Funding from the Idaho Out-of-School Network helped a summer camp in Boise reach more young learners than ever before and allowed the program to expand its offerings to the Teton Valley.
“This was transformational for the success of our summer camp operations,” said Julia Grief, Development and Alumni Coordinator for One Stone. “Staff salaries are one of the largest line items in camp budgets. ION funding helped cover these costs and allowed us to hire extra support, which allowed us to increase registration caps.”
Additionally, the grant funding covered the cost of daily healthy snacks and lunches for campers and high school guides. This funding covered another large line item: youth learning supplies, including books, STEM activities and experiments, art materials, and more.
“The Idaho Out-of-School Network’s support was instrumental in One Stone being able to expand our camp offerings,” explained Grief. “Our camp registration was incredibly successful, with three of our camps filling within 12 hours of opening registration.”
The summer camp had a record number of high school students interested in planning and serving as guides to little buddies. “Taking the increased demand into account, we were able to increase our registration quota by 60%, serving more young learners than ever before,” said Grief.
One Stone is a student-led non-profit organization headquartered in Boise with a mission to make students better leaders and the world a better place. Its founding program, Project Good, has high school students design human-centered solutions to real-world issues.
In 2013, One Stone’s Project Good set out to provide enriching out-of-school opportunities for Idaho’s young learners and designed a six-week literacy program for first and second graders called Open Book Adventures. “The demand for this program was incredible and more far-reaching than we could have imagined,” said Grief, who is also a proud Project Good alumnus.
After the success of its literacy project, Project Good students then created four summer camps, each one focusing on literacy, STEM, art, or entrepreneurship. Combined, these camps serve 150 students in first through eighth grades each summer.
The Idaho Out-of-School Network’s grant funds allowed Project Good to expand their STEM and literacy camp offerings at no cost to the Teton Valley in 2022.
Moving forward, One Stone hopes to provide a quality camp experience to as many students as possible. “Last summer, the waiting lists for every camp were just as long as the number of kids registered,” said Grief.
To do that, One Stone partners with organizations with expertise on the areas that the program wants to serve. “These diverse perspectives ensure we are addressing needs in an empathetic and collaborative way,” explained Grief.
For its expansion into Teton Valley, One Stone partnered with local non-profit and community organizations that provided funding and guidance for how to bring enriching and educational camps to the area.
Looking back at the success of the 2022 summer camps, Grief shared an important achievement: “One of our buddies who attended our literacy camp said that one of the things he learned was that ‘sometimes adults listen to students’,” said Grief. “We were proud that our younger buddy felt how powerful it can be when adults listen to students.”
Grief is proud of many impacts of the camps, such as students growing more confident and curious, making healthy and supportive connections to their peers and guides, developing important life skills, and finishing camp with an increased overall sense of well-being.
What she finds most valuable is having high school students serving the young learners attending camp. “When younger students are supported by an older, caring mentor, they feel safe exploring new learning opportunities and developing skills they otherwise might not have,” explained Grief. “Having a high school guide who is closer in age is also helpful, because they serve as role models who are not too far removed from the younger learner’s experiences.”
Youth Voice, Leadership, and Encouragement is one of the Idaho Building Blocks for Out-of-School Time Quality provided by the Idaho Out-of-School Network. Grief believes other out-of-school time programs can learn from One Stone’s experiences elevating high school students to voice and envision how they want to do good in the world.
“When given the opportunity, guidance, and tools, they implement and execute programs that generate empathy, compassion, and a positive impact on their community and beyond,” said Grief. “Student perspective is paramount to designing programs that address their needs and development, so we highly recommend bringing them into the process and letting them take the lead.”
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