May 2024 Newsletter

Affiliate Contests

This camp season, the National Support Center will be heading two initiatives to help support our evolving training content and photos for the website and social media.

First, we are inviting our older campers (LTs/FireFlies/CITs) to create and submit content for a Camp Quest youth-centered counselor training video, which National will professionally edit. We would love for your older campers to participate and are available to answer any questions or provide support needed to run this program. We also have a GoPro at National that could be shared on a first come, first serve basis. 

Learn More About Training Video Submissions

Second, we are requesting photos that capture the spirit of fun, friends, and freethought at your camps. Please submit up to 3 photos for each word through our new National Photocircle account. Your contributions will help showcase what makes Camp Quest special and will also be the photos used for the annual Leadership Summit Photo Contest. 

Four campers laughing while experimenting with shaving cream on a table.

Volunteer Spotlight!

We recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Brooke, the Program Director for Camp Quest Ohio, to discuss her journey and the impact of Camp Quest on her life.

Head shot of Brooke smiling in front of solid gray background.

Brooke’s story is a testament to the transformative power of Camp Quest, and we’re excited to share some highlights from our conversation as she heads into the camp season and visits several Camp Quest camps including Texas, Ohio, North, Michigan, and Northwest.

Read more about Brooke!

Activity Plans and Resources

Explore hundreds of games by group size, available space and equipment, appropriate ages, and developmental skills.

These games are designed to keep all kids playing. You will see lots of games where everyone is “it”, ground-rules that keep games manageable for supervisors, skill-building variations on students’ favorite sports, and other adaptations that make games fun and inclusive for everyone.

PLAYWORKS Game Library
Ultimate Camp Resource
Group of campers standing side by side making silly faces and holding their hands up to their heads to form animal ears.

How to Incorporate Shy Campers into the Cabin

It’s important to know how to incorporate everyone and foster an environment of inclusion with your campers, helping them navigate the possible special needs of a shy camper.

UltraCamp has a useful library with blogs that can be useful for summer camp volunteers/leaders. As we head into the summer camp season, we want to share some of those resources with you so you can make this the best summer camp experience for all campers! See how to incorporate the shy camper into your cabin groups by following the link below.

Engaging shy campers

Newsletter Content Submission

The National Support Center has created a Communications Task Force and are asking Affiliates for input on newsletter content.

For our June newsletter, we are asking Affiliates to submit their training success stories. Once we receive submissions, we will compile all entries and add this to our June Newsletter. Find our submission form below for more details.

Newsletter Content Submission form

National Support Center Services

The National Support Center has been working on a variety of items as we head into the busiest time of the year for our Affiliates.

  • Camp Care Packages 
    • Tattoos and stickers for everyone!
    • Water bottles for volunteers
    • 10 Commitments Crossword for downtime 
    • Thank you letters for parents leading them to the camp feedback form
    • Thank you letters for volunteers leading them to the camp program feedback form
  • Camperships
    • Thanks to the generosity of donors, we have the Helen Kagin Campership Fund for campers in need. We are continuing to raise awareness about the fund and encourage more donations. 
  • Training
    • We are continuing to use the Thinkific training and will be working to improve this training to meet the needs of our Affiliates and specific camp needs. Our goal is to add more content to the original training as well as create a returning volunteer training course.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out. We’d also like to know if there are any urgent needs in our community that we may be able to alleviate. Looking for board members, volunteers with specific skills, or ideas for programming or equipment? Let us know by sending us an email, or pop in to an upcoming office hours session.

Thanks so much for all that you do, and happy camping!