We’ll put out a new podcast about summer camp and the lessons we’ve learned every other Friday from January until June and then again through the Fall and early Winter. We hope you’ll take a moment to listen and then bring a friend to listen, too. You’ll find the show notes for each of our conversations below.
*Any purchases of the books through the link below will help raise money for SCOPE, a charitable organization that helps to send children to camps all over the US.
Subscribe on one of these digital campfire sites:
The First Full (Time) Year
Samantha ‘Samson’ Thomson, Camp Weequahic
Last time around the campfire, I had the great pleasure of speaking with some friends who were starting out their ‘full time’ camp journey. Tonight, I get a chance to talk with someone who has just closed out her first full year in camping.
When Samantha Thomson joined Camp Weequahic 8 summers ago for the first time, she wasn’t sure camp was real. Seriously – she gave it a 50% chance that this whole thing was a random scam. Thankfully, she gave us a chance and camp brought out the best in her.
Fast forward several summers and Samson is starting her second ‘full time’ summer. Samson and I had spoken last year about doing a ‘before and after’ conversation but things got crazy (as they are wont to do at camp) and we never had a chance to sit and talk. Before the campers bounce off the bus in a few days, we took a few minutes to talk and laugh and learn.
I hope you’ll enjoy hearing Samson’s camp story, learning how some ‘no’s’ are really useful, the importance of patience and relationships, and what it’s like to work ‘behind the curtain’ at camp full-time. And… stick around for our plans for next season!
Starting a (Camp) Life Together
Nikki Zenkel & Max Grossman, Point o’Pines Camp
The start of things is always exciting, isn’t it? We talked about new beginnings a few weeks ago with Jackie Brethel who is starting a brand new camp. Today, I have the pleasure of exploring another new start.
Nikki Zenkel and Max Grossman began this past ‘off season’ as newly minted assistant directors at Point o’Pines Camp in upstate New York. After recruiting campers and staff, helping with the property and kitchen and everything else we camp people do, Nikki and Max will start something else new this fall – they are getting married!
As someone who started working at camp newly married, this was too good an opportunity to pass up. (Full disclosure – I’ve known Nikki for a very long time and am so pleased to get to know Max more and more.)
I hope you’ll enjoy this campfire conversation about building a life in camp together with Nikki Zenkel and Max Grossman.
A Spark of Wonder
Andy Newberg, Focus for a Future
The positive outcomes for kids (and staff) who attend summer camp are honestly too long to list in this format. From creating life-long memories to building valuable skills like independence, teamwork, leadership and empathy… there are just so many good things that come out of the summer camp experience.
And yet… not everyone gets to enjoy it. Thankfully, thoughtful, interested people come up with an idea and then follow through to make it a reality. When long-time coach and camp guy, Jack Kaminer, suggested the camp he worked at accept a scholarship camper, he started something that truly changes lives in all the positive ways.
Today, Focus for a Future matches great kids who could not otherwise afford it with great camps who welcome them at no charge. Andy Newberg, the Director of Focus for a Future, has taken the reigns from Jack and Paula Kaminer and continues to blaze the trail forward with the help of a LOT of fantastic teachers, camps and donors.
I hope you’ll enjoy learning more about Focus for a Future and how it creates a spark of wonder for so many in this campfire conversation with my friend, Andy Newberg.
Camp is Good for Business
Tony McGaharan, People Playbook
As every summer camp director will tell you, we’ve had a TON of great people come through our lives. Watching the campers laugh and learn and grow summer after summer is an enormous gift. No less affecting, though, are our relationships with staff members.
Tony McGarahan showed up on our proverbial doorstep in 2010 at the request of Big Dave, one of the all-time great Weequahic staff members himself. From the moment he jumped into the Dining Hall, Tony’s enthusiasm, thoughtfulness and gift of gab was evident. It was a sad day when we knew he would not be returning as he needed to find different pastures for his adventures ahead.
As you’ll hear in the upcoming conversation (which felt a bit like a reunion for me), Tony’s path after camp has been an exciting one, full of ups and challenges. And, as you’ll find out, while you can take the person out of summer camp, it’s really hard to take summer camp out of the person.
I’m happy to introduce you to my good friend, Tony McGarahan.
Starting a Summer Camp from Scratch
Jackie Brethel, Camp Kippewa POint
What does it take to start something brand new? It’s one thing to start a small business like a yogurt shop where you’ve got to make sure the machines are on and everything works.
It’s a whole other ball of wax to start a community - with unique traditions and saying and culture - from scratch. This is something that happened a lot during the early year of ‘summer camp’ in the US… about 100 years ago! But it’s a rare feat now and one that can teach us all many lessons.
I’m thrilled to be joined by Jackie Brethel, the director of Camp Kippewa Point, a literally brand-new two-week summer camp for girls in the wonderful woods of Maine. Jackie and her team built everything from the ground up (and, sometimes, below the ground.) Take a listen to learn from the successes and learnings that Jackie has enjoyed recently.
What Camp Teaches a Teacher
Dana Stassen, Camp Weequahic & Kennesaw Public Schools
If you didn’t know already, summer camp in the US was started mainly by school teachers in the late 1800s and early 1900s. They were English teachers and coaches and school nurses and athletic directors and math teachers. They wanted to develop a place in which kids could thrive, where they could learn about the great outdoors and themselves.
