Teamworks - What’s That All About?

It’s just after breakfast at Camp, and our campers are getting to work. Music is carefully selected from the laptop in the kitchen; an eclectic mix of upbeat pop songs and throwback jams that can be heard throughout the main building. Our campers find their brooms and begin sweeping away the dirt happily tracked in from soccer games on the field and walks into the woods for council. Further out on tent hill, our campers roll up the edges of their canvas tents to let the sunshine in and pick up stray journal pages to place in the garbage can. What is going on, you may ask?

Drumroll Please…

Teamworks! The perhaps initially begrudged, beloved teamworks. Teamworks is a time when all members of the Camp community pitch in to ensure our campus is kept clean and beautiful. Two campers lead each of the groups to ensure their area is taken care of. Everything from setting up the dining hall before meals to ensuring there is toilet paper in the bathroom is done by the community. The groups and tasks rotate so our campers have the chance to work with different people and in different areas. Nobody is left empty-handed, as our staff work alongside the campers to keep Camp clean.

But… why?

Why do we ask our campers to empty trash cans and wipe down tables after meals? Let’s take a quick look at two objectives from our mission:

1. To develop leadership abilities and self-reliance in a safe environment, and

2. To offer and demonstrate a philosophy of living to serve society through the pursuit of humanitarian goals.

These two points absolutely relate to our decades-old tradition of having our campers participate in Camp clean-up. Teamworks also allow us to celebrate one of our core values, servant leadership, which encourages our community to serve and give back. Through asking our campers to get involved in the clean-up process, we are asking them to act within that definition and serve their community. This also gives our campers a sense of ownership over the space, and if one area isn’t kept up as well as our community wants it to be, it provides an opportunity for the group to problem-solve and work together to fix the issue. Leaders of each teamwork are additionally provided an opportunity to try out their leadership skills among their peers and ensure guidelines are being followed for each group. In short, teamworks help develop servant leadership abilities and creates a community-forward mindset amongst campers.

As an added bonus, teamworks has also taught campers basic life skills such as how to sweep, scrub a toilet and properly wash dishes - you’re welcome, future roommates!

While initially seeming like a large task at hand, teamworks can become a highlight for some campers. In the words of Bella Marker, ‘19,

“I loved so many parts of camp so it is very difficult to choose a favorite memory, but I loved being in kitchen teamwork and singing along to the radio while washing dishes, sweeping the floor, wiping countertops, or mopping.”

There you have it, folks!

What about after Camp?

This idea of investment into one’s community through having all hands on deck and helping out whenever needed - including when dirty dishes are involved - can be extended to life outside of Camp. There is always work that needs to be done in the communities we belong to, including in the greater Camp Rising Sun community.

Will you find yourself in NYC during the summer and have an instructional workshop you’d like to share with our 2020 campers? Fill out an instructions proposal form here! Are you interested in sharing your expertise with us and joining a committee? We’d love for you to email alumni@lajf.org to learn more. Perhaps fundraising is more your thing - you can plan a birthday fundraiser on Facebook for Camp Rising Sun, or create a fundraising event in your area. Either way, if you are interested in becoming more involved in the greater Camp community, reach out to contact@lajf.org and I promise you we have a way for you to become involved.

As this blog nears its end, perhaps it’s helped you remember some dirty dishes that need attending or a floor that needs sweeping - we’ll let you go. And as you do, please take the following song as motivation for your own personal “teamwork,” a song which is sung many times throughout the summer at Camp.

“It’s time for teamwork

Oh yes indeed!

It’s time for teamwork

The Camp’s in need

When I’m not cleaning, I’m blue, so blue!

Oh teamwork I love you

(Me too!”

By Laura Wondra, Program Director