Hey, parents – Allison here!
As you’ve hopefully heard, we’re switching registration systems. Instead of using a combination of Daxko and Playerspace, we’ll now use CampBrain. Abbi and I are incredibly excited about the switch, and we hope you are, too!
I know that having to make a new account and learn a new system (especially after only having Playerspace for two summers) can be frustrating, so I want to make sure we explain a few reasons why we made the switch.
A good registration experience for parents and guardians is extremely important to us, so after two summers of hearing parent difficulties (it doesn’t work on a phone, my link has expired, etc.), we knew we had to switch.
Previously, adults had to register through Daxko then fill out separate paperwork through Playerspace. It was inconvenient and confusing, and it led to us having a good amount of people come to camp without paperwork. CampBrain will take registrations, payment, and paperwork.
A convenient and important-to-mention thing about CampBrain is that you do NOT have to do all the paperwork initially. You can skip the medical form, Parent to Counselor form (optional), Camper to Counselor form, and physical upload during registration and come back later. If you fill it out all at once, registration will take a while, but if you only fill out the basics, you could finish registration in as little as 10 minutes.
In previous summers, parents have had to wait in line to add money to their camp store accounts once they’ve arrived at camp. Last summer (because of COVID-19), we had to ask parents the amount and charge cards later in the week. Neither was ideal.
With CampBrain, you can add money to your camper’s camp store account at registration, any time before camp, or even during camp. You’ll also be able to see your camper’s camp store balance each day and decide if you’d like to add more to their account. Upon request, we can even print itemized lists of what campers have purchased.
Additionally, it gives us the ability to move our merchandise online, so parents, campers, and friends of camp can see what we have before arriving and pre-purchase things if they want.
Okay, it’s not much easier the first time, but after the first time, it’s MUCH easier. We often get questions from parents about why the medical form has to be filled out each year, and it’s because we need to make sure we have the most current information. With CampBrain, after you fill the form out the first time, it will pre-fill most of your information – you’ll just need to check it quickly.
Before, if a parent wanted to register two kids for two sessions each, they’d have to fill out the registration form four times – twice per camper. Now, you can select as many campers as you want and register them for as many sessions as you want with only one registration form per camper. It’s also much easier to switch sessions!
This is something that parents probably won’t ever see, but it was a big factor in us wanting CampBrain. The health center area will allow our camp nurse to more easily and much more quickly pull up information, which keeps our campers safer. The camp nurse will also be able to log visits with notes, so we can more easily export information if parents or guardians ever have questions.
We do great things with a small number of office staff here at YMCA Camp Immokalee. During most of the year, it’s just me and Abbi in the office, and in the spring/summer, we add Jessie (our office administrator). Every minute CampBrain saves us on behind-the-scenes office work (and trust me, it’s a lot of minutes!) is another minute we can spend planning new fun activities, creating a better camp experience, or spending time with our campers and staff.
If you’re ready to register, you can do that here! If you have any questions, suggestions, or concerns at all, please contact us at cimmokalee@fcymca.org. We want to help you!
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