Precamp Training
We are just days away from the beginning of the summer! We cannot wait for our buses full of eager faces to roll through the arches just in time for a wonderful first session at exactly 4:22 PM as they always do. But before all that fun can begin, we’ve been hard at work doing pre-camp, preparing our staff as best we can for the summer ahead.
North Star staff began arriving weeks ago, long before our campers, so that when your sons step off the bus, they do so into a fully-prepared, well-trained, and tight-knit community of counselors and out of cabin staff-members. We take pre-camp very seriously in order to ensure the highest standards of camper safety, to shape our staff into thoughtful, capable, and trustworthy role models, and to make sure our staff becomes properly acquainted with camp and one other.
Before the full team even arrives, our specialists move in for activity-specific training and certification—waterfront instructors, lifeguards, water-ski boat drivers, and riflery, climbing, and archery instructors. Our trippers (and some of our other extra-ambitious staff members) arrived even earlier to complete their Wilderness First Responder (WFR) training to ensure that our cabin trips run as smoothly and safely as possible. During this stage of “pre-pre-camp,” our specialist staff members undergo thorough training and complete their proper professional certifications so that we can confidently say that every aspect of their area meets or exceeds the highest standards of safety. Alongside them, we welcome our new staff for new staff orientation, which affords them the proper time and setting to get to know camp and feel properly settled into things.
Once the rest of our staff arrives, we begin a comprehensive week of pre-camp training that covers everything from our safety protocols to good counseling. One of the first sessions we hold every year is Risk Management 101, a full staff meeting where, in great detail, Dan and I clearly outline the importance of vigilance, preparedness, and a deep understanding of all safety procedures. It’s one thing to have our procedures in place, but it’s another to always stay attentive towards them. That’s why one of the main things we stress during pre-camp and all summer long is that our staff must remain focused and alert at all times.
It’s also during pre-camp that we begin instilling the core values that define what it means to work at North Star. After our first shared dinner together as a full staff, we held our opening training session on what we believe to be one of the most important lessons we can teach: the value of doing the right thing for the right reasons. This ideal shows up everywhere at camp—from the dining hall, to the athletic fields, to the way we support campers through challenges, big and small. “If you try your best to do the right thing for the right reasons, you will successfully navigate 99% of all of your moral dilemmas.” This is the foundation we want our counselors to operate from, and it’s a message we will reinforce across the summer with your boys.
Another big part of pre-camp is dedicated to staff bonding—not just socializing, but learning each other’s stories, building trust, and creating the kind of camaraderie that ultimately becomes the example we want to set for our campers. On the first night with everyone there, we ran a few classic name games, because the first step to getting to know each other is to have everybody’s name down! At North Star, there is no excuse for not getting to know everybody’s name. “I’m not good with names” is not acceptable here. In his first pre-camp ever, Counselor-in-Training Cogan Studnitzer proved this to everyone by naming all 125 staff members from memory by the end of the night, impressing us all and setting a great example to the rest of the staff.
On Monday night, each staff member brought a special object to the council ring and was asked to share in front of the entire community what it means and a personal value or lesson that it represents. There’s no order, rather, one by one, staff stand up, come forward, and speak from their heart. Through tears, laughter, and quiet moments of deep connection, everybody shares something that matters to them, and we all listen attentively. We closed our circle in gratitude for the team we’ve built.
We continued bonding on a more fun note last night, where we rehearsed for our first session Staff Show by running a little pre-camp staff show of our own. Everybody on staff had to perform some kind of talent––whether it was writing and acting out an original skit, performing a song cover, or simply telling the crowd a story. It was so much fun and a terrific opportunity for our staff to let loose, express themselves, and come out of their shell. Tonight, the fun continued with our 3v3 all-staff basketball tournament––the perfect opportunity for us to exercise the competitive philosophy that we try to model for our campers, that while friendly competition makes things more exciting, at the end of the day “it just doesn’t matter” who wins! What does matter is displaying positive sportsmanship, good teamwork, and having fun––all core North Star values.
With pre-camp drawing to a close, I can now confidently tell you that your boys are in good hands. We can’t wait to welcome them home at camp.
