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by Jonathan Musman and Alysa Slay, Psy.D.
The summer camp season ends with an emotional final program,
and then campers sweep one last time behind their once-overflowing cubbies,
hug the last few counselors who "made the difference," and board
that bus for the long, tearful ride home. Now what? What happens next?
Do campers hope that their friends will keep in touch? Do they wait for
the camp reunion?
How many camps are able to provide adequate, ongoing
programs allowing campers to remain connected to you and fellow campers?
Enter the Internet. Believe it or not, it’s still here
— the all-powerful, high-and-mighty Internet. Your staff probably use
it on a daily basis, and many of your campers probably log on at least
a few times a week. Cyberspace is not going away, folks. So, why not harness
its benefits to the fullest degree to help maintain the camper connection
throughout the year?
Many camps already have an identity on the Internet.
Most camp Web sites include digital videos and glossy pictures to offer
new campers a chance to learn about the camp program, forms to register
for additional information or brochures, and photos and biographies so
prospective campersand their families can meet the directors. Some camps
have ventured far out into cyberspace, promoting camp through Web sites
such as the CampChannel.com, establishing chat rooms or discussion boards,
and giving campers a chance to continue e-mailing one another after the
season using the camp name as a domain.
This type of connection with campers has become crucial
in remaining competitive and in maintaining a high return rate to your
camp. Although the meaningful and memorable program you provide during
the summer is the primary avenue by which to keep your camp alive year-round
in the hearts and minds of all campers and staff, memories inevitably
fade during those long winter and spring months. Technology can step in
at this point and help to keep camp alive during the off-season through
a magnetic camp Web site that gives campers and staff an opportunity to
have the next best thing to actually being at camp.
A Web site that offers creative programs, interactions
amongst campers, and above all else, the chance to have fun will keep
the camp spirit alive year-round. An innovative Web site also allows for
such activities as real-time chats between parents, online focus groups,
the creation of off-season camp traditions, and opportunities for the
campers and their parents to have input into the ongoing development of
their special camp.
Creative Connections
Traditional off-season camp programs typically include
such events as reunions, picnics, and orientation meetings. By offering
creative and interactive on-line activities, campers would have the opportunity
to have fun while being connected to camp from their very home. Camps
that have a Web site could periodically post a creative cyber activity
for campers to enjoy. Moreover, preparation for these programs could be
done during the summer time and could serve as an exciting rainy day alternative
for cabin groups. The following are three ideas for such types of cyber
camp activities.
Bunk map
Children and teens have embraced technology, and many of your campers
are probably independently creating camp-related Web sites. Imagine how
powerful these individual Web sites would be if they were connected, organized,
and monitored. The bunk map activity allows technologically advanced campers
and staff to channel their online creativity into establishing a virtual
map of camp. Password protect all areas and have a staff member volunteer
periodically view the individually created sites in order to ensure appropriate
content.
- During the summer, take a digital photo of each cabin.
- Have cabin groups write a one-page description of their summer together.
- After camp is over, create a virtual map of your camp; this map
could include cartoon drawings of cabins, buildings, and roads.
- Campers can then "click" on a particular cabin and be
connected to the digital photo and one-page description of that cabin
group.
- Campers could be empowered and given the responsibility of updating
and maintaining the page associated with a certain cabin. Updates
could include such information as birthdays, sports achievements,
or other off-season special events in a camper’s life.
Web site scavenger hunt
A current concern of youth use of the Internet is their access to a wide
range of inappropriate information. By providing an organized way of surfing
the Internet, campers can have fun while visiting quality Web sites.
- Either on the camp Web site or through e-mail, periodically send
campers an Internet-based scavenger hunt list.
- The scavenger hunt should include clues to get the
campers to a particular Web site. For example: "Clue: This river
winds its way through South America and is home to many pythons. Answer:
Amazon.com."
