Next Summer Already?

It's the first day of Fall 2006 and already we're planning for Summer 2007. In fact, we're already coming up against an October 1 deadline to get our brochure information together. It's funny because people often wonder what we do after summer camp is over, but one year literally does run into another.

As we look to 2007, here are some of the major changes we're planning:

• Moving Mini-Camp to week 2, which is the week before July 4th week. We're doing this because Mini-Camp is very labor intensive. Because we are caring for very young children (1-3 grade), we cut the camper/staff ratio in half, from 8-1 to 4-1 for the Mini-Camp program. This means it takes twice as many counselors to run this program for 96 campers. We had to balance this against the fact that the weeks after July 4th week are the busiest weeks for the summer. That is, more families want to send their children to camp during July and August. Ultimately, we decided that since Mini-Camp is really a "starter" program, we could ask those campers to come earlier in the summer, so that we could serve more of our week-long campers during the heart of the summer. We'll see if it works out.
• Increasing the number of Splashdown spaces by 88 over the course of the summer. This is really a no-brainer. Splashdown is, by far, our most popular program. It's always hard to have to tell a parent that it's filled and their child has to choose another program. This will allow more campers to avoid that disappointment.
• Minimizing retreat house use. We've actually reduced the number of programs, overall, so that we can limit the number of times we use the retreat houses. These facilities are just too far away from the rest of camp. In addition, the layout of the buildings makes good supervision of campers too difficult.

How will all this work? We'll find out next summer. The important thing is that keep doing everything possible to improve our programs and accommodate as many campers as possible in their first choice. We're always trying.

Comments

[steve crist]

I just wanted to tell you that my child's first time there was a real experience, one that he enjoyed. His name is Adam, and he loved his counselor, Reed. He attended Splash Down the last week in July (probably the hottest week all summer, remember?) and you folks allowed them to sleep in the a/c cafeteria. As parents, we worried all week long how he would cope with the heat.Well, our fears were unfounded, thankfully and we look forward to bringing him back for 2007.

[Jack Shitama]

There were many parents who were very concerned about the heat that week, as were we. One of our mantras over the summer to the staff is "water your campers." I don't think we can say it enough. While we didn't really want to cut short some of our activities so that kids could sleep in a/c, it was definitely the right choice.

We're glad parents appreciate the decisions we make and, most of all, that our campers are having a great time, regardless of the conditions.

Jack Shitama
Director

[Michael Fischer]

Are we doing any repairs to the old splashdown equipment, since you are expanding this program?

Thanks,
Michael Fischer

[Jack Shitama]

We will be looking at a combination of both repairing existing equipment supplemented with purchasing selected new items. This area is certainly worth the investment.

Peace,

Jack

[Kate Holzer]

Hi Pecometh team,

I was a counsellor for 2 years in 1991 and 1992 and had a fantastic time and wondered if you have any "Past Counsellors" newsletters or network or anything like that. I was Kate from Australia (now happily married with 3 kidlets) and Clarice and Pam were our leaders at the time. Do you still do the candle service on the river on the last night? I'd love to hear what other counsellors I worked with are up to now.
Kind regards,
Kate