Team Building: Overnight

Hey everyone,

Today was the first day that our staff got together for the summer. It was only a day to complete paperwork, but you could feel the electricity in the air. Returning staff were sharing stories of previous summers as well as new staff telling stories of their previous camps. Everyone was so happy to get things kicked off and going!

This got me thinking of ways to get the staff all on the same page and to jell together before the kids arrive to camp. 

This brought me back to my first few summers working at summer camp. Staff overnights were the highlight for most staff members during training week. I would highly recommend doing something similar to this, especially if you are a residential camp. At my camp we split the groups up in half and had them each camp out at separate sites. They either had to hike, bike, or kayak their way to the campsite. Many memories were made on the way to the site, LET ALONE THE ACTUALLY CAMP OUT! 

For the campout we had to cook our own hobo dinners which consisted of hamburger meat, potatoes, carrots, and some spices. We cooked them over the fire using aluminum foil. For dessert we roasted  marshmallows   and did a session we called Embers which was a way for everyone to get to know one another a little bit better in an unconventional way. 

We would sleep out under the stars and wake up and head back to camp to finish training, although it is not the best nights sleep you will ever have, it is a great time for everyone!