There Is No Place Like Camp: A Camp Director's Guide For Parents

"During one particular tour . . .I was showing the camp to a lovely couple with two children. We passed the skateboard park/tennis courts/soccer area to get to the boating/fishing center. As I explained to the parents our boating program, a magnificent hawk appeared over our heads on the boating dock, and at the same time, a beautiful swan swam to almost meet us, and as we turned around two majestic deer stopped in their tracks frightened to see us . . .We waited a little bit, amazed at the natural beauty of it all; we walked up the trail and ten turkeys startled us all!Both parents quipped to me at the same time . . . can I go to camp too?"

For almost four decades, Ken Glotzer has directed camps in the New York State region. He has directed three major camps (presently director of Day Camp in the Park) and has been involved in international camping, bringing campers from China, Japan, Korea, Spain, France, and Russia to America. He was the youngest camp director to lead a camp through the full American Camp Association accreditation process (at the age of nineteen). For thirty- four years, he was also a teacher, department chairman, and principal . Over his many years in schools and camps, he has hired thousands of employees and interviewed thousands and thousands of parents. Recently retired from his educational career in 2009, he wrote (with Dr. Ruth Greenblatt) the first fully accredited online master's program in camp administration and leadership in American history. He has been married to his beloved wife, Karen, an editor, a poet, and contributor to this book, for the past thirty years and has three children, Leia, Heather, and Paul. Special thanks to his incredible administrative team-Stu Fliesser, Paul Finkelstein, Andrew Verebes and the incredible guidance and wisdom from Dr. Jay Sexter. Naturally, my counselors and specialists deserve most of the credit for providing a wonderful camp experience for children over the past four decades.