Everything we do at camp has a purpose. The recent research that ACA conducted in collaboration with Youth Development Strategies, Inc. showed us that kids need more chances to practice leadership and decision-making. As a result, we are very deliberate about providing those opportunities.

We are particularly mindful about how learning happens at camp. We often ask questions and give choices, because we want our campers to discover the answers themselves. We encourage them to learn through doing, to figure things out on their own, and to understand instead of just to know.

As an intentional camp, we coach our kids not to say, “I can’t,” but rather, “I can’t yet.” You’ll often hear Echoites declare, “I want to learn,” or “I’d like to try,” because we support our campers in their endeavors and remind them that it’s okay – even necessary – to make mistakes. We correct campers by asking questions and by leading with positive suggestions: “How can we solve this problem?” “What are the options?” “What if we tried _____?”

We also know that campers sometimes come to camp with labels for themselves, like “Nerd,” “Non-athlete,” or “Loner.” We are intentional in helping campers identify their positive behaviors so they can discover new ways to describe themselves, such as: “Persistent” (I keep trying until I succeed) or “Patient” (I wait when needed) or “Good Friend”.