acanewengland.org

Training for Camp Professionals

Seminars, Certifications, and Classes for the Camp Community

ACA New England offers access to a variety of educational programs throughout the year. To see what's coming up, check out our Professional Calendar. To submit an event for the Camp Professional community, click here.

 

Training Opportunities

 
Visitor & Associate Visitor Training
ACA Visitors are crucial to the accreditation process. Completion of the Associate Visitor Training (AVT) course, as well as a Standards course (you can register for the next one here or here for the PDF version; check the calendar for dates), is a step on the road to becoming an Associatrainingte Visitor. Following this training, each candidate, with the assistance of the course's instructors, will evaluate her skills and readiness. New Associate Visitors will join our New England Mentor program and will accompany a number of experienced Visitors to observe a variety of camps and share information about policies, procedures, and practices, and program. Accreditation visits are great opportunities to grow professionally and contribute meaningfully to the camp field. Once an Associate Visitor has done a number of visits accompanying a Lead Visitor, the ACA New England Standards Committee will evaluate whether to elevate her to Visitor.
 
Standards courses
There are three types of Standards courses:
  • The Standards course is designed to help prepare camp directors for their camps' upcoming accreditation visits and to serve as an introduction to the Standards program. It is a free program, offered 4-5 times/year, and is open to anyone interested in improving the quality of their camp and camp program.
  • The Standards Update course is designed for Visitors and experienced directors who have previously taken a Standards course.
  • The Online Standards course is available only if you've taken a Standards course before or if you're familiar with the Standards/Accreditation program.

If you're interested in registering online for any of these courses, use this form or this PDF. In the meantime, check out our Professional Calendar for upcoming dates.

 
 
Certification courses
These courses are offered primarily in May and June, hosted by individual camps across New England. While camps often send counselors they've already hired to these in order for them to gain additional expertise in a particular area, it's not uncommon for job applicants to attend, too. If you're a job seeker and want to find a course during the fall or winter, go here for information on tracking down something through the local chapters of various certifying bodies.

 

 

Fall Seminar

 
You can read about this year's Fall Seminar, "Marketing for Camp Directors, Managers, and Owners," featuring Jodi Rudick, an expert on marketing for camps and recreation agencies, here.
 
ACA New England coordinates a Fall Professional Seminar each October. Typically, we bring in an engaging speaker to address a timely issue. In the past three years, presentations have included Dr. Ethan Schafer talking about managing risky behaviors, mental health issues, and sexuality at camp; Fred Miller - President of the Chatham Group - talking about the impact of changing birth demographics, economics, and trends in parenting; the inimitable Bob Ditter talking about technology and camp.