Success Story from Session 1!

    From the first moment I met Destiny I suspected she would be one of the most challenging in our cabin. To say that she had a strong personality would be an understatement. She was hard-headed, not afraid to speak her mind, and was in constant need of attention. During her first week at camp she made quite the name for herself. Not only did she tell numerous lies about her cabin mates; toward the end of the week,  one of her cabin mates was assigned to keep track of her because the sight of every little bug and the sound of every rustle in the leaves would distract her away from the group. In fact, her behavior was so extreme that we were afraid we would have to ask her not to come back to camp because she was so hard to handle. While discussing this possibility with Destiny it became immediately clear that she really wanted to stay at camp and work on her behavior. She loved everything about the outdoors and by talking with her family about having her medicine at camp, she was able to come back and work on what she needed to so that she could function positively within the group. As soon as she arrived at camp the Sunday of the second week, her demeanor had changed dramatically. Upon entering the cabin, she immediately made apologies to the cabin mates she had upset and set goals for herself. Her positive consequence for following through on these goals were often outdoors oriented. She absolutely loved cooking during campout, and by making good choices she basically cooked the cabin’s dinner over the fire on the third week by herself. The most dramatic sign of her transformation while at camp occurred during the last couple hours of her session at camp during a team building activity. The activity required that the girls work together to move long poles that they were standing on by holding on to ropes attached to the poles and lifting their right foot then left foot. We split the cabin into two groups and made it a race. At first Destiny’s group was really struggling and it didn’t seem like they would get anywhere without arguing. After the initial leader of her group gave up, Destiny stepped up and successfully led the group across the finish line first. Her achievement didn’t stop there; when she noticed the other group was still struggling she offered her help and lead them across the line as well. When given the chance to work on her behavior and receive positive consequences Destiny thrived and found a healthy outlet for her energy in outdoor activities. Pfeifer Camp gave her the chance to succeed by giving her the opportunity to make up for her mistakes and explore the things about herself that made her a leader.