To some it may look like all we Head Staff members do is sit around in the office and wait for the daily High Noon Nerf gun shootout. To others it might seem that we’re never around. While even some people just don’t have the first clue as to what we do all day long during the summer.
We do stuff, trust me.
Head Staff, 2016!
We’re the first ones up and in the office; the last ones to hit the hay hours after Taps rings. We’re the ones getting calls in the quiet of the night because a little nugget ended up with chipped teeth and a trip to the ER. We arrive at camp earlier than any of our counselors to lay the foundation for orientation and get camp ready for our campers. We sit duty in the office during lunch and siestas even though the only thing we want in life is our pillow for even a solid 10 minutes.
We handle staff when they have meltdowns, questions, or frustrations. We talk with parents of first-time and even long-time campers to ensure them that their children are in the best of care while at The Heart. We don’t have five campers or even 12 split between three counselors, we have 150 plus our 50 counselors to watch over and make sure that they are happy, healthy, and having the best summer they could possibly imagine.
We teach our own classes because we still like getting out and being active even though we have office duties. We plan the activity schedule, siesta coverage (even if does take three or 17 times to get it right), night-off, and every special activity night. We spend so many weeks on end looking for Vesper songs and the perfect lyrics that we forget about our costumes and end up impersonating our beloved director and her family.
We’re the good cop and the bad cop. We hold a responsibility to every camper, family member, and staff person that walks through those red gates to provide a summer of laughter, memories, and happiness. The list of things could go on forever, but I’d say you get the idea.
Volleyball at Stewart!!
We know that sometimes it doesn’t look like we do all that much. When I was a counselor in 2013-2014, it didn’t look like they had a lot going on in their days. Boy oh boy, was I wrong!
To the ladies that have been Head Staff before me and to the ones that will come along after, I applaud you. Your dedication, hard work, sleepless nights and exhausted yet cheerful grins have not gone unnoticed or unappreciated.
Being on Head Staff is a joy and honor that really can’t be put into words. The days and nights all seem to run together for those three months and normally we can’t tell if we’ve worn the same uniform three days in row or not, but at the end of the day it’s all worth it.
Besides, the great and brilliant Louann Nadalini once told us, “You can sleep in August.”
And no words have ever been truer. <3
Lots of love,
Fal <3
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