We have hit the ground running with staff orientation! By now, most staff members have arrived. We have general counselors, medical, office admin, media, kitchen, housekeeping, etc. in the house. Here’s a look at some of the orientation sessions we have planned this week:

Leadership Meeting

This meeting isn’t specific to staff orientation, but I wanted to highlight it because it is such an integral part to the smooth-running of summer camp! Early every morning, before campers have started their day, the full-time team and camp leaders meet to discuss plans for the day and the thousand and one miscellaneous details that help keep Camp Winaukee chugging along. These meetings begin at staff orientation and continue throughout the summer.

Driver Training

For large group trips, we rent school buses to ferry the campers. However, for smaller trips, we often use 15-passenger vans. As the vans are a lot bigger than a regular sedan and in line with fostering a culture of safety, we train staff before they’re put on company insurance and permitted to drive the vans.

Learn from the Pros

Camp is a great place to learn something new. In these sessions, we teach staff theoretical frameworks for creating lesson plans. Then, they get to practice implementing their lesson plans and coaching with each other!

Filling Out Forms and More Filling Out Forms

Staff have to fill out paperwork related to their employment and presence at camp. Orientation is a great time to get everyone together and make sure they turn in the forms (not an easy feat, considering we have approximately 100 staff members!).

Policies and Procedures

Whether the staff member is new to summer camps in general, has worked at Camp Winaukee several years, or has prior camp experience, attending these sessions are mandatory. We spend an extensive amount of time discussing camp policies and procedures. We always love talking about the culture of Camp Winaukee! It is our goal in these sessions that every staff member leaves with a knowledge of The Winaukee Way and is equipped to espouse our core values of community, growth, fun, and sportsmanship.