Monthly Archives: June 2012

Camp Staff, Leadership Training, Q-Town & Music, Summer Camp

It All Begins TODAY!

Here at Qwanoes we’ve just completed Staff Training and we can’t wait to welcome our first campers of the summer this afternoon!

Welcoming campers to Qwanoes in summer 2011 - 1st summer 2012 welcome happening today!!

Jr. High #1 begins today and campers are on our their way to camp right now.

Some Facts About Staff Training 2012…

• About 185 leaders have been part of Staff Training this past week. Those in attendance included a full range of ages from high school students and 2012 grads to our much-loved Food Purchaser Norm Cardiff (who turns 80 today!!).

• The staff team bravely got in the water at Qwanoes Beach last Saturday (on a not-so-nice weather day) and learned how to do a water search in case someone ever goes missing at the waterfront.

• Staff training included taking everyone to Central Baptist in Victoria on Sunday morning followed by an afternoon of team-building in a park by the ocean.

• Randy Carter, a long-time speaker at Qwanoes, was our speaker for Staff Training. Randy was a big part of our week and he could be seen in afternoons working with crews painting where needed during Camp Prep!

• Sessions included Capturing A Vision, Activities In Action, Risk Management, Providing Quality Health Care, and much more.

Learning dryland training techniques during the Waterski/Wakeboard instructor training clinic.

• Over 25 activity clinics were offered over the course of the week – training staff how to lead everything from Challenge Course to Artrageous Crafts to Skateboarding to RC Speedway to Waterskiing/Wakeboarding and the other activities we offer.

• Our Quixotic music team led by  Russ (the Squirrel) spent much time practicing Q-Town songs and getting ready for our first Surf-O-Rama Concert of the summer happening at Jr. High #1! What’s Surf-O-Rama?

• Our staff team this summer includes people from the United Kingdom (Ireland, Scotland, England), Australia, New Zealand, Colombia, Brazil, France, the United States, other countries, and of course Canada – all united for the purpose of loving kids to life!

Special Highlight Of Jr. High #1

Speaking of Canada, it’s Canada Day tomorrow and a special highlight of Jr. High #1 is a giant Canada Day party! We’ll be celebrating the day with all our campers and staff and look forward to blasting tunes from the qrok Tower, eating cake, and hopefully even seeing the sky light up!

School’s out and summer’s here… so let the fun begin!!

~ Written by Julie Bayley, Qwanoes’ Associate Program Director

 

 

Activities, Camp Staff, Events, Leadership Training, Summer Camp

Club Coco is being invaded!

Summer staff team 2012 unites

New staff have been arriving every day over the last two months, but now TODAY is the biggest day with new arrivals almost every minute! Staff Training starts today and staff from far and wide are descending on Qwanoes to prepare for an amazing summer together! One week left until Junior High #1 and then soon campers will come rolling into camp in cars and buses! Fireworks will be going off, the qrok tower will be pumping out the tunes and summer 2012 will underway!

Who is going to get the Skee Ball high score this summer? Maybe you!!

Club Coco is being invaded with brand-new games for Summer 2012

Summer staff couldn’t wait to try out the new games in Club Coco! Earlier this year the Giant Connect Four joined popular games like Battle Top Arena already in Club Coco – and now Club Coco just got three brand-new games for summer 2012! That’s right – four new games to try out just as soon as you arrive!

Bumper Pool – Fresh out of the box (literally)… Defend or attack?! That’s the big question when playing this game. Who will be first to score all their balls and be declared the winner??? Campers this summer will love this new game! It’s Carpetball with a twist!

Take a rest in style with the Club Coco giant bean-bag chairs!

Skee Ball – Step on up and try your skills at another new game. It’s like bowling mixed it in with a little target practice! Challenge your friends all week long and see who gets the high score for the week!

Massive bean-bag chairs – You will never see a pillow any bigger than this! Need a break? How about settling back in one of our three giant bean-bag chairs! There is always plenty of room to fit one more!

Giant Connect Four – New to summer 2012! It has been a big hit all spring and now it’s time for our summer campers to try it out for the very first time.


Try Bumper Pool - this awesome new twist to carpetball! Defend or attack, what are you going to do??

 

While in Club Coco this summer be sure to try an old-fashioned milkshake, tasty smoothie, or another treat from the Coco-Hut… come and enjoy!

~ Written by Jay Kennedy (Qwanoes’ Assistant Director)

 

 

Activities, Summer Camp

What…?

With 75 activities in the summer at Qwanoes, it’s a challenge to choose what to do! But it just got even harder!

Yes, it’s true – we’re already adding LOTS for this summer. At Qwanoes Beach… Paddle Surfing, a Freefall Slide, a brand-new Super Slide and Super Totter, an Aqua Rope Swing. Plus even more fun in Club Coco. There’s tons!

But now – there’s one more brand-new choice! …Ready? 

Debuting summer 2012 is Qwanoes RC Speedway!

What…? Yes, we’re adding high-end, high-action outdoor super-sized RC car racing! Join a friend and race against four other teams at the same time! Each car is over two feet long – “this ain’t no Mario Cart video game” – these cars are real, fast, and built for racing!

Think you have the skills? Well – put them to the test against all your friends and the rest of the camp. Don’t even think of googling for the cheat codes… ’cause there are none. Just you, your pit-crew partner, and the track.

At Qwanoes we always seek to make a week at camp one of the greatest weeks ever in the lives of our campers! Around here there is always more fun and always new adventures every year. No summer is ever the same at Camp Qwanoes!

Come and experience Qwanoes’ RC Speedway for yourself. We can’t wait to welcome you!

See more about our new activities for summer 2012 here.

~ Written by Scott Bayley (Qwanoes’ Executive Director) & Julie Bayley (Qwanoes’ Associate Program Director)

 

 

Activities, Camp Staff, Events, Leadership Training, Social Media, Summer Camp

Summer Is Almost Here!

It’s June! That means that school is almost out and summer camp is about to begin! Lots is happening at camp every day at this point as we gear up for summer. Staff in every area at camp are hard at work getting ready – setting the stage for the adventure that is going to be lived out in the weeks ahead!

Enjoying the sunshine in a session on the Guest House lawn!

Last weekend, we had Staff Leadership Orientation with almost 40 leaders on our staff team. It is an exciting thing to see staff come together from diverse backgrounds and unite for the common purpose of helping kids discover, live, and share life like no other! Our team of Advance Crew staff is growing every week and we look forward to the arrival of many others on the summer staff team on June 22, the first day of Staff Training.

Now we’re only one week away from our annual Open House and everyone’s invited! Our brand-new Qwanoes Beach activities for summer 2012 will be available for the very first time including the Aqua Rope Swing and Freefall Slide… or be one of the first to try Paddle Surfing at Qwanoes!

The latest surf sensation... get ready to glide and explore!

Find out more about what’s new for summer 2012 here.

Speaking of new activities, another new activity is coming to Qwanoes this summer – in addition to the ones already announced earlier this year! We’re always seeking to make a week at camp one of the greatest weeks ever. Around Qwanoes there is always more fun and new adventure every year. No summer is ever the same! If you want to be one of the first to know what new activity is being introduced, be sure to follow Qwanoes on Twitter!

We can't wait to welcome everyone!

 

Just under 30 days until the camp buses and many cars roll down the road filled with campers and summer 2012 at Qwanoes begins!

~ Written by Julie Bayley, Qwanoes’ Associate Program Director