Camps 'N Codes

Take a moment, close your eyes, and paint a picture in your mind of your childhood summer camp. Can you see it? Little rustic cabins, a fire ring in the forest, a wooden dock with canoes tethered to it, and an overall sense of magic adrift in the air. Now let me ask, did you remember to include the fire suppression systems, accessibility features, and the correct number of plumbing fixtures? I didn’t think so. While these elements don’t contribute to the overall allure of camp, they are all crucial to the construction of camp structures. This post kick starts our ‘Camps ‘N Codes’ series about Building Codes and Regulations and how they affect summer camps.  After the break is an introduction to the series. Be sure to check back over the next few months as we debut our ‘Case Study’ posts where we dive into our previous projects and discuss how we have handled camp specific code issues in the past.

 

Going The Distance

Green River Preserve’s journey to connect kids with nature

Cordwood Cottage at GRP

"We have to go further" says Executive Director Missy Schenck of Green River Preserve (GRP), a 3,400 acre private wildlife preserve in Tuxedo NC. Before I tell you about where they are going next, let me first point out a few highlights that are #happeningnow. GRP was founded in 1987 as a nonprofit summer camp to connect kids with nature. Through their unique mentor program, campers hike each morning with naturalist guides. One tradition at camp called the "grand slam" includes seeing a bear, a venomous snake, a turkey, and a deer all on a single hike, a rarity which occurs only a handful of times a summer. In a world where it is estimated that 50% of kids born this year will never see the Milky Way (See our post Creating Awe at Camp), it really got me thinking how truly a unique nature experience this is for the kids. Not only does the site include the vast wildlife preserve, it also shares a border with DuPont State Forest, creating the perfect setting to witness a "grand slam"! From the start, GRP has been connecting kids with nature. They have created several outreach programs such as SEE, Muddy Sneakers and Kale.

SEE (School of Environmental Education) is a residential field trip program where schools travel to Green River Preserve for an educational experiences outside of the classroom.

Muddy Sneakers is a separate non-profit organization funded primarily through private donations, grants, and foundations, the outdoor education outreach to schools local to GRP. 5th grade programs from neighboring school counties spend 12 day-long trips connecting with nature in their own backyard.

KALE (Kids Agricultural Learning Experience) is a hands on learning experience based off of GRP's farm.

Even with these existing programs, GRP is still thinking about what is next. Conceived as a response to the proposed No Child Left Inside Act of 2013, "Camp to Go" is GRP's next outreach program.

Congress finds that “Children and young adults are increasingly disconnected from the natural world around them, spending less time outside playing, exploring, and learning. Play and learning in nature is important to the intellectual, social, and physical development of youth.” Read more at congress.gov.

With the No Child Left Inside Act back up for discussion in 2015, camps partnering with schools could become more critical than ever, creating a demand for programs such as Camp to Go. The Camp-School Partnership Survey, conducted by the ACA in 2010, found that there was still much room for improvements between camp and school partnerships. The study found that “Over 88 percent of the camps were not partnering with school districts on educational reform grants or programs, and 90 percent of the camps were not involved with any Title 1, Title 2, or Department of Education programs.” For more statistics, read the article here

While the most common partnership with schools includes a science based curriculum, the article continues to suggest that camps seek new ways to connect with schools, such as partnering with existing "Youth in Government" programs. This reminded me of programing at the YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly. On a site visit last summer I got to see the Youth Conference on National Affairs in full swing.

This is a great example of programming that can be created at your camp to promote partnering with schools. Whether it is youth in government, hands on physics, or nature studies, there are variety of programming opportunities waiting to create lasting partnerships between schools and summer camps nationwide. At its core, camp is about youth development. Partnering with schools is yet another way that camps can positively impact today's youth.

Creating Awe at Camp

Is awe essential to our happiness? Are we creating and perpetuating a society that lacks awe? These questions are being asked as we further examine how our built environments are changing. Time magazine and Psychology Today reported on a 2012 study that shows how “awe-inspiring moments” actually help us to perceive time as moving slower, which is acknowledged as having a positive effect on our otherwise fast-paced life. After viewing awesome (that is, awe-inspiring) images, volunteers reported feeling “more patient, less materialistic, and more willing to help others.”

