Hot Seat Still Seen as Key to Fish Camp Success

A new group of counselors and chairs were selected this March and are excited for several months of memorable experiences: road trips, serving incoming freshmen at camp, and continuing relationships through continuity events, for example. One particular Fish Camp activity, however, has members especially excited: Hot Seat.

Hot Seat, a common feature of Fish Camp road trips, is a game where each member answers any question asked by fellow counselors over the course of a predetermined amount of time. Questions cover a wide variety of topics and present an opportunity for counselors to get to know each other at a much deeper level.

“I absolutely love Hot Seat,” second-year counselor Kailey Johnson said. “It provides an opportunity to learn about my friends’ likes and dislikes, passions, sexual histories, favorite counselors, and all of the other things that define a person. It really helps me know all of my fellow counselors without having to waste time having a real conversation with them.”

Junior Chad Markstrom, a third year counselor, agreed with Johnson’s belief that Hot Seat is one of the most important parts of Fish Camp.

“Hot Seat is a fantastic way to bring people together in a short amount of time. I really like all the wild stories people tell about times they got drunk or high, because they are really useful for establishing the party culture we cherish here at Fish Camp. Plus I really love asking about the amount of hoe points [a numerical value representing the level of a person’s sexual activity] a person has earned because it helps me establish which women I need to respect and which ones I can try to hook up with at after camp parties.”

Johnson was also quick to point out that, despite the attention Hot Seat receives for all of the sexual questions it provokes, “there’s so much more to it than that.”

“Hot Seat provides us counselors the opportunity to take something that was designed for the betterment of camp and make it all about ourselves, which serves as excellent training for when we arrive at Lakeview and do the exact same thing for four days. It also serves as an opportunity to find jokes that we can give to the Freshmen when they make their own skits at the end of camp. Usually we have to be vague and cryptic in order to avoid breaking policy, but it’s ok because we still understand the references and find them funny.”

While many of the counselors we spoke with were excited about this summer activity, this sentiment was not shared by all. Reluctant counselors cited several reasons for being uncomfortable with the activity, including feeling pressured to answer questions, as well as a failure to understand how knowing whether fellow counselors preferred being mauled by a bear to hooking up with their grandma helped welcome incoming Freshmen into the Aggie Family. Some counselors reported a desire to abstain in participating altogether. However, Session A co-chair Mark Claver was adamant that counselors are not required to participate.

“Hot Seat is considered ‘challenge by choice,’ meaning counselors are free to choose whether to participate in Hot Seat or to be the only person in their camp that doesn’t. However, I have never heard of a counselor not participating in Hot Seat. I guess that just shows how Fish Camp has fulfilled their goal of being a safe, inclusive place for everyone!”

 

—Christian Bubble Butt