https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/out-about-creating-safe-environment-lgbtq-campers-staff

It was June 2006. I had been conducting staff training at a coed camp in the Northeast. I had already spoken to the entire staff about the “real work” of camp, which I see as helping campers use the...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/camp-no-place-bullying-behaviors

Social cruelty, or bullying, has reached the level of “life and death.” With summer 2012 now here, parents are asking questions about how camp counselors and staff are being trained to keep their...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/lets-be-friends-paradoxical-approach-bullying-prevention

Despite years of study and progressive program development, bullying behaviors (or “peer mistreatment”), especially among school-aged children, remain a significant public health problem, says the...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/current-challenges-camp-food-service

Hesitation gave way to excitement as I unexpectedly grabbed the reigns of food service management, in the dripping, humid heat of a Texas summer camp season. Nine years had passed since I last served...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/there-reason-understanding-challenging-behavior

I once worked with cat. Not a “meow” cat, although that’s how she identified herself to me. She was a thirteen-year-old girl who insisted she was a cat. You can imagine how hard it was for her at...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/return-tolerance

The scuffle was over almost as quickly as it started. The boys were playing a team game, and, as is common with nine-year-old boys, there was a disagreement about the rules. An argument quickly...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/2011-eleanor-eells-award-winners-leaders-program-excellence

From biking programs to therapeutic camping programs, the 2011 Eleanor Eells Award winners certainly lived up to the criteria of “program excellence.” ACA interviewed the directors at each award-...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/youth-objects-or-partners-advancing-opportunities-camper-leadership-decision-making

Disenfranchised by Design? Nearly 40 percent of ten- to eighteen-year-olds report insufficient levels of involvement in camp (ACA 2006). That statistic surprised most camp...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/does-your-camp-reinforce-resist-or-relieve-gender-stereotypes

Can you believe that sexist practices and beliefs remain entrenched in camps, even in this day and age? Although we have made great strides over the last decade to eradicate overtly sexist behaviors...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/working-children-special-needs

It is often said by people who mean well that working with children with special needs “requires the patience of a saint.” Not true. What it does require is human compassion — something more of us...