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#27519 10/31/03 11:59 AM
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We are revising our camper awards program. Do you reward your campers for succeeding in different areas of camp i.e. archery, boating, etc. if so, what do you give them?

We are looking into buying fools gold (pyrite) in bulk, any ideas of where to find it?

#27520 10/31/03 12:32 PM
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We give a lot of awards at the end of each session:

Best Swimmer, Best At Tennis, Best At Basketball, Best At Gymnastics, Best Archer, MVP (Best at all sports), Most Artistic in the Crafts Building, Nature Lover (for the kids who love being out in the woods), and Best All-Around Camper.

Here's where we bought some fools good before, but we buy a can of gold paint and paint rocks, it's easier to work with and it doesn't crumble apart.
http://www.rainbowcrystal.com/pricesale.html#sq

#27521 10/31/03 03:26 PM
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Just give out paper plates decorated by counselors...they are super cheap and i still have mine 15 years later.

#27522 10/31/03 04:20 PM
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camper awards, where do i begin... we have two different times that campers can recieve awards, at an award ceremony at the end of each month and at the banquets at the end of each month with the final banquet having many more and more important awards. the awards ceremonies award campers based on their performance in certain departments. They recieve red cross certificates for swimming, cpr and first aid and life guarding. They recieve certificates for rifelry and archery according to the nra/aca approved levels and tests. the archery counselors also select several girls whom they believe stand out in both skill and attitude to recieve "golden arrows" actually broken ones spraypainted and written on. the guy incharge of water skiing also gives out awards and prizes for joining the slalom club. team captains give out thank yous to their teams.

#27523 10/31/03 05:25 PM
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We give each camper a unique award at the end of the week. Some include:
*QBC- quite but cool award
*MVC- Most valuable camper
*Dancing Queen
*Olympic Gold Medalist- for kids who love sports
*Social Butterfly

Sometimes it's really cool when the counselors theme their awards- each person's award would be a song title, a bug, a movie title, a camp song lyric, part of a bible verse

We also give out awards for people who do the polar bear swims in the morning or join the running club.

#27524 10/31/03 06:36 PM
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Since ropesgoddess and I happen to be counselors at the same camp, I'll explain the awards we give out at Banquet!
We like to recognize those campers who have put a lot of effort into their activities, have a lot of camp spirit, and have just been completely outstanding throughout their stay.
We give out "CN Awards" to those campers who have just been stellar. They're happy in their activities, they help out their fellow campers and are just the kind of girl you'd love to have 8 of in your cabin.
We have special awards for canoeing (yay!), swimming, riding, and golf. We also give a Junior Citizenship award to one or two of the girls in the youngest cabins and a Senior Award to one or two outstanding Senior Campers. Another award we give out is our "Velcro Award" for stick-to-it-iveness. A team cup is given as well to the winning color war captain. Perhaps the "biggest" award we give out is Camp Life. This goes to the camper with the most camp spirit, best attitude, and is just an all around super duper camper!

#27525 10/31/03 07:51 PM
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I really don't like the concept of camper awards. Things like awards for archery and riflery, when you can attain a certain level within the NRA's guidelines is fine by me, but the other stuff seems counterproductive if not somewhat negative. When someone becomes a camper of the award or most artistic, or best softball player, that is making a value judgement based on opinion. Worse, though, is the commentary that it makes about the people that don't get those awards. I think that it leads to unnecessary competition, campers sucking up to get awards, counselors egos playing a role, etc. Again, awarding someone on tangible results and having a structure where others can also attain that level of achievement is great, but the other awards concern me.

[This message has been edited by Northwoods (edited October 31, 2003).]

#27526 11/01/03 12:58 AM
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At the past few camps I've worked at, we have made awards for every single child. Usually, our awards are made to be a little funny. Like, a kid who likes swimming might get the "Finding Nemo Award" (I never saw the movie, so this is just a guess). A kid who identified all the animals at the zoo might get the "Crocodile Hunter Award". Not all of our awards are named after people, we have had things like "Pop-Up Helper Award" (for those kids who are always helping) and things like that. Fools gold sounds like a good idea, but I like takeonme's idea of painting rocks.

