Session two started out similarly to Session one. We went to our breakfast meeting, heard Heidi's speech about remembering to be positive and enthusiastic (although this speech included laughes about how Session one was really just a hands-on orientation, and remember, these are older kids, treat them with respect!), and then as the counselors went back to the units to see if any parents had come freakishly early (and believe me, they do) the UDs had their annual part 1 of the opening day meeting.
Wow, that was one heck of a run on sentence. But I tend to write the way I speak, and since this isn't English class, I'm continuing on.
The older kids came. I was really looking foward to this age group. Most of our girls were now the ages of 16, 17, and 18. Which could cause problems in itself seeing as for some reason this summer our staff seemed to really be running on the young side. Ususally there are the handful of staff members who are 18 or 19, but somehow this summer it seemed that the majority of staff members were 20 and younger. Geesh. Seeing as my oldest counselor was only 20, I knew we could have a bumpy road in front of us. But I decided to remain positive. For some reason, I wasn't anticipating many problems. I just told my counselors "Look, first off, like a teacher, you don't reveal your age to the girls. And as long as you take yourself back to a couple of years ago when you were their age, you shouldn't have any problems relating to them. Don't give into the regressive pull, but don't treat them like kids either. They're young ladies, so deal with them that way. Yes, they'll know you're young, but they'll really look up to you like an older sister in ways. They'll want to hear all college, and you can be a really positive role model."
That speech was the easy part. The hardest part of that session was probably dealing with staff interactions.
First off, We'll call her counselor A. Counselor A was simply terrified of having older girls. To the point where, the moment the girls showed up at her cabin, she felt the need to lay the law down. Not the best approach when dealing with girls who are juniors and seniors in high school. So the first issue I had to deal with of Session two was having a long talk with Counselor A, along with my associate staff director. After this, Counselor A seemed to be doing better. That is until, the next bit of news came to me.
Before the session had even started, during session one, I had recieved some news. First off, being that in the middle of Session two, we were going to get a new counselor added to our unit. She wasn't coming until the end of Session two because she was currently on the International tour with one of the wind ensembles. After their homecoming concert, she'd move in to one of the unit counselor cabins and officially be part of our unit. That seemed like a good thing, at the time. I only had one unit counselor, and while it's only perfectly normal to have only one unit counselor, having a second unit counselor is extremely handy. The way things are set up, you have 6 cabins within a unit, each cabin holding 12 girls. By state law, and adult must live with them, so within each cabin is a cabin counselor who lives with the girls. Every unit has at least 1 unit counselor. A unit counselor doesn't have a specific cabin of their own, even though they might live in a cabin with another cabin counselor and the girls of that cabin. The unit counselor basically helps out when needed, and can take over a cabin during someone's night off or if someone is ill. So when there are times of double nights off, or just pure craziness, a second unit counselor is a fantastic thing to have. Plus our new counselor was a lifeguard, which meant that she was certified, which in turn meant that me and my other lifeguard, a cabin counselor, wouldn't be the only two in the unit who could give out bandaids and tylenol and allergy meds to 72 girls. All those med logs really add up to alot of time, so to have someone around who can do that is simply fantastic.
The second bit of news that I recieved was that one of our campers would be a late arrival. She'd be in counselor A's cabin, and wouldn't be coming until Middle Sunday. (The session started on Wednesday). During first session I didn't look at the list very much, but I looked it over again a little more closely on the opening day of Session two. Okay, so her birthday was definately in 1987...which would make her 19! 19? That would make her the same age as counselor A. What the hell is that about? And of course counselor A freaks out when she hears that a camper is going to be the same age as her. Some investigating told me that this camper was on the international ballet tour, and they wouldn't be arriving until Saturday night. Some more investigating told me that this camper was actually going to be a college sophmore next year, and that she was asked to do international because her college ballet professor is the head of the ballet department and he wanted a top notch dancer to be the star of the ballet ensemble. As since the ballet ensemble goes through two sessions, it meant that counselor A was going to have this girl in her cabin for a month, versus the usual two week span.
I tried to break the news to counselor A gently, but of course, fate was working against me. It just so happened that another of my counselors, let's call her counselor B, happened to be a dancer, and went to school with this camper. Camper and counselor B didn't get along at all, and in fact, counselor B told us about how camper was a chain smoker and "faked having mono last year so she wouldn't have to go to class, and instead she spent most of the day in bed with her boyfriend." Oh fantastic, because campers definately aren't allowed to smoke, nor be in bed with their boyfriends, this should be an interesting challenge. Counselor A was freaking out to the point that me and my associate definately had to sit her down and have another long talk with her. It was decided between me and my associate that if this said camper presented herself as a problem, then we'd have to have a long talk with her.
So to make a long story short, camper, let's call her Jane, showed up on Middle Sunday with her mom, ready to go. Jane actually ended up being a fantastic camper, interacting so well with the girls in her cabin that I actually had to get on to her a few times for giving in to regressive pull a bit too much. She and counselor A actually got along great, and that part of Session 2 was a success.
