February 3 is the big day – summer camp registration. This is a time when thousands of families begin thinking about what their children will be doing here this summer. Plans are being made to attend the same day camp week and to hopefully be put in the same shelter as their friends. Overnight parents are talking to “little Billy” about which friends he wants to request in his cabin. And some parents are taking a risk to sign “little Suzy” up for swim lessons while she is here. Oh the fun in planning for a tremendous week at camp!

However, this day does come with frustrations, anxieties, and stress. Parents have a hard time remembering their login information for our registration software. Programs will fill up faster than what you would like. Campers get put on waitlists for their desired weeks sometimes, and parents are left wondering if they will ever get a phone call saying they are in the program. Learning you can only request three-cabin mates for overnight camp may come as a shock. The list can go on and on for parents and our heart breaks for each of these situations. We do our best to troubleshoot these issues ahead of time, but we can’t predict how tomorrow will go.

So here is how we want to help you best prepare for summer camp registration tomorrow:

GIVE US GRACE

Over the past few years, we have been told by our registration software, Campwise, that our camp records the highest number of registrations in a single day and nearly crashed the site a few times throughout the day. With that being said, we will do our best to help take care of the thousands of registrations that will come in tomorrow. Our phones will be ringing all day long, there will be some bugs in the system that need to be fixed, naturally, someone will be allowed to register for the wrong programs somehow, and yet every year there seems to be some other surprise that happens on the opening day of registration.

Please be patient with us. You are not the only one registering your child in our system. We will do our best to care for every phone call, email, and walk-in tomorrow. To care for each person we need time. So, if you are on hold tomorrow waiting to talk to our staff, we appreciate your patience. While you are on hold, maybe you can be praying for the person that will pick up the phone to talk to you.

GIVE YOURSELF GRACE

You register for camp once a year so it’s understandable if you don’t remember passwords, login names, or the difference between Journey Day Camp and Explorer Day Camp. We are here to help you to the best of our abilities. No question is a dumb question. You do not need to apologize for calling and asking questions about Summer Camp. We are here to help, we are here to serve you, and want you to have a positive experience.

COME WITH OPTIONS

Summer Camp registration is on a first-come-first-served basis. Therefore, we never know what sessions are going to fill up. We are just as surprised as you are to find out sessions are full. To help prevent some of your “ARGH” type reactions, come with plans A, B, and C tomorrow (and beyond). If getting your child into camp is important to you we have found it helpful for parents to be flexible on your dates. Definitely have your preferences, but also be ready with those other ideas.

If you haven’t had a chance to look at our brochure for this year, you can look through it here.

LOGIN TODAY

To help prevent the username and password debacle – try logging in today. Do some legwork now so that it’s easier for you come registration time.

REGISTRATION OPENS….

Online registration opens at 5:00am and our office will be open at 8:30am and that’s when we will be available to you.