Training & Clinics
Preparing For Summer Camp
All staff members receive 8 days of extensive training prior to the campers’ arrival. We spend focused time together discussing:
- general child development and the particular characteristics and needs of camp-age boys
- guidelines for safe supervision
- strategies for working with different age groups
- Positive Counseling, a systematic technique through which we empower boys to learn how to approach and manage life’s challenges
- strategies for working with homesick campers
- handling matters of minor discipline
- more relevant and necessary topics for a successful season
A general session in activity lesson-planning run by a professional educator is supplemented by activity-specific training with our various program heads.
During this week-plus, we also spend time building community by formally introducing ourselves to each other the first night, sharing meals, entertaining one another at Campfire, climbing a mountain together as part of leadership training, and playing pick-up soccer, basketball, or various other games.
Prior to this regular pre-season training, Pemi also arranges and holds other pre-season clinics to train staff in specific program areas. These include:
- Wilderness First Aid for all Pemi staff
- Lifeguard Training and Lifeguard recertification
- Backpacking and wilderness leader training clinic
- Nature Instruction Clinic
We will be in contact before the summer to let you know which of these clinics you may need to attend (and for which Pemi will pay all expenses).
Pemi’s Nature Instruction Clinic
The Nature Instruction Clinic is a pre-season, 5½-day-long national training program that puts Camp Pemigewassett at the forefront of the camping world’s commitment to environmental education. The clinic is designed for instructors at day camps, resident camps, outdoor education centers, docents and seasonal staff at nature centers and national and state parks, and for select students from the University of New Haven (for which they receive academic credit). Learn more here.