March 30th, 2022 Video with Jared and Jackie

Transcription

Hi, everyone, and welcome to our first video for the 2022 camp season.

We’re going to answer some questions that people have and start getting you

in the mindset of preparing for camp this season.

We’ve been working really hard and very excited for the camp season coming up.

For those of you that may not know me, my name is Jared and I’m one

of the directors here at Camp Ramaquois, and I’m joined by my colleague Jackie.

Would you like to introduce yourself? Jackie?

Hi, everybody. I’m Jackie.

I’m one of the assistant directors here at camp very excited for the summer.

We have been working really hard and we’re so excited to welcome all our campers.

And it’s a little cold out now,

but as the weather starts to warm up, we’re going to be even more excited.

We have received so many questions

that people have about the camp season that’s coming up.

So what we’re going to do in these videos, starting with today’s video,

is to answer some questions that people have sent to us and asked us and hopefully

get you to start thinking a little bit more about the camp season.

We have four important topics that we’re going to cover in today’s video.

The first one is, what should parents be doing now to prepare for the camp season?

The second question that we’re going

to address is we’re going to talk a little bit about what the planning for camp this

year looks like with so much uncertainty regarding COVID,

which sadly is still a thing for all of us that we’re dealing with.

The third question, how camp might look different in 2022 than maybe in 2021.

We’ll try to address that.

And the last one is we’re going to talk about opportunities for new campers

and their families to come visit camp in the late spring so that you can get

a feel for what camp looks like when we’re in season.

So many of you visited in the winter or never had a chance to visit.

So we’re going to have some opportunities

for you to come visit us here so I think we can get started.

Jackie, are you ready? I’m ready.

All right. So the first question I’m throwing your way, and that first question

is this, what should our parents be doing now?

Okay, that’s a great question.

We get calls about that already.

Right now, what the parents should be

doing is getting excited about camp and getting your children excited about camp.

But from a housekeeping perspective, you should be filling out your forms.

It’s very important that you go

to the parent website, Ramaquois.com/parent and fill out the forms.

All of the forms that are on there you need to fill up for each camper.

If you have more than one camper in your family and they are all submitted

electronically except for one, which is the camper medical form.

That form should be printed and then given to a physician to complete and sign.

All of the other ones, again, are submitted electronically.

In line with that camper medical form, you should be making a doctor’s appointment.

It is required that the physical exam be

within one year of the camper session at camp.

So doctor’s appointments are not necessarily easy to come by.

So maybe make the appointment now knowing that this form is going to be required.

Aside from the forms, download our app.

It’s a wonderful resource.

We have a lot of new features that you’ll be hearing about at a later date.

So the best thing to do now is download the app.

It’s available through the Apple Store and through the Google Store.

So please do that.

You will love having it leading up to camp and certainly during the camp season.

And then the other thing is to be mentally

prepared, possibly for the division leaders to be calling you.

That’s not going to happen until late May, maybe early June.

It will be before your camper session.

A division leader is going to call you

for each of your campers to get to know them a little bit and to help answer some

of your more specific questions directly related to your child.

So that’s a good start.

So parents, if you have any questions, give us a call.

Jackie, I think one thing I want to add is

when it comes to the camper medical form, one of the common questions or frequent

questions we get is what happens if I can’t get the doctor’s appointment

until after camp starts because my insurance doesn’t allow me to do it

prior to one year from the previous one, et cetera.

So we get that question a lot.

And I think we just want to let parents

know that if that’s the case, then please submit the most recent medical

you have so that’s within one year and then when you have the new medical

exam with your doctor, you can then submit that newest one to us.

But if you have, let’s say your child had

their most recent exam last year in early July, and your camper is starting

camp on June 27, our first day of this camp season.

Just submit last year’s camp form and then

when you go for this year’s physical exam sometime in mid to later

July, you can then submit that form when you receive it.

Yes. And then also a frequent question that we

get is, can a family submit a universal health form from a pediatrician’s practice

rather than filling out our Ramaquois camper medical form?

And the answer is, it’s not a cut and dry yes or no.

Most universal health forms that the doctors provide do not include

an authorization to administer over the counter medication,

in which case we do need our Ramaquois camper medical form completed

by the doctor, including that section which is on the top of the form.

So please, you can attach a universal health form to our Ramaquois camper medical

form, but please have the doctor complete our Ramaquois form.

It will save us going back and forth

asking you to submit something that we’re missing.

Okay, great. Well, thanks for answering that question,

and maybe I’ll take the next one if you want to throw this question my way.

