Decoding the Magic of Summer Camp
Farm and Wilderness Foundation
Introduction:
Farm and Wilderness Summer Camps have been offering enriching experiences for campers for almost a century. With a commitment to meeting the changing needs of society and following a major camp redesign, we saw a great opportunity to enhance their program offerings with deeper understanding of the true impact their program has on the countless young people they serve.
Challenge:
After successfully redesigning Tamarack Farm, Farm and Wilderness (F&W) recognized the need to evaluate and streamline the unique value and methods of each camp program. Our main goal was to understand and refine the developmental outcomes and best practices for their development at each of their 7 camp programs to provide superior experiences that meet the evolving needs of their campers.
Approach:
We embarked on a rigorous multi-year journey to refurbish their camp programs, implementing several pivotal steps:
Historical Exploration: Conducted detailed interviews encompassing three decades of experiences, unearthing insights about the lasting imprint of the camp programs on campers.
External Insight Gathering: Parallel research provided a macro perspective on educational landscapes and youth development, crucially informing the enhancement process.
Outcome Definition: In collaboration with camp directors, distinctive programmatic outcomes were delineated, serving as a linchpin for prioritizing and structuring program development and ensuring the realization of the proposed outcomes.
Tool Development: Tailored evaluation tools and an innovative evaluation process were introduced to ascertain program success and instigate continuous refinement, aligning with the dynamic needs of campers and families.
Results:
The extensive endeavor to revamp program strategies culminated in transformative results:
Streamlined Outcomes: Each program is equipped with clearly articulated outcomes, ensuring uniform and impactful experiences.
Logic Models Integration: The ongoing development of logic models is unraveling the intricate connections between inputs, activities, outputs, and outcomes, paving the way for effective planning.
Refined Scheduling: Thoughtful recalibration of daily and summer schedules guarantees optimal engagement and a well-rounded camper experience.
The F&W marketing team has begun to incorporate the outcomes as part of their programming marketing materials. Here is a section from one of their program guides.
This is a screenshot from a logic modeling workshop with one of the program leaders. Here the outcomes help to organize and prioritize camp activities resources.
Photo from a planning session using updated outcomes to revise program schedule.
The Impact Report
Informed by our years-long research and impact evaluation process, along with a thorough literature review to validate our findings, we have produced Farm and Wilderness's first-ever Impact Report.
This report is an in-depth exploration of the significant role summer camps play in youth development. It contextualizes the current conversation around the lack of opportunities for skill development, community-mindedness, and identity formation among adolescents today with the timely solutions Farm and Wilderness and its peers have developed to address these.
Our Impact Report serves as Farm and Wilderness's first formal contribution to the broader discussion on experiential education's role in nurturing these qualities in young people and what has been truely special about the way Farm and Wilderness has done this over their 85 years of operation.
