New Year, all camp
Get my newsletter every week.
It’s all about kids today
It’s the beginning of the year but writing this at the end of the year (got that?). Good time to think about this newsletter.
Been writing this for a couple of years, but over the last 18 months, every single Thursday.
Most camp pros are drowning in emails already. So why add another one to the pile?
Here’s the honest answer.
The Problem
Camp owners, pros, directors and staff are a pretty isolated group.
We know our camps really well. The Y, church camps, independent non-profits, JCCs, running out of a rented facility, special needs, private northeast, for-profit, day camps. All know their worlds really well.
But it’s really hard to see the full picture of what’s happening across everything.
Because the challenges we’re facing? Someone else just solved them.
The things we’re trying? Someone else tried it last summer and can tell you what worked.
The parent objection we keep hearing? There’s language that helps.
But it isn’t always easy to know who to ask. No one has time to visit 50 other camps, to go to every conference.
One hope is that this newsletter helps (or even exists) to connect those dots. To share what’s working, what’s not, what people are trying.
To make the camp world feel a little smaller and a little less like a solo venture.
Not because I have all the answers. But because I’ve seen enough camps to know we’re all wrestling with similar stuff.
And talking about it helps.
Quick Ad Break:
New Year, time to get camp in order.
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New director trying to learn 50+ staff names? Photo feature was a must-have.
Could pull up faces, match them to roles, actually know who I was talking to by Day 2.
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How I Got Here
Quick version:
Worked at a small independent camp for 8 summers. Loved it. Had no idea what to do after college.
So I drove around the country visiting camps.
Over 200 camps. 47 states. 2 years.
Saw everything. JCCs, YMCAs, private overnight camps, day camps, for-profit, nonprofit, autism camps, adventure camps, religious camps, secular camps.
Started a nonprofit sleepaway camp, Stomping Ground. Grew it to 600 kids a summer in 7 years.
Made a ton of mistakes. The food was sometimes late. We messed up schedules constantly. Tried things that flopped.
But those mistakes taught us more than the stuff that worked perfectly.
Did consulting work with camps on staff training, messaging, operations.
Now running a camp in New Hampshire. Still learning every single day.
The bottom(ish) line:
Every camp is unique. Almost everyone knows their version of camping really well.
But the problems are shockingly similar. And the solutions are usually hiding in plain sight at another camp.
I don’t write this newsletter because I’m an expert.
I write it because I’ve seen enough to connect the patterns. And because I think about camp constantly. Kinda can’t help it.
And if I’m thinking about this stuff anyway, might as well share it.
What This Actually Is
This newsletter is written by a camp pro for camp pros who think about camp all the time.
Every Thursday. (Usually. This one’s Friday because of New Year.)
Topics: staff training, parent communication, messaging, operations, frameworks, mistakes, things that worked, things that didn’t.
Tone: conversational, vulnerable, specific over vague.
Not polished. Not corporate. Not guru-ish.
Just honest conversations about running camps.
Sometimes it’s a framework like Time to Fun or Hidden Curriculum.
Sometimes it’s “Here’s what I screwed up this week.”
Sometimes it’s research applied to camp.
Sometimes it’s just observations.
The goal isn’t to tell you how to run your camp. It’s to share what we’re seeing, learning, trying.
And hopefully give you something useful to think about or try.
Or at minimum, make you feel less alone in this work.
Because camp work is hard. And it’s better when we’re doing it together.
What to Expect in 2026
More of the same.
Frameworks for thinking about camp differently. Staff training approaches. Parent communication strategies. Mistakes and learnings. Research applied to practice. Honest reflections on what’s working and what’s not.
And yeah, we have some other stuff going on like the Write From Camp Substack and the Write For Camp Cohort. Doug and I are proud of those extensions of what’s happening here.
Again, we think about camp a lot and there’s too much to fit into just this weekly send.
Plus, there will always be new stuff as we figure it out.
Still learning. Still making mistakes. Still trying to get better at this.
Just like (I think) you.
Why Keep Reading
So that’s why I write this every week.
Not because I have it all figured out. But because I think we get better together.
If you’ve been reading for a while, thanks for sticking around (Pam Schott loves when people read this!).
If you’re new here, welcome.
Every Thursday you’ll get something to hopefully think about. Something to try. Or at minimum, a reminder that someone else is thinking about the same stuff you are.
If it’s cool, keep reading.
If you know a camp pro who might like it, send them this.
Let’s make 2026 a great one.
We got this,
Jack
PS - As mentioned before, we are thinking and writing about camp (seemingly) all the time.
And we are pumped about what's happening in the New Year on that front. Check these out!
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Get my newsletter every week.
It’s all about kids today
Jack Schott
Summer Camp Evangelist