The Youth Camps of North Carolina

Visitors to western North Carolina often remark that there are a lot of summer youth camps located in the area. There sure are! The awesome natural features of this part of NC— the highest peaks east of the Mississippi River, millions of acres of State and National forests, whitewater rivers, rock climbing crags, and beautiful lakes —make it ideal for adventure activity, cooler summer temperatures, and the outdoor setting for summer camps. It’s not too surprising western North Carolina has a long history of summer camping.

Looking at the entire state, there’s a clear pattern to where summer camps are located. Take a look at this map.

It shows all of the youth summer camps in North Carolina. There are approximately 186 camps, with more than half (about 90) located in the western mountains. The others are concentrated near 3 major population centers (Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh). Many of these are smaller day camps that serve the local communities.

There’s a lot of data here. You can zoom in and see an individual pin for each camp. Click on the pin and see further info about the camp, including a phone number and web address. American Camp Association accredited camps, like Rockbrook, have red pins. Here too, more than half of the State’s ACA accredited camps are located in the western region.

Explore the map! It’s really cool!

More Benefits of Youth Camp

I spotted an article discussing how parents can understand why residential summer camps are worth their cost. It’s true; sleepaway camps are usually expensive and can cost between $1000 and $2000 per week. And while it’s also true every summer activity (e.g., other educational opportunities, extracurricular activities, family vacations, trips, and entertainment) costs something significant, what are the unique benefits of an overnight camp experience that can justify its price?

First of all, the American Camp Association has a lot to say about the benefits for youth of attending summer camp. We have written about it before here and here, but you should visit the ACA Web site to see what they say.

One clear, obvious benefit to camp is the fun and concrete skills kids gain from the wide range of camp activities available.  By trying everything at camp, girls learn how to be an archer, a swimmer, a knitter, a tennis player, an actor, and a horseback rider, to name just a few.  They learn to do things, exciting new things that can easily turn into life-long pursuits.

Perhaps more importantly, a quality camp experience provides kids intangible benefits as well. Here’s how one camp director in the article put it.

“Besides all the exciting activities and friendships made, the immense value in camp comes in the development of key lifetime skills and attributes such as confidence, cooperation, communication, new skills and decision-making, to name a few. Camp goes beyond a summer session. It’s unique in that it really is about each camper developing their best self for life… In that regard it is priceless.”

More than other summer activities, a sleep away summer camp experience endows children with valuable life skills, provides positive adult role models, supports them with consistent encouragement, and all within the kind of well-rounded wholesome environment all too rarely found these days. These are lasting benefits that can really make a difference in a child’s life as she becomes an adult.  It’s pretty clear; with that kind of benefit, camp is definitely worth it.

The History of Summer Camps

The American Camp Association, the national accrediting organization for summer camps (including RBC!) and camp professionals is celebrating its 100 year anniversary. It was back in 1910 that it was founded under the original name of the “Camp Directors Association of America.”

As part of their celebration, the ACA has published a nice collection of historical photos, documents and interviews. It traces the history of organized camping to a particular event in 1861. Here’s how the timeline starts:

The Gunnery Camp is considered the first organized American camp. Frederick W. Gunn and his wife Abigail operated a home school for boys in Washington, Connecticut. In 1861, they took the whole school on a two-week trip. The class hiked to their destination and then set up camp. The students spent their time boating, fishing, and trapping. The trip was so successful, the Gunns continued the tradition for twelve years.

It’s nice to see summer camps so well represented, and interesting to think that Rockbrook’s founding in 1921 came so soon after the ACA. By the way, if you want to learn more about the history of summer camps, there are some great resources out there.

What's an Accredited Camp?

What does it mean to be an “accredited summer camp?”

For summer camps, there is a national organization of camp professionals dedicated to identifying and standardizing the most important knowledge, experience and practices of quality camp programs. It’s called the American Camp Association (ACA). For almost 100 years, the ACA has gathered and refined what it considers to be the “best practices” and has defined almost 300 industry-accepted and government-recognized standards for summer camps.

For a summer camp to be “ACA accredited,” like Rockbrook, it means that camp is abiding by the policies, procedures and practices accepted by the best camps in the country. It means that camp has agreed to regular on-site inspections and professional reviews. And for parents, it means you can feel more confident that the camp is taking the best possible care of your child.  Visit the Parents Section of the ACA website to learn more (highly recommended!).

With the American Camp Association’s long history, body of camp related knowledge, and level of professionalism, Rockbrook is proud to be an ACA accredited summer camp.

Girls Sleep Away Camps

We’re back from the American Camp Association national conference in Austin, Texas where we enjoyed hearing Dr. David Elkind talk about the power of play (free and unstructured play) in children’s social, emotional, physical and cognitive development. He was invited to address the conference because he understands traditional summer camps as excellent contexts where this kind of play is encouraged. Dr. Elkind explains in his new book entitled, The Power of Play: How Spontaneous, Imaginative Activities Lead to Happier and Healthier Children.

Here’s a quote that jumped out at me. He writes,

Not only does summer camp provide children relief from the pressures to achieve, it reacquaints children with the natural world, with the importance of friendship, cooperation, and the fragility of the environment in which we live.

The book, of course, goes into lots more detail and provides specific advice about how to encourage this kind of beneficial play, but here are a couple of the main points.

• Cut TV time to allow for playtime.
• Get children together so they can initiate play.
• Avoid providing too many toys too often.
• Keep free time on the schedule.
• Spend time outside.

There is much to say about each of these, but it’s neat to see how summer camp, and particularly a sleep away camp like Rockbrook, can really encourage them.  Camp is just one of those places where kids can be kids.

American Camp Association Summer Camp

Did you know Rockbrook is accredited by the American Camp Association? It’s true! In fact, we were one of the area’s first camps to meet the ACA accreditation standards more than 15 years ago. Why is that important? Well, the ACA helps all of its accredited camps provide (quoting the ACA website):

* Camp communities committed to a safe, nurturing environment
* Caring, competent adult role models
* Healthy, developmentally-appropriate experiences
* Service to the community and the natural world
* Opportunities for leadership and personal growth
* Discovery, experiential education, and learning opportunities
* Excellence and continuous self-improvement

Essentially the ACA, “the American Camp Association (formerly known as the American Camping Association), is a community of camp professionals who, for nearly 100 years, have joined together to share knowledge and experience and to ensure the quality of camp programs.” With this history and level of professionalism, Rockbrook is proud to be a member of the ACA community.

For parents interested in how this matters when selecting a camp, visit the ACA website.