“Awe can rock our world, making us reassess our beliefs and revise our theories of how things work,” writes Dacher Keltner, the psychologist who conducted the study, which you can read about here and here.

This is of particular interest when we look at how the children of today experience childhood in comparison with children from previous generations. Take, for instance, their experience of the night sky. Unlike the older generations alive today, many suburban and urban youth have not had the experience of standing in utter and complete awe of the night sky, due to invasive, pervasive light pollution. Having specialized in preserving and harnessing natural beauty for the public’s consumption for well over a century, many national parks are beginning to recognize the value of offering programs and activities specifically centered on the wonder of the night sky.

Much like the National Park Service, many camps focus significant portions of their program on embracing the natural resources surrounding their camp. When it comes to awe-inspiring moments, camps are in a very advantageous position – and more camps could benefit from structuring programs around the endlessly renewable resource that is the night sky. Why? Because current estimates suggest that 50% of kids born this year will never see the Milky Way!

Integrating nighttime nature programming into your camp curriculum is limited only by the amount of light pollution present at your camp. While camps located inside or near metropolitan areas might have little control, camps in more remote areas can make a dramatic impact upon the amount of light that they emit – which has a direct and converse effect upon how visible the night sky is for their campers. Examples of a few simple changes to help reduce light pollution are: using full cut-off light fixtures, only lighting the areas of camp that need lit at night, and using timers or motion-sensors to ensure that lamps turn off when not needed. As an added benefit, implementing practices that reduce light pollution also reduce electricity bills, representing significant monetary savings for your camp (while also being a great sustainable initiative).

So, camp directors, please structure a little more “awe” into your (surely) already awesome programs. It will help instill a stronger sense of wonder in your campers, aid the development of their imagination, and, if nothing else, give them the impression that their experience at camp is passing slowly. And what kid doesn’t wish that camp would move just a little bit slower?

More.

When camp is more than fun, friendship and adventure…

A few recent interactions with clients has reminded me of a simple fact: camp is so much more than it is sometimes advertised to be.

Recently I attended the YMCA Camp Marketing and Financial Development Symposium. Greg and I were asked to present the Facilities Needs implications of the results of our YMCA Resident Camps Capital Improvement Study as keynote speakers.

The study, which was completed over several months earlier this year, surveyed roughly 25% of all YMCA resident camps. The survey questions addressed each camp’s current and future capital needs, as well as their current and future camp expansions and improvement projects. Additionally, the fundraising capacity of camps was examined by Lighthouse Counsel, a third-party consultant. Other parts of the study looked at individual camps’ best practices in terms of management and sustainability, as well as determining if market gaps exist nationally for the Y. In addition to conducting the web-based survey, Domokur Architects made eight site visits to select YMCA resident camps throughout the country to get a firsthand look at the camps’ conditions.

While we were at the Symposium, we attended a particularly powerful session lead by Jorge Perez, the VP of Youth Development, Family Enrichment and Social Responsibility at YMCA of the USA. Jorge’s opening analogy especially stuck with me. Let me see if I can recreate it for you...

Imagine that you are back in kindergarten. You are learning about how things grow, and as a project, your class is planting seeds in little seed-starting cups. You add soil, place it on the classroom’s window sill, water it daily, and eventually you have a small sprouting seedling. So, as a kindergartner, what did you learn? You learned that in order to grow, you need three things: the cup, water, and sunlight.

Now let’s apply this analogy to camp. The cup is your camp, and the water and the sunlight are your camp’s investments into youth development. Jorge commented that often camps are only focused on “the cup”: “look at my cup,” "we just built a new cup,” “this cup will be the best.” While it is easy to get lost in this line of reasoning, we all know that camp is about so much more than just “the cup." The cup will not make the seed grow without a strong investment in youth development.

This is something we continue to express through our camp design. Because, while “the cup” is important, it is really about what the cup creates… a second home, a place to learn and grow, the overall experience of summer camp – that is most important.

