I'm really glad people are sharing their input on the camping trip, and I'm getting more and more into this early-in-the-week idea.
Just to throw it out there, what if we took it to the extreme and scheduled the camping trip as early in the week as conceivably possible (probably after lunch on Sunday)?
This would involve either doing most of the prep work during Saturday cleaning (using the camper list to estimate participation) or Saturday night and Sunday morning. We could even start soliciting youths right off the boat, when they're still disoriented and unlikely to say 'no' to anything we suggest (this might be too in-your-face...) We'd have another chance to sell this thing during the Sat. meeting, and to save spiel time the rest of the normal 'Youth spiel' could be abbreviated and addressed in full at the parents' meeting the next morning (at which we'd hand out camping trip itineraries, and waivers for the parents to sign – and let’s not forget how good this looks from a parent’s perspective, what with the apparent organization, responsibility and expedience). A youth meeting would directly follow the parents meeting (maybe it'd even make sense to overlap them a little bit?) and we'd have a chance to fill out the 'youth spiel' before we debrief everybody about the imminent trip (even if we have weather delays, all of the aforementioned preparations, spiels and meetings could still run on schedule until weather permits departure).
The problem remains that this eats up shifts, so we could have the 'youth director' run both meetings solo (who is the official youth director? is that you Ben Jef?) and the other tripping staffie can do a b-fast shift, and maybe even a lunch shift (since everything would be organized an ready to go already - in theory). This would make for a pretty busy beginning to the week, but it seems doable to me. A Monday departure would totally work too, but let me know what y’all think about Sunday.
Please DON'T HESITATE to point out any possible/obvious problems with this plan!
Yeah, I'm youth director. I think we should at least pilot this approach once, maybe we can look for a week with a pretty strong youth contingent to test it on. I honestly see nothing wrong with me doing the youth meeting solo so as to save shifts, I think I've got a good grasp on how to run the deal and sell the trips. Saturday night preparation is fine, mainly foil packets but that's doable, especially since we could probably pull in a few youth who would help out with it. They are going to be a bit disoriented and searching for things to do anyways at that point.
Because of this disorientation, and our lack of feel for what the different campers would find acceptable on the trip, I imagine the camping experience would need to be a little less intense this early in the week, maybe more about just relaxing and getting to know the other youth. What better bonding is there than canoing to the other side of the island and pitching a tent in the rain anyways?
It sounds good, I'd like to give it a try, but realistically, with weather constraints, we are going to need to execute all of these different plans at some point during the season.
Good thinking Cory, I'm glad you are excited. With all this attention and focus on the camping trip coming from various members of the staff, I think I will have to cede a few of the trips to others, which I am perfectly fine with.
Another thought is that it is probably a positive, especially early in the week, to make sure the staff attending the camping trip is comprised of one male and one female, if only to ensure the comfort of the campers. It worked really well when Larke and I did the trip last year. Sometimes I think the testosterone might get out of control with two males on the trip.
This staff blog is really taking off this year, but still only 2/3 of the staff are represented. Where are the rest? Does MEM have a computer?
quick thought - foil packets weren't so very popular, and could be replaced with something more people like. The obvious choice is hotdogs and veg. brats, which are more expensive but wouldn't take up our time Sat. night (MEM might prefer this too, since she could just keep a stock for us in the freezer). I love foil packets and the kids would learn more about cooking outdoors, but we might want to compromise (or just cop out altogether with cheap hotdogs).
I'm really excited that you're the youth director Ben! And good call on the m+fm staffers - we've got a lot of good people on both sides of the gender spectrum.
I really am excited by the push for camping trips this year, I know that there are a lot of staff and the number that I may be able to go on is small but it camping is something I thoroughly enjoy.
I think that a possibility for additional organization comes at the end of the saturday orientation. During refreshments the Trip leader/Ben as youth leader could grab a table and along with some early introductions (maybe some apples to apples) the trip could be explained.
It's kind of late at the end of Saturday orientation, and sometimes those roustabout youth do not even attend, not that I know anything about such heinousness.
It occurs to me that the superb Mr. Jeffries has already addressed this speculation, when he remarked that weather will determine whether a given day is appropriate for a camping trip, and therefore we should plan to have the youth trip at different times on different weeks.
