First Class Counselors

Have some feedback? A topic suggestion? Text us!

Find full show notes and links at: https://camphacker.tv/first-class-counsellors/pandemic-practical-skills

Since the beginning of the pandemic, have you…

• Had to wait in a super-long line?
• Be hyper-aware of how risky a potential gathering might be?
• Change plans on a moment’s notice?
• Do something you’ve never done before to learn, gather or connect?

Of course, you have!

When it comes time to apply for your next camp job, you have two years worth of experience to reflect on and translate into the camp context. This episode, Oliver and Matt share the first 4 skills in the form of the acronym P.R.A.C.tical.

-

Do you read the show notes? Let us know - click the following link to receive 10% off a lifetime subscription of Go Camp Pro's 5-Minute Fridays. (psst. Even if you don't buy anything, clicking this link will still help!)
(click here - https://bit.ly/pod-notes-discount)

-

Matt: Paper Football - A great 1 on 1 time-killer game!

Oliver:  Inshot Video Editor App - https://inshot.com/

-

• Matt Wilfrid, Executive Producer of Podcasting at Go Camp Pro
• Oliver Gregan, Executive Director at YMCA Camp Winona

-

Camp Directors, this Podcast isn’t for you. It’s time to delegate! First Class Counsellors is for your counselling staff, the ones who are on the ground, playing with kids and changing lives.

Each week, we’ll cover practical and accessible tips that will level up your camp counsellor skills. These are things every counsellor should know, but that you may not have time to teach in staff training.

Our two hosts, Oliver Gregan and Matt Wilfrd from Go Camp Pro are excited to be able to provide this resource to camp counsellors and up and coming staff, who they believe, have the most important job at camp.

This is free professional development for your counsellors! We would love your feedback. Please leave your comments below, or, send Matt an email! Thank you!

Have some feedback? A topic suggestion? Text us!

Find full show notes and links at: https://camphacker.tv/first-class-counsellors/intention-in-camp-day-pt2

Missed part 1? Check it out here: https://camphacker.tv/first-class-counsellors/intention-in-camp-day

This is part 2 of Oliver and Matt going through the Camp Winona schedule and talk about some of their favourite ways to make each moment special. Episode 1 will cover wake-up to rest hour.

-

Do you read the show notes? Let us know - click the following link to receive 10% off a lifetime subscription of Go Camp Pro's 5-Minute Fridays. (psst. Even if you don't buy anything, clicking this link will still help!)
(click here - https://bit.ly/pod-notes-discount)

-

Matt: Egyptian War / Slap Down Card Game

Oliver:  Collectable Aprons! It’s an apron for the kitchen, for arts and crafts, and in a pinch , a cape!

-

• Matt Wilfrid, Executive Producer of Podcasting at Go Camp Pro
• Oliver Gregan, Executive Director at YMCA Camp Winona

-

Camp Directors, this Podcast isn’t for you. It’s time to delegate! First Class Counsellors is for your counselling staff, the ones who are on the ground, playing with kids and changing lives.

Each week, we’ll cover practical and accessible tips that will level up your camp counsellor skills. These are things every counsellor should know, but that you may not have time to teach in staff training.

Our two hosts, Oliver Gregan and Matt Wilfrd from Go Camp Pro are excited to be able to provide this resource to camp counsellors and up and coming staff, who they believe, have the most important job at camp.

This is free professional development for your counsellors! We would love your feedback. Please leave your comments below, or, send Matt an email! Thank you!

Have some feedback? A topic suggestion? Text us!

Find full show notes and links at: https://camphacker.tv/first-class-counsellors/intention-in-camp-day

Every day at camp is a new opportunity. An opportunity to connect, an opportunity to have fun, or an opportunity to change a camper’s life forever.

However, it can be a little daunting to consistently come up with something incredible with something fantastic for every single moment of the day. And, while we wouldn’t advise trying to fill every single moment, it’s never a bad idea to have your backpack full of ideas to make the most of every moment.

For the next two episodes, Oliver and Matt go through the Camp Winona schedule and talk about some of their favourite ways to make each moment special. Episode 1 will cover wake-up to rest hour.

