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by Elizabeth Jeffrey
Recent acts of violence in U.S. schools have increased public awareness
of the difficulties schools face in dealing with profound feelings of
alienation for those perceived as different from the norm. The issue of
diversity is not confined to the school-age population and is increasing
in the United States as the latest census shows at least 25 percent of
the U.S. population now belong to racial minority groups.
Schools are the central experience in children’s lives where they will
learn to address the differences they feel and see in those around them.
Whether this is a positive or a negative experience depends on the lessons
they learn in their homes, schools, and communities.
What’s Camp Got to Do With It?
Camps share a unique expertise in meeting the social and interpersonal
needs of individuals who come together from a wide range of backgrounds
and expectations. Camps traditionally merge recreational adventure with
education in a nurturing community of peers, role models, and caregivers.
A camp’s success in creating positive interpersonal experiences and the
expertise that is developed along with this success have the potential
to provide a solution to the problems of intolerance and alienation faced
in our schools and communities.
It is certainly true that camps achieve some diversity education during
the summer if it is a purposeful element of the program. However, the
opportunity to serve even more children and address diversity more thoroughly
is as exciting as it is worthwhile.
Discovery Center Collaboration
For six years the Hole in the Wall Discovery Center in Ashford, Connecticut,
has facilitated a model diversity program that partners the best of camp
and school. During this period, the Discovery Center brought together
nearly five thousand fourth- and fifth-grade students from twenty racially
segregated schools to work toward the goal of mutual understanding. The
Discovery Center was developed as a camp/school program for pre-adolescent
students, designed to provide a positive diversity experience through
the use of experiential education in an outdoor, residential setting.
The Discovery Center was formed as a collaborative effort between The
Hole in the Wall Gang Camp (THITWGC), the University of Connecticut (UConn),
and participating elementary school systems. Each of these partners provided
a unique element that contributed to the success of the program.
THITWGC’s administrative role
THITWGC, a summer camp for children with cancer and blood diseases, has
a rich history in providing a caring and exciting environment for its
campers. The experienced summer-camp administration took on all administrative
responsibilities for the residential aspects of the Discovery Center.
The camp’s program director became the residential director for Discovery
sessions, providing the camp structure and appropriate staff training,
as well as working with all facility staff.
Although the Discovery Center brought a slightly different clientele
and program, THITWGC also offered a valuable resource in providing a base
of experienced staff. As THITWGC staff is made up of college graduates,
many staff members were available during the spring and fall. They were
happy to extend their work season while remaining in the camp business.
This key staff was able to offer a strong foundation of trained and talented
leaders to bring the life of the summer sessions (songs, attitude of caring,
and safety awareness) into this new program format. The Discovery Center,
in turn, offered the summer program a means of retaining some of their
most experienced staff with the opportunity for long-term employment and
increased responsibilities in the Discovery Center program.
Academic expertise
UConn was brought on board to create a program to meet the academic expectations
of the classroom teachers and administrators. Since the Discovery Center’s
inception, a UConn graduate student, with an advising faculty member,
took responsibility for the creation of a meaningful multicultural curriculum,
including the coordination of the residential program with attending schools.
The graduate student also worked as the academic director during Discovery
Center sessions, developing the staff’s academic training. The connection
with UConn and other area universities also offered a significant connection
with college student volunteers, part-time staff, and recently graduated
students who became full-time Discovery staff. During various sessions,
the universities also brought in students and faculty from UConn’s School
of Education to help develop short lessons, teach small groups, and organize
field trips to the university’s cultural centers, museums, and sports
facilities.
The participants
The other crucial partners in the Discovery Center collaboration were
the members of the participating elementary schools. Principals and teachers
known at UConn for their creativity and positive leadership were contacted
to identify those interested in a diversity partnership, involving a full-year
commitment and a residential program for students and staff. The program
included at least two joint field trips for both grades with a five-day
camp stay for the fifth grade classrooms. School faculty and administration
took responsibility for most of the academic and social preparation of
the students before and after the residential stay. Teachers also worked
as auxiliary staff during their classroom’s camp sessions. This residential
schedule required a good deal of flexibility among the teachers, but they
were vital as models to their students in this new environment and helped
to take the positive lessons learned back to the classroom and community.
At various times, teachers assisted in labs, in cabins, and offered some
of the center’s free time activities.
Funding the project
The silent, but important, members of the partnership were the funders.
