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Living and Learning | theledger.com
It is probably the quietest children's camp around - few children shout directions on the ball field, voices aren't raised during meal-time conversation and cheers of encouragement don't race across the Challenge Course.
But the atmosphere at Sertoma Camp Endeavor, which provides a boarding camp experience for deaf and hard-of-hearing children and their siblings, is charged with energy, enthusiasm and friendship.
One of about 45 camps of its type in the country, only two others in Florida, Camp Endeavor draws children from all over Florida and a few from other states.
Campers have even come from Puerto Rico and Canada.
Though not quite as secluded as it once was before subdivisions began popping up along its boundaries, the 30-acre property offers ample room for six cabins, a large multipurpose building and offices.
A wooded area provides shade for the Challenge Course, an obstacle course designed for team building exercises, and Lake Josephine lends itself to swimming, canoeing, boating and jet skiing.
Many campers experience these activities for the first time while at Camp Endeavor.
But as impressive as the property may be, it is the staff that makes the difference here.
The staff includes educators, graduates of the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind, and students of Flagler College in St. Augustine and Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., both known for their programs in deaf education.
Executive Director Jeff Nunemaker, who is also a police officer with the Lake Hamilton Police Department, deliberately chose a staff of both hearing and nonhearing people. Nunemaker was invited by the camp's board of directors to run the camp after as the caretaker.
The 12 counselors range in age from 18 to 45, though most of them are about 20 years old. Seven are deaf and five are hearing.
"They (hearing and deaf) learn from each other, and they influence each other," said counselor Annie Pearl Murphy with help from an interpreter. Her eyes sparkle and she vocalizes her excitement without words.
Murphy, 45, has been working at the camp for seven years.
She has seen vast improvement in Nunemaker's sign language skills this year.
"I've seen him so eager to learn. It encourages me," Murphy said.
All the camp counselors have been helping the executive director hone his sign language skills.
"They cut me no slack," Nunemaker said with a laugh. "If I mess up, they make me do it over."
Though several counselors have been around for years, Camp Director George Boyd is new.
A mathematics teacher at the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind in St. Augustine, Boyd also coaches wrestling and serves as a Boy Scout leader.
His experience at Camp Endeavor has been such a positive one that he intends to return next summer.
"It's a wonderful thing for me," Boyd said in sign language interpreted by counselor and art instructor Sally King.
From his experience as a teacher and involvement in other camps, Boyd has developed a formula he follows while scheduling activities.
They must fit somewhere in his "Pies" strategy. Pies refers to major areas of physical, intellectual, emotional and social development.
The camp is not only fun, it is educational.
"Here they learn responsibility," Boyd said.
Children are responsible for cleaning the main hall and their cabins.
This, he said, increases their self-esteem.
The camp is offered to elementary, middle and high school children.
Each age group attends a one-week session, though one week this year combined elementary and middle school-age children.
"It's a time to have fun, to learn, socialize, have responsibility and to learn to be sensitive to others," Boyd said. "It helps them improve and plan for outside life later."
King and Lisa Feiler are volunteers turned counselors who have been with the camp for several years.
They return because they are just as influenced by the kids as the kids are by them.
They've served together so long that campers refer to them as Mom 1 and Mom 2, though they are not quite sure which is which.
"I come back to see the look of happiness on their faces when communicating - the deaf and hearing kids," said Feiler, who owns a diagnostic screening company.
Feiler said it is particularly rewarding to see deaf kids teaching hearing children to sign as they work to communicate with each other.
Communication is the key.
Staff members say deaf children improve their signing because they are around others who speak that way. Often children come from homes whose families aren't proficient in sign language.
Similarly, a hearing child gains an understanding of the frustration a deaf sibling may have because suddenly he is immersed in a group of children who all communicate by signing.
"It teaches humility," Feiler said.
This interaction, staffers said, fosters better communication and increased understanding of others.
"The ability of everyone at this camp to communicate" is what sets it apart from others, said King, who is an interpreter for the Brevard County School Board. "By the end of the week, kids require less translation."
Feiler and King said they enjoy taking campers on field trips that over the years have included Cypress Gardens, Disney World, Dixie Stampede and Sea World.
"I love the kids' excitement. They scream but they can't hear themselves scream," Feiler said with amusement.
King said that often campers haven't been to theme parks because of communication issues.
