Many YMCA camps emphasize the core values of caring, honesty, respect, and responsibility. At McGaw YMCA Camp Echo we intentionally talk about the core values from the first day to the closing campfire and every day in between. Core values are, in fact, the key to campers achieving one of our Personal Growth goals: Building Character.
We also added a special FIFTH value: Fun! We tell our campers and staff that fun is not the goal, but it is what happens when we embody caring, honesty, respect, and responsibility.
Each day, at the end of breakfast announcements, the whole camp joins in the Core Value pledge: Today, like every day, we say: Today we will build our spirit, mind, and body, strive to be caring, accept responsibility, show respect to all others, be honest in all we do, AND HAVE FUN!
We like to honor campers and staff who exemplify these core values by awarding them with special core value hats. These hats are made in the corresponding color (caring: red, honesty: blue, respect: yellow, responsibility: green, fun: black) with the core value word on the front.
Throughout the sessions, campers and staff can nominate campers that they see exhibiting the core values. It is not a popularity contest, so hat recipients are selected based on the quality of the nominations, not based on who has received the most nominations. The core value work culminates at the closing campfire, with our summer Unit Leaders announcing the core value hat recipients with a short description of what made each recipient so wonderfully suited to receive a hat.
We also award the core value hats during pre-camp staff training each June. Many staff and campers cherish this award and wear them for summers to come. On the first day of camp each session, we teach our campers about the core values and there is typically at least one staff member in every group wearing a hat they won.
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