Virtual BRASS Camp Survey Summary - Special Love

Virtual BRASS Camp Survey Summary
               2020 Survey Monkey Results for Campers (Staff Summary follows)

Comments (1): More communication about what to expect earlier.

Comments (2): Knowing when the actual evening activity would start (Ed.: not just the free talking after
logging in) would’ve helped keep my son engaged. Appreciated the email reminders later in the month.

Comments (10): Most classes were mentioned, especially woodworking, crafts, cooking, and gardening.

Comments (17): Most people said they attended “almost everything” with those who didn’t citing connection issues
(1), sports and other competing activities, and difficulty holding the young child’s attention (2). Most frequently-
mentioned activities were Monday assemblies, movies, games/trivia, and campfires.

Comments (7): Five of the seven comments said their kids didn’t use the Telegram app because they:
didn’t have their own phone (3), wouldn’t use it appropriately (1), got tired after the first few days of all
the stickers and needless posts (1), or would’ve preferred being with older kids (1). One parent
commented that the app was great.

Comments (10): Responses cited the need for more “live” activities during the day (such as afternoon
“rec time” when kids could hang out) and roughly half suggested a two-week period.

Comments (7): included, “IDK, don't think he talked much,” “Great for cabin, full sessions were less effective for
connections,” “Telegram was great. Live-streams were so fun. The website was easy for them to navigate solo,” and
“He was disinterested with the virtual component.”

Comments (5): included: “Not sure how to strengthen this. Em connected with some on the live interaction but not
with cabin or chat,” “Not sure due to him not being around me at time of connections,” and “What a great staff!”

Comment (1): Daytime would have been much better to give kids good activities and interaction with friends and
counselors while parents work, like camp used to be!

Thank you SO much for all that was done in preparation and during camp! It was obvious how much
work, effort and love went into making this a memorable experience for campers and families. It was
wonderful!
8/12/2020 6:47 PM
Thank you!!! This was awesome!!!
8/3/2020 9:49 AM
AWESOME!! Thank you to everyone for their time, smiles, and happy spirit! Stay healthy!!
8/2/2020 10:34 PM
All in all....an INCREDIBLE job for wonderful programming. Truly, thank you!
8/2/2020 9:46 PM
Thanks for all the hard work of everyone to make this month long camp available. HOW HOW
8/2/2020 9:32 PM
We loved the puzzle. We painted the mug also. We loved that there were options and we could
participate on our own schedule. We had trouble remembering that there were fun things to do! We did
not participate in book club or the lunch bunch, but those sounded fun too.
8/2/2020 8:57 PM
I love all that BRASS camp did for the kids. It was a wonderful mix and my child was happy to see the
campers and counselors. I truly appreciate all the effort that was made to make this month amazing.

8/2/2020 8:30 PM
Thank you for all your hard work creating these opportunities! The camp in the box was awesome. My
boys loved the crafts and the cooking especially!!
8/2/2020 7:08 PM
We LOVED it! Thank you so much for all your hard work. Liam's favorites: gaming, cooking,
woodworking, yoga, movie nights, trivia night, cabin chats. He wasn't the biggest fan of Dance night, but
enjoyed the scavenger hunts. Big sis Kate was happy to take the craft projects that Liam passed on. :-)
8/2/2020 6:03 PM
All of your efforts are very much appreciated. While my camper did not participate every day or in every
class, he greatly enjoyed the ones he was able to participate in and is looking forward to catching up on
some post camp.
8/2/2020 6:02 PM
Thank you all so much for the efforts in every way shape and form. The box of goodies was such an
exciting thing and integral to feeling a sense of inclusion. The laughs and smiles (and some tears) told
me that Eme felt she was a part of the group.
8/2/2020 6:40 AM
I think you did a great job under the circumstances! It's hard to engage kids through virtual means, but
you certainly had many options to suit every taste. My camper is hard to engage, but he had some
wonderful moments of connection with a group that truly cares about his well-being and values his
contributions!
8/1/2020 4:24 PM
We haven’t finished all the videos, I hope they are still available through August, this working mom fell
behind on plenty of the activities.
8/1/2020 3:57 PM
Thank you! What a great program.
8/1/2020 3:03 PM

BRASS Camp Staff Summary

Of the 27 people who responded to the survey, all felt it was an overall success with the campers. The
only constructive criticism was that interest seemed to wane as the month went on. As one person put
it, “I wish we could’ve reached more kids, but that could be the nature of the virtual program delivery.”