Fast forward a century and camp is still a learning environment built specifically for kids. However, rather than being mostly teacher-led, summer camps are predominately led by full or part-time summer camp professionals. Rather than a side or summer business, camp – in its many forms – is mostly run by professionals who give it their full attention.
While I believe the professionalism of the camping industry has been on the whole a very positive development, there has been a serious loss of input from the ranks of school teachers, incredible professionals in their own right. Given this change, I wanted to learn a bit more about what teachers go through, how summer camp affects them, and how we can marry, if you will, the best of both worlds.
Thankfully, I know the perfect person to talk about being a professional in both realms. If you’d listened to past podcasts, you no doubt have heard Dana Stassen’s fantastic thoughtfulness. A teacher turned camp professional who has since melded the two worlds, Dana is around the campfire to talk all things summer camp, classroom and how each can help the other. Enjoy!
Leaders are Grown
Jorge Perez, Camp Weequahic
Tonight, I’ve got a special treat. Well… by the end of this podcast, I hope it’ll be as much of a treat for you as it is for me. One of the most special moments for a camp director is seeing “one of your kids” become a professional leader of campers and staff. We’ve had a handful of young men and women make the different transitions to this point. Tonight, I’ve got one of those special people around the campfire.
Jorge Perez started camp as a 10 year old with no idea about summer camp. He cautiously stepped off the van, grabbed his too-big suitcase and tried to muscle it to his bunk. 12 years later, Jorge turned himself into one of the most loving, wise and wonderful young men that I know. Around the campfire, we talk about his path from camper to counselor to Division Head, the lessons he’s learned along the way and how he applies those lessons to the little world around him back home.
Jorge is a fantastic example of how summer camp can affect the trajectory of a young person’s life. And that is happening all over the country with the support of groups like Focus for a Future, SCOPE and all of the wonderful teachers and volunteers that help to open up the summer camp world so more and more children can flourish.
As we approach the holiday season, I hope you’ll consider supporting an organization that purposefully and thoughtfully connects kids with summer camp. By supporting them, you can help change a life or a whole lot of lives for the better.
Hope for Homeless Kids
Tyrone Squire, Homes for the Homeless Camp Wakonda
Hi everyone. We’ve had a bit of break from around the campfire and are happy to get back around it together again.
Tonight’s guest arrived via some mutual work we are doing together for the ACA of New York/NJ Tri-State Conference. As Tyrone Squire, the camp administrator for Homes for the Homeless and I walked in together from the parking into our meeting, we struck up a conversation. It took me about two seconds to know that I wanted to learn more about him and the incredible work he and the rest of the team at Camp Wakonda are doing.
As you are about to hear, Tyrone is a long-time camp pro. He’s someone who fell in love with camp, fell in love with working with kids, and then, almost literally, fell into working full-time in the residential summer camp world.
I’m so pleased that Tyrone was interested in spending some time around the campfire with me today. He gives us all a great insight into how summer camp can provide a memorable and important experience for all children and especially for children who are battling homelessness. I’m excited to introduce you to my new friend, Tyrone Squire.
Maintenance Matters
John Weidner, Maintenance Director, Camp Weequahic
When Kate and I started our summer camp adventures 22 years ago, the most important full-time summer camp professional I met was Paul Morrill. Paul had been the maintenance director at Camp Wicosuta, a fabulous girls camp in New Hampshire, for longer than I had been alive at that point. He had the biggest, most powerful hands I’d ever seen and an intimidating presence (especially for someone who had never had much success building or fixing things… like myself.)
But, after listening to him speak while sharing a 7am coffee with him for a week (and I can’t stand coffee), his frosty reception of the ‘new guy’ started to thaw. Over the next five years, Paul became a mentor and friend. The man could fix anything and truly loved the place.
Since that first experience of working with Paul, I’ve worked with a handful of maintenance directors, all of whom did their all to build something special for the kids and staff.
What it takes to do what they do is stunning. The depth of knowledge – whether it’s building, understanding safety regulations, fixing plumbing, managing sewer plants, running pools, handling electrical needs – is astounding and vitally important.
Today, I’m joined around the campfire with John Weidner, Maintenance Director of Camp Weequahic. John joined the Weequahic team in 2018 and has become an indispensable part of the team and a close friend. Because so few know what it takes to get camp ready, I thought it would be an interesting conversation… especially as we are so close to the summer.
I hope you’ll enjoy this ‘behind the curtain’ view of summer camp provided by my good friend, John Weidner.
Assistant Director Takeover!
Sara Fetterhoff, Asst. Director, Trail’s End Camp
Assistant Director James Stassen takes over the podcast with his good friend, Sara Fetterhoff. They talk about everything camp from a different perspective than most people here - that of the people who put in hours and hours of effort to make camp awesome from behind the scenes. You’ll hear how they found camp, what working at camp has brought them, camp kids, camp staff, SCOPE, and more.
Sara has been at Trail's End Camp since 2008, starting as a basketball counselor while finishing up her undergraduate degree in Exercise Science at Lyndon State College in Vermont. She cites her passion for basketball and love for working with kids as her initial motivation to work at camp.
Sara went on to obtain her Masters Degree in Community and Youth Development from Durham University in the United Kingdom. After graduating with her Master in 2013, she came to Trail's End Camp as a full time Assistant Director focusing on Staffing and Operations. Sara is also very active in the Wayne County Camp Alliance and SCOPE as the Associate Board Co-Chair.
