Our Specialties

If you read my previous blog (February 15), you know that when people ask, “Are you a specialty camp?” I answer “Yes! We specialize in giving kids choices.”

And that is definitely true. At the heart of the Campus Kids program is giving each camper his/her daily choice of activities. We teach skills in every activity, but we also encourage campers to explore new interests and enjoy the freedom of finding what they like best. We often hear from our alums that an important interest in their life — or even a career — began when they tried something for the first time at camp. Our wide variety of activities — in the fine arts, performing arts and sports — opens up a wide world of possibilities to every camper.

This specialty — our “Camper Choice Programming” — remains at the heart of our camp.

This summer, however, we’re giving some new meaning to the word “specialty” in three particular sports. We actually began this in 2010 with ultimate (often called Ultimate Frisbee) and are now expanding the concept to include squash and tennis.

The idea is to give campers a sport specialty option within a traditional camp program. Often, kids go to one-week sport camps to get concentrated skill instruction in a single sport, and many of those programs are great. In our program, though, that concentrated practice and skill development are spread out over two weeks, so that the camper spends about half a program day in the sport. The rest of the time, however, they are part of regular camp: being a member of a bunk group, having their own bunk counselors, enjoying evening programs and special events, and choosing their own activities during the non-specialty portion of each day.

If you’ve visited us at our summer home, Blair Academy, you know that for SQUASH we have a magnificent air conditioned, 7-court squash center. For TENNIS, there’s a modern 10-court tennis center (half with lights). And for ULTIMATE, there’s plenty of grass and artificial turf playing fields and a long-standing CK-NJ tradition of playing Ultimate at a high level.

Ryan Belline, who has been at CK-NJ since his camper days, started our Ultimate specialty option three years ago and will take on directorship of all three sports this summer. Squash takes place during our first two weeks, tennis during Weeks 3-4, and ultimate during Weeks 5-6. While these programs are taking place, these sports will still be part of the regular camper program for everyone else in camp.

Here’s where you can learn more about our new specialties: CK-NJ Sport Specialty Options. (By the way, these programs are for boys and girls entering 7th grade and older.)

If you’re at camp this summer, try out one of these specialties. If not, keep watching the website as we share the photos and the stories. We’ll keep you posted.

Tom

          

Choice Does Not Equal Chaos

I remember many years ago when Stu made a presentation at a camp conference about the Campus Kids “Camper Choice” programming system and half the people walked out of the room within the first five minutes because our level of choice was simply not possible in their minds. That was good for those who stayed because they got to have a really good discussion about the benefits of giving kids choices.

Kids are intrigued and excited about choosing their own activities. They are a bit skeptical at first because getting choices is not something they are used to. But they get excited when they realize that every day we help them plan what they want to do the next day — as an individual, not as part of a group vote or assignment. From the campers’ point of view, this is a very good thing. It’s freeing and fun. It’s having control of their camp experience and making it what they want it to be. It’s the great feeling of having independence and responsibility.

Adults also agree that Camper Choice sounds like a good thing, but they often have more question about it. Examples are:

HOW DO THE CAMPERS DEAL WITH ALL THOSE CHOICES?
We organize the choices by age division and into activity periods and the bunk counselors help their campers make their choices. Our system is organized. Choice does not equal chaos.

DOES MY CAMPER HAVE THE OPTION TO DO “NOTHING”?
The answer is “mostly no”. There are three activity periods in the morning, three in the afternoon and one after supper (before the evening programs) and campers all choose something to do each of those periods. The answer is “sometimes yes” because a camper who wants to take a break from doing organized activities every period can choose “afternoon shade” or “evening shade”, which is unstructured play time. Check back next week where we will blog about our shade activity.

WILL MY CAMPER TRY NEW THINGS IF NOT FORCED TO?
Most likely “yes”. Campers tell each other what they’ve been doing and they influence each other to try new things. And, since they can try something once and then not go back, they are willing to take the risk to try something new. They learn that it’s worth trying and there’s not a single camper who doesn’t develop at least one new interest at camp.

