The Staff Makes the Camp

Of course, we wouldn't have a camp without the campers, but we couldn't have the kind of camp we want without the staff. Despite our beautiful facilities (at Blair Academy) and great variety of program activities, it's the type of folks we hire and how they perform that gives our camp its soul and personality.

That's why the process of working with our staff is year-round. Each month of the year there is something taking place that involves staff recruitment, hiring or training. It starts way back during the previous summer, when staff job performance is assessed, so that we enter September with solid thoughts as to who should return next summer and in what roles.

As we prepare for a new summer, we break our staff into five parts: leadership team, returning counselors, new counselors, staff assistants, and "other" (a very important category that includes nurses and administrative staff). Each segment has a timeline for identifying who should return, recruiting new staff, and conducting orientation and training.

Staff fill out applications (or "application updates" for returners), provide references, and have interviews with me. Orientation truly begins during those interviews, because that's when we begin to establish a working relationship with the staff member and the staff member begins to understand more about our philosophy and expectations.

There IS an onsite orientation week in June for all staff, but that's just a part of our orientation program. In the months leading up to that week, we provide lots of information about camp via special web pages, online forums and an online video training library. So when the staff arrive for the start of the formal orientation, a lot of work has already been completed.

Our Leadership Team (directors, head counselors, activity coordinators) also meet for three days in January for an intensive planning session, followed by months of work on our online discussion forums.

Even our youngest staff members -- the staff assistants -- have a special weekend orientation in the spring to prepare for their varied and important jobs.

All of our preparations culminate in that very important Pre-Camp Staff Orientation time in June, when we finally have the entire staff together and the very last preparations are completed. Day #1 finally arrives and we all put on our fresh new staff t-shirts and greet the busses as they roll up alongside "the bowl". When I see the happy faces of campers and staff as they greet each other and form into their bunk group "families", I know that the year of staff preparation was worth it, and that it's definitely true that "the staff makes the camp."

Tom