Thank You, Gurus!

This week we will say goodbye to the remaining Outdoor Education Staff.  Most of these people have been with us since March 2014 and have grown SO much over the past 9 months.  We want to thank them for their dedication to Camp Burgess & Hayward, for providing excellent programs to the thousands of kids that come to our facility, for their endless enthusiasm, for their positive attitudes, and their willingness to do whatever it takes to make this place the best it can be!

Below are some examples of “Guru Skillz” as described by Gurus themselves:

Technical/Hard Skills:

• Teaching Outdoor Ed Classes
• Belaying
• Using a Weed-whacker/Lawn Mower/Stump grinder/Aerator/Chainsaw/Gravely/Wood Splitter
• Lifeguarding/pontoon boat captaining/t-rescues
• Swamping, raking, moving pieces of wood
• “Making little pieces of wood from big pieces of wood” – J.O’K original
• Refilling the hot chocolate machine
• Fire building and how to hit an E sharp in certain camp songs
• Washing dishes/plunging a toilet/fixing a lightbulb or tripped switch
• Installing an AC unit
• Moving heavy things
• How to put out a car fire

Soft Skills:

• Making people happy with yogurt
• Public Speaking/word choice/presentation/tone/delivery/order/large group management
• S’moreology
• Leading a “Social Skills” Group
• Dipping at Hayward
• How to get 200 people to chant “Squirty Chicken”
• How to be goofy/crazy in front of strangers and inspire them to do the same
• Living and working with your co-workers; building community

What does it take?

We asked the Outdoor Education Gurus, what does it take to succeed as an OE Guru at Camp Burgess & Hayward?  These are there responses:

Flexibility, Resiliency, Patience, Tolerance, creativity, cooperation, collaboration, communal living, open-mindedness, self-awareness, energy, good work ethic, public speaking skills, willingness to do both teaching and project work, enthusiasm, positive attitude, excited to develop a huge skillset.

Most importantly: The ability to say “Yes” to new life experiences and adventures!

Thank you for saying yes: Stephen McCloskey, Shannon Reiser, Katie O’Brien, Sara Friedlander, Greg Francois, Matt Ferrer, Dani Stewart- Hannaway, Cait Healy, Kerri Sadoff, Ben Allis, Emily Vraibel, Rachel Calderara, Nick Olson, Kody Crawford, Josh Bower, and Dan Fraser.

THANK YOU, GURUS!