What worked
The vast majority of the 27 staff members who responded to the survey agreed that the following areas
of camp worked well:
Pre-camp planning apps (with the exception of Marco Polo)
Juggling pre-camp planning with work schedules (though it was tougher than “winging it at camp”
Variety of programming – unanimous
Communications (only comment was to “centralize communications” rather than use 4 different
methods – email, Marco Polo, Telegram, and texting)
The Telegram app (for staff) – unanimous
The brasscamp.org website (one person said they had difficulty accessing WebEx from their browser)
The mix of live and pre-recorded options (one person requested more live activities)

What worked marginally well:
The Telegram app (for campers)– it wasn’t accessible to younger kids and didn’t appear to engage some
of the kids who did have access. The kids who did use it loved it, but they represented less than half the
group.

Duration of BRASS Camp (preferences in order of popularity)
About Two Weeks: 59%             One Month w/same Schedule: 37%           One Week: 4%

Additional Comments
My work schedule became too overwhelming for me to contribute to camp during July. I was able to
pre-record 4 videos and would have liked to have known if they were ever watched by the
campers/families. Overall, amazing month!
8/3/2020 9:14 AM
If camp is shorter, Like a weekend, I would have more time or longer times on livestream. I think there
could be fun ways to do virtual challenges. The only thing I didn’t feel we were able to do as much is
open a forum for the campers to talk about their siblings or what’s going on at home, I found this a little
harder to do over virtual but was okay as they usually bring it up on their own. Also, it would’ve been
helpful to know which of my campers was bereaved as well. As a whole I felt it went really well!
8/2/2020 4:24 PM
Well done and executed! Given this was the first ever virtual camp I think it was successful with minimal
issues. Only unfortunate part was not all campers engaging in telegram or any live events but know we
reached the campers that needed this the most!

8/2/2020 1:31 PM
Need live staff together in order to support this platform.
8/2/2020 1:26 PM
I think we should designate a night for cabin chats. For example, instead of the random events/dance
parties on Thursday turn it into a chat night. You can include special visits from Jodi and Hales and
special guests just as we would if the campers were settling into bed at camp. You could also end with a
dance party. Something else I would suggest is to divide campers into tribe chats. For some cabin there
were only a small number of kids participating in the cabin chats. Tribe chats would give the kids more
opportunities to connect with other campers throughout the month and maybe be willing to share more
often. Tribes would also give us the chance to give out challenges/activities for campers to prepare for
campfire :) LOVED camp this year! Thank you for keeping the magic alive in us all!!
8/1/2020 4:11 PM
It was an amazing success!! If I could handle the technology........anyone can!!!!! The staff at SL were real
troopers!!! I can't imagine dealing with all of us during the month. I think campers and counselors were
very involved. Those that did not participate lost out on some crazy, fun activities. ThANKS TO
EVERYONE!!!!!!!!
8/1/2020 3:27 PM
In reflecting, I realized how amazing the structure of camp was. If campers could not connect at 7pm,
they could still chat with their cabin. If they were unable to be on the morning assembly call, all the class
videos were still available. Leadership did an admirable job really covering all the bases this year at
virtual BRASS. Myself and my campers really enjoyed everything

work/life for a month. It's totally ok not to be able to engage fully. However, we need to hold staff
accountable to at least communicate what they can and cannot do.
8/1/2020 11:17 AM
I think that given the circumstances, we did a really stellar job. We definitely saw some camper drop off
over the month, but we engaged with the people who really wanted to participate and made it a really
memorable experience for them.
8/1/2020 11:16 AM
I had so much fun and will miss seeing everyone everyday!!
8/1/2020 10:43 AM