#27527 11/01/03 02:09 AM
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our awards are given out at and after banquet on the last night of camp. at the beginning of banquet, each girl gets her final buzzer which is a huge book with each bunk's inside jokes in it. Then comes the tennis awards (who finished at the top of the tennis ladder in each age group and who is the most improved tennis player) are given out. Next comes the awards for number of years at camp (5 year sweatshirts, 6 year watches, 7 year jackets, 8 year "B" necklaces, 9 year silver ID bracelets, 10 year silver keychains, and 11 year item from the uniform catalog). the major awards are also given out at banquet. They are really serious awards given only to the lower seniors and PC (oldest) girls, most of whom have been at camp for at least 6 years. The awards are major honors, and they are

-SENIOR ATHLETE-lower senior or PC who is just great at sports
-SENIOR LEADERSHIP-lower senior or PC who leads positively in the senior group
-SENIOR CHARACTER-lower senior or PC who displays great character in the senior group
-SENIOR SPIRIT-lower senior or PC who is always cheering, singing and smiling
-ALL AROUND SENIOR-lower senior or PC who is just generally a great camper, does everything he or she is supposed to do and is nice to everyone
-CAMP ATHLETE-lower senior or PC (usually a PC) who is seen as the best all around athlete at camp, based on athletic ability and sportsmanship
-CAMP LEADERSHIP-PC whose leadership is positive throughout the entire camp
-CAMP SPIRIT-PC who shows great, positive spirit to the whole camp and gets the whole camp spirited as well
-CAMP CHARACTER(Anna Lehrer award, named for the founder of our camp's wife)- PC with the best character, generally nice and always doing what they are supposed to do all around camp
-ALL AROUND CAMPER(Chief Lehrer award, named for the founder of our camp)-the biggest honor you can get at our camp (in addition to color war chief). this is a PC that everyone knows and respects, someone who is an all around great camper and very special person. somewhat athletic, nice to EVERYONE, a good leader, basically embodies all of the other awards

after banquet is over, each grouphead meets with her age group to give kids awards in other areas of camp within the group, such as video awards. She also gives each girl her giant envelope, which has in it bunk, individual, and age group pictures, Red Cross swim card, certificate with areas of achievement in camp, and videos she made at video.

#27528 11/01/03 02:15 AM
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I'm with Northwoods. My last 2 resident camps have had award progression systems, where there are set guidelines for awards, and all kids can choose to work towards them. Each activity has a progression, starting with basic stuff, like easy skills and knowledge, and moving on to more advanced until the highest award means a camper is able to teach that activity to others. That way the campers are learning a set curriculum and everyone has a chance to "win". There are also awards for the best all around camper or campers in each cabin for a session, voted on either by the campers themselves (secret ballot) or by the counselors in that cabin. And, if a camper gets begining progressions in 5 activities, the get a special patch, and a different patch for the next levels group of 5 and so on. There are special awards for lake swims, pothole, ironman and such, but, although not affiliated with one program, they also have guidelines. Complete the swim, do 5 potholes in the session, etc. There are not a whole lot awards that everyone could not get if they wanted too. There are occasional "most improved awards" but those can go to the kid who studied everyday for an hour just to get his first award. Almost all are based on achievement, I think it works well. What do you guys do at your camps to keep the campers interested in learning and improving if you don't have skills based awards?

#27529 11/01/03 08:54 AM
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Yeah, I totally don't agree with awards for campers. Maybe it's because I've never had them, but it seems to be counterproductive. Most of the categories are completely subjective (like "best camper" or whatever), and I can't imagine that's right for the kids. Any skill based awards are obviously going to exclude kids who aren't good at those activities. If, for instance, a kid wasn't good at waterskiing, what would make him want to try it if he knew he couldn't get the award? The awards go to the very best at each activity, and those who know they won't be able to win don't bother trying even. I think if you make an effort to praise each kid's individual strengths and accomplishments, throughout the session, it does more good for the camper's self esteem than a subjective award at the end.

