College of Education Alumni Alison Irwin shares her story from student to camp director.
Campacity is a joint initiative between Y-USA and YMCA Europe, first launched in 2023, to foster collaborations between camps in the US and YMCAs in Europe. The program aims to provide support for children and families experiencing trauma, particularly those affected by the conflict in Ukraine.
“In 2023, my supervisor attended the Campacity event when it was hosted at Camp Duncan in the US. This year, I applied to attend the international session hosted by the YMCA of Spain.
It was easily the most transformative experience of my career thus far. We worked with camp directors from all over Europe, including Ukraine, Armenia, Spain, Georgia, Poland, Romania, and the Czech Republic. These directors are building camps from scratch to care for children and families affected by wars worldwide. It was truly astonishing to see how much they achieve with so little, how their campers and students rely on them for safety, and how determined they are to give children experiencing trauma a true childhood. I have been in awe of them ever since.
During this conference, I had the opportunity to present on giving children choice in programming and how we can allow them to have control over their own experiences. It was both empowering and humbling to spend eight full days working alongside these amazing leaders.
In addition to this initiative, I visited our partner camp with the YMCA of Spain, Y Camp Salduero. The YMCA of Spain has been sending campers to Hi-Rock for years, but in 2025, I will begin a program at Hi-Rock that will send campers to Camp Salduero for their Global Leaders Camp.
This was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to take part in it.”
Alison is a 2017 College of Education graduate. Earning a bachelor's degree in Literacy, Learning, and Leadership. Now known as Leadership and Learning Innovation.
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