I hope for you parents that, at the end of the school day during the off season, your camper comes home and has a good answer to what they did at school today. I can guarantee that you’d get a bit more than “nothing” at the end of a day at camp; I know that for a fact because of our ARO system. Perhaps you read my article about AROs this winter in the Arrowhead and are already familiar, but if you’re not, ARO stands for “Activity Records and Objectives.” The ARO itself is a form that our counselors use to guide a nightly one-on-one discussion with each camper in their cabin about how their day went. But we use the term “ARO” to refer to both the physical form and the conversation time for filling it out. The addition of the paper form helps track a camper’s activities and goals through the summer.
This season we’ve placed a new emphasis on these crucial conversations. We devised a new, more intuitive ARO form, and spent two hours during staff training teaching our cabin staff both how to put mentorship in action, and specifically rehearsed the ARO conversations we want them to have with campers each night. Practice makes perfect!
So, each night of the summer so far, your camper has sat down to discuss how their day went with their counselor. Walking around camp at dusk, I get to see and hear AROs happening. One evening this weekend, I strolled through the villages and got to listen in on a bunch of meaningful and informative conversations. On the hill, a Swamper counselor called each of his campers into the counselor quarters one by one to sit and chat about the day. The counselor discussed all four project periods with each camper, and noticed when a camper tried something for the very first time. This led to a discussion about the camper’s experience of stepping out of his comfort zone. I found another counselor in the Logger village sitting under a canopy tarp doing AROs with one of his campers, checking in on how the camper’s homesickness is coming along. The camper was happy to report he’s not really feeling homesick anymore at this point in camp – he’s just focused on all the fun he’s having. In the Axeman village, a counselor sat at a picnic table outside the cabin and reviewed what ranks a camper achieved that day, tracking toward their goal of earning one rank in every project through the summer. And at the 10-foot basketball courts, the Lumberjacks played a game of five-on-five and were called away from their game one by one to sit down to chat with their counselor. I would’ve understood if the oldest campers were a little frustrated to leave the fun for AROs, but each one saw the value in sitting down and reviewing the day, and they took turns subbing out for a few minutes to sit down with their counselor and discuss the day.
It wasn’t just my eavesdropping that revealed the quality of the counseling happening each night. On Mondays and Fridays, Noah, the village directors, and I leaf through all of the ARO forms to see how the summer is going for each camper. This morning, while sitting on the Big House front porch reviewing each binder of AROs, we were simply blown away by the quality of the counselors’ notes. Staff take the time to write out details on each camper, covering the stories from the day, or the reason for a quick trip to the infirmary, or the highs and lows each boy experienced.
Of course, the handwriting changes as different counselors from each cabin take turns hosting the ARO discussion. This makes the notes even more important – a co-counselor can refer back to his fellow counselor’s notes from yesterday to inform how the discussion should go tonight. Each binder is a little different from the other – each counselor has their own way of tracking what the campers did. But the throughline in all of the AROs is the care and consideration each camper receives from their counselors every night.
Our counselors and campers have completely bought into the system, evidenced both by the audible conversations and the notes our counselors are taking. These regular, nightly check-ins lead to campers building more trusting relationships with their counselors, and counselors investing more in their campers’ growth, development, and success. At the end of the day, AROs are just a tool. It’s a device our staff use to ensure that every night, we ask your camper “What did you do at camp today.” And so far, we’ve been thrilled with their responses!
All is well in the Northwoods!