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?
