Interview and Author: Sam Roberts
Dayton Christian School, from Miamisburg, Ohio, is coming to raft and zipline this month for their 37th year. I gave Greg Kurtz, the group leader for the last 25 years, a call to see why the Dayton Christian has come back to Wildwater every year. I was astounded at what he had to say.
Greg said Dayton Christian comes back year after year because Wildwater is so professional and he has always been treated with respect. He continued to say that every person at Wildwater is friendly, and it goes across the board from the check-in Team, to bus drivers, to the Raft Guides and Canopy Rangers. It’s consistently a fun and pleasant experience for all the kids and is the highlight they look forward to. I could understand, why change what’s not broke?
Greg went on to say that Jack and Becky Wise and the whole crew have made the working relationship great on every level and he has always been treated like family. He wouldn’t want to go with any other outfitter because he couldn’t ask for anything better.
He even asked me a question. “How are the Guides so good? Not just in the way they’re highly trained and able to take care of their Guests, but intelligent”. He is impressed in our consistency over the years, all of the Guides are enjoyable to talk to and very entertaining. I couldn’t come up with an answer, but I was told that Wildwater tries to hire individuals that love the out of doors, are personable and are engaging. Skills can be taught, but personalities are harder to change. After 44 years of experience, Wildwater knows what they are looking for.
I was glad I made the phone call to Greg, he had so much to say that I can only cover the bullet points. I have only been working with Wildwater since January and was aware of the Wildwater Way, however, I did not know how successful Wildwater has been in providing consistently good service for over 44 years.
*Dayton Christian School System (DCSS) was established in 1963 and has graduated more than 5,000 students. Dayton Christian has been Wildwater’s most loyal Group and we truly appreciate their dedication to Wildwater. It has been a pleasure to work with Greg Kurtz over the past 25 years and we consider them a part of the Wildwater Family!
Team Wildwater