Here we go!

-

• The Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address

-

Do you read the show notes? Let us know - click the following link to receive 10% off a lifetime subscription of Go Camp Pro's 5-Minute Fridays. (psst. Even if you don't buy anything, clicking this link will still help!)
(click here - https://bit.ly/pod-notes-discount)

Matt: Deer Ears & Owl Eyes

Oliver:  A camp counsellor classic - a solid carabiner to hold your keys and a Tile to keep track of them!

• Matt Wilfrid, Executive Producer of Podcasting at Go Camp Pro
• Oliver Gregan, Executive Director at YMCA Camp Winona

Camp Directors, this Podcast isn’t for you. It’s time to delegate! First Class Counsellors is for your counselling staff, the ones who are on the ground, playing with kids and changing lives.

Each week, we’ll cover practical and accessible tips that will level up your camp counsellor skills. These are things every counsellor should know, but that you may not have time to teach in staff training.

Our two hosts, Oliver Gregan and Matt Wilfrd from Go Camp Pro are excited to be able to provide this resource to camp counsellors and up and coming staff, who they believe, have the most important job at camp.

Have some feedback? A topic suggestion? Text us!

Find full show notes and links at: https://camphacker.tv/first-class-counsellors/make-a-cabin-home

For nearly 8 weeks a small converted shed will be your place of residency. For many camps a cabin is a room with just bunks. Sometimes you are lucky to have walls and those with a bathroom could be considered pampered. But how do you make this temporary residence feel like home for you and for your campers?

For day camp counsellors you have the challenge of doing this but without the physical 4 walls. How can you take all of the personalization, the rituals and the leverage you get from using the physical space? It’s tough, but it’s totally possible. This episode will have something for everyone, so tune in and let’s figure out how to help your campers feel at home at camp.

On this episode you’ll hear:

• The reality of cabin life for you and campers - how to not be de-feeted!
• Creating an environment of belonging - right from the beginning
• The look of a cabin that says “welcome home”
• Creating “home” throughout the week
• How to use tradition and ritual to help keep that feeling of home strong even when campers actually go home.

-
Bonus Links!
Oliver's favourite stickers!

-

Do you read the show notes? Let us know - click the following link to receive 10% off a lifetime subscription of Go Camp Pro's 5-Minute Fridays. (psst. Even if you don't buy anything, clicking this link will still help!)
(click here - https://bit.ly/pod-notes-discount)

-

Matt: Daily gratitude journaling.

• 5 things you’re grateful for, 3 things you’re proud of from the past 24 hours, 1 goal for the next 24 hours

Oliver:  Tea! For any occasion. Seriously…Oliver’s been on a huge tea-kick lately!

-

• Matt Wilfrid, Executive Producer of Podcasting at Go Camp Pro
• Oliver Gregan, Executive Director at YMCA Camp Winona

-

Camp Directors, this Podcast isn’t for you. It’s time to delegate! First Class Counsellors is for your counselling staff, the ones who are on the ground, playing with kids and changing lives.

Each week, we’ll cover practical and accessible tips that will level up your camp counsellor skills. These are things every counsellor should know, but that you may not have time to teach in staff training.

Our two hosts, Oliver Gregan and Matt Wilfrd from Go Camp Pro are excited to be able to provide this resource to camp counsellors and up and coming staff, who they believe, have the most important job at camp.

Have some feedback? A topic suggestion? Text us!

Find full show notes and links at: https://camphacker.tv/first-class-counsellors/cabin-bonding-ideas

Counselors know how strong that camp friendships are. But do you remember way back when you were a camper? Do you remember your first camp friend? Chances are, your counselor had a big part in helping you forge that friendship.

So now, like all things at camp, it’s time to pay it forward!

In this episode, Oliver and Matt discuss their favourite ideas for helping a cabin form their most fantastic friendships ever.

On this episode you’ll hear:

• Why is camp the perfect place for camp friendships to form?
• How to start your week off with building friendships
• How to keep the momentum going
• Camp activities and times perfect for forging friendships
• Ending the week with a band and sending them home with new friends for life!

