Career preparation after summer camp
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EmailYouth can prepare for their future career after a summer camp.
The benefits of youth participating in a summer camp can continue after the camp is over. Youth can start with the lessons they learned from activities they participated in while at camp. After the camp is over, youth can use their experience and apply it to their daily lives. For example, the skills they learned at camp can be used for service learning. Career preparation activities are other ways youth can participate in to continue their camp experience.
First, youth can take the time for reflection and think about the skills or talents they discovered or developed during camp and record them in a journal. This information can be taken from an educational session, game or a team-building exercise.
After reflection and recording, research is another step for youth to take. Youth can research jobs or careers that matched their skills or talents. Youth may have developed other types of interests like a hobby or an interest in some type of social cause as a result of participating in camp. Hobbies and social causes can also be used to make a match for a future career like the skills and talents.
Service learning can be a career development activity. Youth can research nonprofit agencies, schools and other agencies based on their skills, talents, hobbies and social causes to find a place to volunteer. When service learning is used as a career development activity, youth should take the time to reflect and journal the skills they learned to record on their resume or talk about in a job interview.
Another experience to consider after the camp is a job shadow experience. This gives students a chance to observe someone and ask questions about their career. Places to check for a job shadow experience could be a school program, a career tech center or any type of agency that offers programs for career exploration and workforce preparation.
A resource through 4-H that assists youth with career preparation is the Build Your Future curriculum. Michigan State University Extension’s 4-H Youth Development Program has resources for the different topics in careers. Camps can be a good starting point for youth to learn different things and use them for their career development.
