Camp Adventure Youth Services is a nationally award winning model demonstration program incorporating the principles of service learning into the educational experiences of individuals.
The camp held interviews in October at Florida A&M University’s Al Lawson Gymnasium for the 2016 program.
Christopher R. Edginton at the University of Oregon founded the program in 1985 and sent 12 students to three sites in Korea.
Jazelle Johnson, senior lead trainer from San Diego, Calif., and student intern coordinator for Camp Adventure, trains students at FAMU and she specifically recruits interns for the spring and fall semesters to participate in child development programs.
She stated that the program mainly deals with U.S. Military dependents around the world so Camp Adventure workers would be stationed at military bases.
“We do contracts with the British Army as well as Embassy’s across the world,” Johnson explained. “This past summer we volunteered at the Embassy in Beijing, China and we a few years back we volunteered at Tokyo’s Embassy in Japan.”
The program has been offered at more than 150 sites in Asia, Europe, and the United States, and has served as many 750,000 children and youth annually based on daily participation rates.
Carci Roberson, a fourth-year biology student from Miami Fla., said this is her third year being involved with Camp Adventure and it’s a great program to be apart of.
“I really have a strong interest for working with children and making an impact on children’s lives is my main motivation,” Roberson said. “I’ve been to Hawaii and I worked with pre-toddlers and just to be involved in their lives made a huge impact on my life.”
More than 18,500 college and university students have participated in Camp Adventure since its inception.
Stephanie Benoit, a third-year FAMU social work student from Miami Fla., said this is her first year with Camp Adventure and over the summer she went Kingdom of Bahrain, which is in the Middle East, and she worked on a naval base.
“In spring 2015 I’m going to Oahu, Hawaii to work at Pearl Harbor’s naval base,” Benoit stated. “Words and pictures cannot describe my experience because it was really life changing.”
For more information on Camp Adventure Youth Services, call 850-599-3135 or visit www.uni.edu/campadv.