-

Do you read the show notes? Let us know - click the following link to receive 10% off a lifetime subscription of Go Camp Pro's 5-Minute Fridays. (psst. Even if you don't buy anything, clicking this link will still help!)
(click here - https://bit.ly/pod-notes-discount)

-

Matt: The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award - US - Canada

Oliver:  Oliver’s best (and most gross) “touch of something scary” ideas

• Marshmallows in water - Eyeballs
• Hot dogs, carrots - Fingers
• Wet tortilla - Skin 
• Raisins with something sticking (honey or maple syrup) - Boogers
• Sliced almonds - Finger nails’
• Over cooked rice - Maggots

-

• Matt Wilfrid, Executive Producer of Podcasting at Go Camp Pro
• Oliver Gregan, Executive Director at YMCA Camp Winona

-

Camp Directors, this Podcast isn’t for you. It’s time to delegate! First Class Counsellors is for your counselling staff, the ones who are on the ground, playing with kids and changing lives.

Each week, we’ll cover practical and accessible tips that will level up your camp counsellor skills. These are things every counsellor should know, but that you may not have time to teach in staff training.

Our two hosts, Oliver Gregan and Matt Wilfrd from Go Camp Pro are excited to be able to provide this resource to camp counsellors and up and coming staff, who they believe, have the most important job at camp.

Have some feedback? A topic suggestion? Text us!

Find full show notes and links at: https://camphacker.tv/first-class-counsellors/wild-weather

What a gift the rain is.

Many kids are growing up to learn that the moment it starts raining, that outdoor playtime is over.

At camp, we have the opportunity to flip the script, and through our example, teach campers to embrace the rain and either use it to have a great time or have a great time in spite of it!

Don’t get us wrong, it’s a bummer when you have a great program that you want to run and a thunderstorm or extreme heat day forces you to re-think it. However, if you’ve planned it right and use some of the tips from this episode, you’ll be able to pivot into the BEST RAIN PLAN EVER.

On this episode you’ll hear:

• What you need to know about how camps and you need to approach programming in the rain and extreme heat.
• Some thoughts and awesome activities when it’s rainy
  • Kid-friendly card games - https://www.todaysparent.com/family/activities/10-kid-friendly-card-games/
  • Jim Cain’s Find Something to Do
• Even more ideas for when it’s HOT HOT HOT!
• A few other pro tips and tricks

-

Do you read the show notes?  Let us know - click the following link to receive 10% off a lifetime subscription of Go Camp Pro's 5-Minute Fridays. (psst. Even if you don't buy anything, clicking this link will still help!)
(click here - https://bit.ly/pod-notes-discount)

-

Matt: Just like Mom - Your New Favourite Evening Program - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAkx6tnMZOc&ab_channel=Canada%27sGameShows 

Oliver:  Get dirty once a week. Go build a shelter in the woods, build a sandcastle at the beach, do a wacky exploding science experience. Make a mess. These tasks make us problem solve and keep our brains fresh plus teach us how to have fun and be used to getting dirty. Send me a picture through Facebook.

-

• Matt Wilfrid, Executive Producer of Podcasting at Go Camp Pro
• Oliver Gregan, Executive Director at YMCA Camp Winona

-

Camp Directors, this Podcast isn’t for you. It’s time to delegate! First Class Counsellors is for your counselling staff, the ones who are on the ground, playing with kids and changing lives.

Each week, we’ll cover practical and accessible tips that will level up your camp counsellor skills. These are things every counsellor should know, but that you may not have time to teach in staff training.

Our two hosts, Oliver Gregan and Matt Wilfrid from Go Camp Pro are excited to be able to provide this resource to camp counsellors and up and coming staff, who they believe, have the most important job at camp.

Have some feedback? A topic suggestion? Text us!

Find full show notes and links at: https://camphacker.tv/first-class-counsellors/reflect-on-last-summer

Welcome back to another season of First Class Counselors!

