Unplugged Friday
Due to a planned power outage by PG & E, GAC, our campers won’t be the only people unplugged here at GAC tomorrow.
Our office staff and everyone else here at camp will also be unplugged all day Friday, June 28. We will post photos and news after we get our power back online, but please be patient as we will have some catching up to do!
Enjoy your Friday and relax in the knowledge that you do not need to keep refreshing your photo feed. Maybe you can try unplugging a bit, too! 🙂
Happy #unplugged Friday!
About Those E-Letters…
We’re excited to be offering the “e-letter” option this year. You can add an “e-letter” form to an email you send your child, and it will be printed out with your email and delivered to your camper with the regular mail (after dinner each evening except Sunday).
A Few Reminders…
Sending your camper an “e-letter” form does not mean they are going to write you back right away. Just like with regular letter writing, sometimes campers get busy, are having too much fun, and don’t have time to write you back right away!
There is a lag between the time you send your camper an email (with or without an e-letter) and when your camper receives it. Sometimes campers are out of camp at one of our outposts (Shaver or Backpacking) for a few days. They will eventually get it, but not right away.
Your camper is not sitting by a computer or phone receiving your email or the e-letter form. They will receive a printed out copy. We’re old-fashioned up here!
Your camper will need to write the letter and drop it off in the mail slot in order for us to be able to scan and send it back to you.
Many years ago we offered a similar service, and parents started contacting us to say they hadn’t received anything back from their camper. Know that we do not require campers to respond just because you’ve sent them an e-letter. This is not something we can track.
We will make sure that your camper writes home (via letter or e-letter) every Wednesday and Sunday evenings for our “Mail Meal” dinners.
Specialty Week Video & Photo Highlights
Video Highlights
Slideshow
Safari Dance & Appreciation Campfire
Last night our staff and June Specialty campers partied down in Granite Grove for our Safari Dance! DJ Tank spun the records and our GAC family had the chance to show off their dance skills for the first time this summer!
Campers and staff enjoyed Footloose, Tragedy, and Move Your Body, among other favorite songs. There was a photobooth and a collection of fun games for those folks who needed a break from the dancing.
Following our dance, we closed the session with our traditional Appreciation Campfire, featuring performances from the Specialty campers and our staff members. It was a great way to end the session that started the summer!
Meet Our 2019 Head Counselors
As we quickly approach our first session at main camp, let’s get to know our 2019 Head Counselors. Meet Nemo, Frames, Peanut Butter and Mec.
Our Head Counselors have an important role at camp. They train, support, and encourage the Group Counselors throughout the summer. Head Counselors get to know the campers in each of their groups and provide extra leadership and support. Together, our 2019 Head Counselors have 24 years of experience at GAC. They are looking forward to using their experience to help campers have fun, make friends, and grow this summer.
On the first evening of the session, Head Counselors visit each of their cabin groups, introducing themselves and making sure campers know that they are another person that campers can turn to (outside of the counselors in their own group) if they need anything. The Head Counselors regularly join cabin groups for meals, activities, and campfires. They also administer a mid-session evaluation where campers can let them know about any issues or concerns they have. Head Counselors are trained to follow up with campers discretely. We talk about the mid-session evaluations in our First-Year Families Orientation Video.
What’s their favorite thing about working at Gold Arrow Camp?
Nemo: “Beautiful sunsets, meeting new friends, and living the dream.”
Frames: “Being able to truly be myself!”
Peanut Butter: “Connecting with the staff and being in nature.”
Mec: “Hanging on Shaver Island, burning like a thousand calories at the dances, doing all the activities, and just being back with the people and the place I’ve come to consider my second home”
Update From Shaver Island
June Specialty campers have been enjoying their week on our Shaver Island outpost. The week has been full of fun under the sun, with campers taking advantage of amazing weather to knee-board, waterski, wakeboard, and wakeskate! Evenings have been fun of laughs around the campfire (and s’mores!) as well as sleeping on the beach under the stars. Enjoy these photo highlights from the week so far!
