Learning, Idea Sharing, and Transfer From a State 4-H Camp Counselor Workshop

Making eXtreme Counselors is a winter statewide camp counselor training workshop to prepare for the camp season. This training brings teens throughout Ohio together to help prepare them to serve as camp counselors in their own counties. Participants engage in competency-focused breakout sessions led by a variety of 4-H professionals, keynote presentations, and peer-to-peer sharing and interactions. To evaluate the workshop’s impact on the summer camping program, data from both teen participants and the 4-H professionals who worked with them were collected following the program for 3 years. Results indicated high ratings on gaining or enhancing skills related to leadership, teamwork, and the camping-related competencies covered in the workshop. In addition, the results indicated that participants shared ideas learned at the workshop with others and transferred their learning from the training to their performance as a camp counselor. Youth development professionals can adopt similar training strategies to enhance participants’ skills.

Camp Counselor as a Role Model for Social-Emotional Learning Skills in Camp

Camp programs hire counselors to fulfill multiple responsibilities and to role model positive behaviors for campers. Social-emotional learning (SEL) is a skill set that develops over time and through engagement with an array of individuals and opportunities that support social and emotional health across the lifespan. The social design of an overnight summer camp may be an ideal setting for nurturing SEL through camper-counselor relationships. The purpose of this study was to explore how counselors understood and modeled SEL with their campers and to what extent the campers recognized and interpreted those behaviors. Evidence suggests that counselors intended to role model SEL; however, they were inconsistent in how they modeled SEL during interactions with campers. Counselors’ own SEL may need more explicit support and training to more effectively role model SEL for campers.

Squad leader practice as a factor of university students competitiveness of psychological and pedagogical profile (on the example of the ICC “Artek”).

Introduction: the problem investigated in this article is important for the higher education system. Therefore, the purpose of this work is to study and compare the characteristics of future psychologists and pedagogues’ competitiveness, who had the practice at the International Children's Center “Artek”. The research object is students’ competitiveness undergoing counselor practice. Subject: Differences in competitiveness among students undergoing camp counseling practice and ones without that experience. In accordance with the goal, the following tasks are set: 1. To analyze the scientific and methodological literature on the problem of competi-tiveness of students of psychological and pedagogical profile. 2. To study the theoretical aspects of professional self-determination of students. 3. To identify and compare professionally important qualities of students of psychologi-cal and pedagogical profile, having and not having a camp counselor practice, which af-fects competitiveness. 4. Determine the differences in competitiveness between students undergoing and not undergoing a camp counseling practice. 5. To develop recommendations for students of psychological and pedagogical profile, in order to increase their competitiveness. The hypothesis is that students who have experience as a camp counselor practice are more competitive in their future profession than students who do not practice in the camp. They possess the following skills: communication and organizational skills, a high level of professional identity and attractiveness of the future profession Materials and methods: to achieve the goal, theoretical research methods were used: analysis of psychological and pedagogical literature on the competitiveness problem. Research methods are the following: one of studying the attractiveness factors of a profession (proposed by V.A. Yadov, modified by N.V. Kuzmina, A.A. Rean); ones of studying the status of professional identity (A.A. Azbel, A.G. Gretsov); communicative and organizational inclinations (V.V. Sinyavsky, V.A. Fedoroshin). Mathematical methods of data processing were used: U-test of independent samples of Mann-Whitney data and Spearman's rank correlation method using the STATISTICA 6.0 software. Results: As a result of the analysis of scientific and methodological literature on the problem of competitiveness of students of psychological and pedagogical profile, it was determined that competitiveness is expressed in the successful implementation of pro-fessional activity, the ability to organizational creativity, the manifestation of initiative, and willingness to take risks in the conditions of market relations. A competitive person has a high level of professional and personal qualities with the aim of further realizing oneself in the profession. In the framework of the study, professional self-determination is considered as an independence of choice, an area of daily skillful management of mental development processes. In order for the student to become aware of himself/herself as an activity subject, a number of mental processes take place, the totality of which is defined as professional self-determination, self-awareness and self-esteem. The result of realizing oneself as an activity subject provides professionalism of a specialist who has professionally important and personal qualities. The organization of a practice-oriented direction of students by educational institutions makes it possible to apply the acquired knowledge and skills in real conditions. In the conditions of the children's camp, students of a psychological and pedagogical profile have the opportunity to start their professional activities and develop not only profes-sionally important qualities, but also qualities that allow them to overcome fears and complexes. Having experience as a camp counselor, students get the opportunity not only to establish themselves as a future professional specialist, but to find a new circle of friends as well. To compare two independent samples: group A (camp counselors), group B – students without camp counselor practice, the Mann-Whitney U test was used. Significant differ-ences were obtained for the following indicators: communicative (Uemp = 51) and or-ganizational (Uemp = 49.5) capabilities, as well as according to the criterion "Formed identity" (Uemp = 71) at (Ucr = 56-72). One negative correlation was revealed between the components of competitiveness among students of Psychology and Education Faculty: the uncertainty of professional identity and organizational capabilities of students (at r = -0.4). This relationship shows that students develop organizational skills under the condition of a formed professional identity. Discussion and Conclusions: higher educational institutions are interested in a high level of competitiveness of their students; therefore, in order to develop the necessary skills, they send students of a psychological and pedagogical profile to practice in camps for mastering camp counselor activities. Having considered the results on the example of the International Children's Center “Artek”, it is possible to recommend the compulsory practice of students of humanitarian and pedagogical directions, since this activity contributes to the formation of all the necessary qualities of a competitive specialist, and also allows to develop both professionally important qualities, and the necessary “soft skills”, which become the basis for future labor activity.

