CTSO Boot Camp
I’ve never been a big fan of working over the summer. Then, last year, I did a one week CTSO Boot Camp for students who were competing that summer in FBLA Nationals. I opened the Boot Camp up to all of our new officers, too, even if they weren’t going to Nationals.
It was one week, 7 am to 2 pm every day.
The difference it made in my organization was incredible.
This year we are doing it again. Let me tell you what we did, what you should do, and the incredible benefits you will see.
Why Is This Worth Your Summer Time?
It’s good for kids
One of the fatal flaws of teachers, in my opinion, is that we tend to think that all of our students are just like us. For example, I have no financial problems or food insecurity, I’ve got supportive people at home who value education, and my neighborhood is safe. Guess what—that’s not the case for so many of our students these days. It was stunning to me how many—and how fast—these kids signed up to come to school for an entire week in the summer. It turned out, not only didn’t they have things to do, but they really wanted to be safe in an air conditioned school with free breakfast and lunch for a week. It was sobering.
It’s good for your program
I was stunned at the long-range benefits our Summer Boot Camp gave our program. Not only did it bring our officer team closer together, but they got an incredible amount of work done! We were able to practice individually with every kid heading to Nationals, and work in small groups with the officer team to start getting ready for the upcoming year. Based on last summer’s Boot Camp, we had more kids submitting applications for officer positions, too, because they got to experience the work of the officer team first-hand.
It might be worth it financially
I have to add this in here, but I don’t want to rub salt in anybody’s wounds. For me, in my school district, “Summer Acceleration and Enrichment” is a paid position at your contracted rate of pay. So, yeah, I get paid for the privilege of building my program. My advice to you is to ask—there might be some funding available for this type of program!
When Should You Do This?
Here in sunny Las Vegas, all schools are closed completely during the month of July, so our summer programming must take place in the first few weeks of June. Based on your demographic—and your own schedule—you might decide to do a one-day Boot Camp on a Saturday, or maybe even a “lock-in” type event overnight on campus. Mine is set by the school district, so it goes for one week at normal school hours.
No matter what you plan, plan something. It will do wonders for your organization, and is well worth your time.
What Does It Include?
Unlike virtually everything during the school year, I am the one who plans the basic structure and schedule for Summer Boot Camp. My officers have just been elected, and I use this as a springboard for them to put forward their agenda, but I don’t burden them with doing any of the legwork or planning. The Summer Boot Camp is divided basically into two separate “camps” that are going on simultaneously, and kids are moving back and forth between the two different types of activities.
Students are either preparing for the National Leadership Conference, or planning for our CTSO next year with the rest of the officer team.
Preparing For National Leadership Conference
Several CTSOs have their national conference during the summer, which is incredibly inconvenient and annoying as crap. But, it has been this way for decades, and with the full school calendar across the country, chances are good that DECA will continue to be the only Career and Technical Student Organization with a national conference during the school year.
On the upside, having nationals during the summer does give us that wonderful opportunity to train and prepare once the pressures of school are over. It isn’t always convenient, however, because so many of my students have summer plans with their family and either can’t attend nationals, or can’t attend Summer Boot Camp. We can’t worry about who doesn’t show up, though, we need to do everything we can for the kids who are there!
Team bonding
We took 56 kids to state, and are taking 25 kids to nationals. At state, they were able to choose their roommates from among their friends, and we didn’t even need to “fill” each room, so kids would spread out. Now, they are four to a room, and often students are traveling without their closest besties. It is important that we do as much team building as we can before we leave. With the 24/7 required “Buddy System”, each kid is going to be required to stick together with somebody—they better get comfortable!
Basic competition prep skills
The first day of Summer Boot Camp is devoted to basic, standard competition skills. We review how to introduce yourself, practicing with eye contact, facial expressions and a strong handshake. These are important life skills that aren’t taught anymore, so spending the time to go over this with these teenagers is just good “home training” from my perspective.
Specific competition skills
We obviously print out every rubric and ratings sheet we can find. We find lists of standards that the testing events will cover, and look for as many practice tests and videos of successful performances that we can find. Then, we practice. Every day for the four remaining days of Boot Camp, kids will practice their individual event. Kids with prepared speeches or presentations do it at least once a day, fine-tuning the verbiage and energy of their presentations. Objective testers use online or real flash cards to review vocabulary, and read as many articles as we can find about current events. We practice absolutely everything.
The New Officer Team
On the other side of the room, you’ve got the incoming officers. This year, I will have two different CTSOs at Summer Boot Camp working to prepare for a successful year, so it is going to be pretty busy and hectic in there!
Team Bonding
While a smaller group, we will have approximately ten officers from each CTSO in my room, and these kids range from incoming sophomores to seniors. They don’t always know each other, since both DECA and FBLA at my school have over 100 members, so not everybody is as close as we would like. Further, you have the new, younger officers trying to make their mark on the organization and their excitement is palpable. Just like with the competitors, it’s important that the team do some bonding and getting to know each other activities. One of the things we do every year is a quick quiz on learning styles and leadership styles. This leads to a great conversation among the students about the importance of different types of leaders in our organization. They are always surprised by the results—it’s a lot of fun.
Create a Program of Work
Their first order of business, developing an annual Program of Work is the task on the first day of Boot Camp. While we can revisit this document throughout the year, it is important to make sure the kids know that this will be our defining document for the year, and one in which we measure our success against. While sharing the previous Program of Work, will be helpful, this is the opportunity for all of the new officers to talk about their campaign promises, and their individual visions for the organization. This is a lively debate that will take all week. The Program of Work must be completed before the end of Summer Boot Camp. Non-negotiable.
Assign all tasks with deadlines
It is extremely important with a new officer team that everyone “stay in their own lane” so that each person can shine. That can’t happen if you don’t verbally and very specifically define each “lane”. Excited officers will step on each other’s toes without realizing it, and this can cause tremendous stress on the new group, so it is important that everyone is aware of who is responsible for each individual piece of the Program of Work. the need a clear line of succession and power, so they know vertically and horizontally how the organizational structure operates. Not everything needs to be brought to me, but they need to know to whom they report on any given topic.
Plan first month of meetings
By the end of Summer Boot Camp, the new officer team is required to have the first month of meetings completely planned out. I mean completely. They need to have their agendas ready, their slides made, their snack schedule identified, and their resources list to me before they leave that week. This sets them up in two ways: They can plan meetings in a relaxed environment where they have time and manpower to develop a plan, and they learn that we are advanced planners—we do nothing by the seat of our pants. If they can learn how to plan a month of meetings, they will be set up to continue planning at that level. If it isn’t modeled and supported from the beginning, they will constantly be behind all year.
Is It “Mandatory”?
Hell no.
I’ve got kids on vacation and kids who work. I’ve got people “visiting Dad” and visiting the Holy Land! It’s not mandatory.
What it is, my friends, is a lot of fun. I make it something so enticing that kids will try to fit it into their plans.
As a result, I’ve got about 80% of competitors and officers signed up for this summer. That’ll do, Donkey, that’ll do.
That’s A Lot Of Time To Give Away In The Summer!
I don’t regret doing Summer Boot Camp, but it is a big chunk of summer that I “give away” in addition to the week I’ll do FBLA Nationals.
I can’t tell you if it’s feasible or worth it for your situation.
What I can tell you is this…
We will see you on stage.
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