Summer Prep: Helping Your Camper Succeed

Helping your Camper Succeed

The below info can act as a guide for communicating with your child about different aspects of camp. The number one characteristic of a successful camper at Camp Greenville is that the camper wants to be at camp. Campers who understand what to expect at camp and want to get the most fun out of their stay will create a successful experience for themselves and others.

Happy Campers are: emotionally stable and independent enough to enjoy the camp experience; able to care for themselves at an age-appropriate level, maintain basic hygiene (brushing teeth, showering, table manners, etc.), emotionally appropriate with peers and staff and always physically safe with self and others. We expect campers to uphold the Camp Greenville core values of caring, honesty, respect and responsibility at all times.

Camper’s Commitment: “I want to become a camper at YMCA Camp Greenville. I understand that ALL curse words and forms of bullying are NOT allowed at Camp Greenville. I understand I may not possess or use tobacco products, alcoholic beverages, or non-prescription drugs while at camp. I will do my best to follow instructions, remain in designated areas, and keep others and myself safe. I will do my best to make this a good experience for my fellow campers and myself. I will model the core values of caring, honesty, respect and, responsibility. I understand that failure to live up to this promise may result in my dismissal from camp without a refund to my parents.”

YMCA Camp Greenville offers an adventure–based program: Participating fully in activities is important and expected. The camp experience does not include phones, TV, computers, or caffeine at our store. Campers sleep in bunk beds in a cabin with 10- 13 campers and 2-3 staff. Camp is physically active with long days (7:30 a.m.-10 p.m.). Sharing and group-building activities are a regular part of cabin life. There is a rest period of at least one-hour every day.

Teamwork is a big part of the camp experience. Many of our activities are designed to give campers the opportunity to take a step out of their comfort zone (i.e. climbing walls, teambuilding, overnight campout, etc.) As part of group living, campers will participate in cabin and camp clean up, eat meals served family-style and travel around camp with a group or with at least 3 people at all times. We call this traveling in “Truddies”.

Camper Behavior Management: All camper behavior management is implemented with care and respect by our staff. There are some times when a campers behavior distracts from the overall experience of the cabin group by requiring excessive one-on-one attention from staff. As a commitment to the success and enjoyment of camp by each camper, we want you to know our usual steps for redirecting challenging behavior.

Step 1: Cabin counselors will talk about specific undesirable behavior with the camper and together make a verbal corrective plan for success. The cabin counselors will let his / her Division Leader know and about the verbal agreement.

Step 2: If the behavior continues, the Division Leader will have a conversation with the camper and create a plan for change and document it on the Behavior Contract. After a conversation with the camper, the Division Leader will notify the Director of Camping and will then email the behavior contract to explain what has happened, let the parent / guardian know the approaches that we have tried, and ask for advice with the situation. Our partnering with parents in this way has been very successful!
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Step 3: If the behavior continues, the Director of Camping will contact the parent again with the camper in the room and the camper will be required to leave within 1 hour plus travel time from the parents home.

And unfortunately, there are situations when campers are removed from camp activi- ties and parents are required to pick up their child from camp without a refund. This, of course, is not our preference, but for the well-being and safety of the whole group, or as a logical consequence for continued inappropriate behavior, dismissal from camp may be required.

There are also some behaviors that may result in immediate dismissal from the camp program. These include, but are not limited to: physical violence, possessing any prohibited substance, theft, emotional abuse of another camper and bullying.

We know that knowing what to expect and discussing it together as a family before camp will set your camper up for success! If you have any questions, please contact our camp office at 864-432-1085.