Camp Champions | Central Texas Summer Kids Camp for Boys and Girls » Counselor

Camp is so close!

steveb — Wed, 05 May 2010 20:14:24 +0000

Nothing better than friends at camp!

It is May.

Camp starts in May.

This is cool.

In less than 2 weeks, our Leadership Team and all of our counselors will be arriving to bond, train and ready camp for our campers. We have a fantastic group coming in. I know the Leadership Team will be as good as any we have ever had. We are also excited about the counselors that will join us. It is a wonderful mix of returning favorites, senior camper graduates and new-to-CC folks. We are putting the finishing touches on Orientation. This is going to be fun.

We have had to do a little extra hiring. We have been elated by the excitement and interest in camp this spring. The phones are ringing all the time and we are signing up new families in the few slots that we have left.

We mostly cannot wait to see the campers! We are all passionate about the powerful benefits of camp on children, but we only get to work with the campers for 3 months. The rest of the year, we are planning improvements, recruiting counselors and learning how to be even more effective. We are particularly excited about some of the improvements this summer:

The Screamer!
The huge (24 foot!) fan in the Parthenon
The modifications to the schedule that has more morning classes than afternoon classes
The new Fire Truck (we are constantly thinking of new ways to use this thing)
Hampster Balls, booger wars and lazer tag (during All Camp Fun Day)
A few other surprises

So, if you are a camper or counselor, start planning your Dance outfits and practicing your favorite camp songs, because CAMP IS COMING SOON!!

Camp Champions Volunteers

lmesches — Tue, 04 May 2010 17:20:01 +0000

Here at Camp Champions we think it’s important to make sure that camp is in great shape for the upcoming summer, but we also spend time giving back to the community in many ways. We take care of our adopted 2 mile section of Highway 1431 by maintaining it throughout the year. We clean this portion of the road a total of 6 times a year. During each of the 3 terms throughout the summer, our Senior Campers go out and pick up trash and make the road a prettier site to see. Our counselors also do a cleanup during orientation. In addition to this, our Outdoor School Staff go out to beautify the road twice a year.

In addition to cleaning the road, our counselors have volunteered at the Boys and Girls Club of Marble Falls, at animal shelters and by cleaning the local theater. They have also painted the little league baseball stadium in local Marble Falls and built a sandbox for a local child care center.

Our Senior campers give back to our camp community all summer long by serving food, washing dishes and interacting with our youngest campers on a daily basis. They spend time bringing our campers to their activities, and they also assist in teaching at various activity sites.

On April 24, 2010 our year-round camp Directors and 2 of our girl’s Division Leaders volunteered at the Hill Country Ride in Austin and cheered as over 500 riders finished biking 10, 65 and 100 miles! Among the riders was our very own Boy’s Camp Director, Jonathan Shirley (not pictured below).

From Left to Right. Top Row: Lauren Garcia, Abby Green, Joe Pierzchajlo, Laura Hill.
Bottom Row: Nicole Angel, Leah Mesches, Whitney Evans, Helen Merritt

With camp approaching quickly, our counselors will once again be participating in a Volunteer Day during our Staff Orientation.

A Cool Brees Blowing in Miami

steveb — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:37:42 +0000

We at Camp Champions usually do not publicly support one team versus another. We have campers that are fans of all major teams, so we want to respect their passions.

Not this year. Not this Super Bowl.

Who Dat rooting for the Saints? It would be Team Champions!

Why? I will give you two words: Drew Brees.

Drew was a camper at Champions for 8 years and was Bearer of the Torch (then called Favorite Camper) twice. We still have former cabinmates talk about what a good athlete – and even better person – he was.

So despite the fact that we respect the Colts and Peyton Manning – Champions Nation will be rooting for New Orleans on Super Bowl Sunday!

Steve Sir

Interesting fact: Both Camp Champions and the New Orleans Saints were established in 1967. Hmmmm

A Beach Thanksgiving

steveb — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:01:13 +0000

Here is a belated post that I meant to put up a week ago!

Over the Thanksgiving break, the Baskin Family was lucky enough to spend a week in the Virgin Islands. Since we do not get to travel together during the summer, we always try to do something special some other time. This year, Susie Ma’am’s mom and dad hosted a sailing trip (they are talented sailors).

I only tell you this so that you can understand the photo. Our family hopes yours had a lovely Thanksgiving!

Steve Sir

I Love Our Community! or How Facebook Won Me Over.

steveb — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:38:18 +0000

Before last year, I was not the biggest Facebook guy. Over the last year, however, I have joined (been pulled into?) the Facebook Nation.

At first, I did not really get it.

Over the last 3 months, I have really become a fan for several reasons.

First, our Camp Champions Fan Page has been adding members like crazy. It is so much fun to keep in touch with the campers and families that we love in the non-summer months.

Second, we have started to use it to find our alumni. We are looking through old yearbooks and reaching out to former campers from the early years (1967-1975 so far) in a hope to build our alumni community as well. When Susie Ma’am and I bought the camp in 1995, we had essentially no alumni records and we have always longed to get in touch with former campers. Whenever former campers visit camp, they love it – sometimes spending 1-2 hours looking through old yearbooks! We want to share this excitement with even more people.

As a result, we have started to post old yearbooks on Facebook as well. Well, actually, we have only done one so far. If you get a chance, check it out at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Marble-Falls-TX/Camp-Champions/169523977814. If you like it, please let us know so that we can add more pages.

Finally, I had my first “Facebook Birthday” this week and was so pleased to hear from campers, counselors, parents and even some high school friends. What a joy to connect with so many wonderful people!

Here is a quick picture for you from the birthday festivities. I am usually pretty good at convincing myself that I am still a young pup, but this shot kinda made me see that I am getting up there. Susie Ma’am decided to put ALL 45 CANDLES on the cake, broken into one set of Trojan Blue and one set of Spartan Red. The effect was a pretty scary flame. Check it out in the picture!

Until the next blog, I hope to hear from you on Facebook!

Steve Sir

We are blogging for counselors too!

steveb — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:45:59 +0000

We will be keeping our camp community in the loop with everything that is going on at camp using our new blog.

We write, you read. Then you can write us back and let us know what you think. We will be making some cool announcements over the next few months, so you will want to keep your eyes on the blog. Be sure to subscribe and you will not miss anything!

We all miss all of you so much. As Shirls so often says, camp without you and the kids is just a lot of beautiful stuff, but it is not really camp.

With that in mind, we leave you with some of the beautiful stuff.

This is a great shot of the boys swim bay taken by Adam Long.

Steve Sir