We were lucky to catch up with David Rivas & Sam Braley recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, David Rivas & Sam Braley thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Your ability to build a team is often a key determinant of your success as a business owner and so we’d love to get a conversation going with successful entrepreneurs like yourself around what your recruiting process was like -especially early on. How did you build your team?
DAVID: Camp: Destination started with myself and 5 other staff who took on the challenge of a summer experience that was very volunteer and community oriented. Finding the right people for the job was a challenge, and it remains a challenge up to the present day. What is challenging isn’t filling the role, but finding the perfect person to compliment the camp culture, the high energy, and the needs of every camper who walks through our front door. In this job you are not hiring just some person to sit in a room and supervise children playing. We are looking for someone who is a role model, cares about the growth and development of every camper, builds healthy and meaningful relationships, and is also able to bring an aura of fun and a smile with them every day. These people are unique and hard to find! At first we looked at online job boards, previous co-workers, or “someone who knew someone” who we thought would be a good fit. This was very hit or miss. Ultimately what we did was we decided to look inward at the campers themselves, and see if any of them would one day be interested in being a camp counselor. The plan quickly became to build a Leadership in Training program that would train older campers in their camp experiences to one day take on the counselor role as a paid staff member. As time went on and the amount of campers increased we found we needed more staff to fill the needs of the program, and our need for staff grew. Our unconventional approach to looking inward and training from within became our best source for staff, and continues to be until this day. Almost all of our staff are former campers or are involved in our camp community in some way and we could not be any luckier to have the staff we have today because of this. This includes our current Director- Sam Braley.
If we were starting over today I would encourage my team to not just look for a person that has credentials on a piece of paper. Instead I would advise us to find people who compliment the staff we already have and who value the high energy experience of having the best possible summer with the best possible campers. The staff are essential to what we do and the camper experience, and it is one of the hardest jobs you could ever love. A counselor is a guide, a mediator, a friend, a magician, a medic, an actor, an athlete, a chef, and a constant beacon of light and joy to each and every camper they meet (and this isn’t even half of it!). It’s incredibly hard and finding the right person for the job is hard as well- hold off until you find the “right” ones.
SAM: Way back in the days of “day one,” I was one of the campers who was lucky enough to experience my summers alongside the incredible staff that David & our founding team had built – thus, I only have so much insight to provide on how initial staffing & hiring processes worked in our organization!
With that in mind, I cannot echo more of what David said about how much emphasis we place on looking beyond credentials when hiring staff for each summer. David & I are truly looking for staff members who are high-energy, dynamic, and seek to not only fulfill a passion & desire to work with children, but also a passion & desire to contribute to inclusive community experiences for each and every one of our campers. We seek to create an experience each summer which is not that of a daycare or standard “summer camp,” but rather an experience built upon passion, excitement, & community – having staff who echo these ideals, and come to camp in order to be contributing & lively members of our program, is so critical to the incredible experience which we attempt to build each year!
We also place heavy emphasis on the team dynamic of our staff, and how well our staff will compliment one another in practice each day at camp. One of the most unique parts about our programming is that while staff members are assigned to a “camp group,” our scheduling also ensures that each & every staff member will have the opportunity to work with each & every camper (Grades K-12) throughout the summer. We work hard to, as David has described it, build the “star” model in our staffing – where each member of our team is their own point on a large plane, and together, we build a “star” which serves as the guiding point of building our dynamic summer experience each year.
David Rivas & Sam Braley, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
DAVID: My name is David Rivas and I have been working in summer camp, youth development, and education since 2005. One of my first jobs was as a camp counselor, and I immediately fell in love with what a summer camp experience can provide for the campers, staff, and community. I have worked in education as an elementary and middle school science and math teacher since 2010, and every summer I have found my way back to being involved with a summer program in some capacity. Eventually we decided to meet the needs of our community in a different way, and this is when the Camp: Destination story began. We offer an affordable and meaningful summer experience for youth entering kindergarten up to 17 years old. All of our campers, families and staff want to be a part of the program, and this is something I am very proud of. We create opportunities for all of our campers to be seen and to build relationships and memories that last a lifetime. I am also extremely proud of the program that Camp: Destination is today. I could not be more proud of our staff and our leadership team. Our director Sam is a former camper, as well as a former LIT (leader in training), and it is such a privilege to see him building and empowering the next generation of campers. I could not be any luckier to be on this journey with our camp community!
SAM: My name is Sam Braley & I am thrilled to be a part of the Leadership Team at Camp: Destination! I have spent my entire childhood attending Camp: Destination, and cannot think of a program/childhood experience which has been more influential upon the person that I am today. I am so fortunate to be able to work alongside David, who was my camp counselor growing up, and someone who continues to play such an incredible role as a mentor & leader in my adult life today!
