Camp and College Parallels: Crucibles for Transition-Linked Turning-Points

Abstract

This conceptual paper explores how the system of experiences that children encounter in a traditional, residential summer camp setting parallel traditional, residential, college setting for first-year students. Camp is a complex system in the sphere of youth development programs (YDP) because of the expectation for rapid adjustment by the camper to a novel physical and social environment. Many YDPs have a moderate to high level of connection with the child’s normal life, defined as similar to school or home environments and the activities in which youth regularly participate. A traditional residential summer camp offers a different degree of novelty than most other YDP settings. This paper offers a list of physical elements present in a camp setting that parallel the college setting and considers common camp-college parallels to articulate connected physical, social, emotional, and intellectual domains. This integration of ideas illustrates how the socio-physical novelty of the camp experience serves as a crucible for rapid adjustment and multi-dimensional growth in a way that is uniquely different from many other youth development settings.

Understanding the Role of Summer Camps in the Learning Landscape: An Exploratory Sequential Study

“…Indeed, the social norms of many camps set the expectation of personal responsibility and independence while providing a supportive environment to help youth manage difficulties like homesickness, interpersonal conflict, and other challenges and build general self-efficacy and confidence (Henderson, Bialeschki, Scanlin, et al, 2007). The findings from this study support the assertion that these skills are highly attributable to camp experiences and valuable later in life (see also : Olsen, Powell, Garst, & Bixler, 2018).…”

Workplace Fatigue Within Summer Camp: Perspectives From Camp Health Care Providers and Directors

“…The discrepancy between camp participants’ home lives and their camp lives presents an opportunity to educate camp employees about personal care prior to camp to begin a period of cognitive adjustment to the upcoming novel experience. The novelty of the camp experience is a powerful force for growth, but can represent stressful and fatiguing alterations from a camp participants’ typical day (Olsen, Powell, Garst, & Bixler, 2018).…”

Camp Research: What? So What? What’s Next?

“…Researchers have moved beyond descriptive survey designs, although these approaches remain useful. The papers here demonstrate examples of literature reviews (e.g., Sendak et al, 2018;Olsen et al, 2018), mixed methods (e.g., Sorenson, 2018;Whittington & Garst, 2018), qualitative analyses (Baker, 2018;Martin, 2018), archival data (e.g., Bird & Subramaniam, 2018), and rigorous instrument development (e.g., Bennett, 2018;Gillard, 2018;Lewis et al, 2018). Although Perry (2018) used primarily a qualitative approach, he also introduced his personal experience in teaching and experiencing race evasiveness in camps, almost akin to an autoethnographic approach.…”

“…Most of the studies in this special issue provide a clear theoretical framework for the research. The use of positive youth development (PYD) is evident in several studies (e.g., Olsen, Powell, Garst, & Bixler, 2018;Rubin, Hagler, Burton, & Rhodes, 2018;Sendak, Schilstra, Tye, Brotkin, & Maslow, 2018). PYD contends that youth thrive when their strengths and contextual assets (e.g., relationships with adults, activity opportunities) are aligned.…”

“…Camp researchers need to further examine how change occurs and what is distinctive about camp experiences. There is a need to emphasize the role of critical incidents, turning points (Olsen et al, 2018)), and active ingredients (Rubin et al, 2018) as suggested in this special issue.…”