The Art of the Hall Meeting
Each afternoon, campers gather with their counselor group to receive the schedule for the rest of the day. Today, I sat in on Jack Clark and Wade Luttrell’s meetings with their campers. A typical evening schedule looks much like tonight for SCATS campers – hall meetings, activity signups, dinner, evening activities, time with their community, and nightly room checks.
At hall meetings, Jack and Wade explained resources available to their students. At SCATS, students are able to write unlimited letters home, participate in morning runs twice per week, and exchange words of kindness on our camp-wide Warm & Fuzzy board. As campers get acclimated to their new routine, it is imperative that they are made aware of these extra opportunities so they can take advantage of them.
Campers are also made aware of activities available for after dinner. These activities (Optionals, as we call them) are “Mandatory Fun”, where each student signs up for exactly one activity to participate in for approximately 75 minutes. Tonight, our selections include friendship bracelet making, capture the flag, ultimate frisbee, card games, poetry writing, and improvisational acting. With this wide of a selection, we are confident that every camper will find an activity they love.
Despite our confidence, Wade & Jack double check that every camper had a great time tonight during room checks. Room checks are right before lights out, where counselors check in which each camper individually. During this time, campers learn the weather for the next day and are asked how their evening went.
Overall, evenings are a great time for learning and laughs, framed by information given in the hall meetings. Personally, I think Wade & Jack did a great job!