FCC Staff Huddle: Mar/Apr 2024

Spring Break? Let’s Talk Summer Camp!

Happy Early Spring everybody! Yesterday was Pi Day, and today’s the Ides of March…so beware, or be excited…camp is just around the corner!

First item of business - mark your calendars for the All-Staff Google Meet call on Wednesday, April 24th at 8 pm Eastern…official invites coming soon!

Next up…

It’s time to jump on the forms and videos that need to be completed before you arrive this summer. The online health form and the physician’s exam form are both in your CampInTouch account. Get those doctor appointments scheduled!

Tax and travel forms are in WorkBright, and earlier this week you should have received an invitation to your Expert Online Training videos. The sooner the better on all those things - if you have questions!

Cat Suits & Turkey Legs?

2024 Theme Day Plans!

One of the pleasures of working at Falling Creek year round is having months of planning time to scheme up theme days and programming for the next summer. When we’re deciding themes, we’re basically asking ourselves two questions.

First: do we have a design vision for what this theme looks like? That covers ease of costuming for campers and counselors, ways that we could decorate the camp, special meals we could serve, narrative ideas for skits and jokes throughout the day, and considerations of that nature.

Second: How can we design programs and entertainment that fit the theme? Here, the program team will start investigating all camp games that we could play, entertainment that we might provide, and smaller group activities that could be themed.

If an idea has enough momentum, then we’ll start having more focused conversations around designing an entire camp day to fit. Garfield Day almost made it through the gauntlet this year. Cat costumes? Hilarious. Lasagnas for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and desert? Count me in. Garfield skits sprinkled throughout the day? Meow we’re talking. But once we started discussing program ideas that could fill multiple hours (three different nap times?), Garfield Day started losing its appeal quickly. (Bonus points to anyone that still brings Garfield outfits.)

On the other hand, when we landed on a Renaissance themed day, we were quickly able to brainstorm entertainment to fill a whole Saturday. We could run a field day, with participants all engaging in games on the Land Sports Field. We could stage a festival – complete with food stands, booths to show off goods from our artisanal programs, activities like face painting and hatchet throwing – and transform camp for a few hours. We could run a fictional joust in the evening, with skits during the day introducing the characters and building excitement for the show. There was content to match our excitement.

In the next couple of weeks, we’ll be working to finalize those plans. There are meals to be coordinated, vendors to contact, decorations to order, narratives to write. It’s a lot to get done, but it makes for rewarding work knowing that it will be set up for all of you to enjoy in a few short months! We can’t wait for Renaissance Day this summer and all of the other programs that we have lined up.

-Andy

That’s a little taste of programs to come. Got a great idea? Holler at your boy We look forward to having you join the fun!

Meet the 2024 Staff

We’re excited about the team that’s coming together for summer 2024! Check out our Meet the Staff page to see who’s returning and to meet new members of the team.

🥳 Happy Jan/Feb Birthday wishes to: 🥳

3/2 Jose Gonzalez
3/2 Yates Pharr
3/3 Will Cameron
3/4 Jackson Schlierf
3/4 Zion Woodruff
3/8 Paige Hafner
3/8 Sofia Hernández Juárez
3/11 Alli Kilby
3/12 Erin Hiller Vassy
3/13 Jack Goodridge
3/14 Jay Blankenship
3/16 Jordan Metcalfe
3/16 Jay Williams
3/18 Ollie Lewis
3/19 William Ashcroft
3/19 Heather Moffatt
3/19 Matt Sloan
3/23 Mac Durham
3/24 Marcus Logan
3/25 Jack Payne
3/28 Lillian Magruder
3/28 Elea Wienpahl
3/30 Laura Mester
3/30 Tamara Ayala

4/2 Doug Smathers
4/5 Lawton Jordan
4/8 Isaac Brown
4/9 Nathan Hall
4/12 Steve Feingold
4/14 Whit Flickinger
4/14 Karyme Gomez
4/27 Ben Williams
4/29 Harry Blanchflower
4/30 Griffin Bell
4/30 Zach Scheidly