New Maroon Camp Week 7 Blog Post- Brad Ward

Activities:

• Developed constitution so that New Maroon Camp can officially become a student organization
• Develop sign layout for campus so that parents will know where to register their kids for camp
• Finalized calls to campers so that we will know our final numbers for attendance
• Discussed ways to use the Student Activity Fee to further develop programs for NMC
• Organized NMC's OrgSync profile so that they can finalize becoming a student organization
• Designed signs for camp
• Discussed an action plan for camp and talked about individual roles of head staff
• Reviewed finalized email for campers and packing list
• Toured Fresh Food Company to make sure that registration set up will go smoothly for everyone
  
  

Reflection on Practice

As this summer comes to a close, I still have a little bit of time left with New Maroon Camp. I am excited to have the opportunity to go to camp and finally see what all the hard work has led to! I was able to accomplish so much this week and it felt great to really take a huge step forward with everything that we have been planning. What I think that I am most proud of is that New Maroon Camp will be becoming a student organization. This will help them do so much more work for students who attended camp during the summer and also have camps for new students during the summer.

I also want to talk about how great Andrew and Avent have been as supervisors all summer. They have always helped with the students and have been very supportive of my work and ideas. They have made my experience so much fun with their constant enthusiasm and advice. Even though that they do a lot of things in the background, you can definitely feel their presence on this camp. They have worked so hard to make sure that this camp is the best experience for not only the incoming students, but the student counselors as well.

Now I have to brag on the student workers who have been so great this summer. Pepper and Jack have put in a solid 20 hours a week to make sure that this camp is extremely successful. I am so proud of how much that they have grown as leaders and this will be something that they can really speak about to future employers.

I have had the best experience this summer and have learned so much. I hope to learn so much more from being able to go to camp so that I will be able to hopefully build a camp of my own some day. I am excited to hopefully continue to work with Andrew and Avent through this next year because I want to continue on with NMC and its wonderful students when they become a new student organization. This experience has shown me the value of camps and having a completely student planned organization. All of these students have done so much work and it really shows you the value of giving students hard but attainable goals! See you all after camp!!!

Application to Reading

Chapter 8 talks about pathways to success in student affairs and maturing as a professional! It talks about being able to choose a career path and that is something that I have often struggled with in the past. I have now learned that it is all about fit and where you feel the most comfortable. I have learned a lot of my true passions this summer and they are working with students with disabilities, planning and organizing events to help others, and camps! I love bringing everyone together in a camp atmosphere. Chapter 8 also talked about career maturity and with that I have learned that I do not need to take things way too fast. I need to let the process happen and allow myself to fail and learn from those failures. I am only 23 years old and I learn something new everyday. You do not become a VPSA over night and it will take a lot of experience and tough lessons to get there! I think I have matured a lot this summer from learning and allowing myself to learn all that I can! It has definitely payed off for me.

Application to Theory

Since I helped develop and help with the constitution this week, I wanted to of course bring up the ACPA/NASPA Professional Competencies for Leadership and Personal Foundations. These foundations are an integral part of developing a constitution that will last for years to come in order to have a successful student organization. A great constitution is also rooted in leadership because that is what New Maroon Camp thrives off of. Responsibilities and beliefs of the group are an important part to take into consideration when starting a student organization because you need these values and leadership to keep everything going smoothly. I think that all of the competencies listed below these two categories are important in developing New Maroon Camp and I have used these all summer to help the students and staff develop camp for the future!

References

ACPA & NASPA. (2010). Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Practitioners

Amey, M. J., & Reesor, L. M. (2009). Beginning your journey: A guide for new professionals in student affairs. Washington, D.C.: NASPA – Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education.