Background: Summer camp is an experiential learning setting that supports youth development. Due to high fees, youth from low-income backgrounds often have fewer opportunities to attend. Subsequently, there is little literature about these youth's camp experiences. Purpose: This research examined growth and the characteristics supporting growth in…

Background: Summer camps engage millions of youth in enrichment opportunities during the summertime while employing a substantial young adult workforce to provide high-quality programs and services to camp participants. Workplace fatigue has been implicated in camp-related injury and illness events, yet few studies have targeted fatigue among camp…

Summer camp programs provide adolescent counselors with opportunities to work alongside adult staff, aiming to develop critical skills such as communication, responsibility, independence, and teamwork. Growing research supports the value of camp-based developmental relationships through youth-adult partnerships. However, tensions often arise as…

Camp has proven to be an effective positive youth development strategy for children and youth who experience trauma and adversity. However, training camp counselors who are prepared to meet the needs of trauma-exposed youth in these settings are less understood. This pilot evaluation study provides the results of a social simulation-based training…

The prevalence of mental health issues among youth, with nearly half meeting diagnostic criteria for a mental health disorder and suicide being a leading cause of death, underscores the urgency for effective intervention (National Institute of Mental Health, 2023). Summer camps, hosting millions of children annually, are urged by the American Camp…

During recent decades, educational reform in the U.S. has favored standards-driven curricula with the purpose of improving education. However, national assessments have not demonstrated significant improvements in educational outcomes, especially among economically disadvantaged and minoritized populations. To mitigate these outcomes,…

Organized out-of-school time (OST) activities can provide youth with developmentally enriching experiences. Summer camp is one such activity, offering opportunities for positive youth development and, in some cases, promoting socioemotional learning, character development, resilience, and academic and career-related outcomes (Garst et al., 2011;…

This study examines the use of critical community-building--using dialogue as a collective to support, listen to, ask questions, and assist each other in thinking in critical ways--to support resettled youths' writing during a summer writing camp. Through encouraging the youth to use their home languages, by celebrating their cultures, honoring…

Cultural humility is a framework for engaging in self-reflection, self-critique, and reflective practice to cultivate respectful relationships and understand power and privilege. Using duoethnography, we applied cultural humility to our youth work at summer camp and in a social skills group for Autistic youth. Our integrative analysis shows how…

Youth well-being is of central importance, now, perhaps more than ever before. In the wake of the covid pandemic, youth need emotional support and connection throughout the academic year and summer months. Camp is a primary method of summer programming in America and thus may be an important conduit for mental, emotional, social, and spiritual…

"Transition of care" is defined as the movement of an individual from one setting of care to another and involves communicating with appropriate out-of-camp stakeholders such as parents, teachers, and community health care providers to identify youth needs (before camp) and outcomes achieved (after camp) so desired health goals may be…

This study illuminates how medical specialty camps can be an important developmental setting offering opportunities for diverse children and youth to develop traits and qualities perceived as important even later in life. Perhaps most importantly, camp was identified as one of the most influential settings for developing personal and social traits…

Most people meet insects with fear and disgust, even though few insects pose health risks; in fact, many are beneficial and their absence would adversely affect human life. Such misunderstandings lead to insect conservation being important but unpopular. We addressed these concerns as part of a broader effort to establish an ongoing outreach…

In "Beyond the Invisible Barriers of the Classroom: iEngage and Civic Praxis," the authors reported on the experiences teachers encountered during a weeklong Youth Engage Civic Institute Camp and the degree to which what teachers learned in the camp was able to move their thinking and practice toward a more critical, justice-oriented…

Summer camp programs provide distinct opportunities for positive youth development through caring relationships and opportunities to build skills. To examine the extent to which youths experience the 4-H Essential Elements through 4-H camp programs, we administered the National 4-H Camping Research Consortium's Camp Context Questionnaire to youths…