Post Summer Camp Thoughts / Brainstorms / Lessons Learned

[curious_scouter]

We are just back from summer camp.  This is my third camp as support leadership, next year I've raised my hand to take the lead so I'm capturing some of the observations, notes, etc. immediately on return while fresh in my mind because my mind is a sieve I thought I'd post some of the general comments here and see also if I can take advantage of the accumulated wisdom and recent summer experiences of those gathered here.  We had an AMAZING week.  Should note we had over 30 scouts with us, so some of this might be more relevant to a group that size, but still worth sharing. 

• Will encourage more that Scouts bring "old fashioned games" to camp and considering building a box of them for our trailer.  Chess, dominoes, checkers, packs of cards, LCR, etc.  Once our scouts got their chess boards and sets from the merit badge, which was Thursday night, there were no less than THREE games of chess running in camp at a time.  Magic!  If we had provided that opportunity earlier in the week we would have had more of that I think.  Cheap, easy to pack, durable games like that can be a mainstay in our troop gear as well, providing similar opportunities on most outings. 
• Will have part of the prep docs and parent conversation be about moderating the games and music sent to camp.  It all needs to be appropriate for 11+ if coming to camp.  What started off as "anyone want to play cards?" turned out to be cards against humanity, which we luckily caught wind of and quickly nipped.  Oof though.  Can you imagine?  I feel like foot locker inspections are draconian, but I am thinking about at least having the quartermaster and SPL have some kind of "health check" as boys report to camp.  "Do you have your hygiene products?  Do you have only age appropriate games?  Do you have food in your footlocker that needs to be squared in the bear box?"  Etc.
• Air Tags / tiles on high value items like phones and daypacks were clutch.  They will get lost.  99% of the time, they will make their way to main office lost and found.  Being able to KNOW the item is there safe, while allowing the scout to stew about it until daylight was helpful to us.  We could comfortably put off the search (especially in the dark) knowing the expensive / important item would be found in the morning.  It also allowed us to locate a phone that had been dropped in the middle of the woods, presumably during orienteering.  I am fairly sure it would never have been found otherwise.  That parent had the "locate my device" feature on, not the air tag type of service.  They were able to share the exact coordinates and when we got close turn on the screen and sound which enabled us to find it.  I kind of hated the scavenger hunts for devices and property but those tags and services helped tremendously when available.  One scout lost their phone and its battery was dead so the passive tile device on it was key.  This is some insurance a parent can provide that the expensive device will get home.  We can debate the place phones have at summer camp (and my group currently is) but the reality is I think they will be there and there is a use for them at camp (photos, contact sharing with new friends, research in badge classes like oceanography, indian lore, etc) and with youth this age - loss potential is high.  I will say no one over the age of 13 lost their device or daypack or uniform.  It was entirely the younger cadre.  The mature scouts showed they could manage themselves well in this respect, the younger experienced the lessons they need to learn about holding on to property in a relatively safe environment where 9 times out of 10 your [insert precious item here] will be turned in to lost and found vs. kept thanks to everyone being scouts. 
• Scoutmaster leading made a point to remind ALL scouts if you brought money to camp it is YOUR money.  If you are a young scout and get asked to run an errand by an older scout you are NOT to do it and are to report it to the leaders - no scout is any other scout's errand lackey.  I found that valuable, there was a problem with this on arrival night but never happened again after expectations were properly set.
• We had an excellent SPL who excelled in the camp setting.  It was crucial to the success of the week. Do you guys do any pre-camp coaching/prep/training for the SPL?  A week at camp is a different beast than a weekend campout or troop meeting.  They are balancing a lot more and have a ton more to manage on top of their classes.

These are some initial reflections and ponderings I had.  Curious to know what other pro tips you all have that lead to "magic moments" or that you found particularly beneficial and plan to include in the plan for next time.

[clivusmultrum]

Our Troop had developed a practice of dividing for summer. 14+ to high adventure, under 14 went to merit badge camp (if you didn’t have anything you’d rather do). Consequently we were producing cohorts instead of Patrols and a Troop. This also set up a Cub Scout-like dynamic where adults are directing too much stuff because the Scouts do not know what to do. Not always, but often enough that the Scouts looked hen pecked and indecisive.

