American summer camps employ over one million individuals every summer. However, little research has been conducted evaluating the experiences and outcomes for the camp staff. In particular, research efforts have done little to examine the subset of staff members working in formal leadership positions at summer camps. Often college-aged emerging…

Camp has proven to be an effective positive youth development strategy for children and youth who experience trauma and adversity. However, training camp counselors who are prepared to meet the needs of trauma-exposed youth in these settings are less understood. This pilot evaluation study provides the results of a social simulation-based training…

Over the course of three summers, Sierra Health Foundation hosted a weeklong summer youth development camp for REACH coalitions at its Grizzly Creek Ranch retreat facilities in Portola, California. Located 130 miles east of Sacramento, Grizzly Creek Ranch is set in the mountains of Plumas County and encompasses 1,500 acres of forests, streams and…

Problem: Leaders today need a new set of knowledge and skills to be effective in collaborative environments. The focus of this study was to investigate how collaborative environments can contribute to leadership development. The purpose of this study was to describe how the collaborative environment of summer camp helped shape emerging adults as…

Adolescents were pretested on the power and accuracy of tennis strokes and their state of self-actualization before and after each four-week camp session. Comparison of campers' scores indicated positive change in both areas in respect to session one, but no significant changes were evident for campers in session two. (Author/DB)

Discusses various program activities at New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) camps, including environmental workshops which foster exploration, discovery, and skill development. Highlights recreational and evening activities for the one-week camping experience for 12 to 17 year olds. (JN)

Both participants in the Ontario Camp Leadership Center at Bark Lake and their sponsoring organizations agreed on the benefits of the leadership development experience and enthusiastically endorsed the program. Researchers conducted a 19-question telephone survey of 202 program participants and a 32-question survey of 40 sponsors and 20…

The 10-day 1981 National Leadership Conference (NLC) sponsored by the American Youth Foundation was held at Camp Miniwanca (Michigan) for 182 urban high school students selected for leadership ability or potential and other specific criteria established by each student's home city. Students participated in seminars, skills explorations,…

The central theme of the 10-day National Leadership Conference (NLC), sponsored by the American Youth Foundation at Camp Miniwanca (Michigan), is to train high school students in leadership for service; its goal is to sharpen service-learning leadership skills of young people and teachers and to encourage their application to transform and serve…