Camp Adventure Fun For Students of All Ages
Lance Cpl.’s Matthew A. Denny and Kris B. Daberkoe
okinawa marine staff


Counselors and campers with Camp Adventure Youth Services sing and dance during the morning routine at Zukeran Elementary School on Camp Foster July 26. Camp Adventure is a program designed to allow college students specializing in education degrees to travel abroad and mentor military children worldwide. Photo by Lance Cpl. Kris B. Daberkoe

For 25 years, about 50 college students come to Okinawa as counselors participating in the Camp Adventure Youth Services program during summer months.

Camp Adventure is a program designed to allow a number of college students to travel abroad and mentor military children worldwide.

The program was founded in South Korea in 1985, and provides a positive environment for counselors and children of service members stationed on bases around the world, said Jezelle Zabala, project director.

The Camp Adventure program offers an opportunity for college students from various colleges throughout the U.S. to participate in an internship program and receive college credits while volunteering in youth programs for service members’ children.

College interns are required to do 40-60 hours of recorded experience interacting with children in order to apply for the summer internship.
 
Interns are selected from approximately 80 college campuses. If selected, they attend one of 10 leadership training centers nationwide, said Anna Van Horn, the project coordinator with Camp Adventure Youth Services.

College counselors arriving on Okinawa are Status of Forces Agreement members and receive the same newcomers and safety brief as Marines have to go through, and a child care brief, she added.

While here, interns are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the local culture, said Zaballa.

Interns are also assigned homework regarding their encounters with new people, places and foods, she added.

During their liberty hours, counselors partake in group activities; visit local beaches and go on tours sponsored by Marine Corps Community Services, said Meredith Stille, aquatics program director with Camp Adventure Youth Services. “It’s a relief being able to go somewhere fun without having to drive there yourself,” she added.

The counselors arrive two weeks prior to the start of Camp Adventure classes in order to plan field trips, coordinate activities and build staff cohesion, said Zabala.

Children of service members assigned to installations that offer the program have a chance to participate in the aquatics or day camp. Children eligible for the day camp must be between the ages of 6- 12.

The aquatics program consists of swimming lessons taught by the college counselors.

There are six skill levels offered in the Learn to Swim program, and students are put in a level based on their experience swimming, said Stille.
 
Learn to swim lessons start out every lesson with an introduction of the counselors and ‘blitz,’ a song and dance done by the counselors, said Ashley Cayford, swim instructor with Camp Adventure Youth Services.

Day camp starts the day with children participating in their choice of indoor or outdoor activities, like drawing or playing on the playground.

“We encourage choice and creativity within our program,” said Zabala. “Choice is an important part of our curriculum.” Campers can choose from a variety of activities daily, and can choose to go on different field trips during the summer camp week, she said.

Zabala added that she gives the counselor’s freedom to decide what activities are available on a day-to-day basis.

“I get to spend my summer volunteering with children and to me that is a fun way to spend time,” said Allison Bickle, the day camp counselor with Camp Adventure Youth Services.

Bickle is one of 51 college interns working as a day camp counselor at Camp Adventure summer program locations on Okinawa.

“Aside from working with the kids, I also enjoy meeting all the counselors,” said Bickle.

Day camp ends with counselors and campers talking about their favorite part of the day and what they learned that day, said VanHorn.

Any families wanting to enroll their children for a Camp Adventure program next year, can contact Marine Corps Community Services at 645-2628.

What a great idea. I use to go to camp on Sydney and it was always a great time for me!

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