Reflection: Half way there...

This summer... I was given the opportunity to move up in my position at camp and I accepted it-- faithful in my own abilities to time manage and organize a new position. So far I have proven that fact to myself but there are still some days where I struggle to feel like I 'fit' in my new titles. A big part of my new position is managing personnel issues between staff and, frankly, attitude adjustments. I have dealt with a lot of hurt feelings and back talking, along with unfair conditions and expectations. This job is giving me so many good experiences in managing staff and handling conflict , which can apply to many other areas of life than employment and work. One of my coworkers and I were talking about personality differences between staff. She informed me that she considers me a diplomat; that people know I can solve issues and keep the feelings of others in mind while doing so. She said I am intimidating...guilty as charged. I have a big personality and stay true to myself in all situations. Another friend said this year that I have several different 'selves'. As in I can be different people in different situations. I have a teacher self, a gallery director self, a private self, a social self.. the list goes on. He made it sound like I have multiple personality disorder to be honest! But it makes sense - I am adaptable to most situations and can adjust my personality and approach with caution into conflicts. As I spend more time managing more people (of varying ages as well!) I become more comfortable with conflict resolution and helping others sort through their issues. I hope that this motivation to help and resolve tension will translate into teaching as well. So far it has leaked into every aspect of my being it seems!

But back to the post.. as stated in a previous post, I was given the position of Head Maintenance at the summer camp where I work. I was already in the position of Arts and Crafts Director at the camp and was later given the opportunity to start Archery and Fishing programs as well. It's been a great year for camp and our programs are stronger than ever. Enrollment is up and interest with it - kids are really excited for camp and the deans and counselors are as well. It feels good to be able to provide so many services to so many people - young and old - on a weekly basis.

That being said... there are some very challenging days. Sometimes it's a busted heater, sometimes the ATV won't start when we have to haul logs, sometimes an angry volunteer finds bees under their car. More often than not there are conflicts in the dish room about who is washing what and people asking the time when they really should be cranking out a job before they need to leave. It's a daily grind that can literally grind - like when the tires chewed up the beach front area when we were trying to move the canoe rack! I have learned a lot about the vehicles at camp and am gaining valuable knowledge about tools and trades which I have experienced in small doses previously. I hired two new maintenance workers who have worked in plumbing, carpentry, and other vocational areas and I rely on them heavily for most maintenance jobs and fix-ups. I make sure to make the time to learn from them and help when and where I can. Mainly, my job is to be a supervisor and delegate jobs to the workers - from across camp departments. I have nearly all the camp workers to help me with my day-to-day repairs and cleaning jobs--with a simple call of the radio I can send a staff member to whatever needs to be done. It's great and the camp is looking better than ever! We had a board meeting last week and the Buildings and Grounds committee was over the moon about the progress we have made. We are working extremely hard and long 12+ hour days and we have beautiful grounds and facilities to show for it. I am finally getting into a schedule of sorts and can designate certain days for trash runs, recycling center trips, shopping, etc. It's all about prioritizing and I have learned to do that from every angle possible. I have had many more good and productive days than I have had frustrating and 'defeat' days. I tend to think that the good outweighs the bad and plan for busy days to keep everyone motivated and working together. Last week we had our second biggest group of campers, Summer Games camp. I was not in the craft cabin at all and spent the entire week doing and planning maintenance jobs. It was a very productive week all things considered - things being extra clean up chores, picking up rather disgusting things off the bathroom floors, and hauling water across camp grounds to the various play areas. I find that the staff can accomplish one of my infamous day lists regularly and lately much faster than anticipated! Everyone is chipping in to make camp a more welcoming, clean, bright, and well-kept place.

This week is Junior High and it is the BIGGEST camp ever. 79 kids plus counselors and deans.. it's a full house here at Camp Michigamme! And I am doubly excited because I will be able to craft to my heart's content this week. Finally, back to the job I was hired to do haha! I have big plans for the Junior High campers - and the schedule is going to fight me every step of the way. I have a block of craft time right after breakfast until lunch time. THEN AGAIN at 4 and 5. At 4 I will be teaching Archery and then at 5 the campers have free time which they normally spend in Rockland. Noooo big deal, right? Just have to find lots of jobs to keep the maintenance crew and staff busy!

On that note, I have to plan for three different daily groups with rotation and eeehhhh.... I am really excited. That eehhh was excitement! I will be planning three different crafts per day and then rotating by day and group. I have two bags of Quickrete that I want to break out for some crafts. I found an interesting craft which is making succulent planters out of concrete. I also want to try out sand candles, possibly paracord bracelets if I can get the supplies needed... after the board meeting on Thursday I received some laminate samples from a trustee and I want to use those in crafts, too! I am thinking of cutting them in half and having the campers make pendants..

I will do what I can to post on Wednesday but its going to be a busy crazy week so I make no promises! I felt so bad typing this up FINALLY :O I will try my best to not wait longer than a week between posts. Lots of work ahead of me before tomorrow morning.... here we go! Back to it :)

Ms. Kanak

Science Camp, Mini Camp...campcampcamp

 Sooo the past few weeks have been insane but I will try to sum up....

