10+ Ways Students Can Make a Difference at Camp and Beyond

Students are often looking for opportunities to demonstrate their responsibility and care for others. If you’re a student, you can show the adults around you at camp- your teachers, chaperones, and camp instructors- that YOU are capable of making a difference with these activities!

1. Remind Drivers to Not Idle

Pine Valley Outdoor Science Camp is committed to being a no-idle zone. This helps keep our campers safe and our air clean. Even if you’re not in the driver’s seat, you can help by reminding your bus driver or carpool driver that the engine should not run for more than 10 seconds when parking, loading, and unloading. Not only can you do this at camp, but you can also advocate for no-idle zones at your home, school, church, library, park, and other locations you frequent!

2. Pick Up Litter

Picking up litter improves the looks of an area and negates the pollution that can occur from litter. Simply pick up what you see and relocate it to the nearest trash can (or recycling bin, if it’s recyclable… see #5). You can pick up litter anywhere, but there’s a special incentive for doing so at Pine Valley Outdoor Science Camp. During your camp session, if all the students collectively pick up at least 400 pieces of litter, then the traveling team that picked up the most litter gets to choose one adult to wear a penguin costume on the last day of camp!

3. Don’t Waste Food

Food waste has become a huge problem in our country. It’s unnecessarily filling up our landfills, and it’s making food less accessible to those who need it. At Pine Valley Outdoor Science Camp, we spend the beginning of each mealtime learning about this topic in Food & Waste class. At camp, the best way to prevent food waste is to only take what you know you’ll eat when going through the buffet line. If you eat everything and are still hungry, you’re always welcome to grab a second plate and get more food. These guidelines can be applied anywhere you eat!

4. Compost

While we’ll always advocate that edible food should be eaten, what about the parts of food that aren’t exactly appetizing? If you have a banana peel, apple core, or even a used napkin, that can be composted! Composting food scraps, paper products, and yard trimmings means that instead of throwing these in a dumpster and taking up landfill space, these items will transform into a rich soil to provide nutrition to plants. When you compost at camp, you’ll get to spin our tumbling composter, which is super fun. You can also compost at home with a compost tumbler, a compost heap, or even a worm bin! To learn more about composting, ask your teacher if you can take the Waste Awareness class at camp!

5. Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle

At Pine Valley Outdoor Science Camp, we try to reduce waste as much as possible by preventing it from ever being created, and you’ll notice that a lot of our class materials are reusable. For anything we can’t reduce or reuse, we check if it’s recyclable. A great way that you can make a difference is by learning what’s recyclable at your home and school, and then ensure that your waste gets separated appropriately. We will teach you what’s recyclable at our camp so that you can help with recycling clean paper, cardboard, cans, cartons, and hard plastic.

6. Limit Electricity Use

Making a difference sometimes requires a simple switch- a light switch, that is! At camp, be sure to turn off the lights whenever you leave your dorm room. If the temperature permits, also turn your heater off, or at least lower the temperature since you’ll be out at classes all day. There are a lot of ways you can reduce your electrical usage at camp, at school, at home, and anywhere else. One easy way is by avoiding “vampire electricity.” This is electricity that’s being used to charge something that’s already fully charged or not in use. So when your phone reaches 100%, be sure to unplug it! Of course, that won’t be an issue at camp since phones aren’t allowed.

7. Clean Up After Yourself and Others

At camp, there’s a lot of sharing going on. You’re sharing a dorm room with up to 11 other people. You’re sharing a table at meals. And you’re sharing class supplies with up to 19 of your classmates. Yes, sharing is caring, but sharing also means that we need to share the responsibility in cleaning up. Don’t leave a mess for your teacher or camp instructor. Help at the end of a class or activity by putting everything back where it belongs. At meals, bus your dishes to the correct spot, wipe your tabletop with the provided cleaner, and check underneath your chair for anything that might’ve been dropped. And here’s a big tip: whether you’re in class at camp or class at school, it always makes a great impression when you ask your teacher if there is anything you can do to help!

8. Include Others

Camp is an awesome time to spend with friends, and you’ll be getting to spend more time with your classmates than you do during a typical day at school. Make sure everyone is included in the fun, even those you don’t normally hang out with. You can partner with someone outside your usual friend group for a science class, sit at a lunch table with people you’d like to get to know better, or invite others to play a game during Afternoon Activity time. Who knows? Your invitation to join a round of gaga ball or ax throwing might just create a new friendship!

9. Use Water Wisely

If you take Meteorology class at camp, you may be surprised to discover just how much water you use in a day! Camp is a great place to challenge yourself to take shorter showers and find other ways to avoid wasting water. That being said, make sure you are using water is ways that are beneficial. Be sure to pack a reusable water bottle so that you can keep hydrated and avoid waste.

10. Be Supportive

Camps is full of challenging experiences. Whether you’re climbing trees in Heights and Balances class, scaling the elements in Junior High Ropes, or working together in Team Building, there will be some activities that will stretch you and your friends. Even just being at camp can be a new environment for some of your classmates. Remember that camp is not just about you; it’s an experience for all of your classmates, chaperones, and teachers. Find ways that you can support them, whether it’s cheering them on as they play Human Foosball or listening carefully when an adult is giving instructions, find ways that you can be supportive. Yes, both adults and your peers could use your support! Be sure to thank your teachers, parents, and chaperones for all they’ve done to allow you to come to camp… and for everything else they do to help you throughout the year!

These aren’t the only ways you can make a difference at camp. Comment below with other ideas you have that you can enact at camp- or anywhere else!