Staff Moments

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Staff Moments

Written by Mike Frank

Monday, 28 June 2010 16:52

This page is dedicated to our 2010 staff that, on a daily basis, goes the extra mile to ensure your camper(s) have the greatest experience of their life with us this summer. We will highlight one, of many moments, that occur each day, on this page throughout the summer. Check back in June 2011 for WOW moments by our staff.

River Way Ranch Camp Staff Moments
	Session I - Celine Alon Moment: On Tuesday Celien Alon, who had never been on a mini bike, tried to learn under the guidance of our amazing staff member Spike. Spike spent more than 40 minutes with Celien to ensure she felt confident and safe in her attempt to learn. Celien was able to complete the mini bike course 3 times and earned a special certificate and pepsi pass for her courage and determination. Spike and Celien are pictured together on a 'Patrol Bike' as a mini bike was not available for this photo opportunity.
	Anakin Peace Moment: Staff member Tex gave a challenge to all the Buckaroo Boys. Make it up the Climbing Wall, at the Ropes Course, in less than 1 minute and earn a Pepsi Pass and a special prize from Tex himself. With the special guidance and mentorship of Tex over the next hour Anakin made it to the top in 55 seconds. He was the only Buckaroo to make it under the 1 minute mark!
	Olivia Venit Moment: Counselor Switch brought matching red bandanas to breakfast to add to the special morning he had planned for Buckaroo, Olivia Venit. After realizing Olivia had missed her wave-runner trip, Switch was the first to take his day off to take Camp Mom Kinder and Olivia to the lake for both of their first times on a thrilling River Way wave-runner ride. Olivia returned to camp with a smile ear to ear!
	Strauss Cooperstein Moment: Counselor Buddha paired up with Strauss Cooperstein and created a lunch filled with entertainment. With Buddha’s encouragement and energy, Strauss brought the rest of camp to their feet as the two guys lead the camp in and energized and dance filled lunch.
	Erin Spillane Moment: During Harley's free time Erin and a couple other bunkmates challenged the resident 'spoons' champion to a game. If they win, they got to pour a pitcher of cold water on Harley. If Harley wins, she would have been waited on hand and foot during dinner. Harley lost for the first time all summer and Erin had the pleasure of giving Harley a cold bath in front of the entire camp!
	Session II - Bageera and Bishop Moment: Counselor Bageera and Co-Counselor Bishop teamed up with our senior campers to create a Big Brother program for our buckaroo campers. Micah Stein and two other senior boy campers shared with camp why they were the best candidate to be Shay Doughty-Oken’s “Big Brother” for the session. Shay selected Micah and the two boys have paired up to share in the memorable experiences of camp.
	Way to go team Moment: Max thought his ski overnight was on a different day and missed the van to the lake. Instead of missing out on the trip with his friends, our program directors took their personal time to drive Max to the lake with a class b driver. Thanks to the selflessness of Olive, Snickers, Jinx and Beaver, Max had the best day ever in camp. Way to go team!!!
	Horse Show Moment: The horse campers were taken to a local horse show where they competed in a variety of events. Campers and staff won many ribbons during the all day competition. Giving up their day off to be with their campers, ensuring their success, Lolly and Cherry (Wrangler Staff) assisted Taffy (Head Wrangler), Punkie and Trotter with the show. Both Lolly and Cherry got up at 5a.m. on their day off to spend all day with their girls who were more than excited to have them along. Way to go Ladies!!
	Buckaroo Boys Moment: Roy Oken, CEO/President spent today dedicating time to our Buckaroo Boys. He gave them a Magic Show in the morning and then brought over the Fire Truck in the afternoon. Roy is also our resident Fire Captain. He showed the campers all the gadgets on the truck and explained their purpose. The highlight of the day for them was the engine shower they received when Roy shot water from the mounted cannon on top of the truck 50 feet into the air, providing instant rain and enormous smiles and laughter.
	Drama Production Moment: Campers Rio & Gia recognized a staff member who was supposed to be on his day off - not off but working. Drama Director Fleagle who was supposed to be on 24 hours off was found working feverishly on the set design for the play Pocahontas. Dedicating more than 8 hours of his personal time, Fleagle has laid tremendous ground work for the upcoming production. Rio and Gia thanked him during evening announcements. Great job Fleagle!
