Monthly Archives: May 2012

Summer Camp Almost Ready for Open House

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It’s a monumental task to get a summer camp ready for the busy season, particularly when we have so many school groups that visit Kettleby Valley during the spring. However with some hard work and a little luck with the weather, we’ll make it.

All the girls cabins have received new windows, doors and flooring. The basement of the lodge has a serving wall and the floor has been painted. New and improved screen doors are being made in our shop. The stairs leading down to canoeing have been dug up and new ones have been constructed and put into place. Stain and paint on the canoe and archery buildings have have made them look better than new. And this is by no means a complete list.

Most of the spring staff have had little (or no) experience doing the things we’ve accomplished. With hard work and a bit of direction, these people have done a fantastic job. Thanks to everyone for all the effort so far.

The Best Summer Camp Work Truck

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I’m selling my Toyota truck and even though is has never officially belonged to the summer camp it has been invaluable to Kettleby Valley. This truck seems to have been build to fit the camp. It can go everywhere: bouldering, the notch, Boy’s Village and, as we recently discovered, the new R.I.S.E. archery area. I’ve never had a need to bring it to canoeing, although I imagine it could get down there too.

I’ve never really looked after the Toyota. I tried to make it seem newer by getting the exhaust fixed. That only unveiled a myriad of other, far more alarming noises that the old muffler had been drowning out. I’ve had five car washes in the past eight years and I only vacuum the interior twice a year. Although the manufacturer recommends an oil change every 5,000 kilometers, I usually wait until 7,000 or even 10,000 kilometers. And yet it’s never let me down.

There’s no rust (except for where the dents are) and it’s never accelerated unexpectedly or failed to stop (these are features that come standard on most new Toyota’s). It has never broken down and the money I’ve spent to maintain the truck has been minimal.

It has outlasted many other vehicles around the camp like a Chrysler, a Ford and a Trekker, although the Trekker is more of a golf cart than it is a truck. The Toyota is currently running neck and neck with our GM, which reminds me, the headlights aren’t working on the GM. It’s big enough (unlike the Trekker) to move lumber and pull a trailer full of rocks. Yet it’s small enough that nobody has ever misjudged its size and hit a building with it – I can’t say the same for the massive GM.

So why am I getting rid of it? Well, the truck has almost 300,000 kilometers on it, and we continue to use it to haul wood chips, rocks, lumber and tools to every corner of the Camp. Plus I bought a new(er) Nissan truck, which is more like driving in a simulator than driving an actual truck. Only time will tell if the Nissan has the potential to grow on me like the Toyota has.

I’ll miss my Toyota, but not that much. I’m selling it to the camp so that it can live out its remaining days as an official camp truck. I plan to keep it parked right next to my new truck and, with any luck the Nissan will learn a thing or two.

So What’s In It For The Director of a Summer Camp?

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There are many well known reasons why people want to work as a staff member at summer camps for children. However, I don’t think I’ve ever been asked why I want to Direct the camp. I quite enjoy my job, even though I’ve been doing essentially the same thing for 15 years and there are a couple of things in particular that keep me enthusiastic about going to work each day.

I have personally conducted every interview of every staff member that has ever worked for Kettleby Valley. I’m exhausted just thinking about it. With all that work comes the real satisfaction about bringing a group of staff together each year. There is also the excitement some people show when they learn we have a job for them (followed by the natural let down when they hear what they’ll be paid for the summer) and the enthusiasm they have once the campers arrive for the first day of summer.

I also love watching the campers grow up seemingly in front of my eyes. Campers like Cassie, David, Katrina, Rebecca, Megan and Kaeleen were so small when they started at Kettleby Valley and this year, they’ll be senior campers. Some campers make wonderful staff members.I remember Chewy and Oakley and Franklin and Huck as campers – all of whom are doing a great job right now as spring staff.

Unlike myself, our staff move on and I love helping people in this process whenever I can. I receive dozens of requests each year for reference letters and many ask me to complete forms for teacher’s college and other post graduate programs. In almost every case, I’m happy to do it. And perhaps I’m a bit proud to know that the experience at camp has helped them in some way.

I have also loved watching our camp grow and improve each year. In the past six years our numbers have gone up by almost 80 percent. Our new cabins, dining hall, change rooms and pools have made a huge difference to the experience our campers have had. Over the years our spring staff have played a major role in these improvements and I hope they feel as proud as I do about the work that we’ve managed to accomplish.

There are things about my role I could live without. However these events are few and far between and get quickly pushed aside by all the great staff and parents and campers I see every day during the summer. When I yell ‘good morning’ each summer day, I have over 300 people yell the same thing right back at me and there aren’t many people who can make that claim.