The next part of Session 2 comes with the arrival of the new counselor.
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Saturday, September 2, 2006
Summer at Blue Lake 2006: Part Two: Session 2, part 1
Session two started out similarly to Session one. We went to our breakfast meeting, heard Heidi's speech about remembering to be positive and enthusiastic (although this speech included laughes about how Session one was really just a hands-on orientation, and remember, these are older kids, treat them with respect!), and then as the counselors went back to the units to see if any parents had come freakishly early (and believe me, they do) the UDs had their annual part 1 of the opening day meeting.
Wow, that was one heck of a run on sentence. But I tend to write the way I speak, and since this isn't English class, I'm continuing on.
The older kids came. I was really looking foward to this age group. Most of our girls were now the ages of 16, 17, and 18. Which could cause problems in itself seeing as for some reason this summer our staff seemed to really be running on the young side. Ususally there are the handful of staff members who are 18 or 19, but somehow this summer it seemed that the majority of staff members were 20 and younger. Geesh. Seeing as my oldest counselor was only 20, I knew we could have a bumpy road in front of us. But I decided to remain positive. For some reason, I wasn't anticipating many problems. I just told my counselors "Look, first off, like a teacher, you don't reveal your age to the girls. And as long as you take yourself back to a couple of years ago when you were their age, you shouldn't have any problems relating to them. Don't give into the regressive pull, but don't treat them like kids either. They're young ladies, so deal with them that way. Yes, they'll know you're young, but they'll really look up to you like an older sister in ways. They'll want to hear all college, and you can be a really positive role model."
That speech was the easy part. The hardest part of that session was probably dealing with staff interactions.
First off, We'll call her counselor A. Counselor A was simply terrified of having older girls. To the point where, the moment the girls showed up at her cabin, she felt the need to lay the law down. Not the best approach when dealing with girls who are juniors and seniors in high school. So the first issue I had to deal with of Session two was having a long talk with Counselor A, along with my associate staff director. After this, Counselor A seemed to be doing better. That is until, the next bit of news came to me.
Before the session had even started, during session one, I had recieved some news. First off, being that in the middle of Session two, we were going to get a new counselor added to our unit. She wasn't coming until the end of Session two because she was currently on the International tour with one of the wind ensembles. After their homecoming concert, she'd move in to one of the unit counselor cabins and officially be part of our unit. That seemed like a good thing, at the time. I only had one unit counselor, and while it's only perfectly normal to have only one unit counselor, having a second unit counselor is extremely handy. The way things are set up, you have 6 cabins within a unit, each cabin holding 12 girls. By state law, and adult must live with them, so within each cabin is a cabin counselor who lives with the girls. Every unit has at least 1 unit counselor. A unit counselor doesn't have a specific cabin of their own, even though they might live in a cabin with another cabin counselor and the girls of that cabin. The unit counselor basically helps out when needed, and can take over a cabin during someone's night off or if someone is ill. So when there are times of double nights off, or just pure craziness, a second unit counselor is a fantastic thing to have. Plus our new counselor was a lifeguard, which meant that she was certified, which in turn meant that me and my other lifeguard, a cabin counselor, wouldn't be the only two in the unit who could give out bandaids and tylenol and allergy meds to 72 girls. All those med logs really add up to alot of time, so to have someone around who can do that is simply fantastic.
The second bit of news that I recieved was that one of our campers would be a late arrival. She'd be in counselor A's cabin, and wouldn't be coming until Middle Sunday. (The session started on Wednesday). During first session I didn't look at the list very much, but I looked it over again a little more closely on the opening day of Session two. Okay, so her birthday was definately in 1987...which would make her 19! 19? That would make her the same age as counselor A. What the hell is that about? And of course counselor A freaks out when she hears that a camper is going to be the same age as her. Some investigating told me that this camper was on the international ballet tour, and they wouldn't be arriving until Saturday night. Some more investigating told me that this camper was actually going to be a college sophmore next year, and that she was asked to do international because her college ballet professor is the head of the ballet department and he wanted a top notch dancer to be the star of the ballet ensemble. As since the ballet ensemble goes through two sessions, it meant that counselor A was going to have this girl in her cabin for a month, versus the usual two week span.
I tried to break the news to counselor A gently, but of course, fate was working against me. It just so happened that another of my counselors, let's call her counselor B, happened to be a dancer, and went to school with this camper. Camper and counselor B didn't get along at all, and in fact, counselor B told us about how camper was a chain smoker and "faked having mono last year so she wouldn't have to go to class, and instead she spent most of the day in bed with her boyfriend." Oh fantastic, because campers definately aren't allowed to smoke, nor be in bed with their boyfriends, this should be an interesting challenge. Counselor A was freaking out to the point that me and my associate definately had to sit her down and have another long talk with her. It was decided between me and my associate that if this said camper presented herself as a problem, then we'd have to have a long talk with her.
