Staff Week Day Five.

Wednesday of staff week was a shorter one because our counselors got a well-earned break off starting after lunch. 


The day started with meeting the bus drivers and going over rules and procedures. After that, we worked on nametags, family groups, signs, and more. 

Then we drove down into Sherwood to visit the community center. Thursdays are community service oriented for afternoon activities for camps one through three and so Cameron arranged for us to help the Sherwood Community Center clean, organize, and decorate for their annual Fourth of July celebration. It was so wonderful meeting with the head of the community center and finding out what we could do to help her community. 

After meeting with her, we headed back towards campus. On the way we stopped and checked out a neat piece of Sherwood history. Sherwood is a limestone mining community and they have a closed limestone mine that has become overrun with kudzu before stopping operations in the 1940's. It is a beautiful part of the landscape and has a lot of meaning and history to it. 

Once back at Dubose, we ate a hearty lunch before spending the rest of the day resting and relaxing before the pre-camp families arrive Thursday. 

Wednesday night the sunlight was perfect to take this picture of our brand new roof! Dubose recently put a new mission style roof on Claiborne Hall, thanks to the donations of generous lovers of Dubose. We are so excited about how it turned out and how much it helps the building, which is historic and has been around for a long time. 

Staff Week Day Four.

Today was a busy, busy day. We started off the morning with a full block of First Aid Training with Melissa, who teaches an American Heart Association certification. 

While Melissa did First Aid training with the counselors, I ran off to Wal-Mart for a supply run. Here's what four weeks of camp programming looks like in a shopping cart. 

After lunch we moved on to CPR training with Melissa, as well as AED training. Every year we certify our staff so that in addition to the three lifeguards, we have a full staff should something happen. 

After Melissa's training for First Aid/CPR, we got a lot of little things done - here's Cody drilling holes for name tags. 

And then we met up with Ranger Jason, who is with the South Cumberland State Park. Jason and the other rangers work closely with CGM as we use the state park as a part of our giant playground. We rock climb, rappell, hike, and swim in the South Cumberland State Park and they are a huge help to us through leading activities and providing support. Jason trained the counselors in how to respond to an emergency situation inside the park. 

With such intense but important training today, a relaxing, delicious dinner was the perfect end to the night. The staff was invited over to former director Charles Houston Beaumont's house, where he and his wife hosted a great time. On the way we stopped by the Sewanee Cross overlook where one of the professors had set up a telescope with a filter so we could watch the transit of Venus (which won't happen again for another 105 years). 

CHB has been missing camp but enjoying his time as a married man. He has always been an artist and his newly free time has allowed him to paint and create even more. He recently had an art showing in Memphis that was wildly successful. While we were there, I snapped a few pictures of his pieces around the house. We were all so impressed. 

If you like CHB's work, he has pieces available and also takes commissions. Email him at CHB3@chbtinworks.com . He also has a facebook page for his art: https://www.facebook.com/pages/CHBtinworks/239583149427147

All in all, today was a busy, fruitful, important day. I'll leave you with a few pictures of the grounds snapped in late afternoon:

Staff Week Day 3.

Monday of staff week was full of planning, thought, and preparation. We started off the morning by officially meeting and introducing ourselves to all the various Dubose staff members - these people are the ones that run the camp grounds and make our lives easier. Such wonderful people! 


After that we worked on Pre-Camp's chapel program and then the camp chapel program before breaking for lunch. 


Post-lunch we had our Safeguarding God's Children training - for those not familiar, it ensures that appropriate boundaries are kept when working with youth in the church setting. The famous Christy Beesley was so wonderful to lead that training and the conversations it brought up. 


After training, the staff went to the pool for some safety discussions. Great conversation resulted talking about procedure in case of emergency and pool safety rules. 

The staff has been enjoying some delicious meals from the Kitchen Lovelies and we've also found that meal times are a great bonding moment for us as we relax and let loose. 

The remainder of the night was spent on more chapel planning - and of course, compline. All in all, a very productive day spent planning for our campers to have the time of their life. 


As usual, check back tomorrow for another update!

Staff Week Day Two.

The second day of staff week brought more training and more planning. Cameron and I remarked to each other today how blessed we were to have the staff we do - they are team players, are engaging and exciting, and have a gift for working with youth. We're very much looking forward to seeing what the month brings. 


So last night after the day's blog post was uploaded the staff hit Sonic for an impromptu ice cream run - this picture below summarizes the experience:

This morning started with a Eucharist led by our guest star for the weekend, a camp alumni and priest, Rod. 

Rod has been helping the staff plan chapel programming. Here we are engaging in some discussion about listening to God:

After some chapel planning, we took a break and had a very special visitor - camp alum Brie Wallace, who stopped in on the way back to Memphis to do a little instruction in leading camp music with our counselors. 

Later in the afternoon we drove into Sewanee and did some run throughs of our off-campus activities in the area. The first stop was the "Res," which is a reservoir on St. Andrew's campus where we take Camps I and II swimming. Lifeguards gave instruction on maintaining watch over the swimmers.  

After the Res we drove to Morgan's Steep and did some of the Morgan's Steep to the Cross hike, which we'll be taking each camp on.  This area is just beautiful and we are lucky to be able to use the Sewanee campus as part of our camp space. 

We closed the night with some more planning and then a compline service together. 

Thanks for stopping by! Continue to return to check out posts for each day of the CGM2012 season. 

Welcome to CGM2012!

The time has come - it is here... Camp Gailor-Maxon 2012. Welcome to another great camping season. Follow along on our journey from staff week to Pre-Camp to the high schoolers, middle schoolers, and finally elementary kids. We'll be on the Mountain the whole month of June and cannot wait to share our adventure with you. 


Today kicked off the first day of Staff Week 2012. Staff week is a time when the staff can gather for training, planning, and bonding. We'll be busy, productive, and having a blast if today is any indication. Here's a few shots from today's fun:


Claiborne Hall welcomes the staff as they arrived (last night) - 

Impromptu jam session that lasted a few hours last night... get ready to sing some worship songs!

Started bright and early with staff planning this morning - here's the staff creating goals for the summer:

After a busy morning we spent some quiet time post-lunch, when I snapped this picture of the cabins. The weather has been gorgeous. 

One of our priorities for staff week is running through all the off-campus activities. Today we went to Foster Falls and hiked down to the water hole. Here's Jillian giving instructions on water safety. Jillian is one of our three lifeguards, pictured below. 

And finally, to officially introduce the staff - a staff picture. From the front left there's Cameron (co-director), Mary Blythe, Grace, then in the back from the left there's Will, Cody, Callie, Jillian, Josh (our chaplain), and Phil. Each will get an introduction throughout the week. (not pictured - Kathryn, co-director, who was taking the picture)

So here's to a great staff and the start of a wonderful summer on the Mountain! Check back every day for updates of what we've been doing. 

CGM 2012 poster!

Camp Gailor-Maxon's poster has been published for this camp season! If you would like to share the poster with your friends and others interested in going to CGM, here's a link that has a downloadable poster to share (in pdf format):


http://duboseconferencecenter.org/assets/1391/cgm2012poster.pdf