Sunday, May 22, 2011
One Question with Jason Masching, Camp Alta Mons program services director
Is the value of "camp" just for kids in summer?
Jason Masching
The latest from The Ticker blog
Summertime is money -- literally -- for places like Camp Alta Mons in Shawsville.
Through its four popular camp sessions, Alta Mons will welcome most of its guests -- and revenue -- during summer months as hundreds of kids descend on its sprawling 850 acres.
Jason Masching, Alta Mons' program services director, has lived with his wife at the United Methodist camp for the last six years. He knows the value of summer to Alta Mons.
But Masching also has been working hard to answer the question: Is the value of "camp" just for kids in summer?
"A lot of camps, especially summer camps, have evolved into year-round retreat ministries. How can we help people relate to their natural world, relate to the environment? How can we help folks with their spiritual development?
"The American Camping Association put out a document that says camping creates a sense of value for our natural world, it creates the value of community and contribution, of volunteering, helping to build cabins, taking care of the land, and I think that translates into summer camp where kids come out, learn to live in communities, taking care of themselves, all in a structured environment.
"We've been known as a summer camp for many years. But Alta Mons has been reaching out to college communities. A lot of volunteers have come down from VT Engage, the ROTC program. We've had volunteers and interns from Radford University and recently we have developed a closer relationship with the Department of Life Science at Roanoke College.
"[Roanoke College associate professor] Dr. Jon Cawley has brought his students here for years to hike up to the falls to study the area. While he was out here he noticed we had some old apple trees and he asked if he could plant some heritage apple trees there. There were two reasons why we wanted to do that: One, to help Roanoke College out where they had a place where they could learn about grafting of these heritage trees that they've grown at the college. And it gives us an opportunity where we can have these apple trees that we can use for our own use. They were planted in an area where we've been trying to take back to protect a stream bank.
"Or our wetlands area. ... We have five acres of wetland that is a full ecosystem by itself. We've had school groups come out and study it. We've had campers come out and study it. [Boy Scout] Troop 342 has built a duck hatchery area there.
"This year we have also partnered with a land sustainability group at Virginia Tech, a club that focuses on development and planning land use. They're looking at places like our RV area, looking to redesign it to make it more environmentally friendly as well as provide a better guest experience.
"These facilities are attracting more people and attracting more interest from folks who are partnering with us to protect the area.
"For instance, we now offer a college preparation program where we teach financial, social, spiritual and life skills for college-bound kids, where we also show them how to cook for a group of folks using the kind of appliances they'd have in a dorm room.
"Or we offer a place for older adult and church group retreats, board retreats, wilderness moments. For older adults, we're finding a lot of them are wanting to retire but wanting to stay active. So we're developing more partnerships with RSVP [Retired Senior Volunteer Program] and Montgomery County to have opportunities for them. Last couple of years we've had someone working part-time to develop our volunteer aspects.
"A lot of these are win-wins. It's a great place for learning and also good for us.
"I really do see that there's a need for everybody of all ages to have some retreat time ... not to really be over-programmed, but to have some away time. I really feel like it's an important life lesson for our youth to understand, that they don't need to be surrounded by technology to survive. Youth and young adults are having to disconnect, figuring out, 'what is my identity outside of technology?'
"I've noticed people come out and hike, or come out in RVs and just sit and just have an escape. People saying, 'Wow, I didn't realize how much that I miss getting back to the basics.' Or, 'I really can live without people calling me on the cellphone.' People who are retiring coming out and they're not wanting to have the technology. Some of them who have done that their whole life saying, 'I don't want that.' "
-- Michael Hemphill, special to The Roanoke Times