So to make a long story short, camper, let's call her Jane, showed up on Middle Sunday with her mom, ready to go. Jane actually ended up being a fantastic camper, interacting so well with the girls in her cabin that I actually had to get on to her a few times for giving in to regressive pull a bit too much. She and counselor A actually got along great, and that part of Session 2 was a success.
The next part of Session 2 comes with the arrival of the new counselor.
Wow, that was one heck of a run on sentence. But I tend to write the way I speak, and since this isn't English class, I'm continuing on.
The older kids came. I was really looking foward to this age group. Most of our girls were now the ages of 16, 17, and 18. Which could cause problems in itself seeing as for some reason this summer our staff seemed to really be running on the young side. Ususally there are the handful of staff members who are 18 or 19, but somehow this summer it seemed that the majority of staff members were 20 and younger. Geesh. Seeing as my oldest counselor was only 20, I knew we could have a bumpy road in front of us. But I decided to remain positive. For some reason, I wasn't anticipating many problems. I just told my counselors "Look, first off, like a teacher, you don't reveal your age to the girls. And as long as you take yourself back to a couple of years ago when you were their age, you shouldn't have any problems relating to them. Don't give into the regressive pull, but don't treat them like kids either. They're young ladies, so deal with them that way. Yes, they'll know you're young, but they'll really look up to you like an older sister in ways. They'll want to hear all college, and you can be a really positive role model."
That speech was the easy part. The hardest part of that session was probably dealing with staff interactions.
First off, We'll call her counselor A. Counselor A was simply terrified of having older girls. To the point where, the moment the girls showed up at her cabin, she felt the need to lay the law down. Not the best approach when dealing with girls who are juniors and seniors in high school. So the first issue I had to deal with of Session two was having a long talk with Counselor A, along with my associate staff director. After this, Counselor A seemed to be doing better. That is until, the next bit of news came to me.
Before the session had even started, during session one, I had recieved some news. First off, being that in the middle of Session two, we were going to get a new counselor added to our unit. She wasn't coming until the end of Session two because she was currently on the International tour with one of the wind ensembles. After their homecoming concert, she'd move in to one of the unit counselor cabins and officially be part of our unit. That seemed like a good thing, at the time. I only had one unit counselor, and while it's only perfectly normal to have only one unit counselor, having a second unit counselor is extremely handy. The way things are set up, you have 6 cabins within a unit, each cabin holding 12 girls. By state law, and adult must live with them, so within each cabin is a cabin counselor who lives with the girls. Every unit has at least 1 unit counselor. A unit counselor doesn't have a specific cabin of their own, even though they might live in a cabin with another cabin counselor and the girls of that cabin. The unit counselor basically helps out when needed, and can take over a cabin during someone's night off or if someone is ill. So when there are times of double nights off, or just pure craziness, a second unit counselor is a fantastic thing to have. Plus our new counselor was a lifeguard, which meant that she was certified, which in turn meant that me and my other lifeguard, a cabin counselor, wouldn't be the only two in the unit who could give out bandaids and tylenol and allergy meds to 72 girls. All those med logs really add up to alot of time, so to have someone around who can do that is simply fantastic.
The second bit of news that I recieved was that one of our campers would be a late arrival. She'd be in counselor A's cabin, and wouldn't be coming until Middle Sunday. (The session started on Wednesday). During first session I didn't look at the list very much, but I looked it over again a little more closely on the opening day of Session two. Okay, so her birthday was definately in 1987...which would make her 19! 19? That would make her the same age as counselor A. What the hell is that about? And of course counselor A freaks out when she hears that a camper is going to be the same age as her. Some investigating told me that this camper was on the international ballet tour, and they wouldn't be arriving until Saturday night. Some more investigating told me that this camper was actually going to be a college sophmore next year, and that she was asked to do international because her college ballet professor is the head of the ballet department and he wanted a top notch dancer to be the star of the ballet ensemble. As since the ballet ensemble goes through two sessions, it meant that counselor A was going to have this girl in her cabin for a month, versus the usual two week span.
I tried to break the news to counselor A gently, but of course, fate was working against me. It just so happened that another of my counselors, let's call her counselor B, happened to be a dancer, and went to school with this camper. Camper and counselor B didn't get along at all, and in fact, counselor B told us about how camper was a chain smoker and "faked having mono last year so she wouldn't have to go to class, and instead she spent most of the day in bed with her boyfriend." Oh fantastic, because campers definately aren't allowed to smoke, nor be in bed with their boyfriends, this should be an interesting challenge. Counselor A was freaking out to the point that me and my associate definately had to sit her down and have another long talk with her. It was decided between me and my associate that if this said camper presented herself as a problem, then we'd have to have a long talk with her.
So to make a long story short, camper, let's call her Jane, showed up on Middle Sunday with her mom, ready to go. Jane actually ended up being a fantastic camper, interacting so well with the girls in her cabin that I actually had to get on to her a few times for giving in to regressive pull a bit too much. She and counselor A actually got along great, and that part of Session 2 was a success.
The next part of Session 2 comes with the arrival of the new counselor.
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1 comment:
Noooooooo you can't leave us with a cliff hanger like that!
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