 

 

 

 

 

Summer Camp Isn’t Easy For Every Family

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For some families, summer camp is a given. Kettleby Valley Camp is located close to Aurora, Newmarket, Richmond Hill and Vaughan and these communities have their share of affluent neighborhoods. For others in these communities, the cost of camp can be a real struggle to swing, particularly for single parent families.

There are charities that can help and there are entire camps devoted to underprivileged children. But it’s the people who are in the middle that are looking for help. These families have homes and jobs, but lack the disposable income that makes paying for camp easy.

This year more than ever, I’ve been contacted by single moms looking for ways to make camp happen for their kids this summer. Some are looking for ways to break up the payments while others are willing to pay for camp through contributing to our staff training sessions.

As a business, we have (sizable) bills to pay and we’re not in a position to compromise on our camp fees. Kettleby Valley is by no means the most expensive camp. However we’re not the least expensive either and when we can, we try to help.

Summer camp isn’t an experience that should be taken for granted. There are some families that make big time sacrifices to ensure that their children have the opportunity to attend camp. This makes me feel like I’m doing something important and I hope it does the same for every one of our counsellors.

Great Summer Camps Offer More Than Fun and Safety

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Recently we were fortunate to be named in Heather Hadden’s blog entitled “Most Popular Camps in Ontario”. There are many things that parents look for in a summer camp such as safety, great staff, and a fun program. However there are other considerations that go hand in hand with these qualities when families make their decision about where to send their children.

For most families that use our camp, both parents work and flexibility is an important part of the services we provide. For our day camp, parents can drop their children off at camp, they can use our home bus service, or they can combine the two options.

With our residential overnight camp, we offer a weeklong experience for campers that’s close to home. For some families, a northern camp simply isn’t an option and we feel that Kettleby Valley meets the needs of a quality camp program without the three hour drive. With soccer, baseball and other commitments, our residential overnight program provides the option of a camper ducking out for for an hour or two for an important game.

Convenience is also a major consideration. For TD bank and IBM employees, we provide day camp transportation to and from their work locations throughout the summer. This means no extra stops between work and home.

Tradition has always been an important part of summer camp. However, in order to stay competitive, Ontario summer camps like ours have had to go beyond tradition and offer programs that meet the needs of today’s busy families.

 

 

Should Camps for Children in Ontario Allow Campers to Use Cell Phones?

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In the past several years, cell phones have been a contentious issue at Ontario summer camps. Parents, campers and staff alike have asked us about the use of cell phones and we’ve stood firm with our answer – no. Our answer is still no, but it’s not as firm as it used to be.

Everyone knows that smart phones can do so much more than a traditional cell phone. However there is one capability a phone has that is widely overlooked – the ability to make a parent feel at ease.

Many parents attended day camp or overnight camp when they were children. However, for others who never went to camp, sending their child away can be a stressful experience and receiving a text or email could go a long way to reassuring them.

At camp, we hope to foster independence, and cell phone use might actually help rather than hurt. A message to Mom or Dad might read, “Having fun, please leave me alone now”. This might be just the thing that would help parents realize it’s okay to give their kids some space.

Some camps are worried about a negative message going home from camp via a cell phone message. If a child is unhappy, the word will eventually get home and cell phones could serve as an early detection system that salvages what might otherwise have been a negative experience. Most camps already ask parents to inform them if their child sends word of a problem they might be facing by way of a letter or fax. We can simply extend this piece of advice to include cell phone messages.

Don’t get me wrong, living without the use of a computer or phone for an extended period of time is still a value I hold dearly. It’s rather liberating to be on a canoe trip with no signal for days. And for now, the answer to cell phones for campers is still no. But I’m beginning to see a day when a cabin group might have ‘connect time’ on their schedule.

Summer Camp T-Shirt Day in Ontario

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As a Summer Camp, we’ve always had shirts and I was recently presented with the opportunity to go through my collection of camp shirts to commemorate National Camp T-Shirt Day. As I did this, I realized that far more than 75 percent of my personal wardrobe consists of camp clothing. It also made me understand why I can’t seem to part with them.

As I looked at each one, memories came back from the time that they represented. The one from 1999 made me think of how Jennifer and Paula, our first Section Directors, had to do double duty as archery instructors. There was another shirt that reminded me of the massive ‘circus tent’ we used to be able to fit the entire camp under. Every staff member I worked with hated the process of putting that thing up. There was one that made me think of my daughter’s first year as an actual camper. I have a pink staff shirt, the year we had mostly female spring staff (the only exceptions being Chex, Fozzie and me). That was the first year (but not the last) that the basement of the old lodge became the recipient of our inadequate septic system. There was a shirt from the first year we had shirts that actually fit, a staff shirt from the first year we had a camp truck (other than mine) a shirt from the year we opened our new lodge. You get the picture.

So many shirts, so many memories….so little drawer space.