Staff Orientation Recap

After months of searching and praying for this year’s summer staff, they are all finally here! Orientation officially kicked off last Friday, and then over the weekend each region met together for training sessions.

We had big sessions happening in a beautiful events hall in Round Top, not too far from our Central Texas camps, at Chimney Point in South Carolina, and at an events center on the campus of UT Tyler in East Texas.

These days are always packed with zany skits (gotta love those director dances), Pine Cove culture lessons, worship with awesome bands, introductions to famous skit characters from various camps, dance tutorials, spiritual applications, “roadblock” warnings, Pine Cove history classes, camp cheers, and did we mention skit characters?

East Texas and South Carolina saw impressive Greatest Showman parodies to welcome everyone in for the week, and the crowds went wild. (This is Piiiine Coooove!)

Know the Kinfolk song by Shonlock? Central Texas got to see it performed live and dance along when Shonlock appeared in person to wow the crowd. They also got to see another rapper named Canon, who sings some of the hype songs being played around camp.

These are also great days for staff to get to know the other people they will be serving alongside this summer, and to muster up some healthy camp pride. What would camp be without some competition, right? Think: Dodgeball plus skit characters. It’s always a win.

By Monday everyone came back to their individual camps for more training. This is when staff learn about their activity classes, how to run Cove Kids, the ins and outs of Camp in the City, and of course take breaks for more Name Games. It’s another very fun, very full week, and one where staff get to be fully immersed in Pine Cove culture.

Week One, here we come!