Rockbrook has an amazing group of people working as cabin counselors, instructors and support staff. Working at summer camp means serving as mentors for the children at Rockbrook, learning and growing, and having a great time.
Just what have all of the awesome counselors from summer 2010 been up to? Like our campers, most are back in school and hard at work! We have been keeping up and have some updates to pass along. They would love to hear from their campers, so make sure to friend them on the Rockbrook Friends Net. If you don’t currently have a login, go to the community part of the camp website, and you can set one up there. Happy Fall!
Katie exploring the Italian coast
Middler Linehead Katie Estes is living in Europe for the semester instead of regular classes at Wake Forest. She is studying in Firenze, Italy, and making many trips to other destinations while there. Her most recent stop was Munich, Germany!
Riflery counselor Haley Hudler is loving being back at Denison in Ohio where she is very involved with her sorority Delta Gamma and enjoying the beautiful fall!
Christine showing some true RBC skill
Junior Linehead and paddling guru Christine Alexander is living in up with every adventure she can take on. As a leader at George Washington’s adventure program, she is constantly leading trips with other students on the weekends.
Junior counselor and sports instructor Hunter Futch is continuing to pursue new athletic endeavors in college. As a Freshman at Millsaps, Hunter is not only starting on the soccer team but also enjoying being part of her sorority Phi Mu.
We are sure to have a great deal more news to pass on to you, so stay tuned!
Life as a camp counselor is a lot of fun, and is rewarding for all sorts of reasons, but it can sometimes be challenging too. Children are learning and growing, and in the camp environment away from their parents, it’s common for them to struggle a bit, need assistance now and then, and even make “less than ideal” choices leading to unwelcome behavior.
Seeing these behaviors and struggles, it’s common for camp counselors to want to “fix” the situation. They’ll rely on their instincts, their pre-camp training, and character to help their campers improve. At the same time, it’s also easy to fall into certain traps and make mistakes, despite their best intentions.
Here are 3 common mistakes camp counselors often make.
1. Telling children the things you don’t want them to do, rather than the things you do want them to do.
We often tell children, “Don’t fight! Stop running! Quit arguing! Leave that alone!” This way of communicating leaves children with a much better idea of what we don’t want them to do than of what we do want them to do. No wonder many child-care workers are exasperated with the ways children behave! It takes awareness and a concerted effort to break this habit, but learning to say what we want from children pays dividends. Calm, clear expectations are the goal.
2. The tug-of-war trap.
When a child says, “I’m not making my bed! My parents didn’t pay for me to come to camp to work; I came to have fun,” most novice counselors fall for the bait and immediately get caught in an argument about who paid for camp and whether the camper must make the bed or not. A better strategy is to understand what might be motivating the child’s behavior by kindly asking how you might work together to accomplish the goal at hand.
3. Missing the feelings in what children say.
We become fixated on behavior and forget that a child may be acting out of fear, sadness, or a sense of loneliness. Unless counselors learn to identify and name feelings, much of what campers communicate to them may be lost. Pause and listen. Bring out your compassion, and be patient. You’ll soon understand what feelings are present.
At the end of each camp session, select counselors and campers speak about their camp experience. Here’s what Kara Morris, a 2009 first-time counselor of the Junior line and archery instructor, said about her summer at Rockbrook:
Hello, I’m Kara Morris and this is my first year at Rockbrook. Being from the west where sleepaway camps are uncommon, I expected Rockbrook to be your typical Parent Trap style camp, where you pierce your ears, cut your hair, learn complex handshakes, and of course, find your long-lost twin.
What I did not expect was this remarkable program enabling girls to constantly try new things, have endless amounts of fun, create life-long friendships, to grow, mature and learn life’s lessons with each passing day. I had no idea how intricate Rockbrook is, and how much work and effort goes into each and every single day. What’s remarkable is the resulting experience people receive by coming as a camper or a camp counselor.
What experience is that? It’s all of the chances we’ve had to enjoy ourselves, have our patience tested, a cold shower because you can’t get to Brad fast enough, it’s trial and error, attempting to catch-and-release a ginormous black widow instead of just killing him to be considered a “Bug Rescuer.” The personal thoughts you’ve collected while hiking miles or swimming that 440. Teaching someone how to make a cool design for a friendship bracelet. It’s the friendships you’ve made. It’s the laughs, the tears, the knowledge that you and a group of girls just got through a difficult situation, The battle scars from falling down the senior steps or the hill…Writing a handwritten letter. Watching the rain fall, listening to the thunder. Hauling trunk after trunk up the hill. Spending time in nature away from electronics and cares of the world. Finishing a great book. Encouraging another person. It’s Rockbrook camp. Young or Old, whether you know it or not, each of you have gained experience here over the past few weeks. You come as one person and leave a better person because of it.
I want S’more!
My experience at Rockbrook has not only been these thing, but more. Camp has taught me to be a better person, more patient with others and myself; it has helped me be more forgiving and less judgmental. It has enabled me to contemplate who I am and why I do the things I do. It has drawn me closer to my beliefs. It has been a growth-promoting experience…
To my fabulous juniors, I love you girls. No matter where you are, every time I eat pudding I will think of your bright smiling faces. And I will hear little voices in my mind saying, “What about my pudding??” Thank you for giving me the opportunity to learn from you. As the Broadway Musical “Wicked” states, “Because I knew you, I have been changed for good.”
