Specialists at GS Camp

[Flukie]

How does your camp use specialists? I want to see more focus here, but I'm not sure how to implement them. For example, we dont' have anyone that does Arts and Crafts - units sign up, they go, and they make "stuff". I'd like to see more thought put into this - candles and tie-dye gets old really fast. Do you have an Arts and Crafts person? Do they live in the unit? How much time are they in Arts and Crafts?

The same for Nature, Drama, Outdoor Education, and so forth... I want to make things run smoother for us this year!

[ocean]

We have Arts & crafts, nature, and sports specialists. The units sign up for the time slot they want and then they do different activities.

[Lilly]

Our campers sign up for an activity each block. We have an Arts & Nature specialist who is part of support staff (meaning she does not live with campers and after working all day she is used to help out units that may need coverage). This person chooses a different activity for each block so that campers can go to the one/s that interest them.

[Indigo]

We have arts and crafts, sports, and nature specialists, in addtion to wranglers and lifeguards... They all live in units as long as they're female (we've had male arts and crafts, sports, and lifeguards). At the beginning of the week, unit leaders sign their units up for all the activities. Horseback riding, swimming, and canoeing are assigned to us, and we pick the times for the others, usually about an hour at a time.

We haven't had a nature specialist since I was a camper though, so the counselors just make up a nature activity. We've got a few guides to native plants and animals to talk about with the campers, or sometimes we take hikes or creek walks. I did an activity with my campers last summer that they really liked, I got the idea from the ACA boards... We made gnome homes. I told my campers to take ten or fifteen minutes and make the best house for a gnome that they could out of things they found in nature, and then I said I'd give the best one a prize (usually a sticker). And I made my own while they were doing the same. The first time, they were pretty simple, but there was a clear winner... The second time I did it, they were all really amazing, so I gave them all prizes.

[Trees]

We have arts & crafts, nature, and archery specialists; we've also talked on and off about having a drama specialist and/or a games & teambuilding specialist. (lifeguards and wranglers too, of course)

The archery specialist, obviously, just does archery all day; she helps the campers think up new archery games and challenges. This is really successful; at other places I've worked, where the counselors teach archery, the quality of teaching varied a lot. I know that I personally hate archery, so I avoided teaching it whenever possible and probably didn't do a great job when I had to.

The first day of each session, the girls choose what they want to do at A&C and nature. It's pretty much limited only by their imaginations (and to some extent, supplies at A&C). Some of the specialists have been better than others at getting the girls to come up with exciting, quality ideas.

Then, the specialist spends a lot of time preparing the activities. Especially with younger girls, they might just give a broad topic-- "bears" or "sewing"-- and the specialist comes up with specific stuff to do. If the specialist doesn't know anything about a topic or doesn't know how to do the craft, she has time to teach herself. I never had time to do that kind of thing as a unit counselor!

The specialist is in charge of the activity, but the unit staff are expected to help wherever possible, at the very least by setting a good example and listening attentively. It's most emphatically not a time for the staff to take a break.

Also, very importantly--since I understand you're trying to get more Girl Scout program into your camp--the specialist draws badgework into the activities wherever possible. For instance, if the girls want to work with clay, she'll look through the Ceramics & Clay badge requirements and include as many of those as possible. Late in the week, the specialist will provide the UL with a list of badge requirements completed so these can be put on the take-home badge-sheet.

Our specialist system is very good and well-developed (I'm actually interested in improving our unit program now), so I'd be happy to provide any more info or bounce ideas back and forth. Your camp's lucky to have you!

[S_R_Star]

At our camp, we have 2 activity periods in the morning. Almost all campers are at camp for a specific session so they get their activities scheduled here. Then they also all get a trail ride and archery (if they are not at camp for a horse session) This leaves them with some blank time where they can sign up for different activities.
During staff training we ask staff what there interests are and if there is anything interesting we make that an activity period. For example we have had Dancing, Cheerleading, Karaoke, Outdoor Sports and lots of others. Arts and Crafts, Swim Skills and Indoor Games also fall here. (We have indoor games as an option because we are in the middle of Texas and are a rustic camp with no air conditioning AT ALL so we like to offer a quieter activity for the girls who dont want to be out in the sun and try and keep a bit cooler for an hour, the older girls love it because they use the time to write letters or in their journals so they can sleep during rest hour)
Our activity schedule fall like this On Tuesday and Thursday they do the same activity, and Wednesday and Friday they do the same. Mondays are set aside for in unit activities, like cook out planning and maybe a hike to familiarise the girls with places on camp.

Girls get the opportunity to sign up for any activity they like. They do not sign up as units. They can do what i call "branch out" and pick a different activity to there buddies and friends. So in some activity we have a good range of ages ans usually this works as the older girls are very good at working with the younger ones and getting them excited about the activities.

Sign up time can be a bit chaotic but i like that the girls have a choice to do anything they like and may not be stuck doing an activity that their whole unit has signed up for but they don't enjoy.

Units can decide to do any activity as a group, during other in unit times in the schedule. as long as they let someone know in advance that they want access to a certain area or they want certain art & craft supplies, so it doesn't rule out the unit planning anything together at all.

Anyway i hope that wasn't too confusing, but i am tired and not sure how much sense i am making :)

[CampDirector]

We have an Art Director and Art Assistant, Sports Director (which also includes archery), Nature Director, and Waterfront Director and 4 Waterfront Assistants that staff the pool and boating at the lake. Our riding programs are conducted at an off site equestrian center, and our dance and drama programs are run by professional dance and theater troupes who come in for a week at a time.

All campers have a swim block each day, and at some time during the week they are scheduled for a block of nature, boating, sports, and art. The exception would be if campers are registered for a specialty session. For instance if they are part of a kayak or canoe program, then they boat every day. If they are in an art program, they have art every day, etc.

[softballkid019]

at both of the two girl scout camps i have worked at we have had Program Directors and between the two camps there has been rock, a & C, nature, archery. we also have canoes that the girls can do. how we decided what is going to happen each week is that all the Unit Leaders all meet the first night and sign there girls up for different things to do during the week. sometimes they won't be albe to get all the activities in due to the lenght of there stay or is they are signed up for a specialty unit so before the UL go to the meeting they talk with the girls and find out what they want to do the most.

[audur]

Our lifeguards live in units and help out at night where needed. Wranglers live in a seperate cabin and rarely spend time in units, as they almost always have their time off at night.

All of our specialists also live in units, and help out where needed at night. We have a leadership specialist (my first year we had 2) and an arts & crafts specialist - my first year we also had a drama specialist, but last year we had a nature specialist, and no drama specialist.

Units sign up for activities as a group - each unit will get at least 2 or 3 swim times during the week and one block of everything else (art, nature, drama, boating, leadership - only girls in horse programs get to ride, though). Most units do focus on something specific, so a boating unit will go boating every day, a biking unit goes on short biking trips, and an art unit will go to art a few times during the week. We do a LOT of in-unit programming, which I like - I'm happy that I get to lead activities for my group every day. We're free to request things from art and nature to use in our units, and last year, because we had no drama specialist, any group was free to use the drama tent on their own, if it was available