Archive for the ‘Director’s Musings’ Category
How Being A Camp Director Helped Me Plan My Wedding
Anyone who knows me knows that I am a PLANNER. I love calendars and checklists and label makers. This love of organizing and colour coding has served me well as a camp director – making schedules and managing all those little details is something that comes very easily. So naturally, the idea of planning a wedding [...]
January 23, 2012
· 
Kristen · 
No Comments
Posted in: Director's Musings
Summer Camp Belongs On Your Resume!
Chris Thurber has written an excellent article on how to write about camp jobs on your resume. This is a great read for our previous staff, as it shows how to celebrate the importance of camp to non-camp people who might be reading your resume. More than that though, it’s a good read for anyone [...]
January 12, 2012
· Kristen · No Comments
Posted in: Director's Musings, Staff, Working At Camp
New Camp Office – Phase Two
This past weekend we managed to finish putting in the carpet. Getting the underlay to adhere to the floor was one of the most difficult parts, because the concrete was bumpy and sandy, even after sweeping and vacuuming. Now it looks like this: The final phase is to tile the counter, finish the shelves and [...]
May 15, 2011
· Kristen · No Comments
Posted in: Countdown To Camp, Director's Musings
New Camp Office – Phase One
The Project It all started because we needed a proper camp office – for two reasons. Last year we held our pre-camp meetings in the Perth Library, and were continually “shushed” (despite the fact that we were *ahem* often the only ones there). So first of all, we needed a proper place to make noise [...]
May 5, 2011
· Kristen · No Comments
Posted in: Countdown To Camp, Director's Musings
Core Value #5: Be Silly, & A Little Weird
LIT Liam & LIT Rory – Honorary Princesses Being silly and weird isn’t just the campy thing to do. It isn’t just about having fun. It’s also about feeling comfortable with who you are, and sharing that feeling with the people around you. When I hire new staff, part of the interview process is finding [...]
March 13, 2011
· Kristen · One Comment
Tags: core values, LITs, princess, silly, weird · Posted in: Core Values, Director's Musings, Working At Camp
Core Value #2: Accept Challenges
It is important to me that everyone at Maple Key has a positive attitude towards new challenges. Without trying new things, it is impossible to move forward! For us as a staff, we know that pushing ourselves is how we will improve the quality of camp for our campers. We also know what an important [...]
January 6, 2011
· Kristen · No Comments
Tags: challenges, core values, science · Posted in: Core Values, Director's Musings
Core Value #1: Take Care of One Another
Taking care of each other is what camp is (and should) be really about. Camp needs to be a place where everyone feels safe and valued. MKDC’s staff take that responsibility very seriously, but at the same time it is something that we do very naturally. I take huge pride in the way that our [...]
December 19, 2010
· Kristen · One Comment
Posted in: Core Values, Director's Musings
A Lesson From Zappos: MKDC’s “Core Values”
This past summer I spent my driving time listening to the audio book version of Delivering Happiness, by Zappos founder Tony Hsieh. Zappos, in case you haven’t heard of it, is a company that built its name by selling shoes over the internet. Why, exactly, is a director of a small-town day camp reading about [...]
December 14, 2010
· Kristen · No Comments
Posted in: Core Values, Director's Musings
Making The Everyday More Fun
It is often difficult to describe the atmosphere at camp to someone who has never experienced it firsthand. This video is from the website for The Fun Theory, an initiative sponsored by Volkswagen to put fun into what is usually mundane. I would like to think that this is very similar to what we do [...]
December 12, 2009
· Kristen · No Comments
Posted in: Director's Musings