I have spent nearly two decades, working, attending or volunteering at summer camps.

When I was getting my master’s, I ended up overseeing the logistics and staffing at a large summer camp, with over 600 campers.
One (of many) reasons I went into educational leadership was the spark that was ignited when I accepted my first leadership position at this summer camp.  Below, I’ve outlined the most powerful lessons learned over those years that have been invaluable in my work as a school administrator.

1. Provide excellent customer service
   • I truly believe in creating raving fans.  I hate the idea of “under – promising and over-delivering”. It’s best to make your vision clear, and then deliver it, 100% of the time, with excellence.
2. Create and sustain a vision
   • Every camp can be exactly the same.  I learned from my old camp director, that it’s important to see a place/person/company for what it can be, not what it is.
   • In just 3 short years working for my YMCA camp, I saw it grow.  It expanded from 150 campers, 30 staff members, and a small pool…. into two giant pools complete with waterslides, 3 Jet boats for water skiing, a zip line, rock wall and sports-specific programs. That kind of change doesn’t happen without vision.
3. It’s ok to be the “bad guy.”
   • Someone has to tell the 19-year-old counselors that their idea is dangerous, or that it doesn’t fit the vision and mission of the camp.  Someone has to be the one to tell parents that their child will be asked to leave for hurting someone (‘Oh, and by the way, you aren’t getting your deposit back’).  Having difficult conversations became a part of my job, and I’m thankful for that.
4. “Everybody” and “Somebody” are both myths.
   • There are l,000 + jobs that need to get done at camp on any given day, just like a school. “Somebody” has to do them.  There is an old story that sums up my feelings about this:

There was an important job to be done and
Everybody was asked to do it. Everybody was sure Somebody would
do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.  Everybody
thought Anybody could do it but Nobody realized that Everybody
wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when
Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

Honorable mention: Scheduling & Budget

• We put together a master schedule with 40 groups, 6 special areas and somehow included swimming, waterfront and rock wall times.  Learning how to do this before I stepped into my first administrative job was not only helpful but crucial.
• Likewise, we had an operating budget of over $1,000,000. Managing that wisely was key, especially because in public education – you are managing tax-payers hard-earned dollars.