Capstone Paper Outline

Sarah Newman

Purpose​: to prove and identify the impacts (both short and long-term) that summer
camp has on campers that attend

Thesis​: Summer camp, long-term, provides campers a “home away from home,”
building the necessary tools to improve self-confidence and resilience, both at camp and
beyond.

I. History of Summer Camps

- “Typical” Summer camps
- Why they were established
- To allow children to explore nature/in an isolated, yet observed
environment
- To give parents time away from their children in the summertime
- Summer camps originated in the late 1800’s
- More than 1,000 camps were established in 20 years - Source 1
- Today, 7,000 overnight camps are active in the US
- Camps specializing in aiding children with special needs
- Started in the mid-1920’s
- Camps grew from less than 10 to more than 50
- ACA formed the Committee on Specialized Camping Services
- Types of these camps in existence: diabetes, cancer, mental illness, family
trauma, etc.
- Children work on activities together - do not focus on their
disability
- Grouped into recreational summer camps, noncompetitive sports summer
camps, pedagogical summer camps
Purpose: The history gives a general overview and context to my question.

II. Aspects of a Summer Camp

- Counselors
- A “parental” figure
- Newfound role model - closer in age
- Camper-counselor relationships:
- “Camp counselors, unlike teachers, view their primary role as one of
facilitating friendships and positive experiences” - Source 3
Purpose: Camper-counselor relationships are a vital part of camp, since counselors are
watching the kids throughout the entire time
- Activity Choices
- Children can find new talents
- Many summer camps focus on teaching, modeling, and practicing the
social skills that most schools cannot teach - Source 3
 - “Developmentally appropriate activities and supportive environment at an
occupation-based summer camp provided a safe place for youth to develop
friendships, which they were worried about maintaining after the
cessation of summer camp” - Source 7
Purpose: Activities are a vital part of the camp experience - children are able to find new
experiences
- Homesickness
- Relates to the parent dynamic at home
- “Children who have prior experiences with separation from home may be
less likely to experience homesickness” - Source 7
- “Children who are securely attached are able to use their attachment figure
as a secure base from which to explore and as a haven of safety in times of
stress” - Source 7
- “Therefore, more securely attached children may be less homesick at camp
if they become more involved in exploring the camp environment.” -
Source 7
Purpose: Looking at homesickness can be a “counterargument” to the camp experience,
yet it is not directly impacted by camp itself - it is more an attachment issue with the
child and the parent

III. Psychological Benefits of Summer Camp

- Martin Seligman’s PERMA model of wellbeing
- Positive emotion, Engagement, positive Relationships, Meaning, and
Achievement
- Each piece of this ties directly with the camp experience through building
relationships and focusing on bettering the lives of the child
Purpose: Shows that children work well in an environment that fosters growth and
happiness and should work to the overall goal of improving the lives of the children that
attend
- Scaffolding
- Lev Vygotsky
- Aiding a child in the learning process by providing support and slowly
eliminating the support so a children can learn by his or herself - Source 8
- This is demonstrated through aiding children through different
activities - paddling, building, climbing, etc.
Purpose: Communication is a key aspect of the summer camp experience - by gradually
introducing new things, children are able to find new interests.

IV. “Typical Summer Camp

- Children are able to meet new people and create relationships
- They can take new skills from their camp experience
- “Physical activity, experience success and become more confident, gain resiliency,
unplug from technology, develop life-long skills, grow more independent, have
free time for unstructured play, learn social skills, reconnect with nature, and
make true friends” - Source 4
 - "The biggest plus of camp is that camps help young people discover and explore
their talents, interests, and values. Most schools don't satisfy all these needs. Kids
who have had these kinds of (camp) experiences end up being healthier and have
less problems which concern us all." - Source 5
- In Mary Clark and Evangeline Nwokah’s study, a day camp called REAL (Reading
and Enrichment Academy for Learning), which concluded with a one-week
overnight camp found that “more than 90 percent of the campers’ parents
reported that their child tried harder in school” and “75% of children improved
their ability to praise, motivate, and support peers

V. Specialized Summer Camp

- Feeling the “bond” of a disease
- “Disease-specific camps seem to preferentially attract children with
chronic health conditions, often enticing them to return year after year,
even when their condition is well controlled. Benefits perceived by
campers may include involvement in formal or informal support groups,
the common bond of condition-related experience, feedback from peers
and leaders, and the instillation of hope from meeting successful
survivors” (2006).
- This entices them to come back to the camp year after year to get
the same effects - then correlates to the long-term impacts of the
summer camp
- “The participants indicated that feeling connecting to others with
disabilities helped them understand themselves better” - Source 9
Purpose: By feeling bonded to those with similar interests, those with disabilities
connect more to themselves and the world around them
- Inclusion
- “Children who attended a camp for epilepsy for three consecutive years felt
both “empower[ed] and inclu[ded]”
Purpose: Feeling included becomes a necessary piece in the part of the camp experience
for these young campers.
- Discovery of self outside of a “label”
- “The camp experience provided a personal, physical, and social landscape
from which to learn more about their own capabilities, the capabilities of
others, and their physical potential.” - Source 9
- “Through their recreational time and physical activity experiences, the
campers gave new meaning to their understanding of self and that which
persons with disabilities were capable.” - Source 9
- “More positive attitudes about their illness at the end of the 1-week camp
sessions than at the start” - Source 10
Purpose: Children with disabilities should be able to find themselves and participate in
the same activities as other people can. By being with similar people, they are able to
participate in activities that they like and find friends with the same interests/following
the same path as them.
VI. At-Risk Youth
- Skill-Development
- “At risk youth who attended the summer camp reported skill development
in leadership and decision making due to engagement in enriched
activities and developmentally appropriate occupations at camp…Campers
described being afforded the opportunity to practice leadership skills when
they felt personal competence in activities provided by the summer camp.
Campers were able to make decisions in healthy occupations due to the
greatly expanded availability of positive occupations within a safe and
structured camp environment” (Merryman & Mezei, 2012).
Purpose: For students at-risk, skill-development is necessary for them to be successful
later on in life. By building a solid foundation at camps, these kids will be able to work
successfully.
- Sense of “belonging”
- “Inclusion of a positive, peer based mentoring model” - Source 11
- “The people with the greatest impact, according to focus group
discussions, were those who had been through the foster care system
themselves-those with whom the young people could easily identify, trust,
and build positive relationships” - Source 11
Purpose: Belonging in the world becomes faulty for these children, mostly because they
have not had a “place” in their world to be.

VII. Conclusion