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Since 1939,
Camp Ellowi has been changing the lives of campers. This summer, however, it did so in a different way than ever before – by changing the minds of parents.
Eric has been coming to Camp Ellowi since he was 6 years old; he is now twelve. Although he had always been a likable child, Eric tended to test the boundaries placed on him and to challenge authority. These behavior problems frequently forced counselors to separate Eric from the other children. While his parents wanted to discipline him by keeping him home from camp, Camp Fire came up with a better solution.
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Camp Fire’s counselors realized that many of Eric’s problems were coming from the fact that he wanted to be more challenged and to take on more responsibilities. From the way that Eric conducted himself when he was put in a leadership role, Camp Fire’s counselors could tell that he would do well as an assistant group leader. After discussing the idea with Eric’s parents, Camp Fire’s counselors convinced them that limiting their child’s
 participation in extracurricular activities was not an effective disciplinary measure; as a matter of fact, the parents realized that restricting Eric from such a healthy and positive summer activity as camping would be counterproductive.
Counselors began to assign Eric more responsibilities for the groups in which he was a member; Eric’s natural leadership abilities quickly began to surface. By the end of
 the camp, in fact, he was even given the title of “Assistant Junior Aide Counselor” (he wasn’t yet old enough to have the traditional camp title of
JAC, or Junior Aide Counselor). By the end of the summer, Eric was volunteering to help with all of the extra work that needed to be done.
Camp Fire USA is proud of Eric, a caring, confident youth and future leader.
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