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by Amy Krehbiel
LaTrice Towns, an African
American counselor, and Samantha O'Hara, a Caucasian counselor, are a
true representation of what Camp Joy is all about. Camp Joy strives to
provide inner-city youth who could not typically afford to come to camp
with an opportunity to play and live with children from diverse backgrounds
in a camp setting. LaTrice and Sam, both former foster children, campers,
and counselors, are natural staff leaders. Because of their experiences
at Camp Joy, their diversity is not an issue. They have come together
and created a lifelong friendship. As Sam stated at last summer's staff
banquet, “LaTrice, you will always be like a sister to me.”
Camp Joy was founded in 1938 and was a pioneer in offering a racially
integrated camp program. Today, the camp is known as Joy Outdoor Education
Center and is located in the small town of Clarksville, Ohio. Joy has
three main divisions — Corporate Training, Outdoor School Program, and
Camping and Retreats. The summer camp program is affectionately known
as Camp Joy. Camp Joy continues to bring children from different racial
and socioeconomic backgrounds together for a week of camp. This diversity
is also seen among the staff and provides great learning opportunities
for both the campers and staff.
How to Attract Quality Minority Staff
Where does Camp Joy recruit minority staff? Finding quality minority
staff is often a struggle for many camp directors. At Camp Joy, we have
learned a handful of tricks over the past couple of years. Word of mouth
and our leader-in-training program have been very successful in attracting
quality minority staff members. We also attend job fairs at predominately
African American colleges, such as Wilberforce College and Central State
University. We never underestimate the power of networking. We have developed
relationships with professors at our local college and also with social
agencies in our area.
Former campers
Former campers are one of the best sources for quality staff. Because
of their positive experiences, they often want to return as counselors.
Donnell Kelly, an eighteen-year-old African American counselor, was a
former camper and is presently an active member of the Cincinnati Boys
& Girls Club. Donnell has been with Camp Joy for many years as a junior
counselor, a senior counselor, and this year acted as the Sports and Recreation
Specialist. Donnell explains, “I wanted to be a counselor at camp because
I'd been coming here for five years, and I wanted to give back to Joy.”
Networking with nearby colleges
Camp Joy has had great success finding quality staff by developing relationships
with nearby colleges, especially professors in the social work, education,
and psychology departments. Gillianne Roberts, a social work student at
Wilmington College in Wilmington, Ohio, approached her professor about
finding a summer job that not only related to her field, but also fulfilled
her desire to work with children. Gillianne was a huge asset to our team
as the archery specialist and energetic song leader. Camp taught Gillianne
about the specific needs and struggles of our foster campers.
Internship/job fairs
We have found that camp fairs are not the way to attract minority staff.
They are an overwhelming process for most students and tend to attract
primarily Caucasian students. During the summers, minority students are
often looking to make money or gain experience within their fields. We
attend Central State University's Internship Fair. We are there with businesses
from around the state, and therefore stand out to the social work, education,
and psychology students. Because of our attendance at this internship
fair, Shauntae Walker and Hassan Scott joined our summer 2001 team. Hassan,
a very talented education student, was our creative writing specialist
and developed our newsletter for the campers. At the staff banquet, Hassan
stated, “I used to think life was all about making money and material
goods, but now I know there is a whole lot more.”
Word of mouth
Hassan told his cousin David Gilbert about the opportunity to work at
Camp Joy. David, a young man with a great deal of energy and passion,
taught the children how to ride bikes. In order to encourage this powerful
recruitment method, endorsements from current staff, we offer a $50 bonus
to any staff member who recruits a new employee who stays at camp through
the entire summer. This has helped us attract many of our minority staff
members.
Networking with local social agencies
Camp Joy actively networks with social agencies within the area, such
as Big Brothers, Big Sisters, or the Boys & Girls Club. Christopher
Morris, an African American college student, learned about the employment
opportunities at Camp Joy from his mother, who worked at Families Forward,
a social agency in Cincinnati. Chris wanted to work with different people,
and at Camp Joy, he had this experience. “Joy,” said Chris, “gave me the
chance to see what the real world is like.”
Staff Training
Kids are kids and people are people no matter what their background or
color. Our core value is respect, and we expect all staff and campers
to act accordingly. The major focus of our staff training is to help our
staff learn who our campers are, what their specific needs are, and how
we can all be sensitive to each other. We accomplish this in a variety
of ways.
Each staff member receives a questionnaire before camp and is asked to
list a talent that he or she can share during staff training. Each person
has ten minutes to teach a talent to the rest of the staff. These talents
range from double-dutch to chess strategies. This is a great icebreaker
and a very successful approach to removing barriers.
We close our week of training with a diversity piece. Staff members participate
in an exercise in which they create their own gibberish language and then
communicate this new language to others. This exercise teaches the staff
a great deal about body language, gestures, and slang. Communication is
an essential part of the camp environment.
We also do a powerful exercise called “Cross the Line.” The exercise
requires that all staff members stand on one line in complete silence.
The facilitator then reads a statement, and if that statement applies
to you, you walk to the other line in complete silence. The statements
range from family questions, to background questions, to personal beliefs.
This activity is very eye opening and brings our staff closer together.
The entire workshop is extremely emotional and teaches the staff to appreciate
and accept each other's differences.
Benefits of Camp
Why do minorities want to work at a camp?
Each year, and from season to season, we experience small steps and great
milestones in the lives of our staff and our campers. LaTrice had a magical
moment when one of her former campers returned to camp this summer after
having missed last summer. LaTrice asked her why she had missed camp,
and the girl explained that she had been pregnant. The camper told LaTrice,
“I want to raise her like you have been a counselor to me, with lots of
love.” LaTrice feels that it is very important to expose campers to a
variety of people. Since many of the campers come from tough backgrounds,
she feels that it is very important to expose campers to African Americans
with goals and values.
Christopher always wanted to work with children and felt that camp was
a great opportunity for him. Camp was also a place for him to share his
beliefs with the children. Joy is a non-denominational camp, and we encourage
people to apply from all backgrounds. Chris is a very devout Christian
and was reading his book, Trust in God Even When Life Hurts by Jeff Bridges.
The campers questioned him about the book and gathered around to learn
about his beliefs. Because Chris was brave enough to share his beliefs,
the campers began to listen and respect each other.
The Power of Camp
The intrinsic rewards of working at camp are the key factors in attracting
quality staff members. Camp directors need to begin early recruiting the
staff they want to reflect the camp population they are targeting. Talk
to the past summer's staff and offer a $50 finder's fee for helping you
find next year's staff members. Network with the local high schools and
colleges, especially the minority classes and clubs. Create an internship
program for minority students. Find a means to make a counselor position
more than just a summer job. Create an internship for a marketing student
to create your scrapbook, brochures, and newsletter. Offer an internship
for psychology students to create a mediation position that helps those
campers who do not always make the best choices. When you are recruiting
and hiring, remember to let potential staff know the power of camp. Camp
is not just a fun summer job — but a life-changing event.
Originally published in the 2001 November/December
issue of Camping Magazine. |