She LOVES all things CAMP and has a ton to offer. Enjoy!
PERFORMing at Camp
Dr. Lonnie Sarnell, Tyler Hill camp
Last week, thousands of camp professionals from around the US and several other countries came together at the annual TriState Camp Conference put on by the ACA New York/New Jersey office. There is no better time to connect with friends new and old, generate a lot of new ideas and learn from so many incredible speakers.
One talk I particularly enjoyed came from Dr. Lonnie Sarnell. Helping leaders develop mental habits that put them in the right frame of mind to grow and lead, regardless of their circumstances, is huge. The fact that Lonnie quoted Phil Jackson and Michael Jordan in the process… well, I was hooked! And then I found out she spends her summers right down the road from me at Tyler Hill Camp with my friends Andy and Wendy Siegel. I knew I had to get Lonnie around the campfire.
Dr. Lonnie Sarnell earned her BA in Psychology from Yale University where she also played goalie for the women’s lacrosse team. Lonnie then received her Psy.D. in clinical psychology with a concentration in sport-performance psychology from La Salle University. She now runs a private practice working with young people who have a wide range of concerns. And, just as important for this venue, Lonnie is the Girl’s Head Counselor at Tyler Hill Camp is a summer camp pro through and through.
We talk a good bit about her PERFORM acronym: Positive mantra, Embrace change, Reflect on your path, Find your fun, Organize yourself, Refresh, and Mindful moments. If you’d like to know more about Dr. Sarnell, please check out her website: www.drlonniesarnell.com.
Growing Up the Camp Director’s Kid
Lily Stoltz, Island Lake Camp & Cole Kelly III, Camp Weequahic
We talk a lot around the campfire about the impact summer has on kids and parents and how to spread the word about that impact. But what about kids that have no choice to be at summer camp? No, we are not holding anyone against their will, What I am talking about is staff kids.
Specifically, kids of directors that spend their time with their parents all year and get to see all the preparations that go into creating an amazing experience for so many people all around the world. Do they get special privileges? Do they get treated differently from other campers? Are they impacted by the summer camp experience like everyone else?
James Stassen sits down this week with two children of summer camp owners and directors who have spent their entire lives at camp.
Lily Stolz is the daughter of the former owner and director of Island Lake Camp, Matt Stoltz. She has literally grown up at camp and continues to be involved with our good friends at SCOPE in order to raise awareness and funds for their great work.
We’ve also got Cole Kelly III, the oldest son of our usual host. (Now you know why James is hosting! We want the honest inside scoop!) After stops at two other great camps in the northeast, CK3 has spent the last 13 years growing up at Camp Weequahic. He’s now being considered for a staff position at his old camp.
BONUS! Make sure to stick around to the end for a special guest who dropped by the campfire after the kids left!
Risky Business: Teaching Kids through Risk
Paul Dreyer, CEO, Avid 4 Adventure
Last week, we had a great conversation with Stephen Gray Wallace about building resiliency in children. One thing he mentioned was the idea of introducing appropriate levels of risk for kids to experience. In order to explore what that means, I’ve got a fantastic guest around the campfire, someone who has spent a career learning about how people learn and putting that knowledge into action.
Paul Dreyer is the Chief Empowerment Officer at Avid4 Adventure, an organization that builds confidence and new skills in children at day and residential summer camps all over the country. As you’ll hear from Paul, Avid4 Adventure uses the great outdoors as the medium for this growth and their approach to learning from both actual and perceived risk.
Paul certainly knows experiential learning. In addition to his CEO role at Avid4, he’s a longtime training consultant with Where There Be Dragons (which a really cool teen learning program), a Wilderness Medicine Instructor and Preceptor, and has served in various roles at Avid since 2003. This guy knows his stuff!
I hope you’ll enjoy this great conversation about how we help our children learn through risk. I learned a lot and know you will, too!
The Joys of Jewish Camping
Jeff Braverman, Camp Nesher & NJY Camps
As we enter the holiday season here in the US, I wanted to take a bit of time to explore, for lack of a better term, religious camps. This week and next week, I’ll be talking with good friends in the Jewish and Christian camping worlds. (I don’t know anyone yet who runs summer camps in other religious traditions… but I’m hopeful!)
Hanukkah just ended which means we’ll start with the Jewish tradition. For those of you who don’t know much about the summer camp world, there are a LOT of Jewish camps, particularly in the Northeast. I’ve worked with Jewish families and alongside Jewish camping professionals for 20 years. However, I’ve never really known a lot about their camps and their reason for being. I’ve got a few ideas, of course, but I wanted to get an expert to tell me more.
Thankfully, my neighbor across the lake, Jeff Braverman, was happy to help. The director of Camp Nesher since its founding in 1996 and the Associate Director of the NJY Camps organization, Jeff has a deep well of knowledge to share. And, because he’s a friend, Jeff is really patient with my inexperienced questions!
I hope you’ll enjoy this short dive into the wonderful world of Jewish summer camps with my friend and neighbor, Jeff Braverman.
Welcome Back, International Staff!
Ivy Cohen, Camp Leaders
This past summer, many camps struggled to find as many staff members as they needed. This challenge was caused mainly by lack of J-1 Visas which allows international students to enter and work in the US as part of a cultural exchange program.
