Summer Camp: The Importance Of Child Thought
My childhood memories of camps and afterschool programs have always had a slight bit of negativity tied to them. It's difficult for me to pinpoint the source of this discomfort I had associated with outdoor camps, but my perspective has changed in the past months. This summer, I photographed and counseled five to ten year old campers at an outdoor camp here in Seattle. The camp I worked at aims to guide rather than instruct campers through learning activities based on their own personal interests. Witnessing this practice firsthand, I noticed campers rapidly gain confidence in themselves. It was genuinely inspiring watching these campers' thought processes, and I constantly found myself impressed by their creative problem-solving.
Going into this project, I had an idea of how I wanted to photograph the camp but found myself quickly switching gears as I was introduced to the creativity of the campers. I expressed to them constantly how jealous I was of their influence-free way of thinking (even though they never really seemed to care). Everything they produced felt completely genuine and their own, which sometimes feels impossible to achieve with my own photos.
I think our society too often writes off anything that feels too different from the norm, especially when it comes from children. Children’s unconventional problem solving can sometimes easily be categorized as “bad” due to its inefficiency or irregularity. I believe it’s important to understand that children have access to a perspective that is lost with maturity, and there is inherent value in it that requires time to recognize. Children’s minds are truly a gift that deserve proper respect and consideration.
Teaching systems like the one used at this camp require relatively high teacher-to-student ratios. This is unfortunately not the case in many classrooms due to insufficient funding. Experiencing firsthand the difficulty of giving adequate attention to a large group of children, I understand how it’s near impossible to hear the voice of every child in a large classroom with a single instructor. As a consequence, students can be put in places that don’t feel natural to them but have fewer avenues to express their discomfort. Long-term issues from this feeling of alienation can arise, causing serious problems.
Possibly the most fulfilling part of this experience was sharing cameras with the campers and seeing their genuine excitement for something that has given so much to me personally. I want to share some select photos (below) from the thousands they took.
