VOICE ONE:
More than nine-million Americanchildren are spending part of their summer at a camp. They areswimming, playing sports, making music or learning to use acomputer. I’m Shirley Griffith.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Steve Ember. We tell about summer camps today on the VOASpecial English program, THIS IS AMERICA.
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VOICE ONE:
Traditional American summer camps offer children a chance to playmany sports outdoors. These camps may be in the mountains, in thewoods or at a lake. Other camps teach activities like painting,music or computer programming. Children at all kinds of camps meetnew friends, learn new skills and develop independence.
Some children go to camp during the day and return home at night.Others stay at camp all day and all night. Most children who attendcamp are between the ages of about six and sixteen.
Some children stay at an overnight camp for one or two weeks.Others stay for as many as eight weeks. Parents pay from one hundredto more than seven-hundred dollars a week for overnight camps.
VOICE TWO:
Children from poor families who live in a big city might not getthe chance to go to a summer camp. The Fresh
Air Fund is a well-known organization that gives children in NewYork City that chance. People around the country give money tosupport the Fresh Air Fund. Each summer, it sends more thanten-thousand poor children from the city to stay with families inthe country or to five camps in New York State.
Since Eighteen-Seventy-Seven, the Fresh Air Fund has helpedalmost two-million of New York City’s most needy children.Thesechildren do what they cannot do in the city: breathe fresh air, playon green grass and swim in a lake. Some children begin staying withthe same family when they are very young and continue for a numberof summers.
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VOICE ONE:The American tradition of sending children to summercamp began more than one-hundred years ago. The first organizedAmerican camp probably was the Gunnery Camp. Frederick W. Gunn andhis wife Abigail Gunn started it. They operated a school for boys inthe state of Connecticut.
In Eighteen Sixty-One, Mister and Missus Gunn took their studentson a two-week trip. They walked to the chosen area and set up camp.The students fished, hunted, and traveled by boat.
VOICE TWO:
Today, summer camps for children have become very important tomillions of families. Many American women now work outside the home.Working parents need a place where their children can be cared forduring the summer when they are not in school.
Camps help children, too. For most children, overnight camp isthe only time during the year when they are away from their parents.Camp gives them a chance to feel that they are independent. Camperslive together in cloth tents or in wood cabins. They eat their mealstogether in a large dining room.
Sometimes, however, the first time at summer camp can bedifficult. Children might not like living with other campers. Theymight not like the food. Or, they might not like to do things likeswim in a cold lake. Some new campers miss their parents very much.
VOICE ONE:
Mental health expert Chris Thurber studied almostthree-hundred-thirty boy campers. The boys were between the ages ofeight and sixteen. They were staying at an overnight camp.Eighty-three percent reported that they wished they were home atleast one day during their time at camp.
The American Camping Association suggests that parents preparechildren before sending them to camp. They say parents should letchildren help choose the camp. And they advise parents to discusswhat the camp will be like and what campers will need to know. Forexample, parents can show their children how to use a flashlight tofind a bathroom at night.
Experts say young children may feel better at camp if they bringa toy from home. And parents can write letters to their childrenoften.
VOICE TWO:
Most young people have a good time at camp. Many return to thesame camp every summer until they are old enough to have a job. Thenthey might return to the camp to work as a group leader for theyounger children.
For example, a woman from the state of Illinois attended camp innearby Wisconsin every summer for more than ten years. Then shebecame a group leader at the camp. Many years later her own childrenattended the same camp. Now she says that someday her grandchildrenwill go there, too.
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VOICE ONE:
There are about nine-thousand camps in the United States. Most ofthem are overnight camps. There are camps for children with manykinds of interests.For example, a camp called Roughing It is in theSan Francisco Bay area of California. It offers traditionalactivities for children and teenagers. Campers climb mountains, takelong walks and ride horses. They play sports, swim and fish. Othercamps offer just one main activity. Children can go to a camp wherethey play just one sport, like tennis, soccer, baseball orbasketball. Young people who like the arts can spend the summerlearning about art, music, dance, acting or writing.
VOICE TWO:
The best known camp for young artists is the Interlochen ArtsCamp. It is part of the Interlochen Center for the Arts in the stateof Michigan. Its music program is especially well known. More thantwo-thousand young people from the United States and forty othercountries are attending the arts camp this summer.
Camps that offer programs in science and environmental studiesare popular, too. For example, the United States Space Camp inHuntsville, Alabama welcomes adults as well as children. Wholefamilies can live together in a place like a real space station.They take part in activities similar to those carried out duringreal space shuttle flights.
VOICE ONE:
Another special camp is Seacamp in Big Pine Key, Florida. Teenagecampers learn to dive under water using breathing equipment. Theystudy the ocean environment.
Some older children like wilderness adventure camps. Campers takelong trips by bicycle or canoe. They climb big rocks and explorecaves.
Each year, an increasing number of children develop theirknowledge of technology at computer camps. This summer, more thanthirty-thousand young people are attending the top computer camps inthe United States.
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VOICE TWO:
The United States also has many camps for sick or disabledchildren. At these camps, children take part in traditionalactivities and receive special medical care. While the children areaway, their parents get a rest.
Handi Kids in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, has a day camp forchildren and young adults with health problems. The campers havepoor hearing or sight. But this does not stop them from enjoyingwater sports, arts, dance, music and other activities.
Perhaps the most famous camp for sick children is called the Holein the Wall Gang Camp in the state of Connecticut. It is forchildren with AIDS, cancer, and serious blood diseases. The famousactor Paul Newman started the first Hole in the Wall Gang Camp inNineteen-Eighty-Eight. Similar camps have been established in otherparts of the United States, Ireland and France.
VOICE ONE:
For many children in overnight camps across the United States,the day ends in a traditional way. They gather around the campfireto cook and eat a sweet dessert food called “s’mores.” The camperscook marshmallows over the fire. They put the marshmallows and apiece of chocolate between two graham crackers. This food got itsname because after campers eat one, they ask for “some more,” ors’more for short. As the fire dies, the campers join in singingtraditional songs like this one.
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Chances are, the children will always remember the fun they hadand the songs they sang in the firelight of summer camp.
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VOICE TWO:
This program was written by Jerilyn Watson. It was produced byCaty Weaver. Our studio engineer was Keith Holmes. I’m Steve Ember.
VOICE ONE:
And I’m Shirley Griffith. Join us again next week for anotherreport about life in the United States on the VOA Special Englishprogram, THIS IS AMERICA.