stephenwinbaum
Communications Coordinator
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Jun 1, 2006, 11:22 AM
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The Summer Camp Finals
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“Responsibility = choices = power,” writes Camp Scholar Randall Grayson, Ph.D. in The 5 Approaches to Counseling.
With the camp year drawing near, owners and directors will be involved in a lot of serious discussions about the elusive mix between counselors and campers, as described by Grayson in his article.
For many camps, this mix will determine the difference between a great year and a so-so one.
Hiring the best staff for the season often seems like a guarantee of success, but it's only a beginning, something that looks good on paper, but may not translate into reality.
Here's a sports analogy: a wealthy owner buys up a team of great players who sweep through the regular season, only to fall prey to an upstart lower-rung team in the first round of the play-offs.
What happened?
This talented team lacked that intangible 'character'. They failed to gel at the most crucial time - the postseason.
Summer camp staffs are similar. They must have three key characteristics. - Talent
- Character
- An ability to gel throughout the camp season with teamwork & team spirit
Character, teamwork, and team spirit often count more than talent or skills.
Camp owners and directors have a big say in how their summer staff performs. Randall Grayson in the 5 Approaches to Counseling writes about the most common approaches that supervisors employ with children and teens. - Punishment
- Guilt
- Buddy
- Monitor
- Success Counselor
These approaches can be traditional for parents, camps, schools, and workplaces; but camp administrators are in a position to make responsible choices to empower counselors and campers.
Summer camp is coming and counselors will take their positions on the front lines of every camp. It’s the finals, the moment to show character and work as a team to bring campers to success.
In Grayson's scheme, only the success counselor approach is effective; the first four depend on some form of compliance, which will have a demoralizing effect on everyone - camp administrators, parents, staff, and campers.
These four compliance models can spell failure for the most talented corps of counselors.
"When children take responsibility, they become the ones deciding when freedom is withdrawn and when privileges will be restored," writes Grayson.
Randall Grayson - The 5 Approaches to Counseling.
Here is another reading about creating a great summer staff team - Creating a Leadership Team Is Like Making a Cake
Stephen Winbaum is the Communications Coordinator of MySummerCamps.com
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(This post was edited by stephenwinbaum on Jun 7, 2006, 8:15 AM)
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