Since we, as an industry, have already started staffing for next summer, I thought it would be good to learn from someone who knows both summer camp and staffing intimately. I didn’t have to go far as one of our long-time camp friends, Ivy Cohen, was happy to stop by the campfire.
As Director of the CHI Camp Leaders program, Ivy and her team oversee the placement of Camp Leaders' international participants at camps across the US each summer through the BridgeUSA J-1 visa program. Ivy's own overnight camping journey began in 1995 and hasn't stopped since. Before Camp Leaders, Ivy previously spent five years working for URJ Camps, both in Westchester, NY and New Orleans, LA. Originally from Katonah, NY, Ivy and her husband Jonathan now live in Atlanta, GA with their three dogs Auggie, Mardi and Leo and new baby (and future camper), Charlie.
I’m thrilled Ivy was interested in sharing more about the impact the international staff make on summer camp – and the impact summer camp has on them. Enjoy!
We Made It! Opening Campfire, Season 6
James stassen & Cole Kelly, Campfire Conversation
When we last left you, summer camp staff orientation was about to start and the campers were not far behind. It’s been a few months now since we dosed the last campfire of the summer and caught our collective breath.
Camp was amazing and challenging and fantastic and tiring – more so than any summer before. And, it was the most important summer in the history of our industry. Here’s a short conversation from the two of us as we learn from this past summer and prepare for an even better Summer ’22.
(We promise to have someone new to listen to very soon!)
Final Campfire, Season 5
James stassen & Cole Kelly, Campfire Conversation
Wow - What a year! Tonight's final campfire of this season is about both remembering and looking forward. We hope this fun "wrap up" conversation leaves you looking forward to more Campfire Conversations this fall.
We’d like to take a moment to thank all of our incredible guests for making the conversations interesting, useful and a lot of fun. We’ve got a whole lot planned for this fall and can’t wait to get everyone around the campfire again very soon.
Have a safe and happy summer!
Lessons from Family, Covid & Camp
Adam Baker, Camps equinunk & blue ridge
One of the great aspects of running summer camp is getting to know such wonderful people. It doesn’t matter whether they run a sleep away or day camp, profit or non-profit, religious or secular camp, it seems everyone I meet is happy to talk and share and serve.
No one that I know exemplifies these ideals more than my friend, Adam Baker. I first met Adam 11 years ago when I attended my first Wayne County Camp Alliance meeting. I didn’t know it then but I believe it was his first meeting as well. Since that time, Adam has become the President of the Wayne County Camp Alliance and has been a calm and capable leader for his Camps Equinunk & Blue Ridge and for all of us in Wayne County.
You are about to hear a wide ranging conversation that includes a lot of lessons from growing up in camp, leading and learning through covid, and a lot more. Without further ado, here’s my friend, Adam Baker.
A Summer of Hope
John Hamilton, Camp Hope America
Last year about this time, we were making the decision to do something no director I ever heard of had to do: cancel an entire summer because of a virus. It was not a hopeful moment. In fact, it was one of the more challenging experiences we’ve been through as an industry.
Over the course of the year, the whole summer camp industry studied, connected with experts, and communicated with families and staff. We all hoped that we’d be ready to open for Summer 2021. Over the past several months, that ‘hope’ turned in to belief. And that belief – in our plan, in our team, our families and in the world around us – will make this summer incredible.
My guest around the campfire tonight is someone who very quickly and expertly gave me a huge shot of both hope and belief. John Hamilton is the National Director of Camp Hope America and a part of the Alliance for Hope International. He collaborates with the Camp HOPE America team, human services organizations, and camps or conference centers to bring a hope-filled experience to children around the country. John holds a master’s degree from Western Seminary, where he focused on leadership and social justice. He specializes in forging unlikely partnerships, developing unified teams, and moving people from theory into practice. He’s a camp guy through and through and someone I’m very grateful to know.
During the conversation, John spoke about the book, Hope Rising: How the Science of HOPE Can Change Your Life. I’m going to get a copy and hope you do, too!
Learning from Legends
Ross Moskowitz, Camp Westmont & Matt Stoltz, Island Lake Camp
Every great business, every great community and, certainly, every summer camp, begins with leadership and with passion. The truly great businesses are those that stand not only the test of competition but the test of time.
My two friends around the campfire tonight have been in camping a long time and have ably taken the torch of camp from their parents. Ross Moskowitz, the owner and director of Camp Westmont, and Matt Stoltz, the newly-former owner of Island Lake Camp, have both been in camping for more than four decades and have learned a great deal from those who turned their camps over to them - their parents.
Sadly, over the past year, Matt lost both of his parents, Mike and Bev Stoltz, while Ross lost his father, Fred. Thankfully, Ross’s mom, Minna, will be able to enjoy (and critique maybe?) this conversation.
I can’t come away from that conversation feeling anything but gratitude. I’m grateful for Matt and Ross. Sharing all the lessons they learned from ‘Marshmallow’ Mike, Bev, Fred and Minna are a treasure trove of wisdom from a parent and child and business owner standpoint.
The two words that keep popping up in my head having listened a couple of time are ‘generosity’ and ‘expectation.’ Both Mike and Bev and Fred and Minna were incredibly generous to their children. And, they also all held very high expectations. Both sets of parents showed their sons, my friends, the example of doing first things first – they cared for the kids. By doing so, both Mike and Bev and Fred and Minna gave the next generation of camp leaders a clear path forward.
