Mid States Camping Conference

The Mid States Camp Conference is pleased to offer a variety of extended and in-depth educational courses during the Leadership Institute presented by prominent leaders in the field. The Leadership Institute sessions are held just prior to the Mid States Conference and, unless otherwise noted, take place at Pheasant Run Conference Center in St. Charles, IL on Thursday, March 7 th. Explore the Leadership Institute offerings from our 2013 conference.

Super Skills for Leading, Directing, & Supervising Superb Camps
Leader: Michael Brandwein, educator, author, trainer
Core Area: Professionalism & Leadership for all programs and camps

Description: This is the acclaimed skill-packed supervision training session from the author of the number one national best- selling book on camp staff supervision, Super Staff SuperVision. Custom designed for both new and advanced members of the camp leadership team, in this one fast-paced workshop you can learn and practice exactly what you need to say and do to be one of the very best leaders at camp. Including:

6 Paths—the six essential things supervisors must do every day and how to get them done brilliantly;
Coaching staff with CDOS—precisely how to coach even reluctant staff to the highest level of performance so that every staff person is more skilled at the end of the summer than at the start;
Motivating staff and preventing burnout—and supporting the mid-level and high performers who often get less attention;
Building trust and credibility and being a boss of peers and friends;
- Special techniques to get staff to take this fun job professionally and with greater responsibility and accountability;
More campers, more retention—increasing program creativity and facilitating positive change so that your program stands out from the rest and makes campers want to come back for more;
What to say and do when staff are not meeting expectations—handling tough staff behavior with calmness and confidence;
And more!

Who should attend: Staff supervisors, directors, and other leadership team members need outstanding, expert training.
Times: 9:15 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. - COST: $65 per person

Trees, Birds and Bees, come tickle my tiny knees! A national environmental program guide to get them moving!
Leader: Patricia Brown, Education Director, The Nature Institute/Discovery Day Camp - www.thenatureinstitute.org
Core Area: Program Design & Development for All Programs and Camps

Description: Come play with us as we romp through award-winning environmental education curriculum guides Project Learning Tree® (PLT)! The guides are collection of multi-disciplinary activities for educators of Pre K-12. Participants will receive the PLT 96 interdisciplinary guide and the PLT Early Childhood guide with 130 experiences that highlight differentiated instruction, scientific background, music and movement (CD included) and reproducible student pages. Session attendees will participate in activity samples: games, physical activity, crafts, songs and dance.

Goals and Outcomes: Participants will receive 2 full-color activity guides with field-tested, hands-on, nature-based activities. Both guides include background information on facilitating experiences for the learner, how to guide children in learning about nature both indoors and outdoors and clear objectives and benchmarks to assess learning. We will identify the three phases of environmental education as assigned by age and child development levels. After training, attendees should be able to relate teaching strategies according to child development levels by utilizing PLT tools. We will incorporate environmental education into the early childhood learning through a multi-disciplinary approach, and identify and teach to Howard Gardner’s 8th Intelligence: Naturalist Learning style.

The Child Protection Plan - 8 Hour Training
Leader : Rick Braschler, Director of Risk Management, Kanakuk Kamps, www.kanakuk.com
Core Area: Operational Area (Examples: property, health, budget, marketing, etc.), for all Programs and Camps

Description: Are you looking for a child abuse safety system? The Child Protection Plan is a comprehensive system for the prevention, detection, and response to child sexual abuse in youth serving organizations. The CPP system consists of over 122 protection elements addressing six key components of child protection planning including Operational support, Facilities, Staffing, Training, Monitor/Report and Crisis Response.

Goals and Outcomes: To equip camp leaders with a comprehensive, systems- based child safety system for child sexual abuse. Why are old strategies and tactics not working? What can a camp begin doing that will combat opportunistic and grooming child molesters? What are the over 122 distinct and measurable protection elements that I can implement into my camp to prevent, detect or respond to child sexual abuse. What tool can I use to self-assess my camp program to determine our strengths and weaknesses?

Who should attend? Adminstrative/Operational (Office, Property, Health, Food Service, Other)
Times: 9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. - Cost: $195

Purposeful Leadership: Developing Yourself and Your Staff into Effective Leaders
Leader : Maggie Braun, Camp Director, Camp WeHaKee, www.wehakeecampforgirls.com. Core Area: Professionalism & Leadership for all Programs and Camps

Description: Real leadership – the kind that harnesses creative thinking, empowers new ways of work and transforms conflict is essential to camps! Examine leadership styles in the camp setting. Evaluate supervisory styles most effective with camp staff. If your goal this summer is to be the best leader possible – and you want the same for your staff, this session is for you! Leave with practical examples of new leadership concepts for your work in guiding camp staff.