WILL MY CAMPER HAVE TO FIND HIS/HER OWN WAY AROUND CAMP?
No! It’s true that the bunk group doesn’t do its activities all together because each camper makes their own choices. However, the foundational safety rule at our camp is that every camper is always with a counselor. So we have a time-tested system for getting our campers to each activity with the counselors. Come out to camp in the summer and watch our activity changeovers; they are very interesting.

Camper Choice is at the heart of our philosophy and programming and we wouldn’t be Campus Kids without it. When people ask, “Are you a specialty camp?” I say, “Yes! We specialize in giving kids choices.”

If you have any questions about this aspect of our camp, please drop me a line or give me a call. I’d love to chat with you about it.

Tom

Where's Winter?

Usually at this time of year we are stomping the snow off our boots as we come into the office for another day of summer camp work.  Even though the world outside is cold and icy, our world in here is all about hot summer days filled with fun and friends.  We can't wait to trade in sweaters and heavy coats for t-shirts and shorts.

However, it hasn't been that kind of winter, as you know, with days being almost balmy, tempting us to wear a vintage CK t-shirt to work.  Sometimes I fear that maybe we slept through December, January and February and we've woken up in March and (oh no!) camp will be here soon and we're not ready!  Then I look at the Dr. Seuss wall calendar that Teri gave us (this month with the Truffala Trees) and am reassured that time hasn't changed, even though the weather has.

 I'm disappointed that we don't have the usual snow because our camp -- at Blair Academy -- is amazingly beautiful when it's covered in a white winter blanket.  I love the green vistas of the fields and forest, but I enjoy equally the white expanses, seeing the footprints and sled paths in the snow, and experiencing the muffled quiet across the campus.

Whatever the winter weather, though, one of the fun things we do during these months is give tours to families who are interested in our camp.  Lead by Stu or me, with the assistance of some of our current (or recently "retired") staff assistants, we spend a private hour or so with each family: the prospective camper, parents, siblings, grandparents, friends, neighbors . . . anyone they want to bring along.  Every tour has common elements because there are certain things about camp we want to tell every family and, of course, certain things we want to show them like the dorms, dining room, athletic facilities, pool, performing arts and fine arts facilities, canteen, etc.

What makes each tour unique are the questions.  No two campers or families have the same questions, but here are a few samples:
-- What do you do when it rains?  (That's usually asked at the beginning of the tour because at the end they've seen the indoor pool, three indoor gyms, art rooms, theatre, squash courts, etc. and they know we have plenty of good indoor space for activities.)    
-- How do I keep from getting lost?  (All campers, even the oldest, are ALWAYS with counselors, so campers don't have to worry about this.)
-- Are the dorms air conditioned?  (No, but they have good window screens and we put a 20" box fan in each room.  There is AC in the dining room, performing arts center, health center, canteen, and some of the indoor sports facilities.)
--What if I don't get along with someone in my group or my roommate?  (Our campers are pretty nice people, so this isn't a huge problem.  Being realistic though, nothing is perfect and there can be disagreements.  Since this is camp, our counselors help you work things out and this usually takes care of the problem.  If it becomes a bigger problem though, we might decide that switching rooms is the best option.)
--Can I bring my laptop?  (No.  You won't go online at camp because you'll be spending that time in activities and hanging out with camp friends.)
--Who gets to use the really cool fitness center?  (Our teenage campers.  This is our only activity that is restricted to just the older campers.)
--How many activities can I choose?  (Six or seven different ones per day.  You get to choose every day so you can try out new things and make switches easily.)
--Do I have to know how to do an activity to sign up for it?  (No!  Every activity has counselors who are able and eager to teach you how to do it.  So we hope you will try lots of new things while you're at camp.) 

That's just a sample.  The full list is practically endless.  Best of all, every weekend we get at least one question we've never had before, and this is the most fun to answer.

Winter tours will continue, even without the winter weather, and we'll continue to tell the wonderful story of camp to our visitors.  I wonder if this weekend I'll finally be wearing my big winter coat or if I'll be putting on my favorite camp t-shirt?

Tom