Students work directly with children on learning-centered activities for a minimum of five hours each day and spend a minimum of one hour daily in preparation. Students maintain a daily dialogue journal that includes descriptions of children, observations and recording of children's behavior and educational progress, recording of teaching experiences in the educational program, questions and concerns about their work, and personal reflections on the nature and meaning of the educational experience. Initial camp counselor training is an intensive six-day experience that helps prepare staff to work with children with emotional, learning, and behavior problems in a dynamic, outdoor environment. Topics include safety and health issues, communication, diversity, behavior management, experiential learning through recreational activities, educating children with learning and emotional problems, physical and emotional abuse, dealing with children's developing sexuality. Camp serves over 500 children with emotional, behavioral and learning problems.
Most campers are from financially-deprived homes and receive substantial scholarship assistance.
Students also participate in all other aspects of camp life. Students are supervised by a well-seasoned team of knowledgeable educators . A primary goal of the weekly seminar is to help students reflect cognitively and critically upon their field experiences. These seminar sessions are supplemented with selected readings from professional literature, which are also discussed during the seminars. In addition to these discussions, students keep a daily dialogue journal which is shared regularly with the instructor who offers written commentary as well as personal feedback.