Camp Tannadoonah staff on Halloween Night at BLW

Miss Amber, Miss Gabby, Miss Carmen, Miss Meghan, and Miss Hannah all just returned from a 5-day workshop in Ohio, the Buckeye Leadership Workshop (BLW). This year’s theme at BLW was “RE” – as in reconnect, reunite, rebuild, restore, reimagine, refresh, etc. It was all those things and more! Miss Amber is on the planning committee for the workshop, so she gets to help design and plan the event each year.

BLW is a great professional development opportunity for our staff, but it’s also a TON of fun. Like a 5-day camp for grown ups! Staff attend classes that focus on social, physical, and mental activities. Our staff signed up for a variety of sessions over the course of the week, including a team-building session with the amazing Jim Cain, titled Re-Building Unity, Community & Connection in a Post-Pandemic World, a camp song session called Sing, Ring, Stomp, and Teach, a class on Needle Felting, an outdoor education class, a training for Youth Mental Health First Aid, a crafting class, and a class focused on stress management. Miss Amber helped teach a class called The Teambuilder’s Toolbox.

Teambuilding Activities at BLW with Jim Cain

Evening programs involved fun costumes, silly games, songs, puzzles, and awesome snacks! We played get-to-know-you games with Jim Cain, built a crazy putt putt golf course, attended a Halloween-themed carnival, and a live auction event!

Evening Programs at BLW

One of the best parts about attending events like this is the connections we make with other people, both in the camp industry, and not. We reconnected with old friends, met new ones, and formed some great bonds with people. We can’t wait to return next year – March 2023 seems way too far away! Next year we hope to bring an even bigger group of camp staff to BLW with us.

We came back from BLW feeling re-energized and SO excited for summer 2022 at Camp Tannadoonah. We have lots of great new ideas and fun new songs to sing!

~Amber Grundy, CEO, Camp Fire River Bend