This year we got the band back together. The older Scouts joined in at summer camp. It was just a few of the older Scouts but it was enough to make a difference. The SPL did SPL stuff. The Patrol was a composite of two patrols but it was a Patrol.  Young Scouts had a chance to interact with older Scouts and see what it looks like. We had just enough adult presence to be seen and not heard.  I have never been more optimistic about this Troop’s prospects. 

Edited July 4, 2022 by clivusmultrum

[fred8033]

39 minutes ago, clivusmultrum said:

... This also set up a Cub Scout-like dynamic where adults are directing too much stuff because the Scouts do not know what to do. Not always, but often enough that the Scouts looked hen pecked and indecisive. ...

Congratulations on making changes and having a great year !!!!

Nothing kills the "summer camp" experience like over-controlling, over-planning, over-scheduling and too many adults.  Half the fun for the scouts is the free time and discovering things to do on their own.  

[Eagledad]

4 hours ago, clivusmultrum said:

This year we got the band back together. The older Scouts joined in at summer camp. It was just a few of the older Scouts but it was enough to make a difference. The SPL did SPL stuff. The Patrol was a composite of two patrols but it was a Patrol.  Young Scouts had a chance to interact with older Scouts and see what it looks like. We had just enough adult presence to be seen and not heard.  I have never been more optimistic about this Troop’s prospects. 

Well done. When I was the district SM Specific course trainer, I preached for units to stop splitting their troop for the summer camp experience. Summer camp is the best and safest place for youth to practice independent decision making and pump up their patrol method development. We averaged almost 100 scouts (95%) at summer camp because they  enjoy the experience so much. We typically put the adults in a separate camp site to reinforce the scouts independence. The SPL is the hardest working person in the troop because has all the decision making responsibilities. The only decisions the adult make are the one that require an adult signature. We pay the SPLs camp fees. 

You’re going the right direction and your scouts will appreciate it.

Barry

[elitts]

On 7/3/2022 at 11:38 AM, curious_scouter said:

We are just back from summer camp.  This is my third camp as support leadership, next year I've raised my hand to take the lead so I'm capturing some of the observations, notes, etc. immediately on return while fresh in my mind because my mind is a sieve I thought I'd post some of the general comments here and see also if I can take advantage of the accumulated wisdom and recent summer experiences of those gathered here.  We had an AMAZING week.  Should note we had over 30 scouts with us, so some of this might be more relevant to a group that size, but still worth sharing. 

• Will encourage more that Scouts bring "old fashioned games" to camp and considering building a box of them for our trailer.  Chess, dominoes, checkers, packs of cards, LCR, etc.  Once our scouts got their chess boards and sets from the merit badge, which was Thursday night, there were no less than THREE games of chess running in camp at a time.  Magic!  If we had provided that opportunity earlier in the week we would have had more of that I think.  Cheap, easy to pack, durable games like that can be a mainstay in our troop gear as well, providing similar opportunities on most outings. 

These are some initial reflections and ponderings I had.  Curious to know what other pro tips you all have that lead to "magic moments" or that you found particularly beneficial and plan to include in the plan for next time.

We bring an oversized plywood "camp kitchen" style box that serves as storage for troop copies of manuals, guides and booklets, chess, checkers, cribbage, Yahtzee, multiple decks of cards, loose leaf paper and a couple of spiral notebooks.  There's also usually a football and a couple other random balls in there.  Scouts have free access to it with the expectation that whoever takes something out puts it back.  We emphasize that point so we don't have scouts thinking "I'll just leave this out for the next person" and then stuff gets ruined because no next person comes along.  As a note, if you decide to have some playing cards available, spend the money for decent plastic Copag or KEM playing cards (the narrow ones are easiest for small hands).  They hold up much longer, can be washed and you can just replace individual cards that get crumpled rather than losing a whole deck.