Hallmarks and Achievements

In April 2005, Camp Adventure™ Youth Services celebrated 20 years of service to children and youth throughout the world. The summer of 2005 marked the 21st consecutive year of Camp Adventure™ Youth Services offering programs and services to military family members and others as an organization. We are very proud of our accomplishments. The efforts of the students and professional staff of Camp Adventure™ Youth Services have been laudatory.


Our journey at Camp Adventure™ Youth Services over the past 20 years has been very rewarding. Some of Camp Adventure™ Youth Services hallmarks and achievements include the following:


• Over 9,000 college and university students have participated in Camp Adventure™ Youth Services during the life of the program.


• The program has been offered at more than 150 sites in Asia, Europe, and South America and now serves 750,000 children and youth annually based on daily participation rates.


• Camp Adventure™ Youth Services has been successfully implemented at program sites in 27 countries/territories.


• Staff development programs are offered at California State University-Chico, Fort Valley State University, Florida A & M University, Iowa State University, Macao Polytechnic University, Paine College, University of Iowa, University of Northern Iowa, University of Oregon, University of San Diego, University of Toledo, and Washington State University.


• Camp Adventure™ Youth Services provides surge care to US Army Installations throughout Europe in support of the Global War on Terrorism. In 2004-2005, Camp Adventure™ Youth Services placed over 250 students to provide services in support of troops recently deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan or for troops being reintegrated at their home installations after their tour of duty.


• Camp Adventure™ Youth Services is aggressively linked to the scholarship areas of application and integration. Ideas advanced in the literature have improved professional practice in the area of youth programming, program development, program evaluation, values development, work motivation, self-concept, and such management concepts as Total Quality Program Planning (TQP), Just-in-Time Management, Leadership Assessment Centers (LAC), contracting, and outsourcing.


• The North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) XXXII International Youth Camp was hosted by Camp Adventure™ Youth Services on the University of Northern Iowa campus in July 2003. This is the first time in the 32-year history that the program has been offered in the United States and the only time it has not been held on a military installation.


• Camp Adventure™ Youth Services was funded by as a supplemental activity of the Persian Gulf War Act to assist the U.S. Army in its post Desert Storm support operations for family members. It was the first agency tapped by the government for such services. Dignitaries visiting Camp Adventure™ Youth Services have included former President Jimmy Carter; former Vice-president and Ambassador to Japan, Walter Mondale; former Vice-president Al Gore; U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell; U.S. Senators Charles Grassley and Tom Harkin; U.S. Representatives Jim Nussle, Dave Nagle, and Pat Schroeder; Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Carolyn Becraft; former Secretary of the Navy, H. Lawrence Garrett III; and former Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, C.E. Mundy.