PSU Magazine Spring 2002

30 years of experience in an outdoor classroom For 30 years, Portland State stu– dents have changed lives-includ– ing their own-as they've helped people with disabilities at Camp Kiwanis in the Mt. Hood National Forest. In 1972, Prof. Steve Brannan entered an agreement with the Mt. Hood Kiwanis Camp, Inc. , to as i t in the outdoor experience prov ided fo r children, youth, and adults with disabilities. That assistance has come in the fo rm of PSU cudent counselor , who in tum have gain d experience and understanding in special and general education, human service profess ions, and in the world of those with challenges different than their own. No other university in the United tates has sustained a program such as this. Forty students enroll as counselors fo r each two-week session every sum– mer. They li ve at the camp, each overseeing the care of a camper as he or she participates in fishing, swim– ming, horseback riding, canoeing, games, inging, skits, and campfires. The counselors focu on giving their camper the best experience possible. There are also supervisor - licen ed pecial education teachers or profes– sionals from related fields-who provide training, as istance, and oversight for the students. "The dyn amics of resident training is an experience that can accomplish so much fo r students and the people they serve ," says Brannan, now professor em ritus of spec ial educa tion. "In chi true-life setting, our students see all a pects of a person with disabilities-the cognitive, personal, oc ial, emotional, phy ical, and working se lf- rea ll y, the whole person." This total immersion is what makes counse ling at Camp Kiwanis life changing fo r P U students, but it is al o ju t plain hard work. The camp i for people with challenging levels of disability who may not have been erved by other camps. Many of these children and adults require ass istance wi th bas ic needs such as bathroom, bathing, and feeding, while others require clo e supervision. For many of the PSU tudents the camp is the first time they have assisted another person with their daily personal care or learned to communicate in ways other than talking. It may be hard, but the tudents appear to reli h the expe rience. "I always like to lea rn new things– the biology of plants, the chemical makeup of different compounds, the phy ical laws," aid Abel Ahumada Alniz, a fo rmer pre-dental tudent who served as a counselor. "But the most rewarding class to me was, wi thout a doubt, the Kiwanis experience. Thi is a class that teaches people not only how to care fo r others with disabilities, but also how to dig deeply inside themse lves and get the caring human out of them." D SPRING 2002 PSU MAGAZINE 5