https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/first-contact-end-contract

We know that staff can be a challenge to find, attract, hire, engage, and retain. What makes the staff journey result in forward progress from start to completion of their camp experience? Current...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/preventing-burnout-caring-your-staffs-mental-health-while-camp-session

A camp job is hard work. Camp is so worth it, as evidenced by all the positive outcomes research has shown campers achieve. But that does not make the job any easier — especially for the teenagers...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/nice-save-place-share

It’s free play, the 30 to 45 minutes of magical time at camp when nothing and everything happens. I walk from the dining room to the main campus after dinner and stop to watch five 9- and 10-year-old...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/assessing-summer-health-outcomes

How did it go? After 2020's "different" summer, we stepped into 2021 with hope. More camps opened, some staff were COVID-19 immunized, and protective behaviors — such as masks, physical distancing,...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/excellence-research-practice

In 2015, ACA, with the help of the Committee for the Advancement of Research and Evaluation (CARE), created the Eleanor P. Eells Award for Excellence in Research in Practice. This award is designed...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/staff-culture-skipping-season-without-skipping-beat

Summer 2020 impacted every aspect of camp, and regardless of how things played out — with various scenarios of camp running in some form or not at all — building next summer’s staff team weighs...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/compromise-can-turn-crisis-value

Many camps did not operate this past summer because of COVID-19. There were serious consequences for all as a result. Children lost the opportunity for summer fun and engagement;...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/meet-staff-where-they-are-not-where-you-wish-them-be

Unanswered emails. Requests (demands) for time off. Over-involved parents. What's the matter with young people today? Most likely nothing! We have more in common with this cohort of staff than one...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/biting%E2%80%85my%E2%80%85nails-revisiting-staff-anxiety

It was three years ago when I first wrote about the increasing levels of anxiety that camp directors were seeing in their staff (Ditter, 2016). At the time, the Centers for Disease Control and...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/make-copies-or-make-difference-camp-real-job

There has never been a better time to work at camp!