Day 1!!

Summer is here!

No matter how much I try to prepare staff, there’s nothing I can do in training to get them ready for 2 buses pulling up with 90 kids who are all moving and wiggling and jumping around in excitement and nervousness.

This happens to be our biggest week of the summer, so it will get easier after this week because there will be less kids, but it’s a great way to start.

This is also a special week because this is the week that the nuns from the city sponsor all of the kids (they not only pay for tuition but also provide sleeping bags, toiletries, and organize everything). My first year, the director presented it as “the inner city week” with kids from the worst neighborhood who are rough and tough and will be super difficult to work with. Consequently, every staff member was on high alert and reacted to every question or problem as if the campers were convicted felons, rather than just normal kids.

Every child, regardless of their back ground, skin color, age, how much money their parents have, etc. has individual needs, presents unique challenges and requires a lot of work. That’s SPECIFICALLY what we do at camp. I don’t tell the staff that a bus load of African American and Hispanic children from the inner city are coming to camp because I don’t want the staff to think this week is any different than any other week of camp. My staff is mostly white, from middle to upper class back grounds and the rest of the summer is 95% white campers, so it is a bit of a shock when all of the kids arrive, but my lead staff and I didn’t react any differently and so, while it’s possibly some of the staff were surprised by the demographic of the campers, no one said anything and we jumped right into camp activity.

The nuns have been sending kids for 17 years and over half of the campers this week are returners. I was so excited to see so many familiar faces and I was greeted with familiar hugs and lots of smiles. Some of these kids have been here for all five of the summers I’ve been here (some have been coming even longer than that) and the absolute best part of camp is getting to know kids year after year.

We’re off to a strong start on our first day of camp!