How do various staff members at camp support youth and contribute to their well-being and sense of belonging?
Led by this question in the Summer of 2024, Informed Change conducted listening sessions and interviews with Camp Fire support staff from three participating overnight camps. These camps are part of the ongoing C.A.M.P.E.R. (Camp Accessibility, Meaningful Participation, and Equal Representation) initiative, funded with support from Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies. Camp Fire’s goal is to ensure that all youth participating in its overnight camps feel welcome, emotionally affirmed, and physically comfortable, especially those who have been historically excluded from quality youth development experiences in the outdoors.
Informed Change helps youth organizations tell their story of impact and use data for innovation. Through semi-structured listening sessions, Informed Change gathered data about the ways support staff interact with campers, support their emotional health, affirm their identities, and contribute to their overall well-being and belonging.
Informed Change recorded and transcribed all listening sessions. Using Nvivo software to facilitate the coding process, they analyzed transcripts using a thematic analysis approach informed by grounded theory. After coding all data, we refined the emerging themes to set the stage for each case study.
This series comprises three case studies:
1) Exploring the Practices of Counselors-in-Training
2) Supporting Youth Well-Being Through Facilities Management
3) Exploring the Unique Role of Camp Cooks
When we think about experiences that lead to well-being and belonging for young people attending camps, we may not always consider the role of support staff. But rangers, cooks, and counselors-in-training do play a significant role in the camp experience.
Case Study 1: Counselors-in-training
Camp Fire’s counselor-in-training (CIT) programs provide leadership opportunities for young people aging out of regular camp programs, typically high school-aged youth, while simultaneously creating an additional layer of support for campers from near-peers. For this case study, we spoke with a camp’s CIT coordinator and two CITs as a group.
Meet Jen, Bao and Tater Tot.
Jen (uses any pronouns) is the CIT coordinator at one of Camp Fire’s local camps in the Pacific Northwest.
Bao (they/them) attended leadership camp and is now a CIT.
Tater Tot (she/her) works as riding staff in training (RSIT) at camp after attending horse camp herself for many years.
Jen, Tater Tot, and Bao shared that campers appreciate when CITs regularly check on them and seek them out just to talk about their days. In their roles, they get to know campers, demonstrate respect for their identities, relate to them as friends, and support their emotional and mental health, illustrating the crucial role CITs play in supporting campers’ well-being and belonging.
Learn more about how CITs play a key role in helping campers feel like they belong at camp:
Case Study 2: Facilities Management
Meet Ranger Brenda
Brenda (she/her), affectionately called “Ranger Brenda,” has been the facilities manager at her camp since November 2021. As facilities manager, Brenda oversees maintenance of the camp, including repairs, construction, and landscaping.
Brenda oversees the maintenance and upkeep of the camp’s buildings and grounds. Her work ensures campers experience a beautiful, safe, comfortable environment while at camp. During camp, she stays on top of maintenance requests; in the off-season she tackles a long to-do list of construction, cleaning, and maintenance as well.
Through all the ways Brenda interacts with campers whether describing a plant species or just being a listening ear, she plays an important role in supporting campers’ well-being and belonging. While her work maintaining and improving the camp facilities sets the foundation for a safe and enjoyable camp experience, the ways she engages with campers builds on that foundation to extend her impact.
Over multiple years at camp, Brenda has built ongoing relationships with campers and seen them grow. Brenda’s care for the camp environment seems to be infectious. As young people see the work she puts into ensuring the camp is well cared-for, they offer to help her out with tasks around camp. One even asked her if they could become an “assistant ranger” the following year. “They want to work. They want to help make improvements and make camp nice.”
Learn more about how facilities management staff play a key role in helping campers feel like they belong and are thought of at camp:
Case Study 3: Camp Cooks
Meet Shellyanne and Michael
Shellyanne (she/her) and Michael (he/him) have led rich and nomadic lives. Shellyanne went to camp as a child, and she grew up with a fondness for camp, although she never imagined she’d end up there later in life as a camp cook. Shellyanne has had a wide variety of life experiences that have made her the kind of adult campers seek out for a “fist bump” every day. She has a background in child development and nursing, and she has raised six children with special needs. Her partner, Michael, grew up as a Boy Scout and was a Cub Master when his own children were in scouting. He began cooking while serving in the Navy. He says he can’t remember a time when he wasn’t working with young people and cooking: “My passion is food and anything to do with kids and bringing more joy to them in that manner. It makes me happy.”
You might imagine that Shellyanne and Michael, as cooks, only interact with campers in the food line. They serve 40-100 campers at each meal, but in the moments between prepping, cooking, and cleaning up, they work hard to make campers feel welcome. They take time to walk around the dining room after service to make sure everyone has had enough to eat and to ask campers how their day was. They stand outside the dining hall to greet each camper with a smile, a fist-bump, or a hug before meal service, and are always there if a camper looks lonely or is having a bad day.
Shellyanne and Michael have clearly had a positive impact on camp, the campers, CITs, counselors, and staff. They’ve convinced campers to try new foods and get out of their comfort zones in kind and reassuring ways. One parent, Michael excitedly shared, even gives he and Shellyanne credit for their child’s new willingness to try new foods and their family not “having to go to Chick-fil-A every night.
Shellyanne and Michael shared that another camper said that they were “coming back next year because of the food!”
Campers also notice if either Michael or Shellyanne is absent. “I know this because, for a week, Shellyanne was not at camp,” Michael explained. “She was down and sick and in the hospital. She was not there to do the fist-bumping. Every child and staff, and whoever came through my line literally went, ‘Where is Shellyanne? I need my fist-bump today.'” Shellyanne and Michael receive “fan notes” from campers thanking them for the food and for “being there.”
CITs can often be found hanging out by the kitchen to see if there’s anything they can help with. Maybe most importantly, campers regularly seek out Shellyanne and Michael to tell them about their day or how they are feeling, demonstrating what an important role they play in the well-being and belonging of campers.
Learn more about how camp cooks play a key role in helping campers feel like welcome and cared for at camp:
