CIC recognized with Safety First Award

Markel Honors Camps and Clubs With Distinguished Safety 1st Award

Richmond, VA, January 29, 2010 – Markel Insurance Company, a division of Markel Corporation, announced today that 64 camps and four Boys & Girls Clubs have received the prestigious Safety 1st designation for 2009. Each year, Markel’s Safety 1st program recognizes policyholders who have shown an exceptional commitment to the safety of their employees and customers.

Michael Swain, Senior Loss Control Specialist at Markel stated, “Camps and clubs must meet stringent criteria to qualify for the Safety 1st designation. They must have a proven safety record for at least three consecutive years, undergo formal assessments and inspections, and participate in continuing education and certification programs. These facilities deserve to be recognized for keeping safety a top priority.”

Catalina Island Camps has received the Safety First Award for seven consecutive years.

Tom Horner, Executive Director of Catalina Island Camps, said, "Safety is our first priority. Staff are well trained and motivated to provide a safe experience for every camper."

Jump! Jump! Jump!

There is a moment at the end of a session that all campers are familiar with. It looks like this. You’ve packed all your things, said goodbye to all your friends, your luggage is loaded, and then the boat shoves off. Your counselor stands on the pier waving good-bye back to you, there are cheers and whistles, just outpouring of emotion, as the boat drifts farther and farther away… bam! In the blink of an eye every counselor streams down the gangway onto the float and jump into the blue Pacific after you. This happens after every session of summer camp. In fact it also happens after every week of CELP, Family Camp, Camp del Corazon and even just when some guests leave in a power boat. It causes a frenzy just about every time, it’s even been adapted it to when people are leaving by car. This farewell extends around the island too. I’ve talked to counselors at Emerald Bay, Two Harbors, and Toyon that do the same thing. No one is sure why it’s done, just that is always has. Last summer I heard sailor David Dentinger yelling “and now we will jump after the boat as if we could somehow stop your leaving by doing so!” And that seems to be just about the sentiments - you’re leaving, it’s sad and we can’t change that, but let’s have some fun doing it. Endings are often like that, sad at first but becoming exciting and fun as they change into a new hello.


This Friday I’ll jump in the ocean as our last CELP school groups leave the island. And just before I do I’ll look around and ask all my friends on the dock before the boat leaves the same question that is always asked, “you jumping?” The answer to this question – just so our new counselors this summer know – is always “yes.” I’ve worked at our camp for 4 summers, and 6 CELP season, so that means I’ve jumped into the water 96 times after the boat*. But after this Friday it will be over a month before I perform this ritual again.


This is worthy to note because so much will have changed in that time in between. The CELP season started in February with staff training. Can you imagine a night snorkel training in February? Yeah, we’d all done one before so we only did 10 minutes in the water. CELP has had 12 blissful weeks of program, with a crackerjack staff and no less than 1400 guests coming through camp this spring. This Friday we will wrap up this season. The four of us (Danny, Miah, Julie and myself) staying for summer camp will have to say good-bye to a bunch of our friends, and that can’t be changed. But just like when you jump into the water, when we come up on the other side there’s a lot of fun to be had making new friends as summer camp begins.
*A complete exaggeration, maybe I jump a quarter of the time, remember I work here during March and November too!!

Camps for a Cause - Camperships that Raise money for Your School

A group of California camps have gotten together to raise money for schools and encourage kids to go to summer camp. Using E-Bay, the new group called Camps For a Cause, will sell sessions at their camps with low reserve prices. Whatever is bid for the camp sessions above the reserve amount will go to the winning bidder’s school. “This is actually a win-win-win situation” said Andrew Townsend, Director of Kennolyn Camps. “The camps can welcome another camper to experience summer camp, the winning bidder gets to send their child on an amazing camp adventure, and the winning bidder’s school gets a nice donation.”

The traditions and customs of Summer Camp are alive and well at Gold Arrow Camp, Shaffer’s High Sierra Camp, Catalina Island Camp, and Kennolyn Camps but they didn’t want to miss out on the world’s largest online marketplace and the chance to raise money for school sin times of budget cuts and teacher layoffs. “E-Bay makes great sense for us," says Scott Shaffer of Shaffer’s High Sierra Camp. “We are also trying to reach out to potential new campers and find ways to contribute to our community. Camps For a Cause helps us do both of these things at the same time.”

Bidders may also get a bargain. While the respective camps set each session’s reserve price, some reserves are as low as 30% of the published price. “We hope that people will bid up the items to ensure that the schools get a healthy contribution but someone could get the deal of a lifetime” said Tom Horner, owner of Catalina Island Camps. Steve Monke of Gold Arrow Camps hopes to see this pilot project expand. “Children really need the opportunities that camp offers” he says, “the chance to really connect with people and our natural world is a vital stage in a child’s development and camp allows children to explore these relationships in a fun and caring environment. The chance to get more children involved in camp and help schools is a great idea.”

Interested bidders can find the camp sessions by searching on the camp names within E-bay or just searching for “summer camp.”

