Latest ACA Blog Posts

ACA camps work intentionally to develop communities that bring everyone closer — living and learning together.

Seth Godin once said: “For millions of years, human beings have been part of one tribe or another. A group needs only two things to be a tribe: a shared interest and a way to communicate.”

ACA camps create “tribes.” Within camps, there are often multiple tribes witnessed by cabin groups or activity groups while each unique tribe still feels a part of the camp community, at large.

ACA camps who participate in international exchange programs are setting the stage for an expanded understanding of today’s culture and the opportunity to create a “global tribe.”

This is an extraordinary demonstration of global leadership within the ACA camp community. Godin tells us that we can belong to tribes but can’t cut ourselves off from others: “Leadership is the art of giving...

UNTIL:

1. A parent tells me they assumed “someone” was monitoring the camp.
2. The media calls and asks what set of best practices/standards my camp follows.
3. I am faced with a difficult situation or crisis and feel grateful I already have systems in place due to the standards program.
4. I have staff turn-over and my camp’s institutional memory is compromised.
5. I realize my state offers my camp regulatory relief because we are accredited.
6. I realize I may be eligible for public funding only if I am accredited.
7. I realize my insurance carrier requires accreditation and/or my insurance rates will decrease because of accreditation.
8. I realize it is the professional standard of my profession.
9. I realize it is the right thing to do for kids.

SO NEXT TIME THINK TWICE WHEN:

1. It is said, “But parents never ask if I am accredited....

Guest post by Mary Rogers

A few years ago, someone asked me how camp could possibly still be relevant for children in the 21st century. As a camp professional, the answers seemed so obvious that I had to really think how to explain why camp experiences are even more important for children today.

To explain why camp is still so important for children I would tell the story of one summer day at Sherwood Forest not so long ago.

It was the day of the Boat Regatta in Boys Camp and there were only two rules: Each boat had to be piloted by one camper, and the boats could be made of any found items except an actual boat or boat part. Groups of boys worked together to build their boats. Duct tape, cardboard, styrofoam, a fifty-five-gallon trash can, bits of old wood, a child’s wading pool, gallon milk jugs, milk crates, and binder’s twine were just some of the items used to make the boats. Creativity and cooperation, along...

Visit Career One Stop’s Competency Model to find an outline for your counselors’ resumes.

The camp experience/job helps counselors hone their personal effectiveness competencies. They must demonstrate initiative, integrity, and interpersonal skills if they are to be successful camp counselors.

There are academic competencies that are prerequisites for the job of camp counselor and will be practiced throughout the summer: reading, writing, mathematics, science, communication, critical thinking, active listening . . . oh, yes, and wonderful storytelling skills, not to mention music.

Workplace competencies also reign. The camp community is nothing more than successful teamwork that demands flexibility and adaptability. A counselor must know how to focus on the customer/camper as they guide, manage, and coordinate daily events.

Finally, management...

Okay, so, I know I harp on play. Yet, with all the disparate nomenclature surrounding noncognitive skills, character building, and the plethora of “readiness” inventories, I find it may just all be about a four-letter word: PLAY.

I was reading a 2008 article by Alix Spiegel called “Old Fashioned Play builds Serious Skills.” He notes that today, the word play is associated with toys; but in the nineteenth century, play meant activity. Gee, what a difference a few decades can make.

When play is improvised and regulated by those participating (kids), what happens? It seems kids are practicing self-regulation. They are using their imaginations and creating ideas upon which to innovate. They are using what many call executive functions; planning, problem solving, and reasoning. These are elements that many bemoan are missing today, causing kids to...

. . . to overparenting! So says Madeline Levine, PhD, psychologist, author, and keynoter at the recent ACA national conference in Dallas.

Drumroll . . . !

The mother of three “newly minted adults,” all who had life-changing positive experiences after growing up as campers, Levine says dreaming, creating, and play are the lynchpins of a happy, successful adulthood — enter camp!

You see, she explains, a counselor is not invested in the same way as a parent who, understandably, finds it hard to endorse a “successful failure,” which provides the traction for mastery. And yet successful failure is exactly what we encourage at camp, along with an invitation for exploration and collaboration and manageable risk taking.

So maybe we are not only in the business of youth development but in parent development, too! Is it possible that, through the camp experience, parents can discern the benefits of not...

This month's guest on Peg's blog is Lance Ozier, member of ACA's national Committee for the Advancement of Research and Evaluation (CARE) and former education coordinator at Project Morry.

Once upon a time, when the world seemed young and our whole lives lay before us, my brother and I would camp outdoors just a few feet from the backdoor of our house. Under the night’s moonlight and beside the fire's shawls of final smoke, we were free. Although our parents were only a few steps away inside the house, they were out of sight and out of mind. Spending endless childhood days in the woods, we found wide open spaces that gave us room to learn and make mistakes.

From morning coffee to goodnight yawn, there’s nothing quite like long adult days to remind us that we’re no longer drifting through the dream of childhood. After the Victorian era, when children were seen and not heard, child psychologists...