Director's To-Do List After Arriving at Camp

As a director, you need to be at camp when registration opens (usually 1pm for week-long programs). If the schedule allows, you should try to get there one day early, as there are many things to do and check on before the program starts. Here is a list of things to check on as soon as possible once you arrive at camp.

Registration and Cabin Assignments

• Communicate with registrar regularly
• Check with registrar if the cabin assignments are ready
• Greet arrivals, especially new families, and help them find their cabins. If you are busy doing other things, find someone else who can be there to welcome families

Schedules

• Hand the printed schedules to the registrar for inclusion in the welcome packet. (The program director is responsible for the printing of the schedules and bringing them to camp.)
• Post one schedule on or near the doors of all the public buildings (Dining Hall, Rec Hall, lodges, all education places…)

Education Setup and Preparation

• Finalize locations for different education groups and adult education and inform presenters if they don’t know already
• Either you or the education director should check the availability and condition of white boards, markers, erasers, working light bulbs in all education meeting places. Also, make sure all notebooks and pens are ready (you or the education director should have bought them before camp)
• Is the electricity working in all lecture places?
• Count the number of working benches (some of them might be broken) all over camp and decide together with the education directors how many benches should go to each location. A big event such as Orientation Night in the Recreation Hall might require that benches from Staff Cabin 1 and Unit 1 Lodge need to be brought to the Recreation Hall and that the groups using Staff Cabin 1 and Unit 1 Lodge will need to carry their benches back to their meeting places the next morning.
• Move around picnic tables if needed

Kitchen

• Meet the cook and make sure he or she has everything they need
• Discuss meal times with head cook, especially for first meal
• Was the Retail Food Facility License brought to camp and is it posted in the kitchen? (Don’t worry about this if there already was a program right before yours.)
• Find volunteers to help with food preparation for the first dinner. As part of the announcements before the first meal you will also have to recruit serving and cleaning volunteers, as your serving and cleaning schedule doesn’t include the first meal (the groups will be announced at orientation).

Infirmary

• Visit the infirmary
• Are first aid supplies restocked and available?
• Are the directions to the nearest emergency center clearly posted? Print the directions from our Guidebook and bring them to camp, in case they are not there already.
• Do you have the number of the nurse’s cell phone in your cell phone so you can call in emergencies?
• Is the nurse’s cell phone number posted on the wall in case she is not in the infirmary and somebody is looking for her?

Dining Hall

• Post your cell phone number and the nurse’s cell phone number on the whiteboard near the kitchen
• Get cubbies organized. Find volunteers who can label the cubbies at the end of the Dining Hall so families can deposit some of their belongings there.

Lifeguards and Swimming Pool

• Were the Red Cross Certificates of the lifeguards delivered to the park office, and did you get the pool key? Do you know where the rescue tubes are?
• Are the lifeguards familiar with the rules (can be found in our Guidebook)

Prepare for Orientation

• Make sure that the Rec Hall is set up for Orientation. Are there enough benches? Is the sound system ready? Are some songbooks there? The staging crew should make sure that there are enough benches, the sound system is ready, some songbooks are there…
• Decide on where the different assignment groups meet after Orientation so you can announce that at Orientation
• Prepare the printed assignment descriptions (which you should have printed before camp) so that you can easily hand them to the leaders of the different assignment groups. The different groups will meet after Orientation.

Other Things

• Are the portable toilets in good condition?