Gwynn Valley Camp embraces The FISH! Philosophy
There are few training tools/techniques that we’ve come across throughout the years attending conferences both regionally or on the national level that have impacted us more than the FISH! Philosophies have.
I was first introduced to FISH! when I worked for The Millennium Institute of Sport and Health in New Zealand, home to many of New Zealand’s Commonwealth and Olympic athletes. As you can imagine, the philosophy of success was high and accomplishing this goal was extremely important.
It wasn't until the fall of 2009 that I ‘reconnected’ with FISH! when we attended the ACA Southeastern Conference in Hilton Head. Jay Larson from ChartHouse Learning presented FISH! to us and it reignited my desire to spread the word of what these remarkable philosophies embody. After all – where better to adopt ‘Choose Your Attitude, Play, Make Their Day and Be There’ than at a summer camp?
This past summer, our staff were given ‘FISH! – Catch the Energy & Release the Potential’ to read during staff training. It’s a very easy read and was given to help prepare for the summer ahead. Along with the book, we hung posters in each cabin with the four philosophies as a daily reminder to staff.
We also hung posters in our staff living room of staff that were ‘caught’ living one of the four philosophies. Our camp photographer was given the task of finding staff who embodied FISH! while at work. We then printed and hung a poster with a caption of a philosophy below. Staff were not told and never knew until a poster appeared. Our photographer was very clever about taking photos while staff were focused on their campers!
To further enhance our program, each session on opening night, staff would sit down with their new campers to discuss cabin guidelines, dividing with their campers how they wanted to live and work together over the coming weeks. We suggested staff should introduce and include the FISH! philosophies so campers would understand what we as a camp were implementing. This also led to discussions with parents on opening and closing day who would ask staff about FISH!. You can imagine how parents responded when told that we would, ‘Choose our attitude, Play, Make Their Day and Be There’ with their children. Who wouldn’t want that for their child!
The impact throughout camp was wonderful. As the summer progresses, energy and patience levels tend to wane, and it was apparent staff had embraced FISH! when you overheard someone who was frustrated by something say: ‘I just need to choose my attitude!’ As a director you rejoice when you hear things like this. FISH! has definitely had an impact at Gwynn Valley, and continues to do so out of camp as we hear from staff who have taken FISH! back to their school and workplaces as well.
I would whole heartedly encourage every Summer Camp to take a look at how they could implement FISH! in their program, they won’t regret it.
Yours Sincerely,
Andy Savage
Assistant Director
Gwynn Valley Camp
I was first introduced to FISH! when I worked for The Millennium Institute of Sport and Health in New Zealand, home to many of New Zealand’s Commonwealth and Olympic athletes. As you can imagine, the philosophy of success was high and accomplishing this goal was extremely important.
It wasn't until the fall of 2009 that I ‘reconnected’ with FISH! when we attended the ACA Southeastern Conference in Hilton Head. Jay Larson from ChartHouse Learning presented FISH! to us and it reignited my desire to spread the word of what these remarkable philosophies embody. After all – where better to adopt ‘Choose Your Attitude, Play, Make Their Day and Be There’ than at a summer camp?
This past summer, our staff were given ‘FISH! – Catch the Energy & Release the Potential’ to read during staff training. It’s a very easy read and was given to help prepare for the summer ahead. Along with the book, we hung posters in each cabin with the four philosophies as a daily reminder to staff.
We also hung posters in our staff living room of staff that were ‘caught’ living one of the four philosophies. Our camp photographer was given the task of finding staff who embodied FISH! while at work. We then printed and hung a poster with a caption of a philosophy below. Staff were not told and never knew until a poster appeared. Our photographer was very clever about taking photos while staff were focused on their campers!
To further enhance our program, each session on opening night, staff would sit down with their new campers to discuss cabin guidelines, dividing with their campers how they wanted to live and work together over the coming weeks. We suggested staff should introduce and include the FISH! philosophies so campers would understand what we as a camp were implementing. This also led to discussions with parents on opening and closing day who would ask staff about FISH!. You can imagine how parents responded when told that we would, ‘Choose our attitude, Play, Make Their Day and Be There’ with their children. Who wouldn’t want that for their child!
The impact throughout camp was wonderful. As the summer progresses, energy and patience levels tend to wane, and it was apparent staff had embraced FISH! when you overheard someone who was frustrated by something say: ‘I just need to choose my attitude!’ As a director you rejoice when you hear things like this. FISH! has definitely had an impact at Gwynn Valley, and continues to do so out of camp as we hear from staff who have taken FISH! back to their school and workplaces as well.
I would whole heartedly encourage every Summer Camp to take a look at how they could implement FISH! in their program, they won’t regret it.
Yours Sincerely,
Andy Savage
Assistant Director
Gwynn Valley Camp
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