MARIANNE BIRD - Counselor-in Training: Encouraging Youth Development Outcomes At Camp

Counselor-in-Training:

Encouraging Youth Development
Outcomes at Camp

Marianne Bird
Connie Coutellier
John Borba
Trisha Dixon
Marcel Horowitz

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
Agriculture & Natural Resources
Publication 3521

2010 Healthy Learning. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States.

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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
Agriculture & Natural Resources
Publication 3521

This publication has been anonymously peer reviewed for technical accuracy by University of California scientists and other qualified professionals. The review process was managed by the ANR Associate Editor for Youth Development.

ISBN: 978-1-60679-105-9

Library of Congress Control Number: 2010925803

Cover design: Brenden Murphy

Book layout: Studio J Art & Design

Healthy Learning
P.O. Box 1828
Monterey, CA 93942
www.healthylearning.com

These materials were created by the California 4-H Camping Advisory Committee. The mission of the California 4-H Camping Advisory Committee is to help provide quality, educational, and fun camping experiences that promote youth-adult partnerships through training, applied research, and resource development.

Committee members who contributed in developing these materials include: Marianne Bird (chair), John Borba (co-chair), Niki Chiunti, Carol Crosset, Connie Coutellier, Trisha Dixon, Russell Hill, Ginny Houtz, Amanda Lewis, Marcel Horowitz, Peter Michel, Marilyn Milligan, and Kelsie Pombo.

Contents

Ive often saidand still believethat the best job I ever held was the two summers spent working with high school youth as a counselor-in-training (CIT) director. I was just out of college, and many things made it a rewarding position: creating activities, developing deep relationships with teens over time, and fostering the personal growth we all experienced at camp. It was, above all else, an opportunity to build a skill set in soon-to-be staff members; a chance to prepare them for the most important role at camp, that of the camp counselor.

Counselor-in-Training: Encouraging Youth Development Outcomes at Camp is a tool for exploring and understanding the components of an optimal camp environment. Activities may attract campers to a program, but an excellent camp experience is about more than campfires and smores. Its about feeling safe and a sense of belonging. Its about opportunities to plan and make decisions. Its the exhilaration of mastered challenges and the chance to learn something new. Its about friendships and, of course, a special relationship with a counselor. These are the elements of high-quality youth programs, and this book assists those preparing teenagers as camp staff in examining their youth development practices.

The University of California Cooperative Extension 4-H Youth Development Program Camping Advisory Committee produced this manual as a result of a two-year study of the experience youth were having in our camp programs. We developed specific units based on opportunity for improvement. Our findings largely reflected those of the American Camp Associations research as reported in Inspirations: Developmental Supports and Opportunities of Youths Experiences at Camp (ACA, 2006). Our goal is to improve the quality of the camp experience through engaging, hands-on counselor training sessions.

In the California 4-H Youth Development Program, camps typically run a week or less and are locally planned and largely administered by volunteers. 4-H embraces youth-adult partnership, a philosophy that young people, as well as adults, bring unique talents and gifts to strengthen programs. In California 4-H camps, high schoolaged youth are selected to serve as staff and meet regularly with adult leadership to plan the camp program. Adult volunteers support teens as the primary program deliverers. For camps that follow this type of youth-led camp planning, sessions from this manual may be integrated into regular staff meetings to help teens reflect upon and plan their program.

Though designed with the 4-H program in mind, materials are suited for any situation where youth are trained for their future role as camp staff. Practitioners who incorporate the traditional counselor-in-training program for older youth at their summer camps can build these activities into their training program. Units also may be incorporated into pre-camp training to educate older or more experienced staff in fostering youth development at camp.

I loved the summers I spent as CIT director, working with groups of amazing teenagers who taught me as much as I taught them. Older youth can be a marvelous resource to camp. They bring unique perspective, abundant energy, and a connection with campers adults often lack. Many teens eagerly await the time they come of age to join the ranks of the staff. Counselor-in-Training: Encouraging Youth Development Outcomes at Camp is a tool to help them understand and embrace their role in making the camp experience the best ever.

Marianne Bird

Chair, 4-H Camping Advisory Committee

University of California Cooperative Extension

This camp manual offers a hands-on, how-to-do-it approach in preparing teen Counselors-in-Training (CITs) and adult staff to work with elementary school-aged campers. Although the material in this book refers to the 4-H program and its philosophy, sessions can be successfully utilized by other agencies in training their CITs or adult counselors, including recreation departments, summer camps, religious groups, and other youth-affiliated organizations. Material in the sessions focuses on youth developmentcreating an environment in which children thrivenot on camp-specific activities, procedures, and skills.