It was such a smooth arrival day today (despite having more kids than ever before in August!) and it really made me reflect on how incredibly far our staff have come in the past 4 weeks. This summer I’ve noticed many silver linings to having more new staff than ever. They are clearly all here for the job and soaked up all of the training we gave them like sponges. Because they didn’t feel like they knew what they were doing, they worked extra hard to learn the ropes and do things by-the-book. And because the campers were naturally drawn toward the returning staff because they already knew them, our newbies had to work twice as hard to foster connections with them. But when they did it paid off in spades. It turns out that while there are wonderful benefits to tradition, when new folks with a fresh perspective come in they actually have so much value to add. I’ve learned more new games and songs this summer than ever, we’ve modified many of our protocols (for example the dress code) because feedback from our new staff made us think critically about why we do things the way we do, and the campers are being exposed to a diversity they don’t normally get at camp.

Watching the new staff greet their incoming campers with their newfound confidence and ownership made me not only proud of them for their growth, but proud of the incredible standard of care they are providing to our campers. As a Camp Director, I can’t be in the cabin of every struggling camper all the time, and the hardest part of my job is trusting anyone else to do that (because the stakes are so high), but this session more than ever I trust that our staff are doing as well as I could with each and every camper.