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.