Role Models: A Longer Look

Mirriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines a role model as “a person whose behavior in a particular role is imitated by others.”

The key word in this definition in imitate. Imitate. Who do you imitate? Who is your role model? Really think about it. Depending on your age and what’s going on in your life, your answer is probably very different from others. If you’re five, you might say “your parents.” If you’re seven, you might say “your classmates.” If you’re fifteen, you might say “Shaun White.” If you’re twenty, you might say “your professor.” If you’re thirty, you might say “your spouse.”

Throughout our lives, we have many different role models who we imitate, and when we grow to a certain age, we can choose these role models. When I think of whom I imitate, I’m reminded of a lecture that really stuck with me in college about Social Learning Theory. “The theory considers that people learn from one another, including such concepts as observational learning, imitation, and modeling. The basic principles of Social Learning Theory are as follows:

1. People can learn by observing the behavior of others and the outcomes of those behaviors.

2. Learning can occur without a change in behavior. Behaviorists say that learning has to be represented by a permanent change in behavior, in contrast social learning theorists say that because people can learn through observation alone, their learning may not necessarily be shown in their performance. Learning may or may not result in a behavior change.

3. Cognition plays a role in learning. Over the last 30 years social learning theory has become increasingly cognitive in its interpretation of human learning. Awareness and expectations of future reinforcements or punishments can have a major effect on the behaviors that people exhibit.

4. Social learning theory can be considered a bridge or a transition between behaviorist learning theories and cognitive learning theories” (http://teachnet.edb.utexas.edu/~lynda_abbott/Social.html).

According to this theory, a person’s social environment has a huge impact on the general behavior of the individual, both positive and negative. When I search my mind for positive environments for children, I can’t think of any better environment than sleep-away summer camps. At camp, the community structure gives children a chance to observe the behavior of many peers and role models and the resultant “reinforcements or punishments” of those behaviors. And you may think well they can get that at school. Same thing, right? Wrong. School settings model only a learning environment, where as summer camps, especially overnight camps, model everyday life, from meals to personal hygiene practices and beyond. Moreover, summer camps offer the best role models for children; role models that you can really know; role models that are personal and intelligent. These role models are the counselors, who typically have a few years of college experience and who are screened for their character and ability to work with children. I don’t think that a parent could ask for anything more from a role model for their child to imitate.

And just a side note followed by a rhetorical question: I recently searched the phrase “modern role models” on Google. The first ten individual names that popped up were Shaun White (snow/skate boarder), Soulja Boy (hip hop artist), Miley Cyrus (teen pop artist), Matt Damon (actor), Michael Jordan (legendary basketball player), Chris Angel (magician), Noel Gallahgar (musician), Tyra Banks (model and talk show host), Angelina Jolie (actress), and Britney Spears (musician). Although all of these people are involved in different careers, they have one common characteristic: they have exposure through mass media – television, radio, Internet, magazines, and newspapers. They are celebrities. They have had great success with their individual careers. But how well do we really know them? We see them in their “roles” – on the slopes, on stage, on the screen – and we can imitate them only in the role that we see them. Shaun White is a role model for a young snow boarder. Soulja Boy is a role model for a young hip-hop artist.

But are these people you want acting as role models for your children, siblings, students? Miley Cyrus was just ranked one of the worst role models for teens. Just because someone is called a role model, does not mean they are setting a great example. You have the opportunity to give your children strong role models through their social environments.

Who is your model for the role of parent, brother, sister, student, employee, leader?

Thursday Morning at High Trails

It's looking like another nice day here! The students started the morning by picking which hike they wanted to go on. The group that went to the candy cane were able to hike up close to a few deer, including a big buck.

Everyone ate their fill of french toast with syrup, orange juice, and cereal this morning. We are sending the groups out on their all-days right now. They will spend the day out on the trail for their discovery groups. A few of the extra activities include the homesteaders making candles and apple cider; the cowboys learning how to rope and brand, the prospectors heading to the copper mines. The groups will head back in this afternoon for another recreation time.

The students are having a great time and can't wait to return home to share all their adventures with you!

Camper Posts

While we've been extremely busy here at camp, several more girls wrote about their experiences.

YAY!!!

Here at Camp Sanborn everything is so exciting and fun! Especially all the wide variety of activities that we get to choose from. There is an awesome swimming pool with an amazing slide! I have already climbed a mountain that was 14,265 feet tall called Mount Quandry. I have also already made tons of friends who are very close to me! The dances are also super fun! The music that they play is usually really good! I have also grown a love for riding horses in the arena! I love camp Sanborn!!! I have grown a love with it that is inseparable! Come to Camp Sanborn and enjoy the best summer of your life!!!