My next encounter was during a planning discussion with a client. The director expressed her concern that the camp was only being represented as a place for fun. While fun is definitely a main ingredient, camp is so much more. The majority of Camp Directors would agree that the fun is intentional. Activity progressions, programming, and camper-to-counselor ratios are all structured. It has be said many times: the camp environment offers something that can’t be matched. And that is no accident! Successful programs are intentionally invested in youth development, not just fun! As reported in ACA camping magazine…

“Camp directors often design the summer camp experience with intended camper outcomes in mind. Campers often experience positive changes as a result of attending summer camp.”¹

Just as successful camp programming requires intentional directives on the part of the camp staff, successful camp planning and architecture must also focus on the investment in youth development with each design.

¹Henderson, Karla A., Ph.D, Paul E. Marsh, M.S., Deborah Bialeschki, Ph.D, Margery M. Scanlin, Ed.D, Leslie S. Whitaker, Christopher Thurber, Ph.D, and Mark Burkhardt. "Research: Intentional Youth Development." Research: Intentional Youth Development. American Camp Association, Sept.-Oct. 2006. Web. 08 Jan. 2015.

We Are Each Other's Greatest Teacher

It sounds cheesy, but sharing is an essential part of camp. Campers share cabins with other campers, counselors share their time to work with kids, everyone shares their elbow space in the dining hall… the list goes on. During the off-season, camp professionals talk, and attend conferences to share ideas and talk about what parts of camp matters to them. Camp is about the shared experiences that link you to a certain place, community, and ethos – often leaving a life-long impression on the camper. A post from the ACA blog illustrates this well:

"we use exchange, contribution, and meaning to honor individual need within the context of the larger community. We know how to share space. We know how to bring people together regardless of differences. We understand our sameness. At camp, we strike the balance of individualism within a shared community.”

There is a great camaraderie in the camping profession. “Camp people” understand “camp people,” and can talk about camp forever. However in this spirit of shared experiences, there seems to be a missing piece of the conversation. Camps are quick to share programming ideas, but camp design or facility management? Not so much.

This surprises me. A recent article in The New York Times explores how the concept of sharing ideas has taken on a new meaning. “Why More Start-Ups Are Sharing Ideas Without Legal Protection” points to the cultural shift in the way ideas are exchanged. Sharing has been a buzz word across all industries for some time now. Take, for example, the ever popular TED Talks series, whose tagline is "Ideas worth spreading”, or even ride-sharing companies, like Uber. With this in mind, you would think that camps would regularly and openly share ideas related to camp design tips and improving the ways facilities are managed.

Fifty years ago, camps were having this discussion. Books such as Salomon’s Campsite Development, (which I often reference on this blog) or the Park Practice Series are examples of camp design being shared within the camping community. Specifically, the 1970 Park Practice Series allowed any member of the National Park Service to submit a design or a design detail for a variety of projects built for parks. However, in today’s camping industry, this exchange of design solutions – though more feasible than ever due to improvements in technology - is not a reality. The recent “Camp Moves Me” fundraising campaign by the ACA, their first fundraising effort on a nationwide front, is certainly a start to creating a more open system of idea-sharing on a national level, but we have a long way to go. This effort is focused on supporting camp scholarships through ACA’s Send a Child to Camp Fund.

The mission of camps is to show campers the magic of outdoors, or to infuse them with the values put forth by the camp’s specific programs. The impact of facility and expansion issues must be minimized to ensure that camps’ missions are met -- and so many camps have come up with great, innovative solutions to these issues. How can camps successfully share these ideas with other camps? A few suggestions we offer are to find camps who share a similar ethos, program or are in a similar climate/region (and thus potentially facing similar issues) and establish a relationship to explore ideas and explain solutions. Use resources available online, such as the American Camp Associations’ website and networking opportunities such as ACA conferences. The important thing is that the camping community – with the end goal of furthering every camp’s missions and goals - work towards creating the atmosphere of being an open system of collaboration and discourse about all aspects of camp, including camp design and facility management. We are each other's greatest teacher. Looks like we have some sharing to do.