Although students paid a minimal attendance fee, it was kept low so that
all students could afford to attend. The bulk of Discovery Center funds
were raised from state and foundation grants secured by the academic director
from UConn and the THITWGC office. Although the funding process was often
arduous, it helped to keep the Discovery Center in touch with programs
in the area that were working on similar issues of diversity and education.
These connections brought important and diverse staff members to the program
and contributed to the ongoing development of cutting-edge curriculum.
Turning a Camp into a Better School
THITWGC programs are known for their exuberance and caring energy, and
they provide the perfect starting point for creating a program to insure
the interest of each student coming to the Discovery Center program. Using
the camp’s existing programs and emphasizing experiential education as
the foundation, Discovery further developed each activity to guarantee
two fundamental aspects for its diversity program: mixing students between
the school groups in positive and personal ways, and developing a curriculum
based on the customs and history of at least four cultural groups.
Mixing it up
The camp setting made a natural blending of separate groups much easier.
The camp was generally a new environment for most of the students, and
neither group felt previous ownership of the space. This shared feeling
of entering into something new and a bit challenging was a great unifier
from the start. This advantage was followed up by organizing all residential
and academic activities to provide the structure for mixing peers between
the school instead of reverting back to their more familiar classmates.
For each Discovery session, students from the participating schools were
carefully mixed for all cabin and lab groups before arrival at the center.
Both lab and cabin groupings were structured to include an even number
of students from each school. Cabin groups included four or five sets
of pen pals who had already been communicating between the two schools
through letters or videos. These mixed groups stayed together for all
planned activities throughout their week together. Sharing meals at cabin
tables and whispering between bunk mates after lights out were natural
means to ease the awareness of surface differences while getting to know
each other personally. Sharing the joint work of an engaging lab activity
supplemented these personal connections with an important awareness of
the varied skills and knowledge diversity can bring to a task. A little
thoughtful organization here offered huge opportunities for expanding
the student/campers’ horizons.
Multicultural labs
Lab activities filled the academic portion of each day with broadly engaging,
multicultural learning opportunities. Each of these labs was an experiential
lesson built upon an already existing camp activity. In this method of
multicultural education, various cultural histories were not studied as
isolated lessons taught separately, but the various cultures were used
to present a fundamental perspective for each lesson taught.
Diversity Lessons
The Discovery Center approach called for small groups guided by energetic
and interested young adults. The activities at the challenge course, woodworking,
and at all other camp areas were retooled to fit the goal of comprehensive
diversity education, while maintaining the essence of the camp experience.
From the first informational meetings with families and students to each
session’s final night potluck with the family and friends of attending
students, the goal of mutual respect and understanding was the clear message.
This was done consciously in lessons and instruction, as well as in the
camp songs, opening campfire activities, free choice games, staff modeling,
and evening cabin chats.
Camps have long recognized the need to create engaging and challenging
adventures to a wide range of campers who come with a variety of backgrounds
and skills. Although these efforts are not unique to camps, camps are
uniquely successful in bringing these individuals together into a caring
community. This ability was profoundly important to the Discovery Center
cause.
Students in fourth and fifth grade are ripe for the new experiences of
camp, but it is important for a diversity program such as the Discovery
Center that the students are able to internalize the lessons learned at
camp and make them part of their life-long philosophy. To promote such
long-term benefits, the students needed to be taught the central purpose
of their experience and, indeed, they had to become committed partners
to this objective. The success of the program was found in the pieces
the students added to the daily living experiences of the diverse community
and in the attitudes they took back to their communities and schools.
A Far-reaching Influence
Many of the problems facing our diverse communities today seem unmanageably
large and too varied to address for any one group. However, the camp industry’s
expertise in creating an exciting and nurturing community that allows
all individuals to flourish, can have an important role to play. Camp
and school partnerships have the potential to positively influence participating
students and staff, the schools they come from, and the families to which
they return. It is hoped that the structure, curriculum, and experience
that was gained during the development of this program can provide a model
for other camps to meaningfully utilize their facilities year round. To
that end, all Discovery Center materials are available upon request, including
lesson plans, training materials, process and procedures, evaluations,
and grant applications, etc. It has never been more important to bring
students, school communities, and families from diverse communities together
to instill mutual respect and friendship.
Originally published in the 2001 September/August
issue of Camping Magazine. |