We’re starting this season off where the summer of 2021 ended. For some camps, it started to feel a bit more normal, but for many, it was a hard one.

Camp counselors were truly on the front line of the pandemic this summer. After a year full of screens and small social bubbles, both the campers and their counselors faced the social and behavioural realities of life outside of the Zoom room.

With no mute button, no way to turn the camera off and having to wear non-sweatpants and PJs all day, it was, to say the least, tough.

So after a tough summer, how do you move forward? When you love camp, but it’s kicked the crap out of you, how do you even think about next summer?

Here’s the secret - you don’t. Recover, reflect then think about next year.

It would be easy to just wash the summer off of you like your perma-dirt Teva tan, but First Class Counselors never settle for the easy path.

This episode is all about reflection and recovery. Matt and Oliver will give you their top tips for how to intentionally move forward after a tough year.

On this episode you’ll hear:

• Creating a reflection document of the summer to look back on later
• Ideas for mental and physical decompressing
• Problem-solving tactics for making 2022 your best summer yet
• How to make sure you have gotten everything camp has to offer (that means a great reference from your director!)

-

What do you think of the Podcast? Any ideas? Let Matt know! - [email protected]
-

Matt: Senses Walk & Nature ID Apps (Seek, Google Lens, Merlin, Picture Mushroom, Picture This, PlantNet)

Oliver - Some of Oliver’s favourite campfire slow jams (tune in and you’ll get to hear Oliver sing!)
-

• Matt Honsberger, Executive Producer of Podcasting at Go Camp Pro
• Oliver Gregan, Executive Director at YMCA Camp Winona

-

Camp Directors, this Podcast isn’t for you. It’s time to delegate! First Class Counsellors is for your counselling staff, the ones who are on the ground, playing with kids and changing lives.

Each week, we’ll cover practical and accessible tips that will level up your camp counsellor skills. These are things every counsellor should know, but that you may not have time to teach in staff training.

Our two hosts, Oliver Gregan and Matt Honsberger from Go Camp Pro are excited to be able to provide this resource to camp counsellors and up and coming staff, who they believe, have the most important job at camp.

Have some feedback? A topic suggestion? Text us!

Find full show notes and links at: https://camphacker.tv/first-class-counsellors/lessons-from-season-3

And what a season it’s been! We’ve covered everything from camp counsellor financial decisions to essential skills, with some good ol’ fashion camp games in between. We’ve welcomed sensational guests and even had our first-ever collaboration with another Podcast.

As we wrap up this season, we’ll talk about some of our favourite episodes and talk about some of the major takeaways and how they’ll apply to this coming summer.

Here are our picks for our favourite of Season 3!

Matt

• Supporting New Staff Members
• Creating Wonder and Magic
• This Will Make Your a Better Camp Programmer

Oliver

• Being an Ally to Women at Camp
• Camper Friendly Language
• Camp Counselor Financials

-

Any ideas for Season 4? Let Matt know - [email protected]

-

Oliver - 3rd Person Introductions - “His name is Oliver, he enjoys ice cream, he thinks speaking in the third person makes him cool.”

Matt - Group Juggling - by Jim Cain

-

• Matt Honsberger, Executive Producer of Podcasting at Go Camp Pro
• Oliver Gregan, Executive Director at YMCA Camp Winona

-

Camp Directors, this Podcast isn’t for you. It’s time to delegate! First Class Counsellors is for your counselling staff, the ones who are on the ground, playing with kids and changing lives.

Each week, we’ll cover practical and accessible tips that will level up your camp counsellor skills. These are things every counsellor should know, but that you may not have time to teach in staff training.

Our two hosts, Oliver Gregan and Matt Honsberger from Go Camp Pro are excited to be able to provide this resource to camp counsellors and up and coming staff, who they believe, have the most important job at camp.

This is free professional development for your counsellors! We would love your feedback. Please leave your comments below, or, send Matt an email! Thank you!

Have some feedback? A topic suggestion? Text us!

Find full show notes and links at: https://camphacker.tv/first-class-counsellors/expectations-covid-times

Today we’re speaking to counsellors who will be working at camp during a global pandemic. 

