Improving camp standards in Finland

Latest News Improving camp standards in Finland This event is a continuation of the activities to agree on common standards for camps in YMCA Europe. Following the events organized by the YMCA of the Netherlands and the YMCA of Setubal, Portugal, the Finnish YMCA hosted a training conference for camp leaders with a focus on camp management. All these events now belong to a larger program of YMCA Europe called YMCA Camps in Europe. The training site is a residential camp of the Finnish YMCA located on the island of Harva, a unique, picturesque place in the Finnish archipelago, not far from the city of Turku. This project was funded mostly by the grant that YMCA Finland received from the Erasmus+ program and this training event was the main activity of the project that lasted from 31 May to 29 November 2017. Partners of the projects are YMCA in Estonia, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Macedonia, Romania and the Netherlands. In addition, we had trainers and participants from Georgia, Kosovo and the YMCA from the USA. We had a total of 40 people and that is the limit related to the capacity of the place. For that reason, unfortunately, this time we could not propose the participation of more YMCA movements. The guest from the YMCA, Mary Cambray, held a session. Our second guest from YMCA Camp Echo, Bernard Rocca is holding a session in Europe. There are many YMCA organizations with a long tradition of camping, which have an elaborate high-quality service, take a unique approach to children and young people, and their staff are trained within sophisticated systems. Most of the YMCA camps represent very high standards and are recognized as such by the communities. However, in most cases YMCA movements work separately and it is difficult to talk about common standards in organizing camps and training staff. This project is the next, very important step to join the facilities: a group of current or future camp managers will be trained in a common system, in fact they will shape this system. The YMCA of Finland is well placed to host this project: it has several good camps, experience in training volunteers and staff. But above all, they have dedicated young leaders who want to cooperate with their colleagues from other countries. The training program included topics that are characteristic of camp management: • strategic planning, administration. marketing, staff team building. However, we had workshops that were very relevant to contemporary issues involving the YMCA. One of them is diversity, which is also a matter of camp management in our case. Since the training took place in one place, the forms of several activities took advantage of the local specifics. We built a raft (and used it), sailed around the Archipelago, cooked and ate in an old mine and those who wanted to sleep outdoors in hammocks did so. Also, as a special Finnish contribution, from this event we will propose a form of support in a traditional Finnish way, which we want to apply in cooperation with the YMCA who are at the beginning of developing camp programs. This is called Talkoot – Support for YMCA Camps in Need.

6 Summer Camp Benefits

Latest News 6 Summer Camp Benefits For generations, children have spent their summers at day and sleep-away camps, trying new activities such as swimming, hiking, and various sports. But what many families may not realize is that camp provides children with different opportunities to develop important life skills that are difficult to achieve in any other environment. Below are just a few of the many benefits your children will gain from the summer camp experience. 1) Campers obtain the life skills needed to become successful adults. At camp, children gain valuable life skills. In fact,an organization called The Partnership for 21st Century Skills(comprising a group of business, education leaders, and policymakers) has found there is a large gap between the knowledge students learn in schooland the skills they need to be successful in the 21st century. After extensive research, the organization determined that some of the skills necessary to become successful adults are communication, collaboration, creativity, leadership,socialization and problem solving. All of these areas are fostered in the camp environment. Campers are always communicating with each other, either on the field or in the bunk, learning to work togetheras a team and as part of the camp community. They also get to be leaders at camp,whether through guiding a first-time younger camper or managing their camp Olympics team. Campers learn to navigate on their own and solve problems by themselves. The engage in many creative outlets, too. 2) Camp educates the whole child. There is more to learning than test taking and achieving good grades. Camp offers of the most powerful learning environments and can be a place where a child’s social education takes place. It provides children with the opportunity to try new activities. When children succeed at these activities, they build self-esteem. Children also build social skills and problem- solving skills by being part of a supportive community and partaking in activities together. Campers are challenged and encouraged to grow every day. 3) Camp allows kids to unplug from technology. Today’s children sprend more than 7.5 hours a day engaged with technology, which often takes the place of the vital hands-on activities and socialization opportunities. The majority of summer camps ban most technology, including TV, smart phones, tablets and personal computers. Taking a break from technology over the summer allows children to communicate face to face. 4) At camp, there’s plenty of time for play, which helps children with social and emotional development. Balancing school schedules, homework, and extracurricular activities doesn’t leave much room for play. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) reports that free and unstructured play is healthy and essential for helping children to reach important social, emotional, annd cognitive developmental milestones. It also helps kids manage stress. Traditional summer camps give children plenty of play time, which leads to healthy emotional and social development. 5) Children can reinvent themselves at camp. Students often attend school year after year with the same peers, which can lead to labeling and being ‘’stuck’’ with a particular perception. A child may become known as studious, quiet, etc., when, really, he can be boisterous in another setting. Children who go to day or sleep-away camps meet a whole other group of people in a different environment. Often times, a child will break out of his supposed categorization if given the chance. Children get to reinvent themselves at camp and be who they truly want to be, which helps them to build confidence. 6) Camp promotes independence When children go to camp, they are given the opportunity to grow more independent. Whether for a day or an entire summer, separation from one’s parents means a camper has to learn to rely on himself and other trusted adults and peers. Separation from parents gives a child the ability to think independently, which builds self-esteem.

GLOW & YMLP Impact Summit 2016

Latest News GLOW & YMLP Impact Summit 2016 On Saturday, the 28th of January NOVA International Schools hosted the January Impact Summit organized by the organizations ‘Girls Leading our World-(GLOW)’ and ‘Young Man Leadership Project- (YMLP)’. The goal of the event was to bring together staff and campers from the 2016 GLOW and YMLP camps to highlight the service the campers and staff completed in their home communities both in their local GLOW or YMLP club and alone. The event was also a great way to bring the stuff and campers together from GLOW and YMLP 2016 to catch up about what everyone has been doing since camp in the summer.