Summer camp is like a rite of passage for youths. Friendships are forged, crushes and heartbreak are common and, soewhere along the way, lessons are learned.

For more than 40 years the Alberta Community and Co-Operative Association (ACCA) has been running a co-operative youth camp located at the Goldeye Centre between Banff and Jasper.

The camp program is aimed at training Alberta’s teenagers to be stronger leaders in their community.

“It’s a fun, interactive learning environment,” said Allan Bartolcic, the director of youth and community development at ACCA. “The basic premise is discovery, learning, recreation, and education.”

There are three different camps for three different age groups:

• teen – for teens who have completed Grade 8 or Grade 9 by June 29, 2005
• youth – for teens who have completed  Grade 10 or Grade 11 by June 29, 2005, and
• grad – for teens who have c ompleted Grade 11 or Grade 12 by June 29, 2005, and have completed one of the previous levels of the programor an equivalent leadership program.

Along with the usual canoeing, swimming, and outdoor skills offered, the program differs from other camps in the way it builds the self-confidence and skills of the campers.

“We discuss topics like co-operatives, agriculture, leadership, community, and international development, “Bartolcic said. “We sit down in a curriculum-based interactive sessions and the youths get to know one another.

As soon as the teens are introduced to eachother and the program, they all get a secret friend and an I-Poster. The I-Poster has four quadrants – one for things they want to change about themselves, one for things they like about themselves, and the others for their fellow campers to writer what they like about the person.

“Their secret friend lets them know that someone is thinking about them,” Bartolcic said. “At the end of the camp, the secret friend lights their candle so the person knows who it was.

The objective of the program is for the teens to go back to their communities and apply their leadership skills for the betterment of the community. Local businesses or organizations which take an interest in the skill development of young people sponsor most of the teens who attend the camp.

Anyone who hasn’t been sponsored but who would like to attend the camp can visit http://reda.onware.ca for inormation on how to get sponsored.