I have to tell you what just happened.

I just heard a list of names that might not catch your eye, but tells you a core thing you need to know about Champions.

Scott Shepherd… Leah Mesches… John Bailey… Kate Hutson…

That’s the start of a list that goes a long way toward telling you what we do here at camp.

Some of you might know that we’re in the middle of staff training right now, the two full weeks of preparation before our first campers arrive. And today I was once again reminded exactly why Camp Champions does things differently.

See, many camps rush through training in a matter of days. They review policies, iron out procedures, and go over the schedule. They tell staff what they’re expected to do, and then they open the gates with campers flooding through.

And we cover those things, too. But one of these reasons we spend two weeks training is so we can do what we did today.

When we run a complete day of camp from start to finish. For the staff.

Twenty(ish)-year-old college students become campers for a day. They rotate through every activity period. They experience choice paralysis. They get nervous before trying something new. They cheer each other on.

And by the end of the day, something profound has happened.

They don’t just have an idea of what camp is going to be like. They know what it feels like to be a camper for a day.

That difference shifts the entire experience for the campers they will work with this summer.

Building Up to “Mock Camp Day”

Before we get to our camp day for staff, there’s a lot that happens.

Camp Champions has one of the longest staff training programs in the country. Two full weeks. Most camps do three, five, or seven days.

Why do we invest so much time? Because we’re not just teaching the basics.

We want to make sure our staff has seen and done everything they might run into during the summer before the first child arrives.

They practice communication skills, activity facilitation, conflict resolution, and group dynamics. We want them to understand what a full camp session looks like.

At first, it’s in pieces, one activity at a time. Then we put it all together with a full day of camp.

The philosophy is simple: the best way to authentically support someone through an experience is to already have had it yourself.

Watching Our Staff Become Campers

So what does it actually look like when twenty-year-old college students become campers for a day?

At the waterfront, counselors are attempting to get up on water skis, cheering each other on through failed attempts and celebrating the victories when someone finally gets up and stays up.

At the ropes course, they’re on the Screamer, feeling the free-fall drop of the first few feet of our 40-foot swing before the harness catches them.

At archery, they shoot arrow after arrow as they find out just how hard it is to crack the bullseye.

Guiding a nervous camper up the climbing wall becomes something different when you know what it actually feels like to look up at those holds with shaky knees.

Encouraging someone to try ceramics has a different meaning when you understand the vulnerability of sitting at a pottery wheel for the first time.

The Role Model Circle

And then we get to that list of names from the beginning.

The most impactful moment comes at the end of the day.

Counselors sit in a circle, and one by one, they say the name of a role model they want to emulate that summer. No discussion. No explanation. Just names.

Some mention teachers who changed their lives. Others name coaches or family members. And many name former Camp Champions counselors who meant something to them when they were campers.

This isn’t just a nice-to-have ritual.

It’s the moment when the impact a young adult is going to have at camp this summer becomes real.

It’s the moment when they become that role model in their own mind’s eye.

Remember when I wrote about near-peer role models a few weeks ago? How kids look up to people just a few steps ahead of them?

This is where that really begins.

They’re preparing to be that positive force, that “third voice”, in a kid’s life. The one saying, “You can do this. I believe in you.”

And they can say that authentically because they’ve had the experience themselves.

They’ve been there. They remember.

Ready for the Real Thing

In just a few days, our first campers will arrive. And I couldn’t be more excited about the counselors who will greet them.

These aren’t just nice college kids who happen to be good with children. These are young adults who have done the hard work of understanding what it means to step outside your comfort zone, to try something new, to discover capabilities you didn’t know you had.

They’re ready to be role models because they know what it feels like to push themselves at camp.

When your child comes home with stories about trying something new, overcoming a fear, or discovering a hidden talent, it won’t just be because of the activity itself.

It will be because a role model believed in them and showed them how to believe in themselves.

Happy Thursday,

Erec Sir