The staff are the cornerstone of everything we do at ISTC. For three months of the year, they cheer, dance, laugh, and do everything in between to make sure our campers have a fabulous time. The rest of the year, they are back home teaching, coaching, or doing something else entirely different from camp; however, one staff member has taken her ISTC experiences to dive further into the camp world.
Tors, a long time coach and athletic director at ISTC, is now at the University of Utah to pursue her doctorate degree and her research is entirely camp focused! Throughout her summers, she interviewed and collected data from ISTC campers, CIT’s, coaches, counselors, and members of the leadership team to see the different variables that contributed to positive youth development at our sports camp. Campers often say that you just need to be here to experience it but Tors’ research identifies and validates the aspects of camp that promote beneficial outcomes for everyone involved.
Recently, she has become a research assistant for the American Camp Association (ACA), which is the overarching body that sets the standard for camps. ISTC is an ACA accredited camp and her work will only give camp directors and leaders opportunities to better camp programming for all campers. It’s incredible to see one of our own making a difference for ISTC and camps around the country; take a look at her journey at ISTC and beyond in this ACA Research 360 blog.