Global Camps Africa - Doing Good with Summer Camp
Emily Crowder, Executive Director
We all know summer camp is a gift for children. This is especially so for those from the poorest, most difficult situations. Global Camps Africa’s Executive Director, Emily Crowder, is around the campfire talking about all the good being done in South Africa by people who love summer camp and kids.
Emily joined GCA in 2010 to continue her work supporting children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa. In her role as Executive Director at GCA, she is responsible for organizational and Board development, operational management, and the planning and coordination of fundraising and communications activities. Emily also works with the Board of Directors and GCA's partner in South Africa to set the strategy for Global Camps Africa and manage the implementation of its portfolio of programs, which includes residential camp and year-round Youth Clubs that impact more than 8,000 orphans and vulnerable children each year.
We spend some time around the campfire learning more about Camp Sizanani, their weekly Club meetings, and their plans going forward. If you would like to support GCA, their upcoming Global Gatherings will give everyone a great way to both expand horizons and support a worthy cause.
Preparing for Joy
Kate Kelly, Camp Weequahic
Kate Kelly is one of (if not the) clearest thinker we know. With a pysch degree from Dartmouth, a Masters of Education from Harvard and more than 20 years of experience leading training staffs and leading summer camp, Kate has a lot of great ideas to share. (Not to mention being one of the best ‘boy moms’ on the planet!)
The Power of Moments by Chip and Dan Heath made a big impression on Kate in regards to summer camp. It’s a great read if you’ve not already had a chance to pick up a copy or listen to it as I did. Summer camp is full of moments - big moments like Color War breakout or Final Campfire, and millions of little unplanned moments you’ll never forget.
The thing about moments is that you have to be open to them. Right now, most of us are pretty ‘clenched up.’ Because of the challenging year we’ve all endured, we’ve become a bit closed off to the big and little moments of joy that make camp (and life) memorable. Kate will give us some ideas on how we can move from clenched to open and from guarded to joyful.
Lessons of a Life in Camp
John ‘Jorgi’ Jorgenson, Camp Tawingo & International Camping Fellowship
What you are about to hear is an origin story, a very brief review of one of the most prolific (and ongoing) camp careers I’ve ever heard, and some huge lessons that will help us all. It’s a little longer than most of our campfire talks and it is well worth your time.
My guest around the campfire tonight is John Jorgenson. Jorgi (as he is affectionately know) directs and coordinates the Camp Tawingo Outdoor Centre throughout the year and he is a Director of Program for the Summer Camp.
He has served as President of both the Ontario Camps Association and Canadian Camping Association as the Chair of the Editorial Board of the American Camps Association's "Camping Magazine.” He has conducted workshops on Camping and Outdoor Education across Canada, the United States, Japan, Malaysia, Australia, Greece, Mexico, Bulgaria, Russia, and Hong Kong.
He has contributed to and co-authored five Camp Tawingo Publications. John was the General Session Chair of the Third International Camping Congress in Toronto in 1994, the Kindred Conference Chair for the Association of Independent Camps of the American Camping Association in the same year, and is a past Executive of the International Camping Fellowship. Recently Jorgi was recognized with the International Development Award for his outstanding contributions to camping the world over.
Y’all, this guy really knows what he is talking about. I hope you’ll enjoy this campfire conversation with my friend, Jorgie.
Diversity at Summer Camp
Briana Mitchell, AF CAmp & S’More Melanin
Maya Angelou said “It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.” This is certainly true for summer camp as well as the rest of the world. Briana Mitchell, the Director of AF Camp and co-founder of S’more Melanin (and a long time camper) describes how we can use summer camp to bring that strength of diversity to light.
A master of the bucket brigade and expert at capture the flag, as a camper, Briana spent her formative summers at a camp in Pennsburg, PA where she built strong, lasting friendships that carried well past those summers. She later continued her camp career as a counselor and activities director at an all girls camp in Honesdale, PA.
Summer camp provides a wonderful opportunity for kids (and staff) to experience the ‘oops and ouch’ moments of social interaction in a safe and patient community. The learning that can happen in the ‘camp world’ can certainly be applied to everything we do out in the ‘real world.’ Like the values of our camps, we simply need to be intentional in what we are trying accomplish: a world the celebrates both our differences and that which keeps us connected.
Briana spoke of several great resources on the podcast. Here are a few links:
I Am Perfectly Designed - a children’s book that teaches an important lesson
Color Blind or Color Brave - a TED talk by Mellody Hobson
The Code Switch podcast run by NPR
From COVID to Camp: Preparing Kids (and Parents) for a Great Summer
Rikki goldenberg, Goldensky Counseling
Eleven months ago, our world came to a screeching halt. Our ‘normal’ daily lives and routines were disrupted and replaced with a new ‘temporary.’ Rather than summer camp, athletics, and play dates, our days were filled with zoom calls, texts, and video games.
As we move towards a much brighter time around the world (and I truly believe we are), we must also recognize the effect the last 12 months have had on our personal and family routines as well as our emotional well-being.
Camp may feel a bit different than in years past because, well… we are all a bit different. This is nothing new – we all continue to change and learn and grow each year. But, due to the emotion and upheaval of the past twelve months, campers parents and staff will approach summer camp with more excitement… and anxiety than in the past.