Absolutely. So what are we planning for camp?

Of course, I know that answer, but our viewing audience does not.

Are we planning to follow COVID rules?

Yes or no?

What’s it looking like?

So this year has been a little bit unusual, probably even more unusual than

our last off season going into the 2021 camp season.

Because this year we’re actually planning for two different scenarios.

Last year we knew that COVID was a thing.

Right now we’re sort of in this in between phase.

So we’re actually planning to run camp two different ways.

One of the ways that we’re planning to run is a non-COVID scenario,

and then one is a scenario where COVID is something that we still have to address.

So our hope is that we can have

camp as non-COVID as possible and to be able to run most of our programs and most

of our events and activities in a pre-COVID way.

But we have a back up plan ready to go.

If you’re really curious about this,

something that’s weighing on you, you can always

check out our website and you can look at our COVID manual and see some

of the plans for how we execute camp in a situation where we have to do things

like cohorting daily health screenings, masking.

We go into great detail on that on our website, but right now we’re hoping to not

have to do most of those things, but we’re preparing to actually do those things.

So just a little insight “behind the music”

here at Ramaquois is that we’re really writing two different programs

for activities this summer, one where we can actually mix groups

together if that’s permitted, and one where we don’t mix groups

together, more similar to how we executed camp last summer.

So we’re really doing double the work to prepare for both scenarios.

And as it gets closer to camp and we get further guidance and further understanding

about variants or protocols or health and safety, we will be able to make more

specific decisions about how we can really execute camp.

We know a lot of people have questions about it, and certainly with mask mandates

being lifted in schools, it seems like things are progressing

in a way where we’ll be able to run camp the way that we all want to run camp.

But we’re just really unsure right now.

So we are hoping to not have to use any

of our COVID plan, but we are preparing to use any or all parts of it if need be.

So it’s a sort of vague answer,

but the answer is one where we’re being really specific about preparing both ways.

If we have to flip a switch and switch

to a scenario where we have to cohort groups or keep them separate in some way,

we can do that with great ease because of the preparation that we’re doing now.

And I think, Jared,

it’s also important to note even if there were a scenario where mid summer,

we would have to adjust, we can do it then too.

This isn’t just what we’re starting is how we’re finishing if need be.

We’re prepared for a light switch at any time.

Right? Exactly.

So again, having two different plans and being able to execute both of them,

we can really, as you said, flip that switch whenever we need to.

So hopefully that sort of addresses that question as best as we can right now.

And I think it’s worth adding that we are

always going to try to be as transparent as possible about what we can or can’t do.

But as most people are aware at this

point, after what we’ve all experienced the past two years,

there’s a little bit of a moving target and it sort of changes week to week,

month to month, and we’ll follow those protocols as best we can moving forward.

So apropos of that, I’m going to throw the next question your way, Jackie.

Okay. And I will say this,

we Jared hearing a lot about COVID-19 moving from a pandemic

to an endemic and rates decreasing as the weather gets warmer.

If COVID-19 is much less of a concern,

how will camp be different in 2022 versus how we ran in 2021.

Okay, well, Jared,

you touched on some of this a little bit in your answer to the previous question,

but the biggest difference would be that we would not have to cohort and what

that would allow us to do is to do more things on a bigger scale,

like divisional activities rather than just group activities,

the sides of camp, Boys’ Side, Girls’ Side, Junior Camp, possibly doing more together.

It is our sincere hope that we can offer

individual options rather than group option where children from different

groups are mixed to have individual choice during their option period,

divisional swims, the whole division swimming at the same

time, which is a wonderful benefit if we’re able to do this and also just

grander, bigger Ramaquois, all camp special events,

those are all things that we’re certainly hoping for and planning for.

If we are able to.

That would be one of the differences.

Also, something we’re very much looking forward to and something we missed

tremendously last summer was the ability to welcome parents into camp.

We are very much hopeful that we can invite parents and families to our

interactive nights for the campers, which is basically parent visiting

in the evening, more information to follow if we’re able to do it.

But the interactive night is a wonderful

[00:11:15] event, more than one depending on the division that we missed last summer.

Welcoming the parents into our community.

Depending upon the situation,

we may be able to bring some of our activities, including lunch, back indoors.

That would give campers a little bit of a break in air conditioning.

That’s something that we can decide later on.

But that is also one of the differences that it might be.

And then a difference also, if we’re able to, is to offer a trip

program for our campers entering third grade and above.

