by ALYSSA BOYER
Intern Lifestyles Reporter
To many students, the thrill of summer vacation is jaded by the certainty of working interminable hours at a boring summer job.
In some cases, however, a job can actually become the highlight of the summer, a daily adventure and springboard into future careers.
This summer, for the first time, Appalachian State University students have the opportunity to spend five weeks as a camp counselor in Russia, earning six credit hours in the process.
The program, Camp Counselors Russia, will provide students with
training in New York and Moscow before releasing them into the Russian
countryside where they will serve as American cultural ambassadors to
children.
Assistant Professor J. Joy James of the Health, Leisure and Exercise Science Department, is the program leader.
From speaking to those who have already served as counselors, James is sure the experience will be one to remember.
“I talked to people who had gone before and their faces would glow,” she said. “It was magic, they kept telling me.”
Counselors will help the children improve their English and share American culture through activities like playing baseball.
At the same time, they will build relationships and learn about a
country that James said has been America’s nemesis for some time.
James said 68 percent of the youth in Russia attend residential camps,
which were originally set up to support values of communism and are
still government supported.
John Paul Mcneal, advisor for the Camp Counselor program, went to Russia with the University of Georgia in 2005.
Mcneal said he discovered this communal aspect of the Russian children
during a hiking trip, which became one of his greatest memories from
his stay in the camp.
Because of a detail omission in translation, Mcneal packed many more
supplies than were necessary for the hike and began to lag behind the
other campers.
“By the end of the hike I was hardly carrying anything because they all
pitched in and that’s just how their culture is,” Mcneal said. “You all
work together.”
Despite the occasional confusion Mcneal experienced as one of the few
fluent English-speakers in his camp, he was pleased with his decision
to participate in a study abroad program with an atypical location and
purpose.
“I would encourage students to go a little outside [their] comfort zone and go for somewhere that’s an adventure,” he said.
Junior recreation management major James E. Hannen plans to heed
Mcneal’s advice and participate in Camp Counselors Russia this summer.
Hannen has been a camp counselor for the past six years, but is excited
to finally interact with children oversees and to see how similar or
different they are in comparison with American children.
“I’m doing this over an internship that I should be doing,” Hannen said, “But this opportunity comes maybe once in a lifetime.”
The program runs from June 9 through July 13, 2009, and costs $3,350 plus the cost of summer tuition.
Those interested should contact James by phone at 828-262-6322 or by email at
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