	Fantastic Staff Moment: Sarah Skelton (camper) was not going for a tube ride no matter who pulled her or how safe they made it appear. Yet Knoxville and Lyric both took on this challenge to ensure no camper was left behind without the amazing fun of a tube ride. Sarah, fearing the thrust of the boat and water rushing over the tube as the waverunner takes off, called it quits many times before our FANTASTIC waverunner staff showed her how safe and fun tube rides really are. With patience, extra coaching, some additional encouragement and the gift of compassion - Sarah enjoyed her first tube ride of the summer thanks to two of our AMAZING waverunner staff!!
	Awards Ceremony Moment: Bailey after performing during our talent show asked counselor Schwep to Duet with him during the Awards Ceremony. With less than 2 days to prepare, and already scheduled activities, Schwep gave up her free periods to practice with Bailey and perform one of the most talked about performances this summer. Thank you Bailey and Schwep for making the Awards Ceremony so very special!!
	Session III - AP Power Moment: Behind their Director Shorty, the AP's put together the BEST Saturday program of the 2010 summer and by almost all camper accounts, the best Saturday program in 3 years. Giving up activity periods and rest hour these 17 campers held a Carnival with more than 20 different activities ranging from watermelon eating contests to bobbing for apples or just your traditional shaved ice treat, all to the joy of our 300 campers and staff.
	Sunshine and Michelle Moment: Sunshine, one of the most adored CIT's the last couple of years, has been making sure our camper Michelle enjoys her International Exchange Horse Camp Experience. Sunshine has been spending her morning free time to work with Michelle on various aspects of our Equestrian program to ensure Michelle has a safe and rewarding experience at River Way.
	Squirrlee and Bunk 152 Moment: On the one morning when campers and counselors are allowed to sleep in, Squirrlee got up early to take his bunk on a fantastic fishing trip to what lake! Half the campers had never fished before, with Jeremy and Brandon Marsh catching their first fishes ever, and Frank Wells catching 5 fish with a handline!!! Using salami and fish eggs as bait, the boys caught a bunch of fish, with almost every camper catching at least one! The boys had so much fun they want to sign up for more fishing this week, and are looking forward to going fishing when they get home from camp!! Great Bunk bonding experience.
	Lake Director Jaspa & Emma Moment: Emma, a 5 year camper, has spent the last 4 weeks becoming a better wakeboarder through the guidance and mentorship of our lake staff, specifically Jaspa our Director. Jaspa has spent numerous personal hours working with Emma not only with her skills on the water, but showing her staff responsoibilities and duties off the water. Emma’s dream is to be a C.I.T. and future lake staff at River Way. Those dreams are beginning to happen now. Thank you Jaspa!
	Bunk 131 Moment: The lady campers love their counselor’s (Teeny and Sweets) sooo much that they provided them with the Counselor of the Universe Award. Making tiara’s and flower bouquets during rest hour and activity periods at Arts & Crafts they showed their admiration and appreciation to their amazing role models that brought a standing ovation and a collective ‘awe’ from all of camp.
	Posh Moment: Due to networking and other technical difficulties our Technology Lab computers were down for a couple of days. With the newspaper a day away from its printing deadline and less than 50% of it finished, Posh took her day off complete the Session II Newspaper. THANK YOU POSH!! If you would like to view a copy of this amazing camper produced paper, please download it from our website: Newsletters.
	Session IV - Swimming Lessons Moment: Counselor Slash has been working with camper John overcome his fear of the water. Upon arriving John did not want to get into any pool or lake. Slash recognizing this fear spent many of his free periods working with John to build his confidence and his swim ability. Slowly but surely time, patience and exceptional mentorship paid off and John is enjoying time at our water facilities. Great job Slash!!
	Wakeboard Session Moment: Luca, from France, spent 5 weeks with us learning how to wakeboard and the culture of the American Summer Camp. After 5 weeks Luca wanted to show his family all he learned. Unfortunately when his parents were able to pick him up staff was not scheduled to be at the lake. So our lake Director Jaspa took it upon himself to get 2 other staff members to leave extra early the following morning to make Luca’s dream come true and show his family what 5 weeks of hard work and effort have afforded him as part of the ski specialty camp. Thank you team for going the extra mile.
	Rock Star Performance Moment: Giving up every free period they had the last two days of camp La Nauba and Switch worked with our seven week camper George to pull off one the best talent show performances of the night.