Summer Campus Q&A with Director of Auxiliary Services Michael Carmody

August 26th 2022

The Summer 2022 camps season brought in 2,279 camp enrollments, an all-time record. Between Fort Wonder and Falcon Sports Camps, there were 953 unique campers from 126 different schools in the DFW metroplex (both of which were also records for FWCD summer camps).

Fort Wonder employed 34 Lead Counselors, Assistant Counselors and Camp Administrators. The total staff number of staff for the season – 354 – included Specialty/Sports Camp hosts, assistants, and volunteers. We hosted 16 Fort Wonder Specialty Camps, 24 Falcon Sports Camps, 6 Fort Wonder Signature Camps, and 15 Summer Step-Up Camps. To see photos from this summer, visit Fort Wonder Camps on Facebook or @fortwondercamps on Instagram.

What were some of the most fun camps and why?

I think all of our offerings are super fun! It was great to have a number of camper-favorite, half-day Specialty Camps and Sports Camps return this year, including FWCD Baseball Camp, American Girl Craft Camp, Falcon Field Hockey Camp, and LEGO Mania, just to name a few. I was also very impressed with our new Specialty Camp offerings, including Girl Power! (hosted by Courtney Corbeille Krauss ’06) and Sculpture Gardens (hosted by Dorrine DeChant and Theresa Fuss).

For this season's full-day Signature Camps, we offered Mission to the Moon, Wonder Games, Lone Star State Fair, Wizards Academy, Gold Rush Roundup, and Escape from Tiki Island. I loved each and every one of them, largely because we had such an amazing team of Camp Counselors, Assistant Counselors, and Administrators. The secret to a great camp isn't the theme itself, it's the people who you have delivering the theme and the energy that they bring to camp every day. I can't emphasize enough how fortunate we were to have such an engaged, campy, dependable staff this year.

How do you come up with creative themes?

It's actually become a more complex process over the years as we try to exceed the internal and external expectations of our programs. Each year during the camp season, the Camp Administrators and I are constantly kicking around ideas of the following season's themes; when you are seeing campers engage in activities on a daily basis, it's a wonderful muse for future seasons. We keep a running list of theme possibilities from June through October, and then we huddle in November to refine the list of possibilities.

For the 2022 season, we had a big list of 66 possible themes, and from that list, we narrowed it down to 12 finalists. Once we had those 12 finalists identified, my team and I gathered for our Theme Selection Night. For each theme finalist, we completed secret ballots where we scored each theme on the following elements:

The camp theme is appealing to male and female campers.
The camp theme is appealing to parents.
The camp theme is applicable to campers entering grades JK-5.
The camp theme is unique to Fort Wonder.
The camp title clearly communicates the theme/content.
We can generate 30 unique activities for this theme.
This theme’s curriculum can be executed easily within budget.
This theme lends itself to a quality, engaging five-day narrative.
This theme lends itself to a unique, theme-congruent party.
There are unique Easter egg and giveaway opportunities for this theme.

Once these ballots were completed, we saw what the average total score was for each theme, with the top six themes earning a spot in our lineup. We then discussed each of the six chosen themes, brainstorming ways to make them better. Finally, we adjust the titles of each camp, trying to land on verbiage that best communicates the unique experiences we create. Once the themes were established, I got to work on the branding and marketing components for each program, and Hannah McPherson dove into developing specific curriculum activities for each theme.

It's a complex process, but theme development is probably one of the most fun components of our department. Theme Selection Night has now become a tradition for the Auxiliary Programs Department; everyone gets really into the process, and it's a great excuse to have a meal together off-campus before the craziness of the preseason really takes over.

Introduce your new Auxiliary Programs Manager, Hannah McPherson

Hannah is a tremendous addition to the Auxiliary Programs Department! She served as a Camp Administrator for Fort Wonder's 2021 season, where she immediately exhibited the drive and creativity that are essential to a successful Auxiliary Programs Department. During the 2021-22 academic year, we contracted Hannah to serve as the Curriculum Coordinator for the 2022 Fort Wonder Signature Camp season. Hannah was a natural fit for this role, as she loves curriculum development, and she understood what the Fort Wonder experience is all about thanks to her role on our team in Summer 2021. Hannah’s hard work and dedication to memory-making ultimately allowed us to increase our Signature Camp capacity this season, as a large portion of the pre-season and in-season curriculum management was now in her trustworthy hands. On a personal level, with Hannah in charge of curriculum development, I was able to increase our focus on the summer employment experience of our Camp Counselors and Administrators, while also remaining committed to delivering an exceptional summer experience for our camp families as we hosted a record number of campers. Hannah is already diving into content creation for a brand new Winter Break camp that we are developing, and we will continue to enjoy her educational expertise as she develops our Summer 2023 Signature Camp curriculum. FWCD really lucked out when Hannah joined our community.

What was new at camp this year that you want to tout?

This season, we improved our already outstanding camper-to-staff ratio for our Signature Camps. Previously, we had a 5-to-1 camper-to-staff ratio, and this year we had a 4.4-to-1 camper-to-staff ratio. We also increased the capacity of our Signature Camps by 16%, giving us a chance to make even more memories with more campers.

We hosted so many memorable events at our Signature Camps, including Armadillo Races, a Galaxy Glow Party, a Wizards Academy Graduation Ceremony, Wonder Games Award Ceremonies, a Camper Talent Show, a Camp Counselor Lip Sync Battle, Robotic Pony Rides, a mobile Planetarium, a Pioneer Petting Zoo, remote control Bumper Car Battles, a Tiki Island Luau, two-step dance lessons, and a massive Splash Party, which has become an annual tradition for the final day of summer camps.

In addition to bringing back our wildly popular Wonder Bands (silicone wristbands that campers earn for engagement in camp activities), we also expanded our collection of Bottle Badges (collectible stickers that campers earn for exceptional displays of character and special camp accomplishments), increasing the total number of designs from 5 last year to 23 this year.

More than anything, I want to tout the team that we had this year. We were incredibly fortunate to have a dedicated, engaged group of people who bought into what we are trying to create here. The work that our Camp Counselors and Administrators do is very demanding; our team members sacrifice a large portion of their summer to be memory-makers for our campers. Day after day, our seasonal staffers came to Fort Wonder displaying the campy-ness that makes our campers excited about our programs. And the FWCD faculty and staff hosts for our Fort Wonder Specialty Camps, Fort Wonder Step-Up Camps, and Falcon Sports Camps have really embraced our goal of being the absolute best summer camp program in the DFW region, and it’s apparent in the amazing programs that they delivered this summer. I couldn't be more proud of the experience everyone created for our camp families, and I couldn’t be more grateful for our camp families giving us the opportunity to make memories with them each summer!

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