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ACCT Practitioner Certification Standards
In June 2007, The Association for Challenge Course Technology published Practitioner
Certification Standards, which are designed to produce a uniform language and
standard of practice in the challenge course industry. The standards were created
by a committee drawn from both the vendor and the practitioner communities, including
people with extensive experience in camping, and were sent out for public comment
several times in order to gather the widest amount of input possible.
These standards outline the procedures
to be followed in a certification program,
which will actually be administered by
Challenge Course vendors. The standards
define the levels of certification, with
Level I (entry level); Level II (experienced
facilitator); and Challenge Course Manager
(experienced facilitator with managerial
training); and outline the skills and experience
included at each level.
The standards have been sent out to current
ACCT members and are available for purchase
on the ACCT Web page, www.acctinfo.org,
or by calling 847-325-5860.
For more information, contact Sylvia Dresser,
executive director of ACCT, at Sylvia@acctinfo.org or 847-945-0829.
Research Nuggets from TRU (Teenage Research
Unlimited)
And the Teens Said . . . .
The language, the fashion, the gadgets
that find their way to school at the beginning
of the year no doubt will find their way,
or at least try to find their way, to camp
this summer. What should we be preparing
for? According to the August
24, 2008, edition of TruTeen, students
appeared with the following items: expensive
designer purses (no mention if there was
an accessory teacup pet in there, too),
the latest "labeled" clothing,
and the most "have-to-have" of
the season, the iPhone. Are
your camper and staff policies prepared
to address such items? Will you need
to tweak your parent packet information?
Interestingly, TruTeen didn’t stop
at asking what did teens bring but followed
it up with asking if they had the ability
to invent something and bring it to school,
what would it be? While some responses
were similar to those depicted in the nostalgic
newsreels of the "City of Tomorrow" mock
ups complete with monorails and individual
space packs, we saw in grade school, teens
had some inventive nuggets embedded in
their replies. Their suggestions included
a green, paper-free environment; a locker
combination that did away with the two
turns right, one turn left, now line up
the numbers method of opening; and
a means to keep one’s lunch at a
serve-safe temperature all day. What kind
of feedback would we get if the context
was camp? Predictably,
our campers would say elevators, air conditioning,
moving sidewalks, etc. However, we
shouldn’t shy away from asking such
questions. We just may stumble upon
a gem that could improve our camp community
and the experience of the campers in it.
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