As mentioned in my profile, I really enjoy working with kids. I have my sister to thank for recommending a day camp in Markham, ON. I really enjoyed my first year working there, so I returned for 3 more summers and am going for a 5th this summer. I also decided to work at an overnight camp the past two springs. During the next few entries, I am going to reflect on the springs and summer with the staff and campers. Here goes:
2006-Green Acres Day Camp
As a new staff member, I was somewhat nervous on the first day of training and didn’t know what to expect. My nervousness disappeared within the first 30 minutes and by the end of the day had already made a few friends. The training provided a great mix of social games and getting the “need to know” info. Below is a picture of our unit learning the senior cheer.
At the end of training, we had a meet the parents night followed by an “amazing race” staff rec. I met a few of the parents and campers which was great. The staff rec was awesome! Like the show, we traveled around (not the world though lol) a few cities and had certain tasks we had to complete. Some of these tasks included piggybacking someone around a large track, a few people assembling a bike and finding specific items or signs.
The Summer with the campers was great. I had a good mixture of good and “not so good” campers. That being said, despite the defiance, running around and frustration some of the campers gave for me and my co-counsellor, every one of the campers had good days and great qualities. We had one camper whose Grandfather was one of the owners of the camp. So all summer, he would do things he wanted to and the ones he didn’t want to, would tell us that he wouldn’t have to because of that reason. We also had campers who liked to run to the park randomly, which I found out later it was simply because they liked me chasing after them. Along with all the daily activities, we had 2 overnights, theme days and spirit rallies. Here are a few pictures of the campers.
This is at the spirit assembly. They have a challenge each week with a unit head representing a snack and at the end of the summer, the snack that wins is the snickle snackle(end of the day snack) we get the last day. Ice cream won but what a scary experience. Turns out whoever ordered it didn’t see the label “may contain peanuts” so everyone has the ice cream and starts eating. Well, we get radioed with this news and while we are told to keep the kids calm, I run back to my campers. One of the boys I had has a life threatening peanut allergy and was already crying as he had heard and was scared. I reassured him that nothing was going to happen and that if something were to happen, he would be in very safe hands.
I made some great friends this summer. The camp provided some cool Staff Recs and a few of us got together on a weekend. Some of the staff Recs included pool, roller skating, and supper at kelseys. The big Staff Rec of the Summer was the boat cruise. On a friday night in August, we got to cruise around the Toronto Harbourfront for 5 hours. We got supper on the boat and then just chilling and dancing. The next few pictures are some of the staff recs.
This is the billiards staff rec. From left to right, Mike, my Co-counsellor Michael, me and Trevor.
Taken at the front of the boat on the boat cruise. Me, Michael, Colleen and Mitch
Parents’ night, singing the camp song “Camp GA: where we belong”
Overall, it was an amazing summer full of laughs, great experiences and lasting memories. I went back for half of week 9 to do a theatre camp. The first part of the day, the campers would practice for a musical they would perform on Friday and in the afternoon, me and another counsellor would keep them entertained. Hope you enjoyed my reflection. Next time : March Break and Summer 2007
