Long Range Focus Area 7:
Camps and Conference Centers
Team Chair: Larry Hancock, State 4-H Office Co-Chairs: Chris Weaver, Swannanoa 4-H Center; Alan Thomas, Sertoma 4-H Center;
Jeff North, Betsy-Jeff Penn 4-H Center; Gene Shutt, Millstone 4-H Center; Greg
Hall, Eastern 4-H Center Team Members: ECOT (Educational Centers Operations Team); 4-H Agents & Team Members,
Objective 11
Provide youth experiential educational opportunities in cooperative, nurturing,
residential camping environments that stimulate the development of life skills,
while focusing on the mental, physical and social growth of the individual.
Program Description
North Carolina has a long, and rich, history of 4-H camping. Since 1927, 4-H
Agents have valued the camping experience as a part of their total 4-H program.
Today, 4-H Agents have six camps and centers that can play a vital role in their
delivery of quality programming for the youth they serve. North Carolina’s
4-H camps and centers provide opportunities for self-contained camping experiences
ranging from a day to more than a week. Additionally the camps and centers are
available for use in the spring and fall, and at some sites, year-round. More
and more, 4-H Agents are seeing that an experience at camp can be an important
part of their total program. Today’s 4-H centers are staffed with competent
professionals that can assist with a variety of program options.
Situation Statement
North Carolina’s 4-H centers value accreditation by the American Camping
Association. Nationally ACA has over 6,000 individual members and represents
2,200 camps. Over the years, society had taken differing approaches to the challenge
of helping youth grow into successful adults. Youth Development is the process
of developing and building assets in young people that help them deal successfully
with the many transitions of adolescence and grow into mature adults. North
Carolina’s 4-H camps and centers are uniquely positioned to play a vital
role in youth development. Nationally, the camping experience has been shown
to provide a variety of positive youth development benefits:
Camp is a safe and nurturing environment for children
Camp is a caring community
Camp is vital in a child’s education
Camp is for everyone
Camp is fun
Camps can partner with parents and youth development professionals
A week at camp can provide many anticipated positive outcomes for a child including:
Social skill development
Self-respect
Character building
Community living
Service opportunities and skills
Cognitive growth
Emotional growth
Spiritual growth
North Carolina’s 4-H camps and centers can be ideal partners for families,
schools, and community youth activities in helping youth learn independence,
decision-making, social and emotional skills, character building, and values.
And, best of all, all this can take place in an atmosphere of creativity and
enrichment under the supervision of positive role models. Parents can confidently
entrust their child into a camp environment that is statistically safer than
the home. In today’s pressure-oriented society, camp provides a non-threatening
environment for youth to be active, develop competence in life skills, learn
about and enhance their own abilities, and to benefit from meaningful participation
in a community designed just for them.
Perhaps Michael Eisner, CEO of Disney Corporation, said it best, “To
me, the real magic (of camp) is in the life lessons that, once learned, become
ingrained and relevant every day of one’s life, long after you take the
last ride home in that big sad bus.”
Research
Little quality research has been conducted to determine the value of the camping
experience in the life of a youth. Part of the problem may lie in the general
consensus that camping is good for the individual. Each year over 10,000 kids
attend a week, or more, of camp representing at least 10% of America’s
school-aged youth.
One of the critical needs in working with youth is to find a valid way to accurately
measure the outcomes of a program (i.e.: camp). ACA has initiated a significant
research project at nineteen member camps to attempt to measure the “outcomes”
of the camping experience. Camp Directors, Camp Staff, and Campers are being
asked a variety of questions aimed at ascertaining IF the camping experience
was successful in meeting the outcomes of that their program was designed to
accomplish. Initial responses seem to indicate that the camping experience produces
positive outcomes in nine targeted areas:
Social competence
Increased self-identity
Increased positive values
Gained cognitive skills
Participation in adventuresome outdoor activities
Learned motor skills
Spiritual growth
Learned from adult role models
Served/helped others
ACA hopes that definitive results of this research will be published later this
year (2003).
