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Sixty-five years ago, Christian Youth Camps (CYC) was one small camp site on the sandy beaches of Philip Island, located 135km off the coast of Melbourne.
Its picturesque location, and growing demand from schools, soon encouraged the company to expand its facilities, opening up five more sites across Victoria that provide a range of season-tailored camps for students.
The company’s marketing manager, Nigel Rowe, says more than 90,000 students attended the CYC camps last year alone.
“We believe in the power of creating temporary communities and allowing students to challenge themselves and one another to become more resilient and wholesome people,” Rowe told The Educator.
Rowe said team initiative courses and team-building courses offer just as much scope, or even more, for students to grow as young adults.
“Students can of course experience that in other areas outside camps, but we think that when you take a group away and have them live with one another, it’s a different experience altogether,” he said.
“For example, it can help build character in different days and highlight empathy. Two students might share a fear of heights or water, and can help one another to overcome these fears.”
Rowe said that while CYC has a number of popular camp sites, the “crowning jewel” was City CYC, which the company spent a year building and renovating into a school camp.
“City CYC is about as good as school camping gets,” Rowe said.
“It is a group accommodation venue situated in a fully-refurbished, heritage-listed building in the heart of Melbourne’s CBD. It’s central, secure and ideal for school, church, youth and community groups.”
For teachers, Rowe said the experience is one of comfort and relaxation.
“This isn’t like the old days of school camping where the teachers have to rough it out in the rain or searing heat with their students,” he said.
“Our resort guest rooms are fully air-conditioned, ensuited and designed to comfortably accommodate up to six guests.”
Crafting students into leaders
Rowe said CYC’s Leadership In Training (LIT) program provides opportunities for students to engage in public speaking, facilitating discussions, supervising activities and conflict resolution under the guidance of the company’s team of experts.
“This has tremendous value for principals in the context of developing student leaders, and there is also evidence that shows these programs help them go on to excel in leadership endeavors back at school, such as becoming school captain,” he said.
“We’ve seen examples of students who have improved their outcomes and leadership abilities as a result of this program.”
There is also a big focus on volunteer leaders through the program, said Rowe.
“We encourage students to become cabin leaders for our holiday camps, as well as take on other roles such as programmers, first aid, media team, study leaders, camp parents and support staff,” he said.
Setting a positive example for children
Rowe said that in addition to the weekly camps, which run in two parts – from Monday to Wednesday and then from Wednesday to Friday – the company also runs CYC Ministry camps over the school holidays for students who are interested in the Bible.
“This program isn’t something we’re shy about, as anyone would see from visiting our website, but we welcome all students regardless of their faith or denomination,” Rowe said.
“Through our Ministry camps, individual kids can come along to learn more about the Bible, but we don’t ‘Bible bash’ kids. We live our life by example through our Christian faith and try to be good role models for those who attend our camps.”