--Gracie Hurley

Things to Know if You Want to Come to Sanborn

If you like adventure, horseback riding, hiking, camping, dancing, games and a whole lot more stuff than this is your camp. This camp has great food everyday! There’s Gymkhana where you compete against the boys in horse games like barrels. There’s always a talent show where you can show your talent. If you are in the month long session you can sign up for 4 or 5 day horse trips, or to climb big mountains. You can even sign up to climb Pikes Peak! The ages are 7-16. Don’t worry, you can always write your parents letters! You always get to go on overnights. Sanborn is awesome! Don’t worry if you don’t have a friend when you come, you will always make new friends! The girls’ camp is called High Trails and the boys’ camp is called Big Spring. Every Saturday night you go to Big Spring to have a dance with the boys! There’s always something to do every day! You can either come for a month or 2 weeks! So I think everybody should come to Sanborn! It’s a great camp!!!

--Olivia Seely

Things I Most Enjoyed

Camp Sanborn is the most thrilling, exciting, and joyful camp around. It’s been the best experience I have ever had! This camp has made me decide for myself. I love everything about this place! All the people, activities, and the fun trips are going to be in my memory forever! My favorite thing I have done here so far are all of the overnights. I mostly enjoyed my 4-day horseback riding trip. I love riding horses and this trip made me become closer to them. I also enjoyed my technical rock overnight. It was with my whole cabinside and was a blast! I got to climb real rocks for the first time! Even though I got lots of bruises, it was worth it. I even climbed Mt. Quandry! It was exhausting, but the view was spectacular! That is was I enjoyed most.

--Emilie Schaphorst

EHMAGAWD!!

I just came back from my amazing long trip. I hiked a 14,110 foot tall mountain called Pikes Peak. It was so tiring, but super fun. Also, we had a spectacular view. When we finally summitted, we ate donuts and french fries. There was also a huge gift shop. The last day, after hiking all the way down from the Mother Ridge to the base of the Crags, we were starving, so we ate pizza at Joe Mama’s. This is the trip that I have enjoyed the most.

--Ana Pichardo

Sanborn Activities

Sanborn is so much fun! We get to do all kinds of fun stuff; if you come for a month, you get to do stuff like Gymkhana, long trips, hiking, horseback riding, art, dancing, games, High Trails and Big Spring talent show, swimming, and a ton of other activities. If you come as a junior, you get to have just as much fun only you come for two weeks. If you love adventure, fun, and great friends and counselors, come to Sanborn and go home with a smile on your face. There are also dances, where you get together with Big Spring. Every dance has a theme. My name is Kate and I am at High Trails. It is awesome, and I am sure that Big Spring is just as fun. Meals are so yummy. The cooks are great. When you have campfires, you learn a bunch of new fun songs. You also get to roast marshmallows by the fire. Overnights are fun too. Like the one to Tie Cabin where the Juniors went. So come to Sanborn! It is great!!! (It is for 7 – 16 year olds)

--Kate Grylicki

Sanborn Camp

My name is Alivia, and this is my first year at camp. My experience here has been so fun. On the first day I came I was very shy, but after my mom left, I made lots of friends who are all very nice. Before the first day ended for sleep, our counselor reads a story. After that, we have flashlight time, where we can read, write, or just sleep. If we haven’t already fallen asleep at flashlight time, you go to sleep after. In the morning you have breakfast at 8:00 and then you have cabin clean-up to make you space nice and clean. After that, we normally go on a morning hike. After your hike you have lunch and after lunch is rest time where you are in your cabin doing quiet things. After this, you will have more activities, which are very fun. Then you have dinner. Then the cycle starts over with different hikes and activities. After a couple of days, you go on a camping trip. On my camping trip it hailed, so you have to bring warm clothes. Sanborn is very fun and you will enjoy this camp very much.

--Alivia Nelson

Long Trips

I just got back from long trips yesterday. I was on Pikes Peak. I really liked it, but it was really exhausting. The first day, we had an easy hike to our first campsite. On the second day, we woke up at 3:00! That day, we hiked the Mother Ridge. We met a guy named Brad who was 40 and had muscular dystrophe. Pikes Peak was his 8^th Colorado fourteener! After we went up the Mother Ridge, we hike down into a valley and set up camp. On the third day, we woke up at 3:00 again and hiked up Pike Peak! It was easier than I expected but the last 600 feet was entirely rock, so we had to rock scramble up to the top. At about 10 or 10:30 we summitted! There was a donut shop/gift shop up on top. There were tons of tourists who either drove up or took the train, and they looked at us like we were crazy. The donuts were really gross though. We went back to our campsite and crashed. We had dinner at 9:00 because it rained for like 5 hours. On the fourth and last day, we woke up at 6:00, we climbed up the valley, down the Mother Ridge and down to Lottie with the vans. Then, we went to get pizza at Jo Mama’s. I had a slice of cheese and 1 ½ slices of a pizza that is a vegetarians nightmare. It had pepperoni, ground beef, sausage, salami, bacon and ham. After pizza we came back to camp and crashed.