Campers do not need to worry that technology will take over the camp experience. We will never gather round the glow of a computer to sing camp songs and tell stories," says Townsend. “Camp will always be a human experience, even if we use technology to spread the word about our camps."

Visit Camps for a Cause on Ebay.

Nathan Chaim in the South Pacific

This post comes from CIC summer camp counselor, Nathan Chaim. Nathan will be a sailing instructor this summer. He attends Biola University in Southern California and is currently studying abroad in New Zealand.



My Name is Nathan Chaim and I am a sailing counselor at CIC (the best camp in the world) I get paid more for writing that right?! Just kidding, anyway, I worked here last year and had the time of my life, and can’t wait to come back again!! I am currently studying abroad in New Zealand with a cultural trip to Samoa. New Zealand is an incredible place. It is completely untamed and wild. I have seen the entire south Island and my words would not express it’s beauty adequately.



In Samoa I got to experience the other side of living (a side of living I had never seen before). The family I lived with grew their own coconuts, Taro (a root much like beets), and they caught their own fish. These people had “living off the land” down to an art. These people in Samoa have been affected by many economic failure traps. These people work with what they have and it is the most beautiful thing I have seen as far as people working in community.



I am a Communications Studies major double majoring in Biblical Studies at Biola University in La Mirada, California. I am in my fourth and final year. I love learning! I enjoy creation on a daily basis and also love surfing, guitar, photography, cycling, running, swimming, and Crossfit.



CIC is one of those camps that takes your initial thoughts of the camp, and magically makes it come true! The staff and the directors make a camp run but the kids are what this camp is about, and that’s what I love about it. At some camps I went to when I was a kid and some I have heard of, the counselors don’t entirely care about the kids. At CIC I don’t think that is possible. The reason I chose to come back was because the staff here loves the kids and cares about them. They become a part of the kids' lives instead of just being an authority figure. It’s an amazing balance between being there for them as a friend and being there to mentor them as a father figure and brother figure.

“It’s not about how much you know, it’s about loving people with your mind.”

Shalom,
N8

Sustainable Living Bike Tour

The following post is by Danny Sudman, Catalina Environmental Leadership Senior Instructor and Catalina Island Camps Outback Director. Danny is famous for reinventing the role of Captain Compost at a CIC special event.

A few weeks ago I was watching video clips from the Sustainable Living Bike Tour blog and came across an interview with Nicole Briesbois about the origin of the bike tour. Nicole, a former CELP staff and founder of the Sustainable Living Bike Tour put a lot of time and energy into establishing the bike tour as a way to cultivate a better understanding of the students who attend the Catalina Environmental Leadership Program (CELP) by visiting and learning about their communities.

Outreach is an extension of the work we do at CELP to educate students, parents and community members about the importance of sustainability beyond what they learn during their time on Catalina. Catalina Island Camps fosters an environment which encourages students and campers to act as stewards for the environment. Outreach events, such as the bike tour, allow us to see what students have taken back to their communities from their time at Howland’s Landing.

This past winter was my second time on the bike tour, over 750 miles from San Francisco to Mexico. My experience with CIC and the challenge course program has reinforced the importance of stepping outside your comfort zone which allows for growth. The bike tour presents many challenges besides the many miles of rolling coast line, mountainous terrain, farmland and city riding we cover on our journey down the California coast. It takes a lot of organization and team work to make this event successful.

Probably one of the most important aspects of the bike tour was making sure that everyone was getting the right kinds of food to sustain the energy needed to fuel our bodies and power our bikes. Some of our favorite foods were falafel burgers, hard boiled eggs, the boxes of banana’s we went through, fig bars, dried apples, oranges, brussel sprouts with macaroni & cheese, and David’s famous coleslaw salad to mention a few. We also incorporated fresh and local produce into our meals which we found at farmer’s markets all along our route through California.
Stopping at the schools gave the riders an opportunity to talk to students about what it was like to ride down the coast of California while living sustainably. We incorporated what we saw on our ride into the curriculum we taught at the schools. The main curriculum points we covered included: protecting your coast, alternative transportation, gardening and composting, and greening your school. It was fun to see students in their home environment brainstorming with each other and working together to come up with ideas and action strategies on how they could have a positive impact right in their backyards.

We also scheduled some other visits on the bike tour to meet community members and organizations that promote sustainability and environmental awareness. Miah Smith and I had the pleasure of visiting the Kirsch Center for Environmental Studies at De Anza College in Cupertino, CA. The Kirsch Center is LEED Certified and demonstrates the potential of green technology to construct and power buildings with little impact on the environment. It was amazing to walk around a building in which every design element was done in a way to maximize efficiency of energy. A large monitor at the entrance told you how much energy the building was using at any given time as well as the amount of energy offset by the solar panels which covered the roof.
The 2009 Sustainable Living Bike Tour was a rewarding experience that allowed our volunteer educators to meet and work with some incredible people in communities all over California. A big thank you goes out to our family and friends, Catalina Island Camps, Ocean Futures, and the many other organizations that help make the bike tour so successful. Check out the blog for more information and archives of this incredible adventure.
“Be the change you wish to see in the world”
-Mahatma Ghandi

Photos by Dan Sullivan