Camper Council: A Meaningful Involvement Initiative

Location

CSU 255

Start Date

22-4-2008 10:30 AM

End Date

22-4-2008 12:00 PM

Student's Major

Social Work

Student's College

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Mentor's Name

Annelies Hagemeister

Mentor's Department

Social Work

Mentor's College

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Description

An increase in interest from youth and family practitioners, policy makers and researchers has given positive youth development the spotlight in this past decade. The focus for many of these individuals has been to develop a wide range of approaches to prevent youth problems and promote healthy youth development. Studies have shown success in prevention programs for youth that are focused on increasing community involvement and include four major components; safety, skill building, supportive relationships and meaningful involvement. Meaningful involvement has been identified as the most difficult component to achieve in programs for youth, specifically in resident and day camps. My paper addresses a program developed to increase meaningful involvement of campers in the camp programming at a resident all-girls camp in northern Wisconsin. The program also sought to observe leadership qualities, decision-making and feelings of belonging in the youth involved with the program. Camper and staff surveys were collected at the end of the camp sessions to provide feedback and explore how the camper council worked as a tool to empower youth through meaningful involvement. The anonymous surveys consisted of a Likert-Type Scale and a series of open-ended and semi close-ended questions and examined the youth's sense of empowerment and their satisfaction of involvement in the camp programming.

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Apr 22nd, 10:30 AM Apr 22nd, 12:00 PM

Camper Council: A Meaningful Involvement Initiative

CSU 255

An increase in interest from youth and family practitioners, policy makers and researchers has given positive youth development the spotlight in this past decade. The focus for many of these individuals has been to develop a wide range of approaches to prevent youth problems and promote healthy youth development. Studies have shown success in prevention programs for youth that are focused on increasing community involvement and include four major components; safety, skill building, supportive relationships and meaningful involvement. Meaningful involvement has been identified as the most difficult component to achieve in programs for youth, specifically in resident and day camps. My paper addresses a program developed to increase meaningful involvement of campers in the camp programming at a resident all-girls camp in northern Wisconsin. The program also sought to observe leadership qualities, decision-making and feelings of belonging in the youth involved with the program. Camper and staff surveys were collected at the end of the camp sessions to provide feedback and explore how the camper council worked as a tool to empower youth through meaningful involvement. The anonymous surveys consisted of a Likert-Type Scale and a series of open-ended and semi close-ended questions and examined the youth's sense of empowerment and their satisfaction of involvement in the camp programming.

Recommended Citation

Penning, Amanda. "Camper Council: A Meaningful Involvement Initiative." Undergraduate Research Symposium, Mankato, MN, April 22, 2008.
https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/urs/2008/oral-session-13/5