Ways to Promote Youth Development in Camp
Research Notes

by Gwynn Powell and Marge Scanlin

Imagine that you are a new staff member, parent, or visitor walking into a camp . . . you didn't know where to go, the people responsible for you didn't seem to know quite what to do with you, the atmosphere is unwelcoming. What feelings does this image conjure? Instead, imagine that everything you did in camp was focused on creating a top quality experience that would make campers want to return. Would you take those steps?

If we want camp to portray "quality," we must understand the "building blocks" of camp programs and positive youth development! What program elements are essential to create the successful transition of campers from youth to adulthood? What are the conditions that increase the likelihood of a program delivering those elements to a diverse group of campers? Insight into the answers to these questions could provide valuable building blocks to catapult camp programs into the future.

A framework has been developed to assist with the evaluation and development of youth development programs, including camps. A report from the committee on Community-Level Programs for Youth (Eccles & Gootman, 2002) defined what was "known" about youth development settings and then synthesized information from a variety of sources. While the report draws many conclusions and offers recommendations, a key finding delineates the features of positive developmental settings. Applying these features directly to the process of evaluating camp programs can improve the level of quality and potentially increase the ability to support youth development. The foundation for the report is the statement: "Some youth are doing very well; some youth are taking dangerous risks and doing poorly; all young people need a variety of experiences to develop to their full potential; and some young people have unmet needs and are particularly at risk of participating in problem behaviors." This diverse range of youth is being served in a variety of ways in camp programs across the country. There are campers from all three categories in your camp!

Summer camp professionals and researchers from many disciplines (psychology, sociology, recreation, etc.) have all pondered how to identify and replicate the quality in youth development that we "know when we see it." Identifying the measures or features of this quality is a critical task as we hold the future in our hands. Investigations conducted in other youth development settings (youth-at-risk programs, after-school settings, etc.) offer insight. Research is a tool that can help us, as camping professionals, to improve practice (program, facilities, and policies), understand behaviors (campers, staff, parents, and community), and justify funding (expenditures, investments, and fund-raising).

The first step is to examine the outline of the eight universal features that researchers suggest need to be present in all programs to support youth. In the chart (Adobe Acrobat Reader is needed to view this file), each feature is named and described, opposite descriptions are provided, and camp-specific actions to accomplish the feature are listed. These features and their associated descriptors provide a framework that can be used to investigate and evaluate camp programs on several levels.

The next step is to take the flow chart below and use these series of questions to incorporate each feature into your camp setting. Answering these questions (and others they trigger) for each feature will likely reveal areas where you are making excellent progress, as well as expose areas to improve and discuss among staff and campers.

Take these features of positive youth development and begin to wonder, begin to question, and begin to address the answers. If you have ever raised a question, found an explanation, and then tried to predict behavior based upon that explanation . . . you are doing evaluation and research! You are engaged in research as you strategize for the future and approach problem-solving opportunities. We have potential for increasing our ability to help the campers we serve . . . and improve the quality of our program all at the same time! We can more effectively support camper growth by learning more about ways to structure our program and evaluate our results. Watch for more information from ACA's National Research Project, information at regional and national conferences, and Camping Magazine to support you in your efforts. In the meantime, keep wondering and putting those questions into action!

Community Programs to Promote Youth Development is available for order or as an "open book" online at http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10022.html.

Gwynn Powell is an assistant professor at the University of Georgia teaching recreation and camp administration. She has twelve years of professional year-round experience in camping. Please contact Powell through e-mail, gpowell@coe.uga.edu for further information regarding article content or to share research ideas.

Marge Scanlin is the executive officer of research and intellectual resources for the American Camping Association and is directing the outcomes research project.

Originally published in the 2002 September/October issue of Camping Magazine.