Cherie was part of our Adventure trip staff this past summer. She is currently a student at Brevard College. She heard about Rockbrook through Clyde Carter, who is the Chair of the Outdoor Department throughout the school year and also Rockbrook’s Outdoor Director during the summer. Before coming to camp, Cherie did a 21-day paddling and backpacking trip with school. She also received a certificate in Wilderness First Response and Water Safety. Cherie lived at camp, in the cabin known as “Dilly”, that is built right next to a creek.
Blast Off!
Throughout the summer, campers and staff often serenaded Cherie by singing, “Cherie, Cherie Baby”, usually when she was coming up to announce a rafting, climbing or backpacking trip after a meal. Her main duties included packing the food, raft guiding, belaying and making sure campers stayed safe. When she wasn’t out on a trip, she helped at the Alpine Tower, and occasionally offered roll clinics in the lake. And of course, in the evening she’d dress up for that night event!
By the time campers are Seniors (13 – 15 yo), they’re self-sufficient enough that they can take care of their basic needs on their own, and as their counselor you can focus on getting to know the person they are becoming. It’s a hard age, and being around Seniors is like taking a time warp to watch yourself as you were growing up. You’re just close enough to their age to remember exactly what is was like, as as their counselor you are in the perfect position to give them the helpful or encouraging word you would have liked, needed or even did get to help you through all the crazy transitions of adolescence.
Seniors
Working with Seniors in your activity has the potential to be incredibly rewarding, because you can go past teaching basic skills and get into more of the technique and finesse of whatever i you teach. Watching a senior’s growth is amazing, because it’s often by leaps and bound you l have thought possible.
That being said, it’s important to remember that seniors are still campers. They still get homesick, sometimes forget to do their chores, refuse to get out of bed in the morning or go to bed at night and have their bursts of teenage sarcasm. But seniors are also funny, have interesting personal histories, and are just starting to articulate their goals and dreams to themselves – and maybe even to you, if you take time to listen. Every line has its own unique wonder, but working with seniors has helped me grow this summer in ways that I would not have imagined. Thank you, Senior Line!
Written by 1st time Senior Counselor, Kiva Nice-Webbwho attends Elon University.
The fabulous CA’s waiting to greet surprised campers
“Camp is a place to make countless unforgettable memories. You will often find, both Rockbrook campers and staff start stories with the phrase, ‘this one time, at camp’.
While I’ve made several wonderful memories this summer, one memory in particular that will stay with me always was the 24 hour period in which my campers, co-counselor and I set up and carried out 3rd session’s banquet.
Banquet is a HUGE deal to not only the CA’s ( the older campers who come up with the theme, plan and run the banquet) but to the entire camp. Personally, I wanted to do anything I could to help my campers put on the best banquet in Rockbrook history! The night before Banquet, my campers and I worked through our exhaustion by rockin’ out to Brittany Spears, Lady Gaga, etc., as well as maintaining a sugar rush from cookie dough and candy. The look on the girls’ faces after they had finished setting up was priceless – they were amazed with all that they had accomplished, as was I. Banquet itself was a great success and I was extremely proud of my fabulous CA’s. Every memory I’ve shared with them was unforgettable but Banquet was an especially great memory.”
One important mark of leadership for the staff at Rockbrook is their ability to model personal character for the girls at camp. We strive to hire cabin counselors and activity staff members who exemplify good character and thereby can serve as role models for the campers. It means a lot to children to see others they admire make good decisions. It’s just a crucial part of building character— having positive relationships with others who embody exemplary habits and attitudes. When we talk about “leadership” at camp, this is what we mean: being that sort of exemplary person.
But what is exemplary character, how do you recognize it, and how do you encourage its development? We’ve found the approach taken by the Josephson Institute to be extremely articulate and practical. It’s “Six Pillars of Character” is a well thought out resource. Essentially, the “pillars” are fundamental principles and values that serve as a core for ethical decision making. They are:
Trustworthiness
Respect
Responsibility
Fairness
Caring
Citizenship.
Without appealing to religion, politics or ideology, we strive to realize these six values in our camp community.
Every age group, or “line,” has a head counselor known as a linehead. This year we have a stellar lineup (pardon the pun ;-))!
Christine in the middle
Juniors: This will be Christine Alexander’s 14th year at RBC! She loves to paddle around the lake and share her love for camp with everyone. She is attending George Washington University in DC.
Lexie and Katie going all out
Middlers: This will be Katie Cheney’s 5th year at camp. You’ll find her lifeguarding down by the lake this summer during 1st session. She is currently attending Penn State University. Lexie Sears will take over as linehead 2nd and 3rd session after returning from a study abroad trip to Australia. This will be her 9th year at camp! Lexie loves to climb and shoot guns down in riflery.
Smiling Sarah at Dolly”s after a game of Dress-up Bowling during orientation
Seniors: Sarah Thompson joined our staff last year and quickly became an enthusiastic leader. She will be graduating from Emerson College in Massachusetts this May with a degree in Literature. She’ll be heading up the sports activity this year.
There are so many things a college student can do in the summer; camp employment is just one option. So why choose to work at a summer camp? Well the most obvious reason is a camp job is way more fun than most other short term jobs. You’re outside a lot, you’re goofing around with kids pretty much all day, and you get to live in a beautiful part of the country. It’s also true that being employed as a camp counselor helps you develop leadership skills, communication and organization skills. As you help the campers grow and learn new activities and personal skills, you do too. Working to make a difference in the lives of children, makes one in your own as well.
But perhaps the best thing about working at a summer camp is joining the tight-knit community of people that makes Rockbrook so special. It’s just so easy to make friends, you end up enjoying everything that much more. Sure, camp is employment and you’ll earn (and save!) some money, but it’s so much more. Rewarding, definitely rewarding, all around.
