As you may recall, we planned for an amazing Inclusive Community Camp, where students with more support needs (those who typically have some form of accommodation in their classroom learning space) attend a summer camp focused on health enhancement and arts education alongside students without these support needs. With COVID-19, our plans changed. Although students did not come to the MSU campus for an immersive and interactive camp experience, our team was committed that camp must go on and 'camp in a box' was born.
The unbelievable MSU team oversaw, not 1, but 18 Inclusive Community Camps across the state and beyond. Campers were paired with camp guides (MAT students, MRTP Candidates, and undergraduate MSU pre-service teachers) in their home town. Together, they created works of art, jumped rope, played with squishy balls, and had a great time.
Students developed their educational technology skills, sharing and reflecting on their unique camp experience with their classmates and instructors. The feedback has been out of this world. Camp guides shared the following highlights:
"Getting to build such positive relationships with kiddos in such a short period of time."
"Working directly with my campers for 2 to 2.5 hours each day, the challenge of building rapport and joy of gaining and understanding of what does or doesn't work for them. Our most successful day was Day 5 when I had an opportunity to tailor content to the campers. This was a welcome and necessary challenge."
"Working closely with other "teachers" to collaborate on ideas, provide feedback, and give support."
Along with highlights, they showed a true spirit of gratitude. One of the students wrote:
"I just wanted to reach out and thank you both for all your hard work you put into ICC. None of this would have been possible without you two! Thank you for continuing to make it happen even with the pandemic happening, I know that couldn’t have been easy. My camper and I loved being part of the first ever ICC, it was truly an honor, and can’t wait to see the camp continue in the future!"
Kudos to this team! They were given lemons and made the finest lemonade.