That’s right DURING! COVID isn’t over just because we’ve got a few million vaccines in arms and there are a lot of things that will be different about camp from any other year. So on this episode, we’re going to give you the inside scoop on what being a counsellor at a COVID-considerate camp is going to look like this summer. 

We’ll cover what the on-the-ground perspective is going to look like, what directors expectations are going to be, what to do if you’re feeling overwhelmed, and some things to ask before you start.

Oliver is away today, in full-on summer camp mode so we’ve recruited a pro for this topic - someone who has not only been at camp but RAN camp during a pandemic - well, the same pandemic back last summer.

Andy Pritikin is the director of Liberty Lake day camp in the Philly Suburbs and is also the host of the Day Camp Pod - a podcast for day camp professionals and budding day camp professionals. What better person to tell you what a director is going to expect than a director himself, so friends please say hello to the man, my friend, Andy Pritikin!

-

What did you think of this episode? Any ideas for Season 4? Let matt know - [email protected]

-

Conversations Starters World - Awesome get to know you question site

The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team - Patrick Lencioni 

First Class Counsellors Episode - Mental Health, Breaks and Self Care at Camp

0

Andy - Keep a deck of cards on you at all times for rainy days - teach kids how to play basic games, even blackjack just for fun will keep them engaged for awhile 

Matt - Get to know you activity - Name Dance Wave

-

• Matt Honsberger, Executive Producer of Podcasting at Go Camp Pro
• Andy Pritikin, Owner/Director - Liberty Lake Day Camp

-

Camp Directors, this Podcast isn’t for you. It’s time to delegate! First Class Counsellors is for your counselling staff, the ones who are on the ground, playing with kids and changing lives.

Each week, we’ll cover practical and accessible tips that will level up your camp counsellor skills. These are things every counsellor should know, but that you may not have time to teach in staff training.

Our two hosts, Oliver Gregan and Matt Honsberger from Go Camp Pro are excited to be able to provide this resource to camp counsellors and up and coming staff, who they believe, have the most important job at camp.

Have some feedback? A topic suggestion? Text us!

Find full show notes and links at: https://camphacker.tv/first-class-counsellors/8-Mistakes

We all make mistakes. It’s okay.

In fact, camp is built to make sure people can make mistakes to learn and grow from. As a community that fosters growth, it is like a petri dish of mistakes. And like Fleming discovering penicillin great things can come from mistakes. Some things however are just mistakes, we have seen or tried and failed ourselves. Here are the 8 simple mistakes we see counselors make that cause camp directors to shake their heads and go, “why!?”. 

As Camp Directors, we don’t take mistakes personally, but we do take them seriously - in everything but something that is fireable, mistakes are opportunities to grow, learn and get better. The other thing about most of these mistakes is that they impact the community. Whether it’s the paperwork that has to be filled out, the camper parents that need to be called or the staff community that needs some healing, it’s a hard way to learn that camp is bigger than just one person. We’re all in this together, folks, so let’s head some of these mistakes off at the pass and get right to the growing.

What is a mistake that you’ve learned from? Please share!

-

Oliver - Using behaviour-based questions to really get down to the bottom of why people are the way they are.

Matt - Learn some basic yoga and physio stretches. Specifically your ankles and hips. Your knees will thank you. - Check out Yoga with Adrienne

-

• Oliver Gregan, Summer Camp Professional
• Matt Honsberger, Executive Producer of Podcasting at Go Camp Pro

-

Camp Directors, this Podcast isn’t for you. It’s time to delegate! First Class Counsellors is for your counselling staff, the ones who are on the ground, playing with kids and changing lives.

Each week, we’ll cover practical and accessible tips that will level up your camp counsellor skills. These are things every counsellor should know, but that you may not have time to teach in staff training.

Our two hosts, Oliver Gregan, Summer and Families Camp Director at YMCA Camp Jewell and Matt Honsberger from Go Camp Pro are excited to be able to provide this resource to camp counsellors and up and coming staff, who they believe, have the most important job at camp.