Megan Lankford
Being a cabin counselor provided me with the responsibility to fill many roles for the campers. This role taught me to educate with devotion. The girls learned and responded best when they felt safe in their environment. They needed to know that I could be take care of them and respect their opinions and struggles. The girls' also required me to facilitate fruitful group discussion as well as productive individual conversation.
My role as a tribal competition coach forced me to balance competitive spirit with encouragement. This form of education included teaching a larger group rules and regulations as well as implementing strategy in the moment. I learned to adjust my plan based off of the game as well as the abilities of each camper. A large aspect of coaching was also instilling confidence in campers of all ranges of ability.
My time at Camp Ozark provided me with countless opportunities to educate campers. As a staff member I played three primary roles: instructor, coach, and mentor. Camp Ozark allowed me to experience an extremely diverse form of educating. Each day and camper brought different needs and expectations. This taught me how to educate in unique environments as well as showed me my passion for teenagers and their unique struggles.
As a ropes course instructor, I learned to educate in high intensity situations. I filled many roles as an adventure course staff member: zip line facilitation, belaying, repelling, and teaching rock climbing. Often times kids would be afraid and in a high risk position when I was giving directions. I learned to manage these situations by speaking with confidence, compassion, and urgency. This experience taught me to think and act quickly to provide safety and confidence for the campers.
Camp Ozark