Edited March 13, 2008

Spruce Twigs

We need someone to oversee the Spruce Twigs this summer. Are you willing to work with CITs and fellow staff to make sure we have a newspaper each session? Could you? Would you?

Last summer, Emily Nelson and Emily Krempholtz stimulated creativity in lots of interested writers within camp. They produced newsletters for three of our four sessions, and their newsletters were awesome.

This summer, you are a new and different group. I would very much love for someone to step up to the plate and take on this responsibility. Interested? Let me know so we can get excited together and start inspiring campers and fellow staff to contribute.

Campers

We are actually getting more campers interested in Sprucelands this summer. Despite the economy - at least at this writing - we have an improving enrollment. Because our counselors did such a phenomenal job last summer, many campers are returning. We owe them a huge thank you for maintaining such high standards and interacting so positively with campers.

It is so important for us to make the campers our priority. They are after all the reason we are at camp. Let's join together and give them another awesome summer so Sprucelands continues to grow.

Send Us Your News or Ideas

Between now and camp, I like the page to be an exchange of ideas and news. So if you have an idea for an evening program, let me know what it is and we'll share it here. Then everyone can think about it and figure out how to expand it or embellish it. Makes us into a great team!

Opening Ceremony

Counselors usually supervise the Opening Ceremonies. This is your chance to make a statement about what kind of leadership you are going to offer your campers.

Since our theme is SHREK, we need to brainstorm about how we can pull that into the Opening Ceremony. You're going to have to help me be creative here because although I've seen the SHREK movies, I'm not versed enough in them to advise you on how to use the theme    in the Opening Ceremony.

Music

Always I am looking for upbeat songs to use in the DVDs. As you know, I value your input on what you like. My preference is for music with a positive theme or message. If you have ideas about this, please communicate with me. These are the days when we can start collecting songs. Do the SHREK movies have songs that could be used?

P.S.

I am really looking forward to this summer. We have a whole new combination of counselors. The best part is that you are on the team.

 

Cabin Assignments

I'm not sure where you will be this summer. That's a decision I make across the spring. If you have a preference for an age group or a cabin, I am happy to listen and weigh your requests. In the end you will have   to trust my decision. Believe me, we'll make sure your opinions and perspectives are honored.

Riding Instructor Information

You may be interested to know that Bradley, Julie Batelli, Tarrah Phelan, Jaime, me, Jill Fisher and Alison will make up the riding staff this summer. Even Emily Krempholtz has offered to come do some lessons a few days a week. We all love teaching and will share the teaching load. Raven will also be here and is looking forward to helping out with instruction.

It is our hope that some of you will want to teach as well, and we will mentor you the whole way. Just make sure to speak up as we go so you feel as though you are getting the support you need.

Jaime's Page: This is a MUST READ

Jaime has sent me new information for each of you to read. Instead of squeezing it into this page, I have added another page for you. Click on the little dancing horse. It is aimed at the riding program and where you want to fit as riding instructors or barn managers, teachers or assistants. It actually expands and builds on the questions I asked in the paragraph above.

We are working hard to refine the riding program from an instructor's point of view. That way we are teaching with a consistent Sprucelands style, and we are giving each other ongoing feedback, training. At the same time, work is shared and no one ends up feeling angry or abused. We want this to be a positive experience so you end up wanting to continue your enthusiasm for teaching.

Counselor Dialogues

First time Counselors: What I would like you to do is list three specific goals that you want to accomplish this summer. Then list what your plan is for accomplishing your goals and how you will know when you reach them. Finally, let me know what I can do to enable you in the process of reaching those goals.

Returning Counselors: Let me know what you are going to do this summer to make your job different. So that you are challenged to become stronger leaders, I want to know what piece of your Counselor role you are going to change, having experimented with the role last summer. Will you run your cabin differently? Will you participate in the program differently? Think about this if you haven't already and let's use this as a starting point  for our dialogues.

Cabin Names

I think we're going to stick with the cabin names from last summer. It took us so long to get used to them that it makes sense to stick with what we have.

Rabbit's - Thunder's Thicket; Tigger's - Heather's Hot Spot; Kanga's - Honey's Hutch; Schroeder's - Josie's Journey; Marcie's - Midnight's Magic; Lucy's - Dolly's Dollhouse; Cats - Chester's Chase; Thidwicks - Lucky's Charm

We can be creative about what to call Hagrid's Hutch. Any ideas that will go along with SHREK?