I’m happy that we have a number of great resources to help prepare ourselves for a safe and happy summer. Even better, one of the best I know is around the campfire tonight. Rikki Goldenberg is a former camper and camp counselor who went on to become a mental health professional and healthcare consultant. More importantly, she’s an awesome mom of two camp kids and happy to help us all start thinking through how we should help our kids and ourselves prepare for an amazing summer.
I hope you’ll enjoy this campfire conversation with Rikki Goldenberg. Please learn more about Rikki and her work with kids at www.goldenskycounseling.com.
Good Kids Doing Good
JT Richman, the Canteen Project
Every great camp we know helps to develop generosity, altruism and servant leadership among their campers and staff members. During these challenging times in the US and around the world, we thought it would be fun to explore how camp has helped one young person reach out and give back to his community.
JT Richman is a rising 8th grader from New Jersey, a great big brother to Robbie and Scarlett, and a fantastic example of someone who, because of camp, wants to give back. A long time camper at Camp Weequahic, JT decided to combine his love of camp with his desire to do something good for his upcoming bar Mitzvah. Thus was born, JT’s Canteen, a fundraiser using recycled cans to help send kids to camp through SCOPE.
We are so pleased that his experience summer camp has led JT to want to help others experience the same gift. If you’ve listened to the Campfire Conversation in the past, you’ll know we are big fans of SCOPE and the work they do to help get kids out of the cities and into great camps each summer. We are thrilled JT is helping to raise awareness and funds for them.
If you’d like to help support JT, you go to his website: www.jtsmitzvahproject.com or give directly at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/jtscanteen.
Council of Moms
With Sue Baldwin, Dana Stassen and Leigh Laughlin, Camp Weequahic
Full disclosure: I hope this campfire conversation is as much fun for you as it was for me… but I doubt that’s possible. The three amazing ladies I get to spend time around the virtual campfire are three of my favorite people in the world.
Camp teaches a lot of great lessons to kids and staff. And, it teaches us parents as well. I thought it would be fun and instructive to find out how camp has shaped the parenting styles of three great moms with whom I’ve had the pleasure of working for many years.
Sue ‘Chopper’ Baldwin has been running summer camps next to my bride and I for 17 years. I vividly remember seeing the girls at Camp Wicosuta gushing over Kate – who had put on make up and a real dress – before heading off to Chopper’s wedding. Sue is the associate director of Camp Weequahic where she oversees staffing and programming (and me.)
Dana ‘Princess Sparkle Pants’ Stassen came to us as a nanny 11 summers ago and we’ve never looked back. She’s served as a DH, Head Counselor, full-time team member and now Assistant Director in charge of Sparkle and many, many other things at Camp Weequahic.
Leigh ‘Food Fairy’ Laughlin is a close childhood friend who bought the house I wanted in the neighborhood I wanted. So, Kate and I bought a house 300 yards away and commenced to raising our combined 6 boys side by side. Leigh has moved from being our Food Fairy 7 years ago to now managing our health center and working with first time parents throughout the year.
You’ll hear how camp has affected them, how the experience of watching their children at camp has influenced their understanding of their children, and some words of encouragement and advice for the situation we’re all in right now. I hope you’ll enjoy this great campfire conversation with my dear friends, Chopper, PSP, and Food Fairy Leigh.
The Power of Mentors
With LaDarrius Calvin, Boys ii Men
I was recently asked about the mentor, outside my family, who most influenced my work. So many people came to mind, starting with youth minister, Mike Selleck, who taught me playfulness and faith were not mutually exclusive but made it each other better. I thought about Coach Chambers who ‘released me’ from some self-imposed chains. I think of Vince and Skip and Jancy and Paul and Chuck. I’ve had a lot of great mentors and have been the better for it.
But, I’m luckier than most. Most young men are lucky to have one or two mentors who ask the important questions and who serve as sounding boards in their lives.
As a camp professional and a parent of campers, I’ve seen first hand the power of great camp counselors. They are playful, thoughtful, energetic, and so much more. They truly can change the direction of a young person’s life. BUT, there is a difference between being a camp counselor and a mentor. Some of the difference is about context, some of it is about depth.
To explore the difference and the power of mentors, I reached out to LaDarrius Calvin, one of the best camp counselors and Division Heads we’ve enjoyed at camp. After not enough summers with us, LaDarrius moved on to work with Boys II Men, a mentoring organization in Indianapolis, IN founded by Dr. Lars Roscoe.
LaDarrius and I talk about a lot around the campfire: the fear of new situations, leading by listening, the incredible power of relationships, and how mentoring can change lives.
I hope you’ll enjoy this informative, uplifting and empowering conversation with my friend, LaDarrius Calvin.
China, Camp & Covid-19
With Marco Reyes & Mike Lewis, YMCE Group and Greenwood Camps
The life of a camp director has become more and more interesting over the past two decades. When I got started in camping, if you had told me I’d become friends with two guys who spend all their time developing a connection between Chinese families and the idea of American style camp, I’d be like, sure – right – we’ll see. I’m so happy that this strange occurrence not only happened but has flourished.
My friends, Marco Reyes and Mike Lewis are American expats living and working in Beijing and Shanghai, respectively. Partners in the thriving YMCE Group which has brought a number of Chinese campers to the US for the past several summers, they have recently been opening their own American style camps in China. In fact, Mike is the director Greenwood Camps, Shanghai.
