Luna
Episode 47.
Luna, who is a student at the Art Institute of Chicago as well as being an Arts & Crafts Counselor at GAC, stopped by the POG-Cast to chat about art, creation, and her favorite parts of working at camp. In addition to being an Arts & Crafts Counselor, Luna was also a Group Counselor for a session in 2019, so she had great insights into what it was like to do both of those jobs. There’s also a GACspiration and a dad-joke-based Joke of the Cast.
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Hilly
Episode 46
This week, Soy is joined by Hilly, who came to camp on a J-1 Summer Camp Counselor Visa last year. They talk about what Hilly learned about the United States, the hardest and easiest parts of being a Group Counselor, and the POG-Cast speed round. There’s a reptile based Joke of the Cast and an artistic GACspiration.
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Van
Episode 45
It’s a Hoosier state reunion as Van (Fort Wayne) joins Soy (Kokomo) on the POG-Cast. They have a great chat about being a near-peer mentor. They also talk about trying new things and how she discovered jicama! Joke of the Cast takes on the Haloween season and Sunshine drops in with a GACspiration.
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Simba
Episode 44.
Simba drops by the show today. He is the winner of the 2019 Ken “Coach” Baker award. Simba talks with Soy about how camp changed since his first year (15 years ago!). He also shares a ton of wisdom about the important things that don’t change at camp and tells great stories about him dancing and why his name was almost “Fez.”
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Kiwi
Episode 43
Kiwi dropped by the GACHQ to chat with Soy face to face about what makes camp so special. She talks about her family connection to camp (even though she wasn’t a camper) and how camp has impacted her phone use now that she’s back at school. There’s also a friendship tip, a GACspiration, and Joke of the Cast to enjoy!
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Cheerio!
Episode 41
The POG-Cast is back! If you found our podcast during the summer, when it is called Wadda Day, this episode will be a bit of a surprise to you. During the year, our podcast turns into the POG-Cast, which is a weekly podcast that features more in-depth interviews with staff members, parents, and campers. It also has some of the great parts of morning assembly, like Joke of the Day, Stat of the Day, and the Friendship Tip!
This week we have Gold Arrow Camp’s newest director, Heather “Cheerio” Veatch, who just joined our team year-round after 10 summers working at camp. Prior to working for camp, Cheerio was an elementary school teacher. She and Soy have a great conversation about education and camp, as well as some behavior management tools that we use at camp that you can use at home.
Submit WOWs and answers to Stat of the Cast to wow@goldarrowcamp.com
Here’s how you can make some breathing beads at home!
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April!
Episode 40.
The GAC POG-Cast is over the hill! We’re also over the moon that April joined us to talk about her role as a photographer at camp last summer. She also had great insight on how to deal with the fear that coming to camp sometimes creates in campers. Soy is back to playing guitar and telling Dad jokes and there’s a GACspiration too!
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Frames
Episode 38.
On this episode, former camper (and current Head Counselor) Frames joined Soy. They had a great chat about why being a camp counselor is better than taking an internship and what she was most nervous about when she came to camp for the first time at eight years old. There’s also a great oceanic Joke of the Cast and we learn all about Frames’ dog’s name, which Soy enjoys more than he should.
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2019 Theme: Filling Buckets
by Alison “Bean” Moeschberger
Every summer at Gold Arrow Camp, we choose a theme to guide our efforts in helping campers become the best versions of themselves. This practice started in the summer of 2012 when the staff selected “gratitude” as the guiding theme. We followed that with kindness (Cool 2B Kind), relationship building (Creating Connections), helpfulness (Give a Hand), grit (Growing Grit), positivity (The Energy Bus), and 2018’s focus on friendship (Find-a-Friend).
One thing that makes life at camp special is that we live in a community where our shared experience is derived solely from our interactions with each other. At camp, we exist in a perfect bubble, shielded from input and news from life outside of GAC. This provides us the privilege and responsibility of maintaining our own positive and encouraging atmosphere. Every interaction we have with another person is an opportunity to have a positive, negative, or neutral impact. It is easy to be too self-focused and worry about our own agenda and needs. Encouraging others and actively seeking opportunities to have a positive impact are noble challenges we are excited to embrace in our community.
In keeping with our core value of equipping campers to bring positive changes to the world, we’re proud to announce our 2019 summer theme: Filling Buckets!
Carol McCloud’s children’s book Have You Filled A Bucket Today? is our inspiration. McCloud tells the story of a young boy and the impact his kindness and encouragement have on his community. Every person carries an invisible bucket. When someone does something kind, encourages another, or helps in some way, it fills another person’s bucket. Conversely, negative interactions empty people’s buckets. In the story, the boy discovers an important truth about kindness. He realizes that when he encourages others, his own bucket is filled. We’re thrilled to make our GAC community stronger by helping campers understand that encouragement makes others feel valued. Together, we will experience the joy that comes from making others our focus.
There are many opportunities at camp to fill other people’s buckets through kindness and encouragement. Filling Buckets means using our words and actions to show how much we care:
- Sharing a heartfelt smile
- Greeting each other by name
- Helping others without being asked
- Giving sincere compliments
- Recognizing others for bravery and achievements
- Encouraging others when they succeed and also when they’re struggling
- Elevating the needs of others above our own
- Seeking opportunities to have a positive impact on others
Filling Buckets builds on the work we’ve done in the areas of positivity, friendship, and kindness. The friendships we forge at camp are special for many reasons, and we know that keeping the focus on lifting each other up will add depth and richness to our connections. It is our sincere hope that 2019’s GAC campers will take this theme home and continue to make positive changes in their communities by being kind and encouraging with everyone they encounter. Everyone deserves a full bucket!
Enjoy this video of Monkey and Soy announcing the theme on our Facebook page.
Moana
Episode 35.
On Episode 35 of the GAC POG-Cast, Soy was joined by Moana. Moana came to camp only knowing one person, and had a great summer. Her insights into how to get the most out of camp when you’re pretty new to the culture and community of GAC were outstanding for new campers and first year staff as well.
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