“No” is a word that children hear a lot. No talking in the classroom. No running in the hallways. No playing ball in the house. No to anything that gets clothes dirty. No. No. No. With this in mind, it’s no wonder that “yes” is one of the many reasons that children so eagerly anticipate camp each summer. Of course safety is always a factor, and children also have parameters at camp for that reason. However, those parameters extend much further at summer camp than they do at home and school. At summer camp, campers are encouraged to climb walls, zip down ropes, run, get dirty and play ball. Even when they express doubt in themselves, they are encouraged with, “Yes, you can.” There is no pressure to be the best at something or to even be good at it, simply to try it. With such encouragement, many campers venture into previously unexplored territory and discover that they can, in fact, do things they previously thought they couldn’t.
The benefits of such encouragement extend beyond the development of courage to try new things. Children become more open to possibilities. They develop the skills to venture out of their comfort zone and examine situations from different angles. A refined sense of creativity helps them attack tasks that previously seemed difficult or even impossible. They learn to comprehend the importance of trying, particularly when the time and place is right. With such perspective, “no” and “yes” become words less associated with ability and more associated with restraint. If they’re talking in the classroom, they can’t understand what the teacher is saying. School is not an environment that makes running in the hallways safe. Things tend to break when they play ball in the house. The clothes they wear when they’re not at camp are just a little nicer than the ones they tend to wear at camp. In contrast, camp is a safe environment for them to talk, laugh, run, play, climb and get messy in ways that are productive. In short, it’s an environment with less restraint in mind. Once children are able to understand the symbiotic relationship between “yes” and “no,” they are better able to accept “no” for what it actually means: It’s not in your best interest.
만약 당신이 겨울 동안 캠퍼들의 지리학적 지역이 궁금하다면, 이번 주 윅에이 캠프의 게스트 블로그가 미국의 가장 훌륭한 여름 캠프를 포함한 많은 캠프들의 꽤 좋은 다양한 캠퍼들의 사진을 제공합니다.
대부분의 가족들은 캠프에 대해 배울때 훌륭한 질문을 합니다: 캠퍼들은 어디에서 오나요?
윅에이의 캠프는 20개의 다른 주와 10개의 나라에서 온 캠퍼들을 가진 축복받은 캠프입니다. 특정한 하나의 우편번호 또는 지역에서 모여 캠프를 온 것이 아닌 저희는 모든 곳에서 온 캠퍼들을 갖고 있습니다 – 캘리포니아, 콜로라도, 오하이오, 텍사스 뿐만 아니라 동부해안의 남북까지. 우리는 또한 작은 인구지만 프랑스, 스위스, 베네수엘라, 영국, 스페인, 러시아, 멕시코, 중국, 브라질, 그리고 칠레에서 온 활기찬 캠퍼들을 가지고 있습니다.
이 다양성은 우리의 지역사회에 훌륭한 혜택들을 제공합니다. 첫째, 이것은 아이들에게 캠프에서 멋진 시간을 가지며 미국 내외의 다른 문화에 대해 알게 합니다. 캠퍼들은 그들의 지역의 친구들 뿐만 아니라 먼 거리에서 온 친구들과 함께 캠프에서의 우정을 쌓기를 즐깁니다.
다양한 인구 구성의 두 번째 주요 장점은 새로운 캠퍼들이 우리 지역사회의 필수 적인 구성원이 되는 데 훨씬 쉬운 시간을 갖게 되는 것입니다. 처음의 며칠은 매우 중요하고 당신의 지역에서 온 사람을 제외한 모든 사람과 침상을 같이 하는 것은 쉽지 않습니다. 처음으로 다른 많은 지역에서 온 친구들과 함께 하는 것은 우정을 쌓는데 있어 처음 며칠을 매우 쉽게 만들어 줍니다.
우리는 모두가 계속해서 우정, 새로운 능력을 향상시키고 우리 인생에 있어 최고의 여름을 가지며 윅에이 캠프에서 우리의 다양성을 계속해서 성장하는데 매우 설렙니다.
One of the most understated advantages of summer camps is how much they do to help prepare older campers for life after the summer. Increasingly, sleepaway camps are taking an interest in providing older campers with valuable experiences that will help through the college application process and later in life. Leadership programs, college visits, community service and are just a few of the offerings of summer camps for older campers, and statistics show that there is a college case for them.
There is a rising trend of college admissions foregoing standardized test scores infavor of applicants with diverse backgrounds and experiences. An article on www.education.com revealed that colleges are realizing that high standardized test scores are not necessarily indicative of good students. Rather, those students who demonstrate well-rounded backgrounds with involvement in a variety of activities, such as summer camp, generally make good students because they learn valuable skills through these activities. Beyond the activities themselves, however, colleges are considering the value of them by examining how applicants engaged in them. In other words, colleges considering activities in lieu of test scores aren’t just placing heavy weight on applicant involvement in activities such as summer camp, they’re placing considerable weight on what applicants did while involved. This creates prime opportunity for summer camps to step up and showcase just how much campers benefit from returning each summer, and many camps are answering the challenge.
Campers attend summer camp for several years—sometimes as many as eight. The summer camp environment is theperfect place for them to engage in fun activities with friends that teach skills that college admissions teams find valuable. Through special activities and opportunities to take charge of younger campers, teenage campers learn to be effective leaders. Some camps also offer extended counselor training programs that provide high school campers with the opportunity to take on staff roles at camp. Often, these types of programs are the first work experience for campers eager to take on leadership roles at the beloved summer home where they grew up.
Beyond counselor training programs, or sometimes in place of them, a handful of camps also offer exclusive, highly customized programs in which campers learn how to communicate effectively and support each other. Such programs teach inclusion and help older campers develop a resistance to falling prey to common teenage stumbling blocks such as gossip, bullying, or negative peer pressure. Camps often work with professional psychologists, counselors, life coaches, and even nutritionists to maximize the benefits of these programs. These professionals are frequently featured guests who engage campers in special activities that demonstrate life lessons in fun and engaging ways.
There is also a trend in camps taking on the task of taking campers on tours of a variety of college campuses. Many camps in the New England area are within proximity to some of the most esteemed institutions of higher learning in the nation, and they arrange formal tours so that their older campers can actually get a glimpse of college life. Moreover, college tours prompt students to begin considering the qualities for which they are looking in a college, such as size, geographic location, and extra-curricular offerings by seeing firsthand how these factors affect the college experience.
Community service programs are also a rising trend in camping, surprisingly, often by camper request. Campers grow up in camp learning to be a member of a community. They develop such a respect for that community and everything it has contributed to their lives that they actually want to give back. They see the value in passing on the rites and traditions with which they grew up to others. While some community service programs stay within the camp campuses, others reach well beyond camp and extend into the local or even national community. Camps openly support charities and plan special events dedicated to those causes, which means that campers are learning from an early age the value of community involvement.
Parents wondering if summer camp is still as beneficial to their children as teenagers as when they were younger need only look at college admission trends. Chances are that camp could be that all important deciding application factor and the skills teenage campers bring away from their final few summers at camp may well be much more valuable than you thought.