As we enter our 11th Summer, I find that I am most proud of the continual, lifelong impact which Camp: Destination has had on each & every member of our program. We are thrilled to have a staff which is made up of predominantly former campers (myself included!), all of whom credit camp as one of the most significant sources of confidence, excitement, & joy within their childhood. As I enter my 4th Summer on our camp staff, I have been so privileged to witness the growth of so many campers into young adults, who have continued to grow in their passion & excitement for our shared summer experience each year. Despite the many changes that come with growing up & navigating through childhood, each of these campers is able to recognize camp as a consistent source of excitement within their life! And of course, we welcome new members to our Camp: Destination Family each summer, many of whom are nervous about the unknowns of a new experience in May, and leave in July with a countdown to the next summer already on their calendar! To be able to lead, take part in, and benefit from an experience which touches individuals of all ages, backgrounds, & interests is such a privilege and something which I am forever grateful to be a part of!
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
DAVID: There are several things that I know have been helpful in building our reputation in the community. One of them is we are very focused on the camper as an individual instead of viewing them as a number or a way to meet our financial goals. We look at every camper and do our absolute best to provide an experience where they connect with their peers, build meaningful and impactful relationships with the staff, and finally set them up to enjoy every program and activity that we have laid out for them in their time with us. Another thing that has been very helpful for us in building our reputation is the high quality of our staff. As I mentioned earlier we are looking for the right person, and we know the right person for the job is a positive role model who has all the tools and training to support every camper and family that we have the privilege of working with! All of our staff (including myself) believe in the experience we provide our community, and this is reflected in our positive reputation.
SAM: There are so many things which I think have built our reputation within the community, but if I had to pick a few to highlight, I could not emphasize more of what David said about the high quality of our staff! Each summer, we build a staff of people who are just as excited about coming to camp each day as our campers – there is not a single member of our team who does not wholeheartedly want to be a part of our experience! This excitement & passion for our program is infused into so much of our camp culture, and elevates our community in a way that nothing else could!
Additionally, our scheduling seeks to maximize every moment of the camp day. From the moment that campers are dropped off in the morning, until the moment campers are picked up in the afternoon, our schedule is full of programming opportunities & excitement for our campers to engage in. We do not have a second of downtime, and we want to make the most of our time spent together! We are able to help make camp more affordable & accessible to each of our families by having all of our programming take place in-house, and with the commitment, enthusiasm, & passion of our staff, we work hard to provide meaningful and exciting experiences from 9:00AM – 3:00PM each day that camp is in session! This dynamic scheduling approach truly sets us apart, and is so significant to the excitement generated around our program each summer.
Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?
DAVID: Our Co-Director Sam and I have known each other for a very long time! He is actually one of my former campers, and he has been involved with the Camp: Destination story since its inception 11 years ago. Sam continued to come back every summer where he made his way through the camper program, became an LIT (Leader in training) with us, and finally became a camp counselor. It is safe to say that for every camper that remembers me at Camp: Destination also remembers Sam! Sam joined the leadership team for Summer 2024, and his energy, heart, enthusiasm, and planning has truly elevated what we do and how we do it at Camp. It is wild for me to think that we ever ran camp without him! He is a key leader and driving force behind all of the programming, staffing and training, and ultimately success of the program. He keeps the traditions alive as he is a product of when we started, and it is such a pleasure and privilege to work with him as we build more memories and friendships in the next generation of campers and families.
SAM: I have known David for almost my entire life, and I was lucky enough to have him as my camp counselor for many years of my childhood. As an aspiring educator, there is not a single person who I seek to embody more in my practice than David – his enthusiasm, understanding of what it’s like to be a kid, and desire to connect with each & every camper who he comes across has changed the lives of countless individuals, and I am so lucky to have been able to have David as a role model in my life for many years past, and for what I know will be many years to come!
David is the heart of all that we do at camp. Our campers & families often refer to our program as “Camp: D,” and it is said more often than not that the D is not for Destination, but for David. It has been his vision of providing each & every one of our community members with a safe, meaningful, & fun experience each summer that has made camp & its impact possible for so many over the past 11 years, and will continue to be the guiding vision & heart of Camp: Destination for the many years to come! It is such a privilege to be able to work alongside him, learn from him, and consider him as a mentor & role model to how to make the world a better place for all. I hope that your families & campers are able to join us for this summer, and experience the incredible impact he leaves on all those who he comes across!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.campdestination.org
- Instagram: camp_destination
- Facebook: Camp: Destination
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