Parents don't always know what is available to their children, such as translators or closed caption. Camp staff make arrangements for these services during field trips.
Amanda Taylor, a 20-year-old college senior learned about Camp Endeavor from her boyfriend, who is deaf. Both of them are counselors this summer. She sees the experience as a way to improve her sign language skills.
"Being involved in the deaf culture makes you realize the similarities and differences (between the deaf and hearing)," Taylor said.
"Kids are kids. They like to play; they have their friends, and girls still talk about boys," Taylor said. "The difference is in getting their attention."
Getting attention can mean everything from waving or banging on a desk to make it vibrate to flashing lights on and off to using sign language.
This is especially evident during the Challenge Course, which requires communication between team members to complete different events.
"In the Challenge Course, you have to stop and talk it through," said Taylor.
For a deaf student, this means stopping and using signs to communicate what should be done next and by whom.
"The hearing kids don't understand, they just keep talking. It's good for them to learn about deaf culture," Taylor said.
For Nunemaker, learning sign language is the easy part. More difficult is finding money to run the camp each year.
"Money seems to be a struggle all year," he said.
It costs the camp $500 per child to provide a one-week experience.
But Nunemaker said most families can't afford the $500 fee, so a sliding scale is used. Parents can pay anywhere between nothing to $500 to send a child.
So Nunemaker must find a way to make ends meet.
He uses volunteer staff when possible and rents the camps facilities during the off-season.
He charges $650 for commercial rentals and $175 for nonprofit organizations. And he travels from one end of the state to the other visiting Sertoma chapters in hopes of receiving additional donations.
He'd like to have a camp-owned personal watercraft - because it would be safer than a boat with an outboard motor - a van so he wouldn't have to borrow or rent vehicles for field trips, and additional money for camp scholarships.
As camp winds down for the season, he looks forward to his off-season duties of maintaining the facility and finding money for next year.
Though he has a full life with a demanding job and a busy family life with a wife and two children, Nunemaker still makes Camp Endeavor a priority.
"Why do I do it?" he asks with a smile, looking at a group of children practicing on the stage.
"Look at those children. See all the smiles? Sixth-grade camp still sticks in my mind. That's what I want for these kids," Nunemaker said.
It is probably the quietest children's camp around - few children shout directions on the ball field, voices aren't raised during meal-time conversation and cheers of encouragement don't race across the Challenge Course.
But the atmosphere at Sertoma Camp Endeavor, which provides a boarding camp experience for deaf and hard-of-hearing children and their siblings, is charged with energy, enthusiasm and friendship.
One of about 45 camps of its type in the country, only two others in Florida, Camp Endeavor draws children from all over Florida and a few from other states.
Campers have even come from Puerto Rico and Canada.
Though not quite as secluded as it once was before subdivisions began popping up along its boundaries, the 30-acre property offers ample room for six cabins, a large multipurpose building and offices.
A wooded area provides shade for the Challenge Course, an obstacle course designed for team building exercises, and Lake Josephine lends itself to swimming, canoeing, boating and jet skiing.
Many campers experience these activities for the first time while at Camp Endeavor.
But as impressive as the property may be, it is the staff that makes the difference here.
The staff includes educators, graduates of the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind, and students of Flagler College in St. Augustine and Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., both known for their programs in deaf education.
Executive Director Jeff Nunemaker, who is also a police officer with the Lake Hamilton Police Department, deliberately chose a staff of both hearing and nonhearing people. Nunemaker was invited by the camp's board of directors to run the camp after as the caretaker.
The 12 counselors range in age from 18 to 45, though most of them are about 20 years old. Seven are deaf and five are hearing.
"They (hearing and deaf) learn from each other, and they influence each other," said counselor Annie Pearl Murphy with help from an interpreter. Her eyes sparkle and she vocalizes her excitement without words.
Murphy, 45, has been working at the camp for seven years.
She has seen vast improvement in Nunemaker's sign language skills this year.
"I've seen him so eager to learn. It encourages me," Murphy said.
All the camp counselors have been helping the executive director hone his sign language skills.
"They cut me no slack," Nunemaker said with a laugh. "If I mess up, they make me do it over."
Though several counselors have been around for years, Camp Director George Boyd is new.
A mathematics teacher at the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind in St. Augustine, Boyd also coaches wrestling and serves as a Boy Scout leader.