With all that is going on in the world, I thought it would be a good idea to have Marco and Mike around the campfire to talk camp, Covid-19 and what they have learned through the past four months of dealing with it all.
I hope you’ll enjoy this conversation with my friends, Marco and Mike.
Coronavirus & Continuing Education
With James Stassen & Cole Kelly, Campfire Conversation
Yes, Coronavirus is a big issue facing all of us, even those in the summer camp industry. The good news: most camps still have a long time before opening and a lot of time to learn how to help kids our kids and staff safe. If you’d like to know how the American Camp Association is helping camps prepare, please visit their information page about the Covid-19 pandemic.
Co-hosts Scrappy Stassen and Cole Kelly comment on how the summer camp industry is approaching this summer with the same thoughtful, clear-eyed optimism with which they approach everything else. Switching gears, we move to everything learned at this year’s ACA Tri-State Conference - a cornucopia of wonderful ideas and practices that help camp professionals and parents alike. Enjoy!
Play! It’s Good for Everyone
With Michael Brandwein, Internationally REnowned Trainer & Author
This podcast is sponsored by SCOPE, an amazing organization that helps to send children from financially disadvantaged families to summer camp. You can learn more about SCOPE online and through social media @supportscope.
We all need more playfulness in our lives. As kids, and especially at camp, we play a bunch, whether it’s in the dining hall, the fields, around the craft tables or elsewhere. That play is instrumental in building positive outcomes for kids and adults in physical, emotional, and social ways.
Michael Brandwein, one of the most well-known experts in education and youth development in the US, has a lot to say about the positive impact of play and how we can incorporate more of it back home. I hope you’ll pick up his newest book, Growing Great Qualities in Kids. Enjoy!
Bringing Out Their Best
WITH Steve Nugent, Former NCAA Div. I Head Coach & Camp Weequahic
This podcast is sponsored by SCOPE, an amazing organization that helps to send children from financially disadvantaged families to summer camp. You can learn more about SCOPE online and through social media @supportscope.
We all want to live our best selves and figure out ways to help others do the same. Steve Nugent, a former NCAA Division I head coach and awesome camp guy has been thinking about this very idea for decades.
Want to bring out the best in your people? It takes several things: great people, a common purpose, consistency, and acceptance.
Pull up a log, grab a s’more, and tuck in. It’s always fun with Nuge!
Get Out of Your Comfort Zone
With Beth Goldstein, The Camp experts
This podcast is sponsored by SCOPE, an amazing organization that helps to send children from financially disadvantaged families to summer camp. You can learn more about SCOPE online and through social media @supportscope.
We all have our comfort zones, be they friends, routines, or places.
My guest, Beth Goldstein of the Camp Experts, has been helping families expand their comfort zones and, in doing so, opening up a wonderful world full of fun, learning, and growth.
Please enjoy this conversation and learn how we can keep that adventurous spirit going back home.
Camp, Curiosity and Grief
With Dr. Dan Wolfson, Experience Camps
This podcast is sponsored by SCOPE, an amazing organization that helps to send children from financially disadvantaged families to summer camp. You can learn more about SCOPE online and through social media @supportscope.
There are very few spaces in our world that combines joy and friendship, anxiety and challenge in a more fruitful way than camp.
Dr. Dan Wolfson, a clinical psychologist with a great deal of summer camp experience, has combined his love of camp and his practical work to help his clients (and us) better understand our relationships, our anxieties, and our grief.
Just Breathe
With Kurt Trubiano, International Rehab Specialists
This podcast is sponsored by SCOPE, an amazing organization that helps to send children from financially disadvantaged families to summer camp. You can learn more about SCOPE online and through social media @supportscope.
It’s a new year and many of us have set a health goal. Whether it’s creating an exercise habit, dropping a few pounds, or not eating Nutella with a spoon (I’m not judging you), we all want to get a bit better.
Today’s guest around the campfire can help in all of those ways. The best part is, Kurt starts with the first building block: how we breathe.
Securely Attached Kids
With Dr. Tina Bryson, The Center for Connection
This podcast is sponsored by SCOPE, an amazing organization that helps to send children from financially disadvantaged families to summer camp. You can learn more about SCOPE online and through social media @supportscope.
At camp, we are good at securely attaching our campers to safety measures: harnesses at the Ropes Course, lifejackets at the lake, helmets and pads at the skate park.
We also focus on creating a secure attachment with their camp counselors. When that happens, kids flourish.
It’s the same back home, too! Dr. Tina Bryson, whose new book The Power of Showing Up, makes the complex world of neurobiology simple and applicable to every parent, teacher, coach, and camp counselor. Enjoy!
Summer #1, Campfire #21
Final Campfire - Summer #1
WITH Scrappy Stassen & Cole Kelly, Campfire Conversation
This podcast is sponsored by SCOPE, an amazing organization that helps to send children from financially disadvantaged families to summer camp. You can learn more about SCOPE online and through social media @supportscope.
Well, with 225 staff members arriving over the next week and the preparation for our incredible campers moving into crazy-high gear, it’s time to put our podcast on a summer hiatus.
Thank you for listening along for these past few months. A huge ‘thank you’ goes out to all of our guests who, frankly, took a risk just saying ‘yes!’ We learned so much from you and appreciate all the lessons you shared.
Please check back in with us in mid-September for more laughter and learning around the Campfire! We’ve got lots of ideas for the coming ‘Season 2’ and hope you’ll join us again.
