This blog post is the first in a short series that explores Tim Hortons Foundation Camps’ summer and school programs and their approach to impact measurement and camp research.

A summer camp is a place for continued growth and learning, whether you are a camper or a counselor, a first-year staff member, or a four-year veteran.

That question was one that I and my collaborator Leila Bighash sought to help answer in our recent study, recognized at the ACA National Conference with the Eleanor P. Eells Award for Research in Practice.

Take lessons learned from this past summer and incorporate them into your plan for next summer.

Do your programs include time to watch the sky and maybe observe clouds? Your campers can help scientists study our planet by collecting data about the clouds they see!

NASA and The GLOBE Program are asking citizen scientists to report what kinds of clouds they see. Camps, clubs, and after-school audiences are encouraged to join the challenge and assist in the unified effort to gather cloud data.

The latest Research 360 blog covers how to use camper demographic information to create more equitable camp experiences.

Now is a great time to develop a plan for inviting staff back and securing their commitment, offering leadership roles and opportunities to advance, and keeping staff engaged in the time between now and next summer. 

As camp directors, we instinctually know that the experience is much better without smartphones and technology, but what do the campers themselves think?

I feel like I just spent three weeks at Jewish summer camp. I experienced the highs of color war, the exhilaration of kayaking in the lake, the fear of the high ropes course, and the spirit of singing on Shabbat. Thanks to the occasional letter and the flood of photos that my son’s camp posted online, I got to experience the thrills vicariously. I could write endlessly about the benefits of camp for my child, but, as sociologists like to remind us, the plural of data is not anecdote.

In this blog post, Laurie Browne, PhD, gives an update on the Youth Outcomes Battery tool and discusses what to expect from a future version.