6 comments:
I'm really glad people are sharing their input on the camping trip, and I'm getting more and more into this early-in-the-week idea.
Just to throw it out there, what if we took it to the extreme and scheduled the camping trip as early in the week as conceivably possible (probably after lunch on Sunday)?
This would involve either doing most of the prep work during Saturday cleaning (using the camper list to estimate participation) or Saturday night and Sunday morning. We could even start soliciting youths right off the boat, when they're still disoriented and unlikely to say 'no' to anything we suggest (this might be too in-your-face...) We'd have another chance to sell this thing during the Sat. meeting, and to save spiel time the rest of the normal 'Youth spiel' could be abbreviated and addressed in full at the parents' meeting the next morning (at which we'd hand out camping trip itineraries, and waivers for the parents to sign – and let’s not forget how good this looks from a parent’s perspective, what with the apparent organization, responsibility and expedience). A youth meeting would directly follow the parents meeting (maybe it'd even make sense to overlap them a little bit?) and we'd have a chance to fill out the 'youth spiel' before we debrief everybody about the imminent trip (even if we have weather delays, all of the aforementioned preparations, spiels and meetings could still run on schedule until weather permits departure).
The problem remains that this eats up shifts, so we could have the 'youth director' run both meetings solo (who is the official youth director? is that you Ben Jef?) and the other tripping staffie can do a b-fast shift, and maybe even a lunch shift (since everything would be organized an ready to go already - in theory). This would make for a pretty busy beginning to the week, but it seems doable to me. A Monday departure would totally work too, but let me know what y’all think about Sunday.
Please DON'T HESITATE to point out any possible/obvious problems with this plan!
Yeah, I'm youth director. I think we should at least pilot this approach once, maybe we can look for a week with a pretty strong youth contingent to test it on. I honestly see nothing wrong with me doing the youth meeting solo so as to save shifts, I think I've got a good grasp on how to run the deal and sell the trips. Saturday night preparation is fine, mainly foil packets but that's doable, especially since we could probably pull in a few youth who would help out with it. They are going to be a bit disoriented and searching for things to do anyways at that point.
Because of this disorientation, and our lack of feel for what the different campers would find acceptable on the trip, I imagine the camping experience would need to be a little less intense this early in the week, maybe more about just relaxing and getting to know the other youth. What better bonding is there than canoing to the other side of the island and pitching a tent in the rain anyways?
It sounds good, I'd like to give it a try, but realistically, with weather constraints, we are going to need to execute all of these different plans at some point during the season.
Good thinking Cory, I'm glad you are excited. With all this attention and focus on the camping trip coming from various members of the staff, I think I will have to cede a few of the trips to others, which I am perfectly fine with.
Another thought is that it is probably a positive, especially early in the week, to make sure the staff attending the camping trip is comprised of one male and one female, if only to ensure the comfort of the campers. It worked really well when Larke and I did the trip last year. Sometimes I think the testosterone might get out of control with two males on the trip.
This staff blog is really taking off this year, but still only 2/3 of the staff are represented. Where are the rest? Does MEM have a computer?
quick thought - foil packets weren't so very popular, and could be replaced with something more people like. The obvious choice is hotdogs and veg. brats, which are more expensive but wouldn't take up our time Sat. night (MEM might prefer this too, since she could just keep a stock for us in the freezer). I love foil packets and the kids would learn more about cooking outdoors, but we might want to compromise (or just cop out altogether with cheap hotdogs).
I'm really excited that you're the youth director Ben! And good call on the m+fm staffers - we've got a lot of good people on both sides of the gender spectrum.
I really am excited by the push for camping trips this year, I know that there are a lot of staff and the number that I may be able to go on is small but it camping is something I thoroughly enjoy.
I think that a possibility for additional organization comes at the end of the saturday orientation. During refreshments the Trip leader/Ben as youth leader could grab a table and along with some early introductions (maybe some apples to apples) the trip could be explained.
Hurm.
It's kind of late at the end of Saturday orientation, and sometimes those roustabout youth do not even attend, not that I know anything about such heinousness.
Maybe after breakfast on Sunday is a better time?
It occurs to me that the superb Mr. Jeffries has already addressed this speculation, when he remarked that weather will determine whether a given day is appropriate for a camping trip, and therefore we should plan to have the youth trip at different times on different weeks.
Post a Comment