We know that camp has always been a place for helping young people develop in positive ways — building both character strengths and life skills they will carry with them long after camp ends. Keeping our “why” in mind helps us stay grounded, motivated, and energized to keep on working. Through my roles with ACA and consulting with camps, I see three major motivating reasons for our character efforts at camp:
- Engaging together in this work connects us to what is good in the world.
- While messy and imperfect, character work is full of genuine moments.
- Our efforts to promote growth in today’s youth give us hope for the future.
An exploration of these three motivating factors and why they are important to communicate in addition to our chosen character strengths follows.
Connection to the Good
While some of us manage to avoid it, we may often feel inundated with a barrage of negativity on social media and in the news — even when we make efforts to limit these influences. We may notice that “news” is rarely focused on heartwarming service or character growth. Social media can certainly provide us with positive updates on friends and family, as well as laughter through cat videos or comedians. However, with that good comes unavoidable chaos and division as well. Caring deeply or sharing our stance on current issues is important but can also be exhausting. If we focus too much on division, frustration, and fear, we may lose sight of the good being done.
To stay connected to the good, we can be intentional about sharing the positive character work we are doing. I love seeing social media posts from youth-serving leaders who share stories and insights they gain as they put their hearts and minds into their camp roles. Storytelling doesn’t need to be perfectly eloquent or lyrical to be impactful. We can simply share our observations as well as the meaning the experience held for us. This is the core of character education at camp — helping campers (and in this case, the larger camp community) see deeper meaning within camp activities they engage in. As you share what you learned from an impactful moment, you model that valuable reflection process. Being intentional about sharing stories also reminds us to continually look for stories to tell! Our work, our reflection, and our stories all keep us connected to goodness.
Engaging in Genuine Moments
We are living during a time when we see increasing amounts of content created not from human minds, but from artificial intelligence (AI) programs. And we may struggle with the fact that there are rarely clarifying captions on photos, videos, or pieces of writing to alert us that something is an AI creation. Conversations about things we see or read today may now result in us asking, “Was that real?” Sometimes there is just no way to know, and that can be stressful. Fortunately, our character work at camp can often provide a welcome dose of genuine interaction.
As we work with youth in our camps and organizations, we can focus on the importance of being genuine and vulnerable. Character development is a process rather than an endpoint. We provide opportunities for struggling and sharing on our campers’ timelines. The more we reward our youths’ messy efforts, rather than critiquing imperfect results, the more trust we will build. We will also make mistakes as we try to role model positive character strengths. Those mistakes can help us grow if we choose to be vulnerable and reflect on them with other leaders in our organizations. The value of being genuine is evident at all levels of our camp character work — from initially assessing the state of our camp to putting intentional character programs into practice.
Hope for the Future
We may find a lot to criticize about the “state of things” right now, and providing opportunities for character growth in the next generation of leaders can give us a feeling of hope. At camp, we work to shape a community and culture, model values, teach skills, and demonstrate care. As each of us seek to strengthen current character programs or build new ones, we can keep the future in mind. By thoughtfully choosing our camp’s values to focus on, we have the unique opportunity to provide support for developing those values we want more of in the world.
Through our character work at camp, we not only help to shape campers and future camp staff members, but also future advocates, researchers, voters, educators, and civic leaders. Camp programs are ideally part of a larger ecosystem of support that youth engage with, and we can think about the specific elements of camp life that might be unique within that ecosystem. The communal living of overnight camps provides participants with opportunities to resolve conflicts that in other settings they might avoid by going home at the end of the day. Additionally, campers must interact even when they are hungry, tired, or “peopled-out” by constant social time. Conflict resolution and interaction during high-stress times are some of the most valuable learning experiences for practicing character development.
Uniting Goodness, Genuineness, and Hope
Camp ought to be good, but we know that sometimes it isn’t. How can we try to make the experience deeply good for each participant? The best methods are practicing, teaching, and modeling our core camp values.
Camp is a place to build memories of fun, but also of genuine sharing and struggle. One of the core practices of character education is to provide opportunities for perspective-taking of others’ experiences that may be different from our own.
Hope can be a part of our character experiences as both leaders and participants. We can find hope for the future as we work to instill values we’d like to see in new generations. Campers often come to us with internal struggles or life challenges. Helping these campers recognize their own strengths and growth at camp can give them hope for their personal success and progress when they return home.
Whether we choose to focus on these three motivations — goodness, genuineness, and hope — or choose a different overarching purpose, it is essential that we remain grounded in an understanding of the value of our efforts. To truly succeed in our character work, we must have organizational commitment at all levels. Describing our camp’s mission may not resonate with our staff members in the same way as the power of engaging in good work, the joy of experiencing genuine, meaningful moments, and the energy of feeling hope for the future.
As you make plans to communicate your character goals, be sure to reflect on your personal reasons why. Your excitement and dedication will inspire others!
Amanda Palmer, MS, is a camp trainer, consultant, researcher, and doctoral candidate at the University of Idaho. Amanda supports camps and organizations year-round with developing plans for aligning their unique missions with observable staff practices. Within ACA, Amanda is a program quality coach, an accreditation visitor, a subject matter expert for the Character at Camp initiative, and a member of Camping Magazine’s Editorial Advisory Committee. She is a former camper, camp counselor, and mother of four campers of her own. Contact Amanda at [email protected].
