Quincy students benefit from camp

MOSES LAKE - Student leaders from Monument Elementary School met with the school board last week to show how much they've grown as individuals.

The outdoor camp was aimed at helping fifth- and sixth-grade students with potential to become leaders.

During last May and June, school staff made a list of potential students who they thought would benefit from the camp.

"We chose students who we thought had the potential to be really good leaders but hadn't had the opportunity," says Monument Principal Don Francis. "They were kids who maybe didn't have an opportunity to go camping or canoeing normally."

Francis says staff met with parents to talk about camp and explained that they wanted the kids to be leaders in the school.

"We saw they had potential but might be struggling in building relationships with teachers and those around them," says Francis. "They had to earn their spot at camp but we know that helped them get better."

During the school district board meeting, Francis shared data linking students' ability to attend camp with the enormous drop in suspensions and referrals. The number of suspensions in 2009/2010 was 35, whereas this year there have only been seven suspensions.

The first outdoor camp was in August and 25 kids participated in activities including canoeing, preparing their own meals, fishing, hiking and capture the flag as well as leadership courses.

"I really enjoyed canoeing," Francis says. "Some of the kids had never canoed before and we went across Lake Roosevelt. The kids did a lot of zigzagging. It was pretty windy and it was fun to see them dig in. At the end they were racing to see who could get back to camp first.'

Two more camps in October and January allowed students to experience a rope course, snowshoeing and more.

"There's a core group that have gone to all three camps. The kids are expected to be really good leaders so they have to meet academic goals and behavior goals to go to the next camp," says Francis.

So far 45 kids have participated in the camps and Francis says the school is planning to continue the program.

"We plan on keeping it up and feel strongly that we need to have some sort of leadership module on a regular basis. The kids take a lot of pride in being leaders. Some of these kids never would have thought of themselves as leaders two years ago and now you can't change the fact they are leaders," says Francis. "We've been pretty much been paying out of our building budget; we want to get some sponsors so we can keep this going. We want this to be sustainable."

In April, students will do a backpacking trip and are already busy training and getting in shape.

 "They are excited about that and we'll put it to the test and do the backpacking test."