Latest ACA Blog Posts

February 24, 2015

"Thanks for Sending Me to Alcatraz": Laying the Groundwork for Your Child's First Sleep-Away Camp Experience

by Bob and Rob Wipfler. Part of Camp 101, a guest blog series for ACA. 

February 12, 2015

The Metaphors That Camp Lives By

by Mark Shivers 

Photo courtesy of Cheley Colorado Camps, Estes Park, Colorado.

January 21, 2015

Resolutions on the Camp Clock

by Rob and Bob Wipfler, a  part of Camp 101, a blog series for ACA. 

Photos courtesy of Kingswood Camp for Boys, Piermont, New Hamsphire.

Deep in the woods on the other side of the lake, on a remote path known almost exclusively by our campers, rests the Manning plaque on a solid stone foundation. The honorarium was dedicated in 1924 to the memory of Mr. Robert L. Manning:

 

January 13, 2015

Camp: The Ultimate 21st Century Skills Learning Environment

By Andy Pritikin

Tom Sawyer Camps, Altadena, CA

It used to be so easy. Mom was home, and kids wanted to play outside, as we only had seven channels on the television (and no central air). Boy, how times have changed. Technological advances have profoundly affected life, as we know it, including how we raise our children.

December 15, 2014

The Spirit of Giving

I have three daughters, all under the age of seven. So this time of year in our house is filled with conversations about presents, gifts, and the magic of the holidays. As a family, we search for the Elf on the Shelf each day and, when the big day comes, we hope we are lucky enough to be included on Santa’s “nice list.” But because my children are being raised by two camp directors, who have spent the majority of their adult lives at camp, they know  there will be nightly debriefings about the magic, about the presents, and about the spirit of giving.

December 2, 2014

#GivingTuesday: Together We Can Inspire the Future

Inspire the Future - Giving Tuesday

As camp professionals, we teach giving. How we do it may vary from program to program, but the outcome is the same: children leave camp with a greater sense of how to offer their assistance to others, and make a difference in the world.

December 1, 2014

The Camp Community: Champions for a Peaceful Future

Post by Peg Smith, ACA CEO

Camp Manitowa

A few weeks ago Camp Manitowa (St. Louis area) used some of their scholarship funds to bring a group of kids from Ferguson, Missouri, to their camp for a short session. 

November 17, 2014

5 Things I Learned My First Year as a Camp Counselor

My camp wasn’t in the middle of nowhere, out in the woods. Rather, it was in the city, in the middle of an urban neighborhood, row houses and all. Many of the children my camp hosted were poor, inner-city types, whose parents couldn’t afford an overnight camp. It was, like many other camps, a way to keep them off the streets and out of trouble. Considering the neighborhood we were stationed in, I’d venture to say that the need was more urgent than most. I had attended the camp years prior, and was emotionally invested in it.

September 23, 2014

Maximizing "Out-of-Camp Time" Opportunities

Photo Courtesy of Camp John Marc Meridian, Texas

We all hear many references to the educational opportunity “out-of-school time” represents for children. You know, that time between 3pm and 10pm, weekends, holidays, and the whale of them all, summer — it adds up. And in this time real change can occur when working with our children’s education.

September 16, 2014

What Moves Me?

As someone who lived on the frontlines of camp for 15 years, I have had the last year to look back and carefully reflect on what keeps me in the camp profession (working for ACA) and what moves me about the camp experience.