Jacob Jardel
Assistant Managing Editor
@JJardel_Writing
While summer is a time for many to soak up the sun, attendees at Cameron’s Camp of Champs spend that time giving back and growing.
From June 1-4, Cameron University will host the seventh annual camp for children with special needs. Counselors and campers will spend the week at Quartz Mountain, participating in various activities to stimulate growth and camaraderie.
Director of Camp of Champs Dr. Ronna Vanderslice said that the camp hosts 50 children age 6-13 annually, all of whom vary in severity of needs. Cameron students of various majors work as counselors during this time, but she feels as if they do more than just their job descriptions.
“What they do is to serve as a pseudo-parent for a group of kids that week,” Vanderslice said. “Their responsibility is to hang out with them, eat with them, sleep in the cabins with them and get them up in the morning to take them to their activities.”
Events such as hiking, arts and crafts, canoeing and various games fill up the schedule for campers and counselors. Special education teachers, many of whom were students under Vanderslice, plan out the events that do more than just entertain.
“Our goal is to work on developing social skills, communication skills and interpersonal skills,” she said. “We do fun activities, but what we’re doing is trying to teach those things in the context of a very fun environment, providing activities that many of them wouldn’t get to do throughout the year.”
According to Vanderslice, this mix of fun and development keeps campers captivated for more than just the first time.
“Most of the kids are repeaters,” she said. “Once they start coming, they come back every year. Most of them say they have a really wonderful time.”
The campers are not the only repeaters for Camp of Champs, though.
“I’m also very proud of the fact that some of our counselors come back even after they’ve graduated,” Vanderslice said. “I think it’s very rewarding to all of us.”
According to her, the fulfilling aspects of Camp of Champs stem from the fact that it provides the campers with an opportunity they otherwise would not have.
“Most kids get to go to a variety of camps as they grow up,” Vanderslice said. “But children who have disabilities don’t really have the opportunity. There aren’t a lot of camps that are equipped to manage the needs that they have.
“We’re proud of the fact that we’re able to have this camp,” she said.
Vanderslice and Cameron are not the only ones proud of the fact that this camp exists.
“Parents in our area think it’s a great service that Cameron provides,” she said. “I think the children love it. I think the counselors love it. I know I do. I think it’s a wonderful service that Cameron does.”
Vanderslice said that this service provides both students and campers opportunities to learn more than just the instructions of an activity. For campers, the learning comes from the bond they create with the counselors.
“[Though] you’re with these children for four days, it’s meaningful to them,” Vanderslice said. “You’re like their parent, so they get very close to you – and you to them.”
For the counselors, the experience provides a brief look into the life of children with special needs and their families.
“It helps you understand how challenging it would be to parent a child with special needs, how many opportunities they don’t have that everyone else has and how much it means to them to get to do these very same activities that every other kid gets to do at camp,” she said.
Vanderslice has noticed that this understanding evokes a growth within the counselors.
“Most of the counselors would tell you that they don’t have much experience with any individuals who have special needs of any kind,” she said. “[At the end,] the majority of them feel like they make huge gains and feel more comfortable with it.”
For more details on Camp of Champs, visit www.cameron.edu/education_school/camp-of-champs.