Psychologist Signe Whitson Trains Our Staff
Author and internationally recognized speaker Signe Whitson (Parenting the Challenging Child) spent the day yesterday training GAC staff on helping campers through anxious situations, identifying and preventing bullying, and understanding how to respond when campers are having strong emotions.
Signe, who took on her own camp name of “Ginger”, is a certified school social worker with 20 years of experience working with children, teens, and families. She presents customized training workshops for professionals, parents, and students on topics related to understanding and ending bullying, managing anger in children, and intervening effectively in crisis situations in schools and treatment organizations. She is an expert on child psychology, bullying (and bullying prevention) and managing anger and anxiety in children. She is also the author of 7 books.
Signe trained GAC staff to help them understand the challenges that young people face, and they can best respond to children who are in distress of any kind.
If you’d like to read more about Signe or look at her books, more information is available on her website.
You can also listen to Signe’s interview with Sunshine on the Sunshine Parenting podcast: Ep. 66: Is it Rude, Is it Mean, or is it Bullying?
Signe’s Psychology Today article: Is it Rude, Is it Mean, or is it Bullying?
Other Books by Signe Whitson:
The 8 Keys to End Bullying ACTIVITY BOOK for Kids & Tweens (and companion guide)
8 Keys to End Bullying: Strategies for Parents & Schools
Friendship & Other Weapons: Group Activities to Help Young Girls Ages 5-11 to Cope with Bullying
How to Be Angry: An Assertive Anger Expression Group Guide for Kids and Teens
Kettle Trains Group Counselors
Group Counselors received Mental Health First Aid training from former staff member and 2016 Coach’s Award winner, Kettle!
We recognize the need to prepare our counselors to intervene when campers are in emotional distress. To that end, we brought Kettle, who is currently a certified Mental, Emotional, and Social Health First Aid Instructor, back to camp to train our counselors, so that they could better respond to children who need emotional help at camp.
Kettle was able to use the training and her experience at camp to make the training very practical for our counselors. She was also able, outside of her training, to speak with staff about what she did that was effective when she was a counselor at GAC.
You can read more about Kettle here, or listen to her on the GAC POG-Cast here.
Here’s more information about Mental Health First Aid.
Counselors Arrive at Camp!
Today, more than 150 counselors from around the world are joining us to start our 10-day staff training. From our 35-year veteran staff members to counselors who are seeing camp for the first time, the entire staff will go through training. They’ll learn from amazing guest speakers like Signe Whitson and Christine Carter, along with our experienced camp director team. they’ll also (just like campers!) have opportunities to have fun, make friends, and grow, all while detoxing from their electronics before campers arrive.
Among the counselors arriving today, we have…
40 former campers
42 international staff
42 who have spent 5 or more summers at GAC
Let the adventure begin!
Leadership Staff Training
Our operations team has been hard at work since early May getting the camp facilities ready for summer, but the summer at GAC officially starts with the arrival of our leadership staff for a week of training and preparation. This year’s Leadership Team arrived on Wednesday, June 5.
Among this year’s leaders…
9 are former campers.
21 have spent five or more years at GAC.
9 are from other countries.
9 play guitar.
19 are under 30.
11 are over 30.
6 are current camp parents.
6 are teachers (or former teachers).
Throughout this week, GAC leaders are preparing for the arrival of counselors (Wednesday, June 12), preparing training sessions for the staff, and getting camp and program areas ready for camper arrival on June 16 (Shaver Specialty campers) and on June 23 (Session 1 campers).
Facilitating this year’s training is Debby Winning, an HR specialist who worked for many years at Marriott and more recently has worked as a consultant for AIG, rolling out their customer service program. Debby has been part of the extended GAC family since 1999, when she first trained our leaders and helped us come up with our first leadership motto, “Spirit to Serve.” This year’s theme, decided upon by the team and in keeping with the camp-wide theme of Filling Buckets is “BFF” (which stands for Bucket Filling Facilitators and reminds us also that, of course, at GAC we are all best friends forever).
Trainings Debby and the camp directors have facilitated include The GAC Way of Leadership, Crucial Communication Skills, Different Behavioral Styles and How to Best Work With Each, GAC’s Staff Development Program, Safety and Emergency Preparation, and more.
