In praise of summer camp

a news release by the Media Relations team.

The positive development that children and youth experience at summer camp results in sustained behavioural changes at home, school and in the community, says a new study from a team of researchers at the University of Waterloo.

“We found that summer camp allows for either improvement or reinforcement of positive attitudes and behaviours, and these changes are maintained long after camp has ended,” said Professor Troy Glover, a professor in the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies at Waterloo, and the lead investigator on the study. "A lot more goes on at summer camp than roasting marshmallows and singalongs."

Part of the multi-phase Canadian Summer Camp Research Project, the study asked 1,405 parents of campers between the ages of 4 and 18 if they noticed any changes in their children’s attitudes or behaviours since returning from camp. The study looked specifically at social integration and citizenship, environmental awareness, attitudes towards physical activity, emotional intelligence, self-confidence and personal development.

“Parents perceived positive development in all five areas. Regardless of age, gender or camp experience, all campers experienced some degree of positive outcomes and growth,” said Professor Glover.

Older children tended to experience the greatest changes in attitudes and behaviours, while female campers experienced greater levels of social integration and citizenship than boys.

Children who stayed at camp longer exhibited greater changes in the five areas studied, with returning campers experiencing greater positive changes than new campers. Camp was rarely an aversive experience for youth, nor was it associated with negative changes.

Glover suggests that the findings support the development of national camp programs that focus on fostering positive outcomes in youth, rather than on programs that narrowly focus on decreasing unhealthy risk in children.

“In short, the camp experience transfers into everyday life, in the best way possible. Parents need to leverage this and help children develop and maintain the skills and values that will allow them to be successful adults,” said Professor Glover.

The study was prepared for the Canadian Camping Association. It represents the third phase of the three-phase project.

 

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Student group holds stock pitch competition

The UW Finance Association, a campus finance society, is hosting a stock pitch competition on Saturday, July 20 at the Mike and Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre.

More than 20 teams will be making presentations in front of a panel of judges that include industry professionals in investment banking, asset management, and equity research from CIBC World Markets, BMO Capital Markets, the CPP Investment Board, Polar Securities, and more.

The teams will be pitching a buy-recommendation on a North American exchange-listed stock. Probably trickier than it sounds, because the student teams have been preparing for more than a month, with the finance society organizing two public tutorials last week to help competitors get ready for their presentations.

Formal pitches will take place at 11:00 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., followed by an awards ceremony and networking event.

 

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Athletics launches refreshed website

with files from the Department of Athletics

Today the University of Waterloo Department of Athletics launches a redesigned version of its website, built for smoother functionality and enhanced visual appeal. With a greather emphasis on photo and video content and a streamlined user experience, the redesigned gowarriorsgo.ca website is a major step forward for Athletics' online presence.

“We are very excited about the improved functionality and clean look to the redesigned site,” said Social Media and Brand Manager Steve Brooks.  “Our website is the centralized hub for all of our content.  With social media playing such a big role in all aspects of communication, our goal is to continue to drive traffic through those outlets back to our site.”

The updated site gives its visitors a more interactive, user-friendly experience with hopes of attracting new users and participants.  New features include a live Twitter feed, a larger video portal, more images, a scrolling event ticker, rollover links and more.

Over the last year, gowarriorsgo.ca has been viewed over 300,000 times and will only continue to grow with a cleaner, more holistic looking website.

 

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