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by Peg L. Smith, Chief Executive Officer
We need 20/20 vision. The time is now—not later—to employ
our strengths and competencies. The time to act is now—not just
about camp but human development. Our methodology, the camp experience,
is the best way to address the world's nature-deficit disorder.
Our vehicle, the camp experience, is the best way to establish and maintain
primary human connections that turn into real, authentic relationships.
Our community, the camp community, is the best way to deliver opportunities
for human-powered activities that promote wellness. Camp makes a better
future, and ACA's national board of directors knows that it's
imperative for us to act today.
To act today, will ensure that tomorrow over twenty million children,
youth, and adults will go to camp annually. To act today, will grow ACA's
membership to twenty thousand strong. To act today, building strong programs,
strong campers, and a strong voice will enrich lives and build better
tomorrows. That is what we call 20/20 vision.
Camp, an American tradition, has impacted the lives of more than 500
million children since 1861. The camp experience preserves and values
the natural environment—providing children, youth, and adults with
social skills and intimacy with nature that are often overlooked in formal
education. Camp is recognized as a part of the continuum of care for
young people in the United States and plays a vital role in human development.
The camp experience is a hands-on, stimulating part of learning about
oneself, nature, and being part of a larger community.
We are at a critical point for children, youth, and adults. Public education
has slowly and steadily eliminated art, limited access to natural environments,
reduced the time adults spend with children and youth, and offers fewer
and fewer authentic human connections. Yet, camp programs give children,
youth, and adults the opportunity to learn powerful lessons in a community—character-building,
skill development, and healthy living—real time, authentic lessons
that can be learned nowhere else. A strong, viable camp community serves
as an essential antidote to what ails much of the country. The camp experience
is all about healthy relationships with the natural environment, people,
and the community. The camp experience is value rich, and each one of
us has a moral responsibility to ensure that the camp experience thrives.
As we glimpse into the future, let's not forget to look at the
trajectory we have set for many successful tomorrows!
The national board of directors has set three primary targets—called
END statements. They are:
- The camp experience will be of high quality.
- An increasing number of children, youth, and adults of all
social, cultural,
and economic groups will have a camp experience.
- There will be greater understanding of and support for the
value of the camp experience.
If we all commit to these ENDS, the camp community will grow and thrive
throughout the next century as it has during its first one hundred years.
I challenge us to take intentional steps to ensure that during the next
century one billion children
attend camp! I challenge us to double the numbers of camps participating
in our association as well as grow the strength and sustainability of
those of us committed to the camp experience today. I beseech you to
recognize and celebrate the green space at camp in order to ensure its
preservation and contribution as a national treasure to our children,
our country, and our future.
So do you have 20/20 vision? It will take each one of us to reach our
preferred future. As stated in the book, Preferred Futuring by Lawrence
L. Lippitt, there are three responses to the future—we can try
to resist it, we can adapt, or we can invent. I encourage you to join
the movement to invent our robust future!
Originally published in the 2007 November/December
issue of Camping Magazine. |