- In addition to the clue to the Web site, campers can be asked to
"find" certain items or pieces of information at the Web
site. For example: "Find the names of five books pertaining to
the night sky."
- Campers should be encouraged to form teams with other camp friends
while hunting down information. They can do this easily via e-mail
or message boards.
- Once an individual camper or team has completed the scavenger hunt,
the "found" information can be e-mailed to the camp office.
- Following each scavenger hunt, the names of the winners can be posted
on the camp’s Web site or sent out in e-mail form. Winners could also
be recognized at camp the following summer.
- Determining the winners could be based on such factors as the first
person or team to complete the hunt, the largest team that worked
together, or the most creative answers found.
Electronic time capsule
This activity needs to be started during the summer and would serve as
a great rainy day project for a cabin group. Receiving an off-season time
capsule is a wonderful way to keep good memories alive and get campers
excited for the upcoming summer.
- During the summer, a cabin group creates a cabin time capsule on
paper. This time capsule could include lists of favorite staff for
that summer, catchy cabin sayings, poems written by campers, camper
nicknames, inside jokes from the summer, and the cabin theme song.
- The contents of the time capsule could be a free-form project or
be organized by an actual time capsule format sheet developed on paper.
This format could be used as a guideline for what to include. A pre-written
format would be particularly helpful for younger campers.
- Either the camp counselor or a year-round staff person keeps the
completed time capsule sheet along with a list of campers’ e-mail
addresses.
- At a point in time mid-year between when camp ends and when camp
starts (February for instance), the person responsible for the time
capsule types it and e-mails it to the cabin group. In the event that
not everyone has e-mail, the typed version could be mailed the traditional
way to a camper.
Creating Off-season Traditions
Everyone knows the value of traditions at camp. They
enhance camp unity, strengthen a camp’s identity, and serve as a basis
for the emotional connections campers feel to their "special camp."
Off-season camp traditions are usually infrequent, time consuming to organize,
and in some cases, geographically challenging.
Building Internet-based or virtual off-season traditions
is not only a unique concept but is a way to overcome the previously mentioned
obstacles. In some cases, the suggestions that follow may seem to be large-scale
technological projects; however, once they are in place electronically,
they can remain that way for long periods of time with little maintenance.
The following is just of short list of possible off-season traditions:
- Virtual Friendship Circle: Just like a real friendship circle,
but the traditional hand squeeze is passed via e-mail. An e-mail is
sent to one camper with a message like, "You are a valued link
in your camp’s friendship circle. You have been squeezed. Pass it
on."
- Various Annual Contests:
A variety of contests can be conducted through e-mail announcements
and submissions. Examples include a
T-shirt design contest for the following summer, a recipe contest
for the dining hall, or a song-writing contest. Specific contests
could be held at the same time each year. Winners could be announced
on the opening day of camp.
- Webcast of the Seasonal Opening/Closing of Camp: Through
a simple Internet camera connection or captured digital video, create
a wonderful and exciting moment out of opening the camp gates for
the summer. A special ceremony can be created to accompany the event.
This could be broadcast through your camp’s Web site to all of your
campers.
But Technology Just Isn't Technology
By now, many of you may be thinking that all of this
is well and good, but does it really belong in the world of summer camp.
Most camp directors associate camp with such things as friendship, campfires,
rustic living, and getting back to nature. So, do computers and technology
have a place in all of this? Internet or virtual cyber camps can never
be a substitute for the special place where camp resides in the hearts
of campers. The feelings of connectedness and bonding that campers inevitably
experience while at camp can be captured and maintained through today’s
technology.
The ideas presented here are only a sampling of the endless
possibilities the Internet can play in serving camp for reasons beyond
traditional marketing or dissemination of information. Today’s children
are gaining increasingly more exposure to the magic of technology. Rather
than fight or resist this pull, apply a little old-fashioned creativity
to make it work to promote the positive values inherent in the camp experience.
Originally published in the 2000 November/December
issue of Camping Magazine. |
