YMCA day camps bring learning, friendship

The YMCA takes a holistic approach to youth development in its summer camping program.

The YMCA of Greater Rochester has built its day camp programs around three main themes: relationships, achievement and belonging.

Relationships: Youth from a wide variety of backgrounds are brought together to participate in shared learning in their camp groups. Campers are placed into real-life situations, where they learn how to overcome differences and adapt to the people around them. They are surrounded with different values and are exposed to new interests. The purpose is to provide experiences that help campers grow, make new friends, and develop lifelong relationships.

"Children not only develop a relationship with their peers at camp, but with the adults that we hire to keep them safe and have fun," says Jason Gottfried, Center Director of YMCA Camp Arrowhead. "Our counselor search is extensive. We are very careful about who we hire. We put our candidates through a rigorous background check as well as a hands-on, group-interview process."

Gottfried also says that staff members undergo extensive training: "They don't just learn about the importance of protecting the safety of each child in their group and best practices; they learn how to become relationship builders."

Belonging: At camp, children have the opportunity to provide input into what activities they choose to do, which is meant to engage them more. Children might lead a song at flagpole or even teach their counselor a game for the group to play. A sense of belonging is encouraged so campers can become more comfortable with their environment, inspiring them to participate in new activities and try new things.

Achievement: People don't typically think of day camp as a place to learn new skills. But with a focus on achievement at camp, children will be challenged to grow a skill they already possess, or learn one they're interested in acquiring. Specialty areas will give each camper a chance to try to master a skill during their time at camp, progressing either by age or by level. Mastery activities such as archery and climbing are designed to challenge campers to push themselves.

The Y approach is to learn, grow, and develop in a no-pressure situation. The YMCA runs nine day camps, beginning June 27. For more information, visit rochesterymca.org/camps.