NYSP 2011

As I sit here reflecting upon my Senior Capstone experience with the NYSP Camp, I cannot believe how much I have grown as a person through this camp. At first I felt out of my comfort zone but then I soon realized that getting to know the campers turned out to be the greatest experience that could have happened. Knowing the campers allowed me to adjust myself into this new atmosphere of the NYSP Camp.

After the first part of the camp I was able to participate in softball and at the halfway point I had the opportunity to teach the campers about nutrition. This at first was a challenge getting the campers to sit in a classroom and educate them on health related issues. I soon realized that I needed to get creative to get the campers engaged in our health lesson. My fellow nursing students and I educated the campers of what nutritional snacks include. Once the campers understood what a healthy snack was my fellow nursing students and I brought in food for the campers to make trail mix! The campers loved it! We gave them each a plastic bag and they went around the room and made their individual trail mix consisting of various nuts, raisins, and chocolate chips. This was great because it got the campers engaged into our discussion and actively participating in hands on activities. We also played fun nutritional games with the kids. We portioned out various foods and showed them how much sugar and salt was in each item. I found that the kids responded best to visual demonstrations. Showing the kids how much sugar was in a candy bar versus yogurt put a really good picture of how unhealthy certain foods are. I had the opportunity to have Australian students in my classroom. I found it interesting that they did not know what "pop" was. I had to show them was it was when I was discussing it in class. I feel they brought a great contribution to the class. They were able to share their daily nutritional diet to the rest of the class. By doing this the other students were very engaged on how differently their diets were. The campers where asking each other questions about their diet and I was very proud that the campers could facilitate a conversation within their group. In the end, I enjoyed teaching the campers about nutrition. I feel that I have made an impact on what they know about nutrition and feel that they will make better nutritional choices in their everyday life.