TRIP LEADER DETAILS

Wildside has 390 spots available for students and leaders.  This does not include staff or Workcrew.  These are available on a first come, first serve basis. Therefore, we encourage each group not to delay in registering.

Here is our schedule for spots:

When you register and send in your deposit you establish how many spots you are starting out with. This does not include Workcrew - only students and leaders.  Workcrew is not included in any of your spot totals until you are invoiced after WildSide. 

April 1 -  Drop-Down Date. 

You can drop spots without penalty. If you do drop spots on or before April 1, then your $50 deposits will be applied to your total invoice. After April 1, you will forfeit your $50 deposit for each spot you drop.

If you are dropping spots April 1, we require that you send an email to communicate this: admin@makeripplefx.com . Just texting us or having a phone call is not enough, we need an email from you.

If you want to increase your spots after the drop down date, you can do so based upon availability.  This is also done via email. 

May 24 - Locked In Date. 

We will need your total numbers and break down for guys/girls spots.  This is the student/leader total you will be billed.   If your numbers decrease after May 24, you will be billed the full amount of any unused spots. 

After June 1 -  Run to the Finish Line. 

Please continue to go for it. We want as many students as possible to to connect with Jesus and their leaders. Chase after students about going to WildSide. Be tenacious.  We have found that students who sign up in the last 2 weeks before camp often have their lives rocked by Jesus. If you have a student or two you would like to add just first check in with John to verify there is space. 330-354-5437. Then once you get confirmation that the student is attending -  email us at admin@makeripplefx.com   to confirm you are using another spot. 

We don't have a ton of deadlines. However, make sure you are aware of when stuff is due. We suggest putting these in your calendar now.  Also, anytime we ask for something to be submitted or sent in please send all info and forms to admin@makeripplefx.com 

April 1 - Spots Drop Down Date.

Send us an email and let us know if you are keeping all of the spots you originally registered for. After April 1 you lose your deposit [$50] on any spots you drop. 

May 1 -  Workcrew numbers Update.

We need to know how many high school students you have lined up for workcrew.  This gives us time to make sure we have enough.

May 24 - Locked In Date. 

We will need your total numbers and break down for guys/girls spots.  This is the student/leader total you will be billed.  

June 1 - EVERYTHING ELSE.

June 1 is a big day. We basically need four things:

1. Final Number on Workcrew

We need your final number on workcrew. This gives all of us time to recruit last minute people if we need to. 

2. Housing Form.

We need you to fill out your group's housing form. Please completely fill it out. This is critical for us to assign lodging. This form includes not just students and leaders but workcrew as well.

3. Dietary Needs Form. 

We can't order food if we don't know who has allergies, or how many vegetarians we have. Send us your form so your students can eat!

4.  Leader T-shirt Order Form.

Some groups like to order t-shirts for all of their leaders or even students. If you'd like to do this for your leaders and/or students then we suggest doing this in advance. Ordering early lets us fill your orders and ensure you get all the correct sizes.  

 We try to keep things pretty simple. There are a few guidelines that we have put in place over the years that have really helped WildSide be a great experience for everyone attending.

Electronics:  NO cell phone, iPads, tablets, etc. Just don’t bring them.  We don’t allow them at Wildside. Quite simply, students don’t need them and it actually is a distraction from interacting with friends and leaders and hearing from God, so we don’t allow them for any reason.  However, we do allow the adult leaders to bring phones. We do not allow Workcrew to have phones. We do not allow High School students who are student leaders to have phones. 

Bathing Suits: So here's the scoop on suits... Guys- Just bring normal boxer-like suits. Girls- We prefer they wear a one-piece or tankini. If they don't have that, it's ok. They don't have to buy one, but please have them bring an extra solid-color t-shirt to wear over their two piece suit. 

Energy Drinks and Soda ban: We don’t allow students to bring soda or energy drinks.  They can purchase sodas one at a time at the snack bar, but we have found that in the past excessive amounts of pop, candy or energy drinks right before bed creates problems for students getting to sleep.  Students are welcome to bring some snacks to share with their cabin, however, the soda and energy drinks need to be left at home.

Practical Jokes: For whatever reason students like to plot to play a practical jokes on other cabins. We get it. There is nothing like a good practical joke. Unfortunately  in the 25+ years we have been doing camps we have never seen this go well. Ever.  EVER. What generally happens is that practical jokes just create frustration amongst campers, a Lose-Lose scenario for leaders and spiritually they become a distraction away from Jesus.  In most other settings we personally love practical jokes. However at camp we don't allow them.

 Workcrew is a leadership and service opportunity for college and high school students. Workcrew (WC)  is literally the backbone of our camp. Without WC, Wildside could not happen.

Our WC sets up, helps facilitate, tears down, and cleans up after all of our major program activities. They also help run our waterfronts, facilitate meals, and do a 1000 other behind the scenes tasks. 

We encourage you as a Trip Leader to use WC as a way to develop your own students as servants and leaders.

What is Required:

 This year we will need each church to provide 1 WC person for every 10 people they are bringing. So if your group size is 20, you’re responsible for 2 WC. We round down not up. So 25 is still 2. WC can be high school or college students. If you have a few more people interested in WC than your allotted amount - that’s awesome!  Just let us know how many you plan on bringing. 

We will need to know if you know how many Workcrew spots you will be filling by May 1. 

If you are unable to fill your allotted WC spots, we ask that you cover the financial cost for them of $200 pp. 

WC come to Wildside one day early to help set up camp. So their 2025 arrival date is  June 14.  We ask that all WC arrive no later than 10 AM on June 14. 

Once you register your group for Wildside we will provide you with a  login to our  Trip Resources Page.  On the page you'll find all the down loads you need - All the forms and packing lists, plus:

Promotional Videos

We provide a couple of different options for promo videos. The first is a link to a dropbox folder we put our promo videos in.  You can download  them from the link.  We also encourage you to text this link to yourself so that you can access these videos from your phone. This is a great way to show parents and students what WS is like.

The second form is through an online video editing program.  This allows you to personalize your video  easily. We have already done 95% of the work. Just add your own touches and in less than 5 minutes you can have a personalize promo video.  Everything is online and it is pretty simple. Download the instructions in the downloads section .

Sample Brochures

Each group develops their own brochure. However we do have some samples that you can adapt or steal verbiage from.  

Sample Parent Letters

We have a sample parent letter for you to edit for your own needs. This is a letter that RiverTree sends out a couple weeks before WildSide. It is a summary of a bunch of details for parents. So feel free to use this how you  want and edit it to meet your needs.

We provide medical release forms that cover RippleFX, Round Lake and partnering churches. You have to use this medical form for Wildside 2025.  There is both a PDFF version and a Doc that you can download on our Trip Leader Resources page. You can edit the Doc by adding your churches name if you so desire. Do not edit any of the other wording or delete any content. This is one way to make paperwork less complicated. Or you can have students complete both your own churches form and then also this Wildside 2025 form. It's up to you. 

If your church does online registration with electronic signatures, please be sure to use the exact legal wording on our form with  whatever you do online. 

When you arrive at Wildside,  you should have two copies of our medical release form for each person coming with your group - one copy to immediately hand in to our camp nurse and a second copy for you to keep and have for your drive home. 

Oh, and do not forget to send your Workcrew forms with them - they come a day early.