--Chandler Kropp

Tie Cabin Overnight

Juniper East went our first overnight on Wednesday. It took about 1 hour to get there. When we got half way, everyone was super tired, so we took off our packs and laid down. When the counselors told us it was time to go we all groaned, but we kept going. When we finally got there, we set up out tents and got settled in. After that, we ate bagels for lunch. Then we explored the cabin. When we were looking through the doors we found an old picture that was dated 1912. Then we ate dinner. We ate pita bread pizza. We had to stop and take our food into the tents early because there was a thunder storm. After a while, we went to bed. The next morning we packed and ate crepes. It was so good. Then we hiked for another hour back. Almost all of us fell asleep. Overall, it was a great first trip.

--Myriah Pitt

Sanborn

Camp has been great. It is my first year, and already I know that I am definitely going to come back. I love all of my choices of activities that we get to choose from like horseback riding, climbing mountains and so much more. I have met so many people I know I will be friends with forever. I love them all so much. An activity I have done was a four day horse trip. It was a blast, and I became so much more comfortable on horse and I am a much better rider than I was before I came to camp. The dances and Saturday Specials are loads of fun too because they are co-ed, long and you are always active. Colorado is beautiful and having camp here is great with such a gorgeous view. I love Sanborn and you should definitely try it.

--Tessa Oliver

My Long Trip

We rode in one of the vans, and it was about 2 hours long. When we got there, we set up tents and ate lunch. Then we unpacked. For dinner, we had chicken noodle soup or tomato soup. The people that were climbing went to sleep right after dinner. We wore up at 3:00am and started climbing at 4:00. We summitted and got back at 11:30. And for lunch, we had crackers. We did arts and crafts for the rest of the day until dinner, which were noodles. The next morning, we went to South Park City, and looked at the old buildings and we ate lunch and got ice cream. It was delicious.

--Vivi McNett

Sanborn is the most amazing experience EVER. We do white water rafting, horseback riding, long trips (3,4, and 5 day), swimming at the pool (which has an awesome slide), science and TONS more. I love it here.

--Sierra Zischke

They Pay Me to do This?

Last week, I was able to summit Mount Shavano with our co-ed S.O.L.E. service trip. The boys were so supportive of the girls as we climbed the 14,000 foot mountain. All 10 of us, 3 boys, 4 girls, and 4 staff all took in the fantastic views at the top. After 7 ½ hours on the mountain, and after meeting about 35 different people along the way, one of the boys turned to me and said, “You six were the only women we saw on the mountain all day and definitely the only ones who summitted. That is so awesome. It’s so cool to know strong girls.” I smiled. I hadn’t even noticed, not only what happened that day, but how many opportunities Sanborn offers for kids to stretch themselves and learn to appreciate that in each other.

--Kira Runtzel

Sanborn Community Service

With the success of our SOLE (Sanborn Outdoor Leadership Experience) Program for 8th and 9th graders over the past few summers, we've decided to develop a new program specifically for our 9th grade campers to help build on their previous experiences and give them the tools to become leaders within their high school communities. This program will be known as CORE, or the Community OutReach Experience.

 

We are happy to introduce CORE in the summer of 2009. As we understand that community service is increasingly becoming a part of high school graduation requirements, we are glad to offer our campers a chance to meet some of the service requirements while they are here during the summer and are a part of a great summer camp experience. We hope that as part of the experience, campers will learn that community service can be a fun and rewarding experience, and that they will take this new attitude home with them. 

 

CORE will be a transition between the SOLE Program (which will be offered to our 8th grade campers) and our Junior Counselor and Outbacker Programs (for 10th grade campers), and help complete what we refer to as Peaks-to-Performance Program. This program is dedicated to helping develop environmental awareness as well as the confident and well-equipped leaders of the future. 

 

If you are interested in learning more about any of these programs or our summer camp experience in general, please visit our website Sanborn Western Camps or call 719-748-3341.

Creativity In Nature

I’d like to expound on a concept brought up by Mr. McGowan in one of our Tuesday touch up letters. This is the concept of 10,000 hours. Basically, Ryan spoke of mastering a subject area by spending 10,000 hours in that field. He used Bill Gates as an example, in that Bill Gates spent a large quantity of time programming computers so he could master the subject of computers.

Now, I’ve seen first hand what the outdoors can do for a person’s creativity and sense of wonder, both of which cannot fully be explored in a classroom setting. The hard skills – math, science, and language – are the main focus of current curriculum in school systems, not excluding universities. Schools are increasingly pushing aside any sort of activity – dance, music, theatre, art, etc. – that involves the heart, the body, the senses, and a good portion of children’s actual brains. In The Element, Sir Ken Robinson attributes the lack of creative activities to the fact that “politicians seem to think that it’s essential for economic growth and competitiveness and to help students get jobs [in Industrial America]. But the fact is that in the twenty-first century, jobs and competitiveness depend absolutely on the very qualities that school system is being forced to tamp down…Businesses everywhere say they need people who are creative and can think independently. But the argument is not just about business. It’s about having lives with purpose and meaning in and beyond whatever work we do.”

