Summer staff orientation looks a little different this year as new staff members arrived on Friday, June 21 for what will be a weekend-long training session. This is because the waiting list to attend our summer sessions has grown so much in the past couple years that Camp Director Matt Rickman decided to train the staff a few days early and replace the usual week of training with a short week of camp to relieve some of the spots on the waiting list. The session coming up this Sunday, June 23 will be called Session 0 and will last until Thursday, one day shorter than the remaining seven sessions
Staff arrived at 3 p.m. to complete hiring paperwork, and then they made their way around Camp for a tour that ended at the Dunn Center where the official training began at 4 p.m. For today’s first session, the 2019 staff are hearing from Camp Director Matt Rickman and Program Director Amber Cotney as they go over the Policies & Procedures of Camp ASCCA. After dinner, the staff heard about the public relations and social media side of Camp ASCCA from Director of Marketing Dana Rickman and Social Media Specialist Kasey Langley. They discussed the do’s and don’ts of social media, the jobs of the PR interns and much more.
Matt followed that conversation up by discussing the cell phone policy at Camp and expressed the importance of the no cell phone rules for staff and campers. Then, he split the staff into groups ba
sed on their cabins and gave them time to move into what will be their homes for the summer. On the printed schedule, the big move was followed by more Policies & Procedures at the BCK4T, but the new staff members were in for a big surprise. If the new location was not cool enough, the frozen treats and the free time to play games made it even cooler. Camp Administrator John Stephenson and Matt each shared a few thoughts and then let the staff enjoy the many games that are available in the BCK4T. The counselors were smiling from ear to ear as they got to know each other and see such an exciting place that campers will get to enjoy this summer.
Saturday morning started with a quick breakfast provided by Food Services Director Enis Higgs and his staff. Then everyone
headed to the gym for a few team building games led by Lifeguard Maggie and Unit Leader Sam. The staff learned how to play Ships & Sailors, a game that challenges critical thinking and attention to detail, and Celebrity, a game of Rock Paper Scissors with a twist. The first classroom session of the day is taking place back in the Dunn Center where Matt is speaking about the policies on camper contact, child abuse, DHR and bullying. After hearing from Matt, the unit leaders took over to teach staff the proper techniques of lifting and transferring. They even split into groups based on their cabins, so that they could learn how to efficiently work together with their cabinmates. You can learn more about Lifting & Transfers from PR Intern Elise here.
After lunch, Matt gave the staff time to take a quick break and rest before starting back up with classroom sessions with 
Nurse Jaco. The nursing staff spoke with counselors about first-aid, universal precautions, emergency situations and proper radio usage. They also discussed fire procedures, weather, search and rescue and how to handle an intruder situation. The afternoon took a rainy turn, and everyone made their way to the gym for a revised program training session where each program specialist explained program philosophies. As the summer thunderstorms continued to roll in, the staff met in the game room to discuss intellectual disabilities with the unit leaders. Eventually the storms were so strong that the power went out, but that did not stop us from continuing the day’s scheduled events.
After dinner and a conversation with Nurse Jaco about seizure disorders, everyone split up for cabin meetings. Unfortunately the pool party was canceled, but Matt let the staff finish up early and have some time to hang out and get to know each other.
The power eventually came back on last night, so the morning operated like normal with a quick breakfast before the staff returned to the Dunn Center for the final classroom sessions with Nurse Jaco discussing diabetes and physical disabilities.The final meeting of orientation was with Matt to discuss camper assignments, and each counselor found out what campers they would be paired with this week. Next up will be getting ready for Bonus Session 0. Everyone is very excited to start of the first week of summer!
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Located in Alabama on Lake Martin, Camp ASCCA offers campers a wide variety of traditional recreational and educational activities with a unique design for accessibility.
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