Well, of course it doesn’t hurt that the conference is in Orlando and the snow is flying in Portland…80 degrees here – timing is everything!!!

The CYO/CH team split up all of the sessions we wanted to see this week to make sure we would get as much information as possible.  The schedule began this afternoon with a keynote address given by Florence Williams.  She told us a lot of things we knew but amplified it with more information and it was very interesting.  She talked about how the playground space of kids has changed over the years.  Those of us older than probably 45 or so remember our playground being a lot of space, as far was we could walk or ride (motorcycles, horses, bikes, etc.)  It has decreased in area over the years till it is practically totally inside the house.

She went on to talk about how important it is for kids to be outside and how camps give kids such valuable variety of outdoor adventure opportunities and free play.  It was really edifying and very valuable to hear.

Sessions we took in included: Hunters and Farmers, Why ADHD’ers can thrive at camp; Opening the Curtain; What the best leaders at camp really do; Serious, that happened at camp? a sharing of problems at camps around the USA as shared with the American Camping Association this past year; Measuring Outcomes 101, how to survey and do analysis of the data!