I feel that people in our domain, that is, outdoor educators, have a social responsibility to use nature as an avenue to help children (and adults) explore their right-brain creativity, not only to build a stronger society and stronger workforce, but to help each individual find “purpose and meaning” in every facet of their lives. I believe that we can do this, but first must achieve our 10,000 hours in nature to really understand the means and ends of how individuals are touched by nature. I use the word “individuals” instead of children because, in my opinion, people of all ages can benefit from experiences in the outdoors. Everyone could use a little nature in their lives. On a very personal note, if I can facilitate that, well, then, that’s my meaning and purpose in life. I hope that outdoor educators elsewhere feel the same way.

Camping to Parenting: Top 10 Things I've Learned as a Summer Camp Professional That Make Me a Better Parent--A Two Part Series

Part I

I love summer camp. Being a camper, being a camp counselor, being a camp director, being a parent—I have made summer camp a part of my life and, now, part of the lives of my children. That said, it is remarkable how quickly you forget some of the cardinal rules you learned while you were a 20-something summer camp counselor about working with kids when your own children are in mid-meltdown about the shark show that “Daddy promised!” they could watch if they ate all of their mixed veggies. Sigh.

In order to help me regain my sanity, I have compiled a list of some of the most effective tools I have found for working with kids in the summer camp (and home!) setting, whether the kids are mine, yours, your sisters’, your neighbors, or “that kid” from down the street. I would love to hear from wise parents, youth development professionals, and other summer camp believers about kid-centric tools and techniques you find have worked for you. Since this is a two-part series, you may see some of your ideas in the next post.

10. The Power of Choice: Give kids real decision making opportunities by providing them with choices you can live with (i.e.: Do you want to clean the toilets before or after you make your bed? or What are your goals for this summer camp session? Do you want to climb a bunch of mountains or do you want to ride horses? Or Do you want to help mom set the table or do you want to make the salad for dinner tonight?). By doing this, you empower kids to take responsibility and ownership for their own actions.

9. Allow kids to define their own boundaries; facilitate the boundary creation. Give them ways to “frame” things in the positive: We’re going to the zoo today, what SHOULD we do at the zoo? We SHOULD stay together, we SHOULD wait our turn to look at the otters, we SHOULD have lots of fun. And what SHOULDN’T we do?.... “RUN!” “Eat too much candy!” “Feed the lions!” “Cut in line!” “Talk back!” You quickly learn that many children, even very young ones, have a great understanding of right from wrong…and by “framing” activities before they even begin, they can more readily “own” their actions and are more willing to respond if they accidentally do something they SHOULDN’T do.

8. If conflicts do occur, make kids right about what they need to be right about. “She hit me first.” “Yes. I saw that she hit you first. Why did she hit you, do you think?” Also, in heated situations, never make assumptions. Ask A LOT of questions and remember that most kids WANT to do the right thing…but sometimes they just forget how to do it. Don’t put kids in a box that they can’t get out of—during conversations, as they are growing up, socially, etc.. A great technique for getting a kid to talk is to MOVE. Children, especially boys, can have a hard time expressing their feelings if they feel like an adult is standing there, waiting for an answer, and “pressuring” them to say something. If you can remove the child from the situation and go for a walk (ideally outdoors), the questions you ask may elicit more than the standard, “I dunno” answers.

7. When they make bad choices, assign real and timely consequences. This one takes practice and you have to know your children or campers very well in order to assign a consequence that is neither too harsh nor too lenient for the action. I will often make sure I—with the help of the kids--have “framed” the entire experience so any resulting “bad choices” already have consequences assigned (i.e.: “We decided as a group that people who don’t help with clean-up today won’t get to have any of Emily’s cake after clean-up. SO…is everyone ready to win cabin clean-up today?”). That also takes some of the emotional volatility out of the situation. If everyone knows what will happen and when, I am not perceived as being arbitrary or unfair.

6. Give them plenty of opportunities to practice making both good and, inevitably, bad choices. Give them a safe framework to practice in…overnight camp is an outstanding, safe place to practice decision-making. Overnight camp provides a community with multiple supportive adults who genuinely want each child to have an outstanding camp experience. Through their interactions with other adults and children, who may or may not have similar interests and experiences, kids learn how to make and keep friends, practice perseverance and resilience, and gain a better understanding of themselves…all of which helps them become wise decision-makers.

Next time, Part II! I look forward to hearing your thoughts….