Youth Development Center, YourAward and Sun Yat-sen University in China reached an agreement to collaborate and provide programs and service to youth and young people towards cultivating their scientific and technological literacy, leadership and team spirit.
Two sessions of virtual camp were delivered over the Chinese New Year break: (January 28 – February 1 and February 4 – February 8).
Tech Camp participation:
Over 600 campers from high schools and middle schools all over China joined the online camps and 80 staff were involved in delivering the program.
Yet again it was evident that young people can benefit from camp for their growth and for the mental and emotional health.
Keeping the Camp Feeling:
In the design of this program, the general structure of the in-person camp program was preserved and many camp elements were included. A professional camp team created the program, referring to the camp program as they developed ideas.
- Participants were “campers”, the organizing staff “counselors” and the program itself “Virtual Tech Camp”.
- There was an opening ceremony, virtual camp tour, gathering of all campers, optional activities, presentations and sharing, closing ceremony – just like an in-person camp.
- Staff training before the launch was based upon the materials and documents from an established training program for camp counselors.
- ‘Camp-in-a-box’ packages with the necessary materials were sent to campers and counselors before the start of the program.
- Instead of “teaching” and directing the campers using a traditional school method, the counselors provided support and guidance to campers attending the activities, thus contributing to the feeling of camp.
- Emphasis was given to team work, self-presentation and self-discovery, which made the campers and counselors realize the value of camp from this experience.
Parents, counselors and campers were very satisfied with the program and gave very positive feedback.
Specifically, the parents asked for more programs like this; the counselors said they learned a lot and improved their own leadership during the experience; and the campers said the program was great fun, helped them build self-confidence, provided a sense of purpose and generated new friendships.
