Camp Director Katie Duffy shares how her experience at the American Camp Association Tri-State Camp Conference will help make this year’s summer better than ever!

The Asphalt Green Summer Day Camp team recently traveled to New Jersey for the American Camp Association Tri-State Camp Conference. With more than 3,000 attendees, this annual conference is the largest gathering of camp professionals in the world!

The conference gave us a chance to speak with and learn from other camp directors and program managers of camps near and far. As Director of Camps, I was thrilled to dive into a wide range of educational sessions. I was joined by my team:

  • Logan Roquemore, Camp Manager at Battery Park City
  • Paul Culff, Director of Sports
  • Ben Freeman, Associate Director of Sports at our Battery Park City campus
  • Chad Simmons, Assistant Camp Director at our Upper East Side campus

Combined, the five of us participated in more than 60 educational sessions over the course of three days (March 17-19). Session topics included selecting and hiring the best counselors, meeting the changing needs of today’s campers and families, new and effective techniques in staff training and more.

We also met various vendors who offer new field trip, special event and camp activity options for this upcoming summer. As Keynote Speaker Hillary Clinton said in the conference’s closing speech, camp provides the “essential building blocks for young people.”

The Asphalt Green Summer Day Camp team is brimming with excitement about the summer ahead, and we cannot wait to put the new ideas that we learned at the conference into action. With less than 100 days until the start of camp, we are gearing up for a great summer of fun, fitness and friendship!