Epic held a roundtable session on Friday January 11, 2008 at the 2008 Southwest Camping Conference to discuss several different topics that all emerging camp professionals want to know more about. Information from the session is provided below.
Program Ideas that were shared:
Camp For All - A special needs camp shared their horse program. They set up an obstacle course for their campers instead of just riding around in a circle. They have each camper spin a wheel to see what they will be doing on the obstacle course such as throwing ball into a hoop, jumping over tree branches, etc.
Camp Summit - A special needs camp shared how they do an interactive Wizard of OZ play that travels all over camp for the different scenes in the play.
Camp Grady Spruce- Frontier (ages 13-16 coed) – Shared they have down a haunted trail hike. They have someone who is the storyteller and is telling Halloween or scary stories and along the path several scary things might pop up or out, etc. While campers are waiting their turn they have campfire and s’mores. They mentioned they do this pretty late at night.
YMCA Camp Classen – Shared about their messy night with food.
-Jell-O wrestling – do with same sex. First person to get the other person’s tube sock off.
- Twister with condiments (ketchup for red, mustard for yellow, dye mayo blue and green for the green and blue dots)
- Panty hose overhead and must eat a banana through the panty hose.
- Kitty Litter – grape nuts and tootsie rolls in a real litter box. The first team to bob and eat all the tootsie rolls wins.
- A bowl of flour and hide gum. Must find gum with mouth; and then blow a bubble
El Tesoro – has a pig out week and everything they do is with food
- They try and ask for donations
- Pinto bean slip and slide
YMCA Camp Carter – Pudding drops from the top of their ropes tour. They drop spoonfuls of pudding down and the campers try to catch the pudding with their mouths.
Camp Is a Real Job Mom and Dad:
- Don’t be afraid to sell your job to others
- Explain what you do in your job
- We do this job because we care, because we are passionate
- Encourage your parents to come and see what you do and get them involved.
- It’s not just a job it is a life style. For example for farmers and ranchers it is not just a job it is a lifestyle
- Find time to do your other passions
How can EPIC and ACA help you move on to a different position?
- From seasonal to full time
- Doing the job you don’t want just to get your foot in the door
- Send out resumes even when the job is not hiring
- Attending conferences, staying involved in ACA, EPIC
- Networking
- Don’t be afraid to work at different camps as seasonal staff just to get your foot in the door.
- Good resource for jobs – campstaff.com. You fill out all your information and it matches you up with the camps.
What can EPIC do for you?
- Provide that networking, but also with different positions and the positions that are similar to what each person holds
- Dinner meeting – have a guest speaker within the camp industry such as a CEO, long standing camp director, etc.
- Being able to reach out to others when something comes up
- Meeting a other camps/tours – to see and hear what they do
- Blog ideas
- EPIC conference attached to the SWCC
To learn more about this session or EPIC email epic@acatexoma.org or to receive regular updates about EPIC, join the EPIC Team today
http://www.acatexoma.org/epic/epicteam.htm.Labels: education, events
EPIC sponsored a giveaway at the 2008 Southwest Camping Conference. Kimmie Bayliss with Camp For All won the drawing for the Date with Chris Thurber!