And these would be trips by division during the camp day to outdoor locations.

And we would be doing it where we would pick outdoor locations,

where we are still shielding our campers from the general public when possible.

So those are a couple of things that we are hoping would be different in 2022,

and we’re remaining very hopeful and planning accordingly.

Yeah. I think one of the things that we learned

last summer was that some of the changes that we made that were born out

of necessity actually turned out to be some things that we really liked.

And,for example, some of our activities that maybe had been indoors, moving outdoors.

So we may be able to keep some changes and

really run in a way that proved to be a little bit better.

But all the things you mentioned sound so

exciting, and we really can hardly wait to get to a point where we can all

be “closer” is probably the best way to put it, at least for me.

Yeah.

So, Jared, I’ll throw the fourth question over to you.

Will there be time for new campers to come and visit camp?

Some families have toured,

some families have not.

Right. Yeah.

So I mentioned earlier in the video kind of again jumped the gun a little bit

because I get excited talking about camp and talked about how some of our campers

have enrolled for camp, and they only saw Ramaquois,

either covered in snow or maybe didn’t even have a chance to come visit yet.

And we’ve been getting some inquiries

from parents asking when can we come by and visit.

So we are planning,

as I mentioned earlier, to do some visitation for new campers

and their families to come and experience Ramaquois a little bit,

see it in warmer weather with leaves on trees and activity areas set up.

So in the past, we would always do a big

event for our new campers and their families that we call Preview Day.

And we would welcome everybody on one day to camp.

Last year because of health and safety

protocols, we broke them up into a series of days.

And for this year, we have not yet set those dates.

We’re looking at something anywhere

between mid to late May and early to mid June.

We’ll be able to do that.

We hope to have those dates available to you probably within the next two weeks.

And we’ll be able to get that out

to everybody so that you can start to plan to visit Ramaquois.

So if you’re trying to figure out a way that you can come and see the camp,

we’re more than happy to welcome you at any time.

But those days are the ones where we’re

really excited and prepared to welcome so many people to come in and see the camp.

Maybe have a chance to go on a boat

on the Lake, maybe make a s’more, maybe shoot some baskets, or just have some fun

at camp and sort of get a feel for what a camp day might be like.

Meet some of our staff.

So we are planning to do days like that.

We just have not yet set those dates

because we’re just sort of waiting for a little further guidance as to what

the safest, most effective way is to execute that plan.

Again, we want to make sure health

and safety is always of paramount importance for us,

and we want to make sure that we put together a plan where we can really do

everything possible to follow the most highly recommended courses of action.

So we’ll get those dates out to you very soon.

[00:15:14] I hope that answers the question.

Again, I seem to get the ones where I’m answering somewhat vaguely,

but the short answer is we will have dates.

We just don’t have them right now. Okay.

All right.

So I think that’s it right?

We tackled our four questions.

We tackled our four questions.

Many more to come.

Yes, for sure.

Yeah, we do plan on doing a series

of videos like this and happy to answer your questions at any time.

Certainly if you have questions

that either you want to include in a video or you simply just want to know the answer

as soon as possible, you can always email us.

My email address is

Jared@ramaquois.com. That’s Jared@ramaquois.com and you should

know how to spell Ramaquois at this point, but it’s R-A-M-A-Q-U-O-I-S.

You can also always send an email

to info@ramaquois.com. If you want to email Jackie specifically,

she’s Jackie@ramaquois.com. There’s a trend here, if you haven’t noticed,

but feel free to send us your questions at any time.

We are

somewhat addicted to our emails.

We’ll get back to you pretty quickly.

Please make sure that you continue to follow Ramaquois on social media.

We are on Instagram or on Facebook. Check us out.

We try to post things with some regularity

and there’s exciting pictures and announcements,

and we’ll be sure to share as much information with you as possible.

We are working incredibly hard to prepare

for the summer, and one of the best ways for us to execute our camp plan

in the most effective, in the greatest way possible is with great staff.

If you know of any people or if any of you

parents, are interested in joining the team,

our camp season is from June 27 to August 18, and we’re looking for staff who are

available for the full eight weeks please send them our way.

We would love to meet with any great people that you know that you think would

be outstanding role models and leaders at our camp.

We’re always looking for great people and I think that’s it for our announcements.

So, Jackie, you know what we have to do now, right?

I do should we do it together? Let’s do it together.

So we end all of our lineups at camp

the same way and we’re going to end our videos the same way.

So.

So we’re asking you please stay well, be safe and “have fun; there’s a camp out there”.