The American Camping Association offers an outdoor living skills program that promotes understanding of the natural environment and the value of minimum impact camping. The program is based on five levels and encompasses six skill areas. It can be adapted to any age group and to venues such as day camps, residential camps, outdoor education, or…

The most essential set of skills that camp directors can impart to staff are effective group skills. One trick to working with campers in groups is to formalize brief meetings as part of the program. Types of meetings described are daily group, bunk, or cabin meetings; briefing and debriefing before and after activities; public appreciation;…

Advocates restoring vision of early outdoor education leaders for the welfare of children and the strengthening of society through enlightened policy of recruitment, sensitive appraisal of camp activities, and realistic staff training programs. Details purposes and activities to include in 15-25 hour staff field training model. (NEC)

Transmitted by mosquitos, West Nile virus may cause serious illness, but the actual likelihood of infection is low. Prevention, implications, and recommendations for camps are discussed. Poison ivy identification, treatment, and complications are presented; a prevention quiz is included. Signs and symptoms of Lyme disease are described, as are…

Having a designated safety expert at camp creates a culture of safety. The Gene Ezersky Camp Safety College, which certifies safety directors, has identified seven areas of camp that should be the focus of the safety director: kitchen and food services, health and sanitation, emergency preparation and management, leadership training, facility…

Presents an exercise to encourage camp staff to appreciate their responsibilities by composing a letter from a parent to a staff person expressing feelings, expectations, worries, and hopes about camp. The exercise focuses on guiding staff to generate an action plan to meet these expectations. Gives sample hypothetical letter from parent. (TD)

Camp counselors who are "life changers" nurture relationships within which others can grow and explore. They challenge children to reinvent the boundaries of what they expect of themselves. Such people have common characteristics that include love, humor, forgiveness, honesty, humility, encouragement, generosity, and integrity. The…

Presents strategies for making peak moments happen at camp. One camp made it a priority for counselors to do little things for campers. One counselor started a bedtime ritual where campers discussed the day's highlights and thanked someone. Another strategy involved campers writing positive notes to each other. Proclaiming one day to be…

Camping Unlimited for at-risk youth, which originally ran from 1969-76, was recently revived at Blue Star Camps (Hendersonville, North Carolina) with 150 youth from southern Florida. The one-week stay, funded by several partnerships and organized by youth programs in the home county, included all regular camp activities. Increased staff and…

Much camp counselor work takes place where no administrator is present. Gives managerial tools that help "see the invisible" before campers arrive and during camp. Discusses methods of evaluating staff. Studies from other fields with similar managerial situations show that leadership through articulation of a vision and staff attitudes are more…

A camp director explains his supervisory style as being based on one-minute goals, one-minute praise, and one-minute reprimands; his experience as a parent; a decentralized model of staff supervision; and building relationships with staff by talking and listening to them. Gives American Camping Association standards for staff supervision and…

Staff training at inclusive camps should include disability awareness exercises such as having counselors get around camp in a wheelchair. Techniques for handling health issues and helping campers through transitions are presented. During camp, have enough staff or volunteers to support campers with special needs. Disability awareness exercises…

To increase its counselor retention rate, a New York camp developed a course for counselors that focuses on leadership training and earns participants college credit. The class teaches situational leadership and focuses on the camper, not the activity. Course curriculum and objectives, course elements, and lessons learned about program improvement…

A camp's culture must be established in a way that maximizes the opportunities to fulfill the camp's highest priority goals and objectives. A camp director describes how his staff training emphasizes building relationships, a sense of community, and experiencing camp activities. Skill practice, safety management, policies, procedures, and…

School camping began with three movements in American society: children's camping, which has been traced back as far as 1823; the Nature Study Movement, which is thought to have begun as early as 1839; and the holistic "new education." In 1940, L. B. Sharp opened National Camp in New Jersey and Julian W. Smith initiated the Clear Lake…