SCLA - Student Leadership Academy Date Announced

Student Camp Leadership Academy
Empowering Tomorrow's Camp Professional

General Information

The Student Camp Leadership Academy (SCLA) is a weekend retreat that brings together students, camp professionals, national ACA staff and leadership to explore, learn, and understand what the camp professional of the future must be and the leadership opportunities within the ACA structure at the local and National levels to impact the development of youth and others.

Dates for the 2008 SCLA event

The next SCLA will take place November 7-9, 2008, at CampWhite Eagle in Leaf River, Illinois (thirty miles from Rockford, Illinois).Transportation from O'Hare and Midway airports in Chicago to the conference site can be arranged.

Eligibility

Applicant must be:

• A current student member of the American Camp Association
• An academic and/or professional interest in the camp profession
• Be in attendance or show proof of registration currently at the college/university level
• Be employed in the past for at least one summer in a camp setting
• Award Criteria

Applicants will be judged on camp experience and involvement both volunteer and paid, related professional experiences, leadership, demonstration of professional involvement and commitment to a career in the camp profession. The cost is $130. The student's ACA local office may assist with sponsoring the registration fee. Students may also seek assistance from their sponsoring camp or pay their own way.

Application Process

1. Complete the form. Include a current resume and a letter of support from a camp professional. Students may use their own word processing program instead of the application form. However, the student is required to present their application in the same format, and approximate spacing as the original application found at: www.ACAcamps.org/scla.
2. Sign the application.
3. Obtain academic advisor signature on application and submit official university transcript with application.
4. Applications must be postmarked by October 5, 2008 and mailed to your ACA local office. (ACA, Texoma - PO Box 472264 Garland, TX 75047)
   

All submissions will be considered for the 2008 ACA, Texoma EPIC Scholarship. The scholarship pays tuition and travel to the 2008 SCLA. For more information, please contact the ACA, Texoma office at 888-559-CAMP(2267)

EPIC Sponsors Recruitment Trail Lunch

Date: February 5, 2008

Location: TAMU - Recruitment Trail day

Each year at the Texas A&M Recruitment Day ACA, Texoma treats camp staff working the recruitment event to lunch. 'It is a wonderful tradition and a great way we can do something nice for all the folks who are so busy recruiting and away from home', says Danielle Shaw ACA, Texoma Executive Director. 

This year EPIC had the privilege of sponsoring the lunch and more than 80 individuals took advantage of the program. EPIC committee members also had the opportunity to introduce EPIC to more camp professionals. 'As EPIC seeks to grow and advance the role of camp as a profession, it is great to get to talk with other professionals about how EPIC can help them through networking, education and access to resources' offers Jonathan Shirley EPIC Committee member.

In other EPIC news, the committee met while at TAMU and are now in the beginning stages of planning for a leadership event for next fall so watch for more information about this in the coming months.

To learn more about EPIC, email: epic@acatexoma.org. To receive regular updates about EPIC, join the EPIC Team today: http://www.acatexoma.org/epic/epicteam.htm 

Win Date with Chris Thurber Winner!

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!

The staff of Camp For All, Larry, Kimmie, Vicki and Kurt, sat down with Chris Thurber for a personalized staff training session. The great folks from CampTV were on hand to capture the event on film so that Camp For All can use the valuable information in future staff training events. Larry offered this, "we were so excited to get to spend some time with Chris to discuss our staff issues and to have him share his expertise with us. As a new staff member of Camp For All and young professional, I loved what he had to say about how I can start making contributions to my new job right away."

Congratulations to Camp For All!

Watch for podcast of select portions and outakes of the session, coming soon.

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.

2008 SWCC - Epic Roundtable

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.

2008 SWCC - Epic Panel

Epic held a panel session with 3 veteran camp professionals. Each, from different professional backgrounds, shared years of camping industry experience and knowledge.

The panel featured:
Toni Hooten – Camp Director from Camp El Tesoro
Carla Weiland - CEO from Camp Summit
Tommy Ferguson – Camp Director from Camp Olympia

They discussed a range of topics. A synopsis is provided below.

Advice for the benefits of being involved with ACA:

• Becoming a standards visitor means you are able to see other camps;
• Helps one to make connections, offers access to valuable resources and provides training opportunities;
  
• Networking is seeing and learning from others in your field;
• Develop a community of people that you can relate
  

Thoughts on making camping your profession:

• Most people stay in the profession for 3-5 years
• If you are persistent, you put your heart into it, you can make a difference
• You must find balance with work, family, and self during camp season and throughout year
• Must really think through your decision and the sacrifices of the job
• Must communicate your needs
• Find the positive things that are going on at camp or in your job instead of the negative.
• Most important thing to remember is that Camp is a lifestyle

Finding that perfect camp job:

• Finding the perfect camp job is all about timing
• Networking is huge
• Be aggressive
• Don’t be afraid to do or get into something that you were not necessarily looking for. Don’t close the door on opportunities.

Advice on Staff Development:

• Don’t be afraid to hire staff back year after year;
• To help with staff coming back – make connections, give them tough love, and respect;
• Younger staff communicate differently, so stay in tuned with what kids are into;

Tommy shared this quote by Bob Ditter:
The only place you can safely touch is their (campers) heart.

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.

Win a Date With Chris Thurber

The EPIC Committee met yesterday at Camp John Marc.

Thanks to Vance Gilmore and everyone at Camp John Marc for hosting us!

We finalize plans for the EPIC Gathering at the 2008 SWCC. We hope everyone plans to join us in January to learn more about EPIC. If nothing else, you should come the the gathering just to see the skit we wrote that manages to combine Monty Python, Oklahoma, West Side story all in one. You have to see it to believe it.

There will also be a contest for folks who attend the EPIC Gathering at the January conference.

"Win A Date With Chris Thurber" Here is how it will work. Send a young, new and/or veteran professional to the EPIC GATHERING and be entered to win a one-on-one training session with Keynote, Chris Thurber. Winning camp will get to bring a staff training need to Chris on Friday at the conference. He will provide a 15 minute training session on the topic you choose. The session will be videotaped and by our friends at CAMPTV and sent to you to use during staff training or for any other training you need.

Soon you will be able to join the EPIC Team and begin receiving cool tools and resources and updates on upcoming educational opportunities for emerging professionals. There will also be a regular feature in Texoma Tid-Bits.

We are excited about all the great things happening with EPIC in 2008. Come join us

Want to know more? Email US: epic@acatexoma.org