?Instilling positive decision making within teen youth through the values of camp?

At my camp, we have restarted our cit/leadership program. Almost all of our campers come from urban settings. The program is only two summers old and has come to the point where there are a lot of applicants and only 10 male and 10 female spots.
With that said, the program has to decide a definite direction. CIT/LIT programs are in place to have the bridge from camper to staff member. So here is the hard part. The kids who excel outside of camp usually translate into great cit than staff members. The problem that I face is with kids who could obtain so much out of the program if involved but do not have the characteristics of some other applicants. It?s almost like choosing the kids who already may have many of the positive talents the program instills or, take the kids who would greatly benefit from the participation of the program. With the program being so new we haven?t had many applicants so its been an easy job and we have had a good mix of those top notch stars before they were in the program and the ones who really needed to be in a program of this nature to possibly instill values that they might not of had before. Now that the program is more known we are expecting many applicants. Any suggestions?

Wow, great question!

We likewise have an LIT/CIT program, and we likewise take about 20 kids. As selfish as it sounds, ours is designed specifically to breed the next generation of counselors for OUR camp. Therefore, I'd have to admit that we are more likely to accept into our program the kids who already possess the traits that being a CIT will hopefully promote. In a sense, if we can't really see a kid as being someone we'd trust to hire as a counselor someday, we aren't apt to give them a spot in our CIT program.

I hope more people will reply to this thread because it is quite the dilemma!

I've only worked at camps with one program, but it you have a lot of interest, what about having two programs. You could have a CIT program, focusing more on growing counselors, and a leadership program that was more general. Then you could serve more individuals from each population. If I were to do this, I would have both of the groups do some activities together and other activities separately.

I think the important thing would be to present it as two different options as opposed to a hierarchy...

We are starting a new CIT program summer 2009. Our intent it to provide our aging campers with a continued connection to our camp (they've been asking for it!) and to coach that next generation of staff. My plan is to make the CIT program an application process. Although their program is more that of a camper and has a fee involved, I want them to earn their spot in the program. I'm curious what folks think of this set-up. Also, ours is a 3 week, day camp program. What fees do other camps with similar programs charge?

We charge full price for our CITS. We make them apply and attend an interview weekend in the Spring to earn their spot. The only problem this can raise is: kid applies and has been going to your camp for many years, yet he or she is not really indicative of what you are looking for. Do you reward their loyalty and let them be a CIT, or do you turn them away and risk a major backlash? We have faced this situation in the past.