Monday (6/22) : Science campers arrived and they were in the craft cabin twice! Their first project was to work on Yo-Yos and decorate them. It was fun to see the campers again - many of them this was their last year at Science camp so they were really excited to be back for a big bang of a finish.  Literally - rockets were the main project at camp :)

preparing for crafts with Cézanne

apron partyyy

lots of work but worth it :)

One of the nice things about Science Camp is they are very independent. I have time to organize and clean up for other projects and ideas. I spent most of Monday morning helping to find supplies and restringing fishing poles I found in the garage.

organizing the tackle boxes 

After a long day of working, crafting, sciencing, and cleaning, my coworkers and I went out onto the lake to fish for a few hours. We missed the rain by a few minutes and one of the guys pulled in a small pike - apologies for the poor quality of the picture - we were caught in the moment.

three poles tangled together.. oh good

pike minnow

Tuesday: To be honest.. not all days are good days at camp. My coworkers and I worked really hard and had a tough time finding the positives at the end of the day. I had a lot of fun with Science Camp building rockets and helping them with other projects, but at the end of the day my Maintenance workers and I just needed a break from camp. 

rocket building!

We went out to dinner and then stopped at a local attraction called "The Yoopers". They had a really cool rock shop and some other fun activities/displays set up to look at and tour.

Catwoman glasses

finally getting to sit down!

the owner's private collection

Wednesday: Wednesday Elementary Mini campers arrived and I was put in charge of helping with name tags.. kind of. I was actually put to work on Maintenance fix-it jobs all day and only was able to help with some babysitting type stuff with the younger campers. I helped organize the maintenance garage before dinner and didn't sit down til dinner.

We also launched rockets on Wednesday night!

launching...

getting some air!

I brought my rocket back from last year's camp - we effectively launched it into a tree line!

Thursday: Thursday I finally had time to work with the little ones on crafts! We made monster magnets/pins using recycled bottle caps, googly eyes, and foam pieces :) If the kids didn't want to make magnets they could draw on the table cloths or make pictures.

coloring :)

putting together monster magnets

she made a great big one!

some of the kids got double close caps - like a ketchup bottle.
they made two monsters in that case!

After the kids completed their magnets there was a mandatory clean up. The scampers did the BEST job cleaning and organizing the craft cabin and made sure every little piece was off the floor. The reward for clean up? A close up with Cézanne! First we talked about snakes, specifically corn snakes, and did some trivia type questions to teach the kids about Cézanne and his natural habitat. Each kid had to answer a question about him before they could hold him.

This girl was SO SCARED of Cézanne but after learning more about him she found her courage and held him for a few minutes! Talking her through the experience, "What does he feel like? Is he cold or hot?" etc, helped her relax and she only flinched once! As the kids worked with the snake they learned more about snakes and how to properly handle reptiles.

one of my coworkers wanted to hold him, too!

monster magnets!

cute cute cute

The Elementary Mini camp counselors and deans wanted to give their campers a chance to learn about archery - so I taught 25 little kids how to shoot! It was really fun and pretty challenging - which made it more fun.

And I MADE A GIF

this girl... made me crazy. But we were actually celebrating her great shot!

seeee happy faces!

perfect form! my little archers :)

I look like I work at Jurassic Park

happy archers :)

Friday: Friday was the last full day with both camps and I wanted to make the most of it. We worked on the pop tab snake craft and the kids did great! We learned about counting, weaving, and of course snakes.

Some of the kids needed a little more help than others - a standard in classrooms everywhere!

 I had a lot of campers who kept telling me "I can't do this!" "It's too hard!" Finally, I had heard enough. I stopped everyone from working and stated my peace: "Okay, here's the deal. I do not want to hear the words "I can't do it!" come from any of your mouths. I have personally watched each of you draw an arrow, use hot glue guns, set tables perfectly, and sing all the words of the camp theme song. Most of you just learned these things this week! If you are not willing to try then I have nothing to teach you... I know you can all do this! You have done amazing things in just 3 days. Please continue to amaze yourselves and me and don't give up."

And just like that... I had kids cutting out the snakes, glueing on eyeballs, drawing pictures, and learning how to make beautiful friendship bracelets for the rest of the day. I was a proud craft lady, that's for sure :)

After lunch and maintenance duties all over camp I was asked to teach the Science campers archery for a few hours before dinner. Sign me up!

learning about draw

go time!

aaaiiim...

even the deans were shooting!

NEAR BULLSEYES

retrieving the arrows

another round

best part about teaching at camp - help with clean up!

candid shot - oops haha

my snake has quite the fan club!

UPDATE: I am sitting writing this post two weeks past due! I feel like a terrible blogger... I need to be more attentive to this, but frankly the past couple of weeks have been absolutely insane. Last week after campers left we had the rest of the week off and I finally had time to relax and unwind with friends. So. Necessary.

This week we had Mission Camp, which was basically a group of middle school-age campers who came to stay and work both on and off grounds. We had lots of projects planned like mowing, raking, painting, cleaning.. all of the everything. My maintenance workers and I installed all new light fixtures in the bathhouses, painted the dining hall walls, among many other things. This week has been very trying in more ways than one but I feel like I have learned a lot about managing others and managing myself and my emotions...valuable skills for a teacher!

More to come tomorrow. Tonight I need to rest and reserve energy for tomorrow's projects and responsibilities.

--Ms. K