The Phenomenon of Community: A Summer Camp Staff Perspective

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to identify the different elements of the summer camp environment that either encourage or create barriers to building community. Many studies have been conducted looking at the benefits for campers in a summer camp setting; however, few studies look at the sense of community among summer camp staff. Of those, most revolve around the benefits of a high sense of community rather than the factors that influence sense of community. This study was conducted at a traditional residential summer camp, and the encouragers and barriers to building a sense of community among that summer staff were examined. The research design was a qualitative analysis using descriptive research with a semi-structured approach using a phenomenological lens. The Sense of Community Index 2 (SCI-2) survey was used, along with summer staff interviews and photos submitted by participants that visually depicted their sense of “community.” Using these different research designs allowed a bigger picture of the community and those encouragers and barriers of this particular summer staff. The research found the themes that encouraged community building to be the environment, employee connections, shared experiences, and interpersonal relationships, and the themes that created barriers to community building to be the environment, job-related demands, human behavior constraints, and organizational policies and procedures.