Goals and Outcomes: To provide directors and camp administrative staff with practical tools to evaluate personal style of leadership and learn methods to better address leadership in the camp setting. Participants will grow in their understanding of leadership assessments and applicability to camp leadership. Participants will examine supervisory techniques to improve staff performance. Participants will utilize conflict transformation skills as a way to go beyond basic conflict management to build better staff teams.

The Psychology of Influence
Leader : Robert Burns, Sr. Program Director, Lake of the Woods & Greenwoods Family of Camps
Core Area: Professionalism & Leadership, All Programs and Camps

Description: Learn strategies to influence, inspire & impact all of those around you. From building rapport and communicating effectively, to understanding habits and the psychological triggers that influence our decisions, actions, and behaviors. This session will help you widen your sphere of influence, fully connect to the people in your life, and recognize what makes people tick.

Goals and Outcomes: The primary objective of this session is to inspire others to have a stronger influence and impact on the people around them by developing the skills required to engage others and understanding the psychology of what prompts us to do what we do. We need to understand how humans often run on autopilot, limiting our potential to move beyond the status quo. Our decisions, beliefs, & behaviors are formed based on habits & why 90% of what we do only requires us to use what is habitually instilled in us. Effective influence strategies that we continually fail to utilize and why conventional wisdom is ineffective when trying to influence beliefs and behavioral change. The subconscious triggers that will make us receptive or defensive. Why some people struggle to get someone to do something, while others are able to do so with ease.

StandUP! Mediator Training
Leader : Angelica Schab, Camp Director, Union League Boys & Girls Clubs Camp, www.ulbgc.org
Core Area: Cultural Competence, Diversity Topics and Diverse & Specific Populations for all Programs and Camps

Description: This course will introduce and explain the standUP! anti-bullying initiative that we have implemented in our organization. We will focus on 3 modules: Management, Mediators and Staff. Participants will learn what management needs to know about bullying, what trained staff, or mediators, need to know to handle situations and what every single staff should know about bullying. The majority of our time will be spent participating in activities that focus on how to mediate different bullying situations that may arise along with learning how to facilitate this program in your own organization.

Goals and Outcomes: 1) Learn about the different modules that make up a comprehensive anti-bullying initiative; 2) Gain knowledge about the overall subject of bullying; and 3)Gain an understanding of the initiative so that you are able to implement this in your own organization, including becoming familiar with the different types of policies that affect organizations when it comes to bullying.

Archery Instructor Training & Certification
Leaders : Claudia Stevenson, CEO and Kim Hannah, Director of Programming, Archery Education Resources, LLC, www.ArcheryEducationResources.com
Core Area: Program Area for all Programs and Camps

Description: Become a Certified Archery Instructor. No archery experience needed. You will learn how to shoot, how to teach beginners to shoot, and how to run an archery class. Covers Safety, Even More Safety, Archery Form, Camp-appropriate equipment, Range Layout, Class Management and more. All equipment and supplies provided. Must attend full day for certification.

How To Be A "Sizzle" Camp Leader!
Leader: Ken Veal, Camping Consultant, Ken's Idea Factory, www.campconsult.com
Core Area: Program Design & Development for all Programs and Camps

Description: "Sizzle" - a camping intervention that creates memorable excitement. Join this day of fun and interactive learning! Camp Consultant Ken Veal will present dozens of ideas - how a camp leader can personally add "sizzle" to the camp program and success. Learn things to do at campfires, staff training, daily surprises, programming, interactions with campers-staff - parents.& much more. Ken uses creative visuals, take-home handouts, fun group activities and lots of "sizzle" in this day of learning fun.

Bullying at Camp: How to Train Staff to Cope with and Effectively Intervene and Model.
Leader: Dr. Susan Weitzman, PhD, L.C.S.W., The Weitzman Center
Core Area: Staff Training for all Programs and Camps

Description: Bullying occurs in schools, camps, families, workplace, life. Contrary to formerly-held concepts, bullying can begin as early as pre-school. What are the dynamics of bullying and what leads to the behaviors? Better understanding the bully, his background, and family structure can provide a solid foundation informing how staff can effectively intervene when bullying occurs in camp. How do you hear the bully’s voice as well the victim's? How and when do you involve the parents? We will explore these topics and offer strategies for effective training methods and a more compassionate camp response while keeping a zero tolerance stance.

Goals and Outcomes:
1. Increase staff knowledge base on bullying behaviors and etiology;
2. Increase camp directors’ effectiveness in staff trainings potentially leading to measurable decrease in incidence;
3. Increase directors’ and staff's comfort levels with utilizing effective interventions and responses to bullying behavior challenges.

