Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp- Summer 2018- Twin Lake, MI
Overview
During the summer of 2018 I had the honor of serving as a Cabin Counselor and Theatre Assistant at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp (BLFAC) in Twin Lake, Michigan.
Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp is designed in order for young artist to grow as people and as artist while they spend twelve days in the woods with no outside distraction from the rest of the world. While many students are at the camper it is the first time they have gone without a phone, had to write a letter, or even spent more than 24-hours away from their parents. Throughout the day, students take classes from university professors and masters teachers in their respective art form. Then in the evening, the students come back together as a unit to participate in activities, watch concerts, have campfires, or even just play ping pong.
During the summer the largest part of my role was to care for the social, emotional, and physical well-being of the eleven boys in my cabin, as well as the sixty-six other boys within my unit. This job proved to be a tough, but doable one (with growth) since every boy that I encountered came from a different background, interest, and independence.
Establishing Systems
One of my strongest and constant growth areas while at Blue Lake was with establishing systems with the cabin and our other daily routines. During our nine-day orientation I realized that I would need basic systems for the cabin for everything from waking up, keeping up our badges, to bedtime routines. So, once I moved into my cabin (Herman Cabin) I began to determine how and where I would set up systems. I put down a piece of tape on a wooden ledge and wrote the boys names, this way they could put their badges somewhere they wouldn’t lose them. I put down a long piece of tape on the ground by the door and wrote, “No shoes past this point, please!” in order to combat the large amounts of sand in the cabin. I wrote a fair chores rotation and put it on the door so that every boy could see it. I took a white board and wrote important information like the weather, the schedule, the meals for the day, and if that night’s concert was in our formal uniform or not. I felt as though I was diligently prepared and that these systems would work perfectly.
While I thought that my systems were perfect, three or four days into camp they were falling apart. I watched my campers as I reflected on my systems and how I would change them in order to make them work. As I watched the campers, I realized it wasn’t that they systems didn’t work- it’s that the campers didn’t remember to do them. What was the part missing in order to make these work? I soon realized that it was me. I had worked so hard to put the systems in place, but I had not been the moving or driving force behind them. When we had our cabin orientation on the first day, I presented the systems to the campers, but that is where establishing the systems ended. Once I realized my mistake, I had to backtrack and start with apologizing to the campers in my cabin for not helping them with the systems and letting them know that starting in the morning I will be reminding them of the systems we have in place. The next morning I woke up, got ready, and then I announced to the cabin “did anyone check the chore rotation this morning?” Suddenly, three campers ran over to check the chart and announced “Jake you’re sweeping! Mike you’ve got trash duty! Hey Phillip- you’re the inspector this morning!” The next two mornings, this was the same occurrence when I asked the question. However, on the fourth day I didn’t have to ask the question. One of the campers naturally got ready and then walked over to the chore chart and started announcing who had which role. This occurrence did not just happen for our chore chart, but for all of the systems that we had.
I now realize that when it comes to establishing systems- whether in the classroom, theatre, or cabin- it is my responsibility and role in order to ensure that system is put into place so that students can begin to self-police and grow in independence.
Monitoring Students' Needs
One of my favorite parts working at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp was the fact that they open their doors to all students and artist and equip their counselors to serve those students. This created the challenge for counselors to monitor students' needs while still allowing them to experience the independence of being at camp. I quickly realized that one of the best ways to monitor students' needs was to establish relationships with all of the campers in my cabin and those in the theatre program. Even though I was establishing relationships, there is still the fact that 13-year - olds are still easily embarrassed and often don't wont to come forward with their needs. This required me to frequently check in with my campers and to make sure that I had at least one meaningful conversation with each of my campers daily. Finally, a big factor and assistance in monitoring campers' needs were to work with my fellow counselors and teachers. It is ridiculous to think that one person can monitor, give an assessment, and provide help to the campers alone. Working with other peers is a must in order to serve the campers.
Working with Students with Learning Impairments
Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp prides themselves on their inclusivity to the arts. This means, for the counselors and teachers, that throughout the summer we embrace students with learning impairments and have to meet them where they are at and do our best to give them the same camp experience as their peers. This can be anything for Autism, to ADHD, to a social disorder, to impaired hearing or vision. This required us as counselors to research the impairments that our campers were bringing to the table and work with experienced individuals in order to make plans to best serve the camper. This also required us to but the parent at ease with they dropped their child off at camp that we were ready to give them the best camp experience as possible. During this summer I had to the opportunity to serve students of various learning needs and help them experience the magic of camp.
Collaborating with Others
One of the largest demands as a counselor and educator that I had to take head on during the summer was colaborating with multiple teams in order to best serve our campers. During the day I was responsible for the health and well being of the campers in my cabins, students in my classes, as well as campers across the camp in general. There was high demand in order to work with the other six counselors and unit director in my unit in order to make plans in order to work with situations surrounding campers- wether it is behavorial, medical, or scheduling.