PEDAGOGICAL PREPARATION OF CAMP COUNSELORS FOR WORKING IN MODERN SCHOOL

The article discusses the problem of pedagogical training of camp counselors for working at school. The authors note that the profession of counselor in modern conditions takes on a completely different meaning: the introduction of the counselor position in the staff of the modern school is associated not only with the organization of children's vacation, recreation and rehabilitation, but also with the need to include counselors in the school educational activities during the school year.The article presents an empirical research of the counselors importance and their role in a modern school: a description of diagnostic tools is given, the survey results are analyzed by the authors. Also the authors diagnose the qualities and knowledge needed to the modern counselor, determine the counselor’s mission in a school, conduct a comparative analysis of the counselor’s activities at the school and the summer camp, summarizing the points of view of students and teachers (class teachers, representatives of the administration of educational institutions). The data obtained during the experiment formed the basis to create the educational program “Camp counselor at school”, focused on the pedagogical training of counselors for working at schools. The article is intended for public reading and for those who are interested in the problems of modernization of the general education system.

Formation of Counselor’s Psychological Readiness for Work in a Children’s Recreation Camp

The article is devoted to the analysis of the effectiveness of the counselor’s psychological readiness formation program for work in a children’s recreation camp. It is shown that the problem of the formation of psychological readiness of counselors to work in a children’s recreation camp has not been adequately studied. The description of the experimental work on the formation of the psychological readiness of counselors to work in a children's recreation camp is given. Psychological diagnostic techniques are described, which allow one to study such professionally important qualities of a camp counselor as neuropsychic stability, communication skills and organizational skills, tolerance, and leadership qualities. The structure and content of the psychological and pedagogical program for the formation of counselor’s psychological readiness for work is described. The analysis of the effectiveness of the program. The effectiveness of the program in the formation of leadership qualities and organizational abilities of future counselors is shown. Promising tasks of further psychological and pedagogical research are outlined, among which the introduction of the program in the educational process of universities of pedagogical profile.

Florida 4-H Camp Counselor Training Guide

4-H Residential Camp Counselor Training empowers youth ages 14-18 to be positive role models, leaders, and mentors to their campers. This new 38-page guide, written by Jessica Altum Cooper and published by the UF/IFAS Florida 4-H Youth Development program, provides preparation and training modules to help youth reach their full potential as the next generation of community leaders. https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/4h398

Compassion Satisfaction Among Camp Counselors: A Pilot Study

Background: The intense nature of the camp experience and the unique role of camp counselors can be a rewarding experience for camp counselors and campers alike. However, to experience compassion satisfaction necessitates evaluation of a number of factors that may enhance or decrease compassion satisfaction. Purpose: To better understand the camp counselor experience of compassion satisfaction, this study examined the factors of self-compassion, self-care activities, stress, values progress, values obstruction, and burnout on compassion satisfaction. Methodology/Approach: Data from 27 female camp counselors ( Mage = 20.33 years, 92.59% White/Caucasian, 85.18% undergraduate students) were collected 4 times over a 10-week period. A series of Bayesian linear regressions was conducted to examine the effect of these variables on compassion satisfaction. Findings/Conclusions: Compassion satisfaction was best explained by a combination of burnout ( M = −0.67, 95% credible interval [CRI] = –[0.88, −0.48]), self-care activities ( M = 0.38, 95% CRI = [0.10, 0.65]), and stress ( M = 0.14, 95% CRI = [0.01, 0.26]). Implications: Factors such as burnout, self-care activities, and stress contribute both negatively and positively on camp counselor compassion satisfaction. Suggestions for how to address each are addressed in addition to the importance of training interventions to enhance camp counselor compassion satisfaction.

Transformative Leadership: The Camp Counselor Experience

A study, utilizing focus groups, was conducted with teens serving as camp counselors at the North Central 4-H camp in Missouri. High school students, 14-18 years old, served as camp counselors during a four-day residential camp the summer of 2014. Each counselor was a current 4-H member and had served as a 4-H camp counselor in Missouri for at least one year, some serving as many as five years. Comparing two training models, evidence was found that intentional training sessions are crucial for the empowerment that leads to transformation.