Who should attend? Supervisory/Managers/Directors
Times: 9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. - Cost: $40

Sexual Harassment at Camp: How to train staff to cope with and effectively intervene and model
Leader: Dr. Susan Weitzman, PhD, LCSW., The Weitzman Center
Core Area: Staff Training for all Programs and Camps

Description: Sexual harassment occurs in camp settings and can manifest in many ways, often between counselor to counselor and campers to camper, far more than between staff and camper. We will examine various forms of sexual harassment and how to best prevent, intervene and react as camp directors and staff. Various methods of staff training will be discussed and demonstrated as well as do's and don'ts for staff responses.

Goals and Outcomes: We will explore the above topics and offer strategies for effective training methods. Participants will increase knowledge base of resources for staff education, increase their effectiveness in staff trainings potentially leading to measurable decrease in incidence. This workshop will also increase directors' comfort levels with utilizing interdisciplinary, interactive, and multi-media approaches to staff trainings.

Who should attend? Supervisory/Managers/Directors
Times: 1:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. - Cost: $40

Creating Change: The Tools to Develop an LGBTQ-Inclusive Camp
Leader : Shena Willbrandt, Social Worker, Howard Brown Health Center
Core Area: Program Design & Development, All Programs and Camps

Description : With 25% of the U.S. population identifying as LGBTQQIA, organizations must ask: is my camp safe and inclusive to LGBTQ campers, staff, families and communities? This interactive session introduces critical thinking techniques designed to develop an inclusive community at camp by assessing current inclusiveness, overcoming outdated methods of practice and creating organizational change. Topics covered include: comprehensive terminology, policy design, staff training tools and resources, facility/programming/activities assessment and LGBTQ advocacy-based toolkit.

Goals and Outcomes: The goal of this Leadership Institute is to introduce critical thinking skills that will help participants in developing inclusive camp communities including policy and program design. All participants will learn at least one new skill at this session, 80% of participants will learn 5 ways to make their camp more inclusive, 70% of participants will feel more confident talking about issues related to LGBTQ populations.

Cost: The materials offered with this leadership institute are valued at $25. A sliding scale fee allows all participants to attend this leadership opportunity, regardless of the ability to pay. Please suggest the amount you are able to pay for this leadership course: $ (TBD)

ACA's Standards course serves as an introduction to ACA's Standards Program and helps participants prepare for accreditation visits. The course describes the purpose and value of standards and accreditation, and gives an explanation of how the process works and what resources and materials are available. The course offers specific discussion about the requirements of the standards, including: application of the core and specialized activity standards, mandatory standards, and written documentation requirements.

NDO is a special eight-hour course for seasonal or new camp directors, assistant directors, program directors, or persons that have been in other administrative positions and are considering directing summer camp. NDO is designed to be offered at the section or regional level. The NDO course helps directors and supervisors develop the skills they need to be effective leaders for their camp program. The course covers five core areas of camp management: leadership, risk management, camper behavior, staff training, and staff supervision

ACA Basic Camp Directors Course – BCDC (off site)
Leader : Gordie Kaplan, ACA, IL Executive Director

The BCDC course provides the basics and more for camp directors with fewer than six years of experience or for seasoned program directors and site managers. This is an excellent opportunity to be sure you have well-rounded knowledge of the fourteen core areas and to begin building your personal network of camp professionals. The expertise, knowledge, and diversity of the participants are integrated into highly interactive learning sessions that focus on real situations, problems, and solutions.

The registration for the four and a half day BCDC course ranges from $300 to $400 — member and nonmember pricing is available. Fee includes Basic Camp Management textbook by Armand and Beverly Ball. There are additional costs for room & board. Transportation is the responsibility of the participant. Additional Information and course dates please click here .

Climbing Wall Training (off site)
Leader : Scott Williams, Vertical Endeavors, Warrenville, IL (12 miles from Pheasant Run)

Scott Williams is the Facility Manager of Vertical Endeavors, Chicagoland's premier climbing facility. He has been working in the climbing industry since the 90's has been with Vertical Endeavors since 2001.

This 4-hour training seminar will focus on the core fundamentals that allow facilitators to effectively manage and utilize a climbing environment. Training topics include: Risk Management, Belay Training and effective instruction, Route setting, and Functional Use of Space with focus on movement and programming. Certificates of training participation will be sent to the participants after completion of the seminar. Top rope belay experience preferred

Who should attend: Program Directors, climbing instructors and assistants
Times: 10:00am - 2:00pm - Cost: $99
(minimum 5 participants, maximum 16 participants)