Presenting two sessions From Bored to Bought In: How to Train Staff Who Actually Care - Tuesday, March 10 @ 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm Write the Story of Camp: Great Newsletters Driving Enrollment and Connection (this one’s with Doug Norrie) - Tuesday, March 10 @ 3:15 pm - 4:15 pm Hosting 2 Parties Camp Idol Tuesday, March 10th | Doors at 8, Music at 8:45pm | The...

Jack's Camp Friends Newsletter Subscribe Here Two weeks ago, the great Dan Weir (Read his camp newsletter!) and I were in Raleigh training the camp directors at YMCA of the Triangle. Awesome group who all love camp. About 200 camp pros were in the room, in the middle of February, still months away from summer. But you bet we were trying to create the kinds of moments these staff would need to create all summer long. One main idea here was fairly simple: "Moments make memories, memories build...

Jack's Camp Friends Newsletter Subscribe Here Two Quick and VERY IMPORTANT Things 1 → Check out the PS for the Tri-State Parties we are throwing. Thank you IENA and CampMinder for helping make those happen 2 →We are running the Staff Training Sprint Cohort this spring, 4 days over 2 weeks, building out a great camp staff training. Put your name on the waitlist and be the first to get the details, or just vote in the poll below Staff Training Sprint Cohort - Interested in more details? Yes! I...

Jack's Camp Friends Newsletter Subscribe Here Camp conference season is here! Going to get into what that means here in a sec. And tell you about 2 Tristate Parties we are throwing - Check the PS Thank you IENA and CampMinder! But first need to mention that next week, I’ll be in San Diego for CODA and ACA National. The latter is an extra big deal this year, because Scott Brody is receiving ACA’s Distinguished Service Award at Nationals. It’s the highest honor afforded to members by the...

Jack's Camp Friends Newsletter Subscribe Here Quick something before we start: The Skywild Inclusion Specialist Training at North Star Reach is March 22-28, 2026. The best professional development I have ever done. Come spend a week with me at my badass girlfriend’s camp. Next 3 spots are free - Normally $799 Apply here We ran a mini-camp in the winter this weekend. It’s called, drumroll please….. Winter Weekend. Not the whole camp. Just the seniors (13, 14, 15 years old) at K&E this summer....

Jack's Camp Friends Newsletter Subscribe Here Got a text this week from one of our unit leaders. Awesome dude. Totally committed, thoughtful, and hardworking. He doesn't come from tons of money, and is very focused on his career trajectory. And he was trying to break up with me. (with me!!!) I wasn't ready to accept that. Pushed back a bit (I'll stop short of saying I was a bully, wouldn’t have been very camp of me) because I wanted to understand what was really going on. Jumped on a...