Camp is NOT Just For the Kids: Staff Training and Why It’s Important

When I tell people that I am a summer camp director in polite conversation, I frequently get asked the equally amusing and vexing follow-up question: “What do you do for the rest of the year when the kids are not at camp?” Most people, who generally ask about my occupation for courtesy, find their curiosity satisfied by a nonchalant reply of “Oh, just hiring staff, acquiring permits, planning schedules and stuff” or the somewhat more cheeky answer “Nothing, I just sit around and hope everyone shows up when they are supposed to.”

You, however, who find yourself voluntarily reading the TVRC blog in your free time, are not most people. You know about the importance of a positive summer camp experience and care about the execution of a successful camp season. Unsurprisingly, one of the clearest indicators of how our summer will go comes from if we have competent, confident and well-trained seasonal staff. Hence, this blog aims to peel back the curtain of what we do during staff training to best prepare our team for an impactful summer at Teton Valley Ranch Camp.

Five Key Elements of Staff Training (SPECS)

Safety

Nearly every youth-serving organization in the US places the safety of children and staff at the forefront of how they operate their programs. At TVRC, we believe that one cannot achieve meaningful growth in our camp community without the support of a sense of safety.

Staff members spend their first days of staff training learning about the most risky physical elements of the TVRC program (speed, water, lightning, wildlife, falling objects, shock, temperature) and how to navigate them. Staff also receive extensive training on safe staff-camper boundaries with concepts such as the rule of three, appropriate conversation topics, scope of practice depth (i.e. what are we qualified to help campers with?), social media usage, and more.

We cannot make camp 100% safe, nor do we ever intend to. Our campers and staff achieve significant growth when confronting, and overcoming, challenges and risk. Risk management and safety at TVRC fundamentally revolves around the desire for failures to result in growth rather than loss. Helping our staff understand what risks we do or do not allow into our community, and how to manage them, makes up the core of safety training at TVRC.

Program Practice

Amongst the full time staff, we frequently, and fondly, joke that TVRC has one of the most complicated summer camp programs in the entire United States. Just as the best jokes have a ring of truth to them, so goes this one. Between our progressive adventure group system, choice-based in-camp programming, backcountry trips program, western horseback riding traditions, and more, there’s a lot to learn and do in a summer at TVRC!

The idea of “practicing how we play” reverberates throughout staff training at TVRC; if a specific event or activity will, or may, happen during the summer, we need to practice it! “Practicing” the TVRC program means practicing anything from a Rodeo Day to an emergency helicopter landing to singing Teton Serenade and Peace to hopping our dishes to the scullery pit after a meal. Staff familiarity and comfortability with our program yields courageousness within our campers when trying the same elements a few weeks later. While we can never reach true 100% preparedness for a summer at TVRC with the time we have, if we try everything at least once, we can only get better the second time we try.

Excitement

TVRC celebrates and cultivates fun, joy and humor in all we do - this includes staff training! A common pitfall in summer camps everywhere comes from making staff training feel too much like, well, “training.” Considering most of our staff have been spending much of their time in educational systems for the 250 days leading up to the start of camp, an overly “school-like” atmosphere during staff training not only does not match the atmosphere of the in-camp season; it also decreases excitement and momentum heading into the summer.

As we plan staff training each year, we ask ourselves the question “can we make X more fun, engaging and interactive?” Each day of staff training features at least one activity where having fun is the primary intent. Even better, we set up “fun” activities to learn more about camp, practice how we play, and increase our readiness for the summer. While some training items, usually more serious topics, must remain lecture-heavy, balancing seriousness with lighthearted fun makes for a successful and exciting training period. If you find yourself particularly curious about “balancing” the fun of a day, email me about the “Fun Index” or “FUNDEX!”

Community Building

When people spend a summer at TVRC, they expect to make genuine connections and lifelong friendships with others. A connected community of staff members helps create an environment where campers feel comfortable buying into camp. Staff training, in some ways, feels like camp for the counselors - we attend campfire every night, share with one another in Circle and Chapel, sing songs, and sit at random tables during meals.

Buying into the little traditions prevalent throughout a day at TVRC help staff feel how special our community can be. When the staff feel like camp is special, so go the campers. That being said, camp is not just for the campers! We hope that every staff member finishes their summer at camp with a sense of belonging and lifelong memories with dear friends.

Specific Skills

The vast majority of individuals in the civilized world do not regularly ride horses, fly fish, go backpacking, shoot rifles, or create art out of stone; expectedly so, since the opportunity to try activities such as these commonly draws people to TVRC for the first time. More surprising, and more disheartening is that the vast majority of individuals in the civilized world do not regularly share meals with unfamiliar faces, speak from the heart in front of their peers, or help friends who are struggling.

TVRC provides a place where all of us consistently have the opportunity to experience enriching western adventure and a deeply connected community all in one. We spend a significant amount of time teaching staff “hard” skills (e.g. horseback riding, roping, survival, etc.), and “soft” skills (e.g. comforting homesick campers, coaching behavior, reaching resolutions, etc.) necessary to create the a growth oriented camp environment. Each of our staff members arrives to camp with their own set of strengths. Maximizing our staffs’ strengths while filling in essential skill gaps makes for full days throughout staff training.

As you finish reading this blog, the beginning of staff training will have grown ever closer. Speaking on staff training and putting into practice are two very different things. We cannot wait to show you the fruits of our efforts this summer!

See you soon,

Marshall