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ANNOUNCEMENTS! ANNOUNCEMENTS! ANNOUNCEMENTS!
Your Invited! Join us at camp on Saturday April 4th, 11am - 3pm, for our annual open house. If you've never been to camp before this is a chance to take a tour, meet some of the staff, and visit with the animals. It's also a great chance to bring your family and friends to show them where you'll be spending your summer. No need to sign up, just show up on the day.
Returning staff, if you are available to volunteer your time to help show guests around, or run activities, please email Nathan to let him know your availability.
Thank you to those who joined our virtual huddle this week. For those that couldn't make it, tap here for a recording. Help us choose the day and time for our next Virtual Huddle, fill out the form below to let us know when you are available each week.
We do our best to place counselors in cabins and activities that they are most confident in. To help us with these placements, please complete the survey below to share your age group and course preferences by April 3. (I know, we asked in the interview, but that was months ago for some of you.) This is only needed if you have been hired as a Cabin Counselor and Instructor.
This week:
Camp will be your home for the next three months! Most staff will be housed in a cabin or shared housing. You will be sharing bunk space with at least three other staff, so just like dorm living, being respectful and organized is going to make your summer more successful.
Our cabins are some of the nicest available at any summer camp. Every one of our cabins is roomy, with private bathrooms and showers, semi-private bedrooms, a large covered porch, central meeting room, and who could forget, AIR-CONDITIONED. Each cabin sleeps sixteen campers with up to four counselors. There are a total of 15 cabins, each named after a different U.S. state.
For out-of-cabin staff, you will be housed in similar dorm-style accommodation, with similar space and amenities as the cabins, just without the campers (sometimes).
Unfortunately, homesickness is a common and sometimes unavoidable roadblock during a camp session. Many staff are nervous about handling a homesick camper, but we have found that two things are best when dealing with a homesick camper: Distraction and Sleep. Giving them something to keep their mind off being homesick is a great way to help campers - and staff as well!
What is homesickness? It is a strong longing and preoccupation with home, people, or objects. When we feel homesick, we feel insecure or uncomfortable with where we are physically and emotionally. More than 95% of all campers report having homesick feelings at least one day of camp. Normal homesickness is the discomfort we feel in a new place, people, or routine.
Try this!
Homesickness can be common for staff, especially in the first weeks. Think of a time you've been in a new place, or away from home. How did you feel? Was there anything that made you feel better?
Before coming to camp, think about how you have dealt with homesickness in the past. Come prepared with a plan and remember to always ask for help.
Meet the Camper Advocates
Meet the Camper Advocates
Camper Advocates oversees the camp experience for all campers at Cub Creek, and are responsible for enhancing their experience and supporting cabin staff in creating a positive cabin environment. Camper advocates check on all first-time, homesick, and campers with additional concerns. The Camper Advocate is also a line of communication between campers, the camp office, and parents.
This is the second year at camp for both Mar and Harrison and their second year as camper advocates.
Emma is joining us for the first time this summer.
Be in there with the kids
Everything at camp is for our campers, so have fun with them! Play, chat, lead games, demonstrate that camp is fun by joining in songs. By acting childlike it shows campers, that it’s OK for them to enjoy camp, relax, and be themselves.
As well as the simple joy of having fun, being with the kids has more added benefits:
By being engaged and present with the campers you will also help prevent unwanted behaviors. If you can keep them occupied with camp-approved fun, they are less likely to find ways to get in trouble! Boredom and lack of supervision are the most common reasons for unwanted behaviors such as bullying, inappropriate conversations, inattentiveness, and rough-housing.
One of the best ways to overcome homesickness is to stay busy! If a camper is having fun they don't have time to think about being homesick.
Counselors are the social glue of cabin groups. When you are interacting with a group of campers, you are role-modeling inclusion, helping campers build connections and growing core memories.
A happy camper = a returning camper. The only thing better than a summer at camp is every summer at camp!
Creating memories with your campers also means creating your own core memories. The more fun your campers have, the more fun you will have. Some weeks of camp can start to feel repetitive, find ways to make camp days more impactful for you and your campers.
One of the more unique traditions of summer camp is camp songs, and the more you get into it the more your campers will! We often sing songs when we are waiting for the next activity - outside the dining hall, between classes, before evening activity, etc. - but any time of day is great for a song! You will learn many of our favorite songs during staff training, don't be afraid to look and sound silly - that's the point!
Song lyrics can be contentious! A playlist of songs is below but versions can vary, so don't worry too much about memorizing songs just yet, we have lots of time in staff training.
A driving mission of camp is to inspire the next generation to do better at taking care of our environment than we are doing now. And it all starts by growing a compassion and understanding of nature. Walk through the woods. Sit by a pond and listen to the frogs. Lay in a hammock and watch the birds.
Nature Courses include:
Additional classes like fossil pit and gemstone quarry
Etiquette in this case essentially means “rules for how to handle our animals”. One of the biggest goals at our facility is to teach kids how to take care of animals. Taking care of an animal is not only cleaning up after them and feeding them but also understanding their behavior. We want to make sure we are cultivating an environment that respects the animals. In simple terms, we want the animals to be treated nicely so the animals are having a good time and reducing the possibility of injury (to animals and humans) when possible.
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