Ways to promote youth development in camp

Camping Magazine, Jan-Feb, 2003 by Gwynn M. Powell

Youth development is a complicated process, and the support of it in diverse populations is even trickier. There is no "magic bullet" to solve the dilemma of how best to support youth as they mature into adults. The magic seems to be that adults, such as camp professionals, care enough to continue seeking ways to design programs that offer support as youth move through the process. The features of positive youth development identified by the Committee on Community-Level Programs for Youth (Eccles & Gootman, 2002) were introduced in the last Research Notes Column (Powell & Scanlin, 2002), and in this column, the concepts will be applied to staffing and program -- specifically program planning as a matrix web, staff supervision through the lens of the youth development features, and a twist on comprehensive program evaluation.

Planning as a Matrix Web

After examining the features individually -- physical and psychological safety, appropriate structure, supportive relationships, opportunities to belong, positive social norms, support for efficacy and mattering, opportunities for skill building, and integration of family, school, and community efforts -- another angle from which to approach evaluation is to visualize the features as points on a web (see the figure on page 65). Using specific programs or actions as the connections between the features, think about ways to coordinate and reinforce efforts to help move youth forward across job functions in your camp.

Just as when pressure placed on one part of a spider's web can affect the entire web, one small change in youth development programs from a systemic viewpoint, can send vibrations throughout the entire organization. For example, what are the areas of your program that support more than one feature? Some of the features build on the elements of the others ... intentional focus on positive social norms that include support for efficacy and mattering may lead to opportunities to belong and supportive relationships. Skill-building opportunities that include interpersonal skill building as well as program skills may lead to psychological safety for all community members. Appropriate structure may lead to both physical and psychological safety that makes it easier for youth to belong -- thereby fostering supportive relationships that can serve as models for behavior back home or at school. So after looking at each feature individually, the next step is to address the synergy possible by looking for the connections between the program elements and the features embedded in them.

From a systemic viewpoint, camps offer possibilities that do not exist in many school systems. As adolescents' developmental needs are changing, they often shift from a smaller to a larger school -- a setting with less personal contacts with adults and less opportunity to engage in activities (Eccles & Gootman, 2002). Camp has the potential to increase the personal attention and engagement levels through the types of programs and leadership offered in a setting without curriculum demands. The ability to engage youth in programs, roles, and responsibilities that allow them to be central in the life and function of the camp takes concerted effort from many directions.

Have you considered bringing staff members who address those different program areas together to talk about supportive relationships? For example, are there ways to encourage activity skill instructors to actively discuss group dynamics as part of their program? Are there ways that the food service department can support the theme of teamwork in the type of meal served or maybe in the way that it is served (could it take teamwork on the part of the campers to complete the meal)? In what ways could the maintenance staff support the arts and crafts instructor? Could the room be designed so the instructor is in the middle and can easily reach all of the work areas to support the children? The point being -- in the business of camp -- sometimes the single-mindedness of a department or staff function could limit the creative potential for all the departments. The extra time to think about cross-functional potential could lead to more synergistic solutions to daily functions and implementations.

What area is supportive of one feature but hinders another feature because of the implementation method? For example, strict limitations and over-controlled leadership may attain physical safety, but that positive feature may be to the detriment of appropriate structural and supportive relationships among staff. Does the physical structure of a building play a role in how the activities flow with campers? An interesting slant toward the implementation process comes from the application of a developmental psychology concept in the field of landscape architecture.

The idea of "affordances" in relationship to children's environments (Gibson, 1982) fits hand-in-hand with the features of positive youth development. Both are seeking to increase the potential for success of participants by focusing on the possibilities and potentials that need to be in place to promote positive youth development. The basic idea of affordances in terms of the physical environment for play, as expanded by Heft (1985), reverses the focus on the physical environment as a backdrop and places the possibilities for "a place" at the forefront of program implementation.