Meet Heather Mitchell, a veteran of the camp industry with 26 years of experience managing Monkey Business Camp in Berkeley, California. Heather's management style, characterized by stability and versatility, ensures smooth camp operations while fostering a nurturing environment for campers in the heart of Tilden Park. Despite challenges like improving staff orientation, Heather prioritizes engaging with campers and staff, emphasizing the importance of practice over perfection and the enduring impact of camp traditions.
Name: Heather Mitchell
Name of Camp: Monkey Business Camp
Location: Berkeley, California
Years in the Camp Industry: 26
One word that best describes your approach to camp management: Only one word! Gotta pick two -Stability and Versatility
Take us through a day at camp under your leadership. What does a typical day look like from start to finish?
I am always sending my best to everyone out in the field, that is a top priority. I pray that they receive support and feel at ease and happy. Then, I find myself juggling eating breakfast, checking my phone for text messages to see if anyone is out sick, and sitting down to check on my regular annual calendar items as it takes all year to run all of our camps. Finally, taking time to be with the people of the camp, not only the administrative or coordinating tasks, which do take up a lot of time, is of utmost importance. I realize that for me, even if I give myself once a day a time to play a game of tag, a parachute game, or watch a closing circle, I am reminded why I am doing all of that other stuff, and it helps me hunker down and just do it. I have stickers in my office, one is a mermaid and it says "She dreams of the sea in Maui" (travel has informed a lot of who I am), and another is a circular sticker with the message "no enemy" (what a concept!) and the last from my Operations Director " Put your hair up in a bun, drink some coffee and handle it." (it takes some grit to run a camp).
Describe the heart of your camp. What's the central area or the main hub where activities or gatherings take place?
In the summer, we have the most amazing local county park, Tilden Park, with 2,000 acres of nature, where we spot wild turkeys, deer, hawks, coyote, turkey vultures, butterflies, ladybugs just a 10-minute drive from the city of Berkeley and other local towns. We are so grateful to the people before us who nurtured this land and saved it from development! Each day we set up our equipment at a couple of picnic areas, and camp takes place in this amazing backdrop.
What are some essential tools, apps, or equipment you rely on to keep camp operations running smoothly?
We run a classic style day camp, so our biggest tool really is our staff team. Otherwise, we have an incredible operations team, Samantha Swor and Bradley Olson, who have been with camp for a decade each, and they make sure that campers have art, manipulatives, balls, hola hoops, books, board games, bandanas for nature games, ooblick, BINGO, and oh so many other things.......and that sites are shaded with canopies, toilets stay unclogged, and that our bathrooms are stocked with Dr.Bronners biodegradable soap.
What’s a challenge you’ve recently faced at camp, and how are you working to overcome it?
Trying to provide the best orientation materials to our youth leader and staff teams, so it is fun and really shows people who we are, not just boring words on a page. Engaging one of our former staff people who worked only summers and now has joined our year-round team to create shorter PowerPoint videos is how we are handling it. I think it will be a great outcome. I know how important it is to share more about all of the care that goes into this camp and to share about that with our next generation of counselors. It can seem like this stuff is easy, but truly it takes a lot!
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received about managing a successful and enjoyable camp?
"It's a practice, not a perfect."
Also, from Sylvia Boorstein, a meditation teacher "In times of difficulty, I have relied a lot on my growing certainty that things were going to pass. This has really supported me."
And from another camp director friend, Kirk Cooper, "people are doing their best until they can do better."
What book, podcast, or resource do you think every camp director should read or listen to, and why?
Being an outdoor-focused camp and a lover of nature and nature exploration, I would say the resource of taking yourself out into it, for a walk, to do some gardening, to play with your kids. There is so much to learn and it helps quiet things and I get new perspectives and ideas on things. American Camping Association also has a lot of great resources.
How do you organize and prioritize camp tasks and responsibilities, especially during the busy summer season?
I have to spend so much time at the computer, handling upcoming items, answering e-mails, and checking on how things are going with others on the team, but I know how important it is to get out at camp, so I make sure to schedule in times, even if it is to sit with the kids at snack for a while and be a part. It always is so inspiring to see what the staff and kids have created together. And sometimes there are challenges sure, so it is important to be there to help staff through them, and to remind them they are doing great.
What’s the most creative excuse you’ve heard from a camper trying to get out of an activity, and how did you respond?
Nothing particular is coming to mind for this one! But, for sure kids are always trying to get out of activities, although we have lots of free choice times, so we remind kids to try this one and then soon they will have time to do something else.
If you could invent a new, wildly popular camp activity that perfectly captures the spirit of your camp, what would it be and why?
Honestly, we have so many great activities, games we play, art we do, food projects, nature connection, singing, with special highlights that it is really in the repetition of these that we have created a long-term community, with a beautiful history. It is incredible to hear current staff, 75% of whom were former campers and youth leaders, telling me about their memories from camp. I am more in the place now where I am supporting them to do these same rich activities, and to understand more about the complexities sometimes of delivering them than it might seem. And of course, to share that it is important to have the stability, but also to create magic in the moment, as both are the stuff of life.
Comments