Erin's Reflection
Now that summer camp is coming to a close, explain 3 key takeaways from the experience? How will you apply it in the future?
1) Not every person learns or behaves the same. After getting to know my campers, I learnt that different campers benefited more from different learning styles. For example, one camper would prefer 1-on-1 learning while another would prefer a group lesson with slides. This is an important lesson to learn especially since I am interested in creating educational content in the future.
2) The people you work with can have a huge positive impact to the workplace. I was lucky enough to work with people that I got along with well, especially after getting to know them better. I know I wouldn’t have had such a positive camp experience if I didn’t get along with my coworkers. In the future, I will definitely keep this in mind when applying to jobs.
3) Patience is key, especially in working with young kids. It can be frustrating at times but remembering to keep your composure during stressful situations is a great skill to have.
Describe one of the biggest challenges you faced, how you overcame it, and what you learned from it.
One big challenge I faced at summer camp was getting campers to listen and follow instructions. Working in the junior classroom, this age group tends to have a short attention span or often forgets the classroom rules. This was frustrating at times as I would have to repeat myself many times for the counsellors to listen and follow rules (and sometimes they would listen and not change the behaviour). To overcome this, the other counsellors would go over the classroom rules at the beginning of every other day so that they could remember them. When a camper would break the rules, we would point to the board and remind them of the rule. If it would continuously happen, we would have a 1-on-1 talk with them to remind them of why this rule is important to follow. By the end of camp, the behaviour got a lot better and reminder of rules was minimal. This has taught me that sometimes, especially when working with young kids, repetition is key. Although it can sometimes be frustrating to repeat yourself, it is essential to remind them of the rules we have.
To close off the term on a high note, what were 3 highlights from your time at U+?
1) The talent show on the last day of camp was definitely a highlight. Our junior class had 5 acts in the talent show from dancing to singing to doing pushups. It was so fun watching them rehearse and put on their performances in front of the rest of the camp. I know they all enjoyed performing their various talents as well.
2) Another highlight is when we had a camp-wide just dance event. It was so fun to see all the campers and counsellors dancing and having fun together.
3) The last highlight for me was running the Lego robotics workshop for St. Anne and Our Lady locations. Working with new campers at a different location was refreshing and I especially found the junior class at Our Lady to be so sweet and curious about Lego robotics.
What is some advice/tip that you would offer to future staff?
Try to bond with your campers as much as you can. It can be easy to get caught up in running the lessons and activities but make sure to spend time getting to know the campers.
Please nominate someone who deserves the employee of the month award and explain why briefly. You can nominate more than one person.
I would like to nominate Aminah as she’s been an amazing site leader!
