The Camp Program Lab

This is part two of our interview with Jason Brown on how to run and maintain a successful camp store. In this episode, Jason gives his ideas on how to set up a store if you don't have the space, his favorite (and least favorite) camp store items, the craziest item he has seen in a camp store, storage tricks, and he ends it with a final tip. 

In this two-part episode, the SCamp Life crew (now with 3 rockin' co-hosts!) talk with Jason Brown all about how to run and maintain a successful camp store. Jason is a pro at this and built his store from the ground up and has since been asked by ACA to teach classes on it! If this is something you are considering for your camp, be sure to check out this two-part episode. 

Kelly Coulthard co-hosts this episode as the three talk about the anatomy of a great special event.

Shauna Guglielmo joins the guys this week to talk about her Zoo Camp. As the director of the Lincoln Park Zoo Camp, Shauna has a ton of great ideas for implementing animals into your own program, as does Chris. She also has some great insight on doing camps on location at public places. This is definitely one of Chris’ favorite episodes because it’s a lot of discussion about animals! If you enjoy that too, give this show a listen!

L.E. Dubois guest hosts with the guys this week for an interesting episode about making day camp awesome with limited resources - really limited. Curt used to work at a camp on an island and they could only bring 2 carts full of supplies, so he challenges Chris and L.E. with coming up with ideas on what to put on those carts! If you have limited space or rent a location where you can only bring so much, this episode is for you!

Kelie Cook joins Curt and Chris again this week for this super fun episode! They play a game of Would You Rather! This isn’t the disgusting, gross choices you normally see in this game, these are all things that you would like at your camp. Would You Rather have a lake or pool? Would You Rather have go-carts or horses? Would You Rather have a zipline or high ropes? Would You Rather listen to this episode or get eaten by a bear? All great questions for you to consider!

Roz Buck guest hosts this week as Chris and Curt talk about how to keep your staff engaged pre-camp. Do you have a hard time finding staff each year? Is the number of returning staff pretty small? Do your staff complain that they don’t feel engaged? Well then, this is the episode for you!

The guys are green with envy this week as they chat with Danny Sudman about sustainability at camp. Danny talks about great ideas that any camp can start doing now. Whether it be as big as solar panels or as small as turning off lights, Danny’s got some excellent ideas. Each person at camp can do their part to help out our world just a little bit more. Check out some fun ideas on what you can do at your camp!

Curt and Chris give some great ideas for keeping your families and campers engaged with your camp all year long! This isn’t your grandma’s boring Birthday card ideas, these ideas are contemporary and awesome! From Weird Holidays to Virtual Escape Rooms, check out this episode for unique stuff!

Lindsey Sigler joins the guys to talk about things she has learned from her theater background that can be applied to summer camp, from stage binders to drama programs and more.