His experience at Camp Endeavor has been such a positive one that he intends to return next summer.
"It's a wonderful thing for me," Boyd said in sign language interpreted by counselor and art instructor Sally King.
From his experience as a teacher and involvement in other camps, Boyd has developed a formula he follows while scheduling activities.
They must fit somewhere in his "Pies" strategy. Pies refers to major areas of physical, intellectual, emotional and social development.
The camp is not only fun, it is educational.
"Here they learn responsibility," Boyd said.
Children are responsible for cleaning the main hall and their cabins.
This, he said, increases their self-esteem.
The camp is offered to elementary, middle and high school children.
Each age group attends a one-week session, though one week this year combined elementary and middle school-age children.
"It's a time to have fun, to learn, socialize, have responsibility and to learn to be sensitive to others," Boyd said. "It helps them improve and plan for outside life later."
King and Lisa Feiler are volunteers turned counselors who have been with the camp for several years.
They return because they are just as influenced by the kids as the kids are by them.
They've served together so long that campers refer to them as Mom 1 and Mom 2, though they are not quite sure which is which.
"I come back to see the look of happiness on their faces when communicating - the deaf and hearing kids," said Feiler, who owns a diagnostic screening company.
Feiler said it is particularly rewarding to see deaf kids teaching hearing children to sign as they work to communicate with each other.
Communication is the key.
Staff members say deaf children improve their signing because they are around others who speak that way. Often children come from homes whose families aren't proficient in sign language.
Similarly, a hearing child gains an understanding of the frustration a deaf sibling may have because suddenly he is immersed in a group of children who all communicate by signing.
"It teaches humility," Feiler said.
This interaction, staffers said, fosters better communication and increased understanding of others.
"The ability of everyone at this camp to communicate" is what sets it apart from others, said King, who is an interpreter for the Brevard County School Board. "By the end of the week, kids require less translation."
Feiler and King said they enjoy taking campers on field trips that over the years have included Cypress Gardens, Disney World, Dixie Stampede and Sea World.
"I love the kids' excitement. They scream but they can't hear themselves scream," Feiler said with amusement.
King said that often campers haven't been to theme parks because of communication issues.
Parents don't always know what is available to their children, such as translators or closed caption. Camp staff make arrangements for these services during field trips.
Amanda Taylor, a 20-year-old college senior learned about Camp Endeavor from her boyfriend, who is deaf. Both of them are counselors this summer. She sees the experience as a way to improve her sign language skills.
"Being involved in the deaf culture makes you realize the similarities and differences (between the deaf and hearing)," Taylor said.
"Kids are kids. They like to play; they have their friends, and girls still talk about boys," Taylor said. "The difference is in getting their attention."
Getting attention can mean everything from waving or banging on a desk to make it vibrate to flashing lights on and off to using sign language.
This is especially evident during the Challenge Course, which requires communication between team members to complete different events.
"In the Challenge Course, you have to stop and talk it through," said Taylor.
For a deaf student, this means stopping and using signs to communicate what should be done next and by whom.
"The hearing kids don't understand, they just keep talking. It's good for them to learn about deaf culture," Taylor said.
For Nunemaker, learning sign language is the easy part. More difficult is finding money to run the camp each year.
"Money seems to be a struggle all year," he said.
It costs the camp $500 per child to provide a one-week experience.
But Nunemaker said most families can't afford the $500 fee, so a sliding scale is used. Parents can pay anywhere between nothing to $500 to send a child.
So Nunemaker must find a way to make ends meet.
He uses volunteer staff when possible and rents the camps facilities during the off-season.
He charges $650 for commercial rentals and $175 for nonprofit organizations. And he travels from one end of the state to the other visiting Sertoma chapters in hopes of receiving additional donations.
He'd like to have a camp-owned personal watercraft - because it would be safer than a boat with an outboard motor - a van so he wouldn't have to borrow or rent vehicles for field trips, and additional money for camp scholarships.
As camp winds down for the season, he looks forward to his off-season duties of maintaining the facility and finding money for next year.
Though he has a full life with a demanding job and a busy family life with a wife and two children, Nunemaker still makes Camp Endeavor a priority.
"Why do I do it?" he asks with a smile, looking at a group of children practicing on the stage.
"Look at those children. See all the smiles? Sixth-grade camp still sticks in my mind. That's what I want for these kids," Nunemaker said.