Cindy Blobaum | Environmental Education Program Manager
As I am immersed in planning our 2026 summer day camps, I’m taking this opportunity to give you a glimpse into my background. My involvement in summer day camps is long and deep, although I don’t remember attending many if any registration-based day camps. There were free programs at local parks where I could drop in to do arts, crafts, play pick-up games and use an empty cardboard 5-gallon ice cream container to make a lantern for the end-of-season evening lantern parade. In perhaps 6th grade, I attended a week-long overnight camp – and I can still sing our unit’s rally song.
In high school, my summers were spent working at the local zoo. My second summer, I agreed to solo lead the summer Jr. Zoo Crew program. No training was provided, just a point to a shelf of curriculum guides. I learned a lot during the 2 program weeks – needless to say it was a crash course in group management!
I used the skills gained from that experience to take charge of partner-planning the day camp offered at my position in a national park service area in Virginia. The week included learning/teaching about beavers and pyrite mining and long hikes to see beaver dams and mine shafts.
The following summer I was in my first post-college position along the Arkansas River in Colorado. With a part-time assistant, I led day camps that introduced kids to the reptiles and injured birds of prey that we cared for. The outdoor emphasis was on desert ecology and safety (cacti, scorpions, tarantulas and rattlesnakes, oh my!) as well as riparian ecology. Finding signs of life by wading in the river was a welcome relief!
My next job took me to Connecticut and provided support for a monumental leap in my understanding of summer camp development and administration. My introduction was in helping to prepare the camp guide. The camp was 9 weeks long and served ages 3 – 12, with up to 4 simultaneous sessions going morning and afternoon. This was pre-computer days, so registration Saturday in April meant parents were lining up outside the front doors 3 hours before we opened. Parents divided their scramble between weeks and ages, dashing from table to table to secure spots for their camps of interest, where information was recorded in pen on paper. Future paperwork and communication was completed via the U.S. Postal Service.
I was the assistant director for the summer team of 8 with a program that included a week of intensive training, led by a co-worker who had extensive experience and training in leading camps. This was the first time I had worked with someone with such a background. It was incredible, and I still use the training we provided as a model for important things to cover.
Camp sessions included arts, crafts, outdoor time and daily song circles (which gave me an extensive repertoire of camp songs on every topic!), group slip-and-slides on hot days and an every week culminating feast and festival which featured camper-made treats and skits.
Summer camp experiences that followed included co-leading week-long sessions rotating through county parks in my area and hiring, training and directing a team of 6 at a non-profit nature center in Nebraska, initiating a 6-week all-day Missouri River learning experience for select high school students, offering training sessions for camp leaders from Campfire, museums and college specialty teams.
This reminiscing has inspired me to develop a guiding statement for TNP camps.
I strive to provide the best camp experience for both campers and guardians, with the aim of making outdoor exploration and learning within a supportive community so engaging that it becomes the preferred activity and creates some of the fondest memories for all. Hope to see you this summer!
Cindy’s Book Recommendations
- Sundial of the Seasons by Hal Borland. This includes 365 of Borland’s New York Times nature editorials. An easy and satisfying daily read that connects you with the rhythms and events of seasons and nature.
- Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty. A coming-of-age first person account of both the frustrations and exaltations experienced by a contemporary environmental advocate.
- Oak Origins: From Acorns to Species and the Tree of Life by Andrew Hipp. A scientifically dense book that is fascinating and sprinkled with interesting seemingly remotely tangential connections throughout.
- Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver. A compelling story of human interactions in an Appalachian community with nature a driving focus throughout