#27530 11/01/03 01:05 PM
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i don't agree that kids won't try if they know they have no chance to get an award in an activity. i mean, if a kid comes to camp wanting to learn to waterski they are going to go waterskiing. they know they are not going to be the best at it. they just want to see what they can do. we don't even have awards for all the other activities at my camp. everyone has to play every activity anyway, they do it without question. and anyone who wants to plays on the Wayne County intercamp teams is able to, regardless of abiility.

As for the other awards, they are a tradition at camp since my grandma was a camper. you are all right, they are totally subjective, but the director, head counselor, groupheads, and counselors make the decision based on what they have seen in the campers throughout their years. a lot of the girls know they won't get them, and those girls always end up having a great summer because, well, its camp. if you didn't love it you wouldn't have gone for 7 years. and there are always surprises in the awards, someone who never expected to get one will get one and my mom will get a letter, email, or phone call after the summer from her parents saying how much the award meant to her.

also, besides the big trophies at the end of the summer, there are plenty of leadership roles for the PC girls throughout the summer(6 red white, and blue day captains, 8 tribes chiefs, 6 color war chiefs/assts., and 8-10 captains for other special events days), all of them get their chance to shine. so by the time banquet comes around, the girls are already thinking how proud they are that they were chief of this or captain of that and are really happy for the people who get the trophies.

#27531 11/02/03 03:23 PM
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well at my adward nights at my camp. i think everysingle camper gets and award, but there are 'special' awards like
ppl who went to every polar bear swim. they get a certificate, along with a popsicle stick with an ice cube which happens to be in the shape of an ice berg, sometimes counselors go along the way to spell the the campers' (and couselors)with alphapat marcrooni, wrap it up in saran wrap and freeze it. it looks really cool, sometimes they even put blue food coloring in the iceberg. for arts and craft, counselors will have a string tied with a wooden bead witht he camp's logo on it. people wear it as a bracelete and stuff. archery people made pencils and added feathers or something atthe end to make it look like arrows. pretty cool , huh? so at my cmap everyone gets an award and we (of course play colour war)

#27532 11/03/03 10:08 PM
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Every week on monday nights we have... Council Fire! It's an award ceremony in which campers who worked towards honors that week and completed them get the chance to be congratulated and recognized for finishing an honor! Honor's are specific shapes cut out of orange and blue (Osoha's Colors) felt... and then during the winter... you sew all of your honors onto your Honor Sweater! (a white cardigan) the felt pieces may seem like nothing... but to you, they mean everything! you worked toward that certain goal... it could have been difficult... and you achieved your goal! It's an amazing feeling looking at your honor sweater filled with the little felt pieces that mean the world to you, but nothing to others!

#27533 11/05/03 04:24 PM
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Thank you for all of your suggestions and input. I guess I should have explained our program a little bit differently. When we reward our kids, it's not as the "best _______". We reward our campers for achieving different goals at specialist areas or in showing strong leadership. I do appreciate all of your help. If anyone else has ideas, I would love to hear them!

#27534 11/05/03 08:32 PM
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the camp i worked at this summer had an awesome rewards system. campers had the opprotunity to work towards an award or just have fun. basically every activity the camp offered had three levels: pathfinder, guide and sachem. each level had requirements and once you completed them you were moved to the next level. The camp recorded what levels you had in each activity and kept it on record all summer and all year so you can work on it each summer you go there. Then there are the overall pathfinder, guide and sachem awards. Pathfinder, which is a compass, requires you to have reached pathfinder level in 8 activities. guide, which is a paddle, required you to have reached guide level in 10 activities plus go on an out of camp trip and sachem, which is a blanket, required you to reach that level in 14 activities, go on a 4 day trip, do a solo overnight, do a camp improvement project and be reconized as a good citizen. It's a big honor for the kids to get their Sachem, it's a lot of work and on average takes about 4 summers of 6 or 8 weeks at a time. Only 14 or so campers have ever earned the award in the camps history. I'm really tired so i'm not even sure if this makes sense, so if you need any clarification just ask!


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