Summer Camp Counselor Character Trait Program

About the Program

Category: Children and Youth

Year: 2023

The Summer Camp Counselor Character Trait Program is a training initiative designed to help seasonal summer camp counselors redirect and guide campers towards positive behavior outcomes. The program is a discipline model that aids our camp counselors in difficult situations and gives them tools to handle camper behavior issues. Instead of raising our voices, sending children to timeout, or taking things away from them, a counselor has the character traits to manage behavior and provide guidance so a camper can adjust and improve his or her obligation to respect rules and directions. This program can also be used for positive feedback. Many times during summer camp, parents will only receive feedback from staff when their child does something wrong. With the character traits training, our counselors can relay positive information to parents and highlight campers who are modeling proper behavior. The program was piloted at Centennial Park Recreation Center for six weeks during the summer of 2022, and we found counselors were better equipped to handle problematic situations and campers were more inclined to follow direction knowing they had an obligation to their fellow campers through the character traits.