Have a safe and wonderful summer.
Sincerely,
Cole & Scrappy
Summer #1, Campfire #20
Confessions of Summer Camp Junkies
WITH SAMMY & JULIA, THE HAPPY CAMPER PODCAST
This podcast is sponsored by SCOPE, an amazing organization that helps to send children from financially disadvantaged families to summer camp. You can learn more about SCOPE online and through social media @supportscope.
One of the great things about camp is that it brings new people into your life both now and into the future. Though I didn’t know Sammy Moskowitz and Julia Lindon until a few weeks ago, our common language of ‘summer camp’ certainly put us off on the right foot!
I’ve been interested to learn about how camp effects people into the future. If the ladies of the Happy Camper Podcast are any indication, camp’s effects are incredibly powerful and long lasting. And, their obvious camp curiosity and humor is a lot of fun to be around. (And, yes, I’m a ‘summer camp junkie’, too!)
I hope you’ll enjoy this Campfire Conversation with the Sammy Moskowitz and Julia Lindon.
GREAT RESOURCES FOR FINDING THE RIGHT SUMMER CAMP FOR YOUR CHILD
There are a number of wonderful people who work with families to find the right camp for their children. Here are a list (in alpha order) of the agencies with whom I’ve worked and would recommend.
Grateful Kids, Happy Adults
with Dana Stassen & Kate Kelly
Camp Weequahic
This podcast is sponsored by SCOPE, an amazing organization that helps to send children from financially disadvantaged families to summer camp. You can learn more about SCOPE online and through social media @supportscope.
As camp directors and parents, we have been talking, researching, and writing about gratitude for the past decade. Practicing gratitude leads to so many positive outcomes, it’s hard to understand why it’s not taught more in schools, camps, churches and online. We want to help change that.
Secondly, I’m excited to have two of my favorite people around the campfire with me – my good friend Dana Stassen and my bride, Kate Kelly.
Summer #1,Campfire #9
Giving the Gift of Camp
With Molly Gallagher
This podcast is sponsored by SCOPE, an amazing organization that helps to send children from financially disadvantaged families to summer camp. You can learn more about SCOPE online and through social media @supportscope.
I do not know anyone with more summer camp experience than Molly Gallagher.
Day camp started at 3 years old. Residential camp started at 7 years old and didn’t end for two decades. She’s run or helped to run day camps and overnight camps. She’s started a camp from the ground up that was based in a huge city and led groups of kids at old summer camps in the deep woods.
She’s done it all! So it’s easy to understand when I say that summer camp has been a gift for Molly. Some of her closest friends, most cherished memories, and a professional career has all come from it.
For the past few years, Molly has been focused on helping others give that same gift to kids who wouldn’t otherwise have the chance. As the executive director of Summer Camp Opportunities Promote Education, or SCOPE, Molly and her team have raised money to help hundreds and hundreds of children enjoy camp around the country.
Around the campfire, Molly and I talk about the gift of camp, how we can keep those gifts going back home, and how we can work together to share the gift of camp with those who couldn’t otherwise enjoy it.
Want to Help?
There are so many ways to support SCOPE:
#Strides4Scope in your community and your camp
Shop4Scope using Amazon and other retailers
Cycle4Scope - come sweat and laugh and support a great cause!
The Perfect Internship
with Kim aycock
This podcast is sponsored by SCOPE, an amazing organization that helps to send children from financially disadvantaged families to summer camp. You can learn more about SCOPE online and through social media @supportscope.
What makes a great summer camp counselor? What makes it easier to start in the workforce? How do we build the ‘soft skills’ necessary to have a fruitful life?
Kim Aycock is happy to tell us the answers to both questions.
Kim is an incredible summer camp resource. A former summer camp counselor, educator at the middle school, high school, and collegiate levels, full-time summer camp director, and summer camp researcher and trainer. I’ve learned a lot from Kim over the years and excitedly wait to learn more!
If you are a parent who wants to learn more about the staff who create your child’s summer camp experience, you need to listen.
If you are a parent who is weighing whether or not to support your adult child in working at camp, you should listen.
If you are a person heading off to camp to work this summer, you should listen.
We all need to improve our ‘soft skills.’ The problem is that there are few opportunities to practice them… except for summer camp. At camp, you spend time in a supportive environment making a lasting impact on a young person’s life. Oh, and in the process, you strengthen you communication, leadership, problem solving, teamwork, and creativity skills. You also earn responsibility and build relationships that will last your whole life.
Want to only make money? Go work at the Gap. Want to make memories and cause ripples in the world (while making some money)? Go work and live at summer camp. Don’t just take my word for it!
Great Books for Parents and Managers
Dr. Tim Elmore – GrowingLeaders.com. Kim and I are both big fans of Dr. Elmore and his team. He’s written a number of useful books for Gen Z and those who hope to manage and lead them. Habitudes and Marching Off the Map are both excellent reads.
Interesting Articles
Monster.com has a great list of the soft skills companies want. LinkedIn Surveys put out a great article, too.
Great Quotes for Parents
Responsibility, relationships, and a launching pad. They’ve got the support and tools they need to do something really hard, really fun and really meaningful.
What makes a great counselor? They have to step outside themselves and really get into caring for other people, thinking about how the other can grow. The fun part is, you get to grow, too.