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.

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.