| CORNPLANTER PLAYS A DIFFERENT ROLE
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| John Zavinski In Allegheny, August 18, 1979
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| When you read the brochure promoting camp Cornplanter or look over the camp's facilities, it looks and sounds like most other
summer residential camps.
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| There are 22 permanent buildings, including eight cabins, a dining hall, laundry and shower buildings, a heated swimming pool,
basketball court, campfire ring and nature trails.
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| Daily activities include swimming, sports, arts and crafts, music, creative dramatics and nature study.
Special activities also take place during each camping week such as hikes, cook outs, talent nights, and sleep outs.
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| But Camp Cornplanter isn’t exactly like most other summer camps. It’s everything they have and more.
Camp Cornplanter, situated in the Allegheny National Forest near Ludlow is special and so are its campers. Campers range in age from six
to early sixties. Despite the age variance, they share in common mental retardation to varying degrees.
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| The campers, about 100 per week, are divided on the basis of age, sex, and ability into cabin groups of nine to seventeen similar
aptitude individuals for participation in six basic programmed activities.
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| The division is necessary, as Camp Director Eric Hinderliter explained, "so programming makes sense." Activities for each group
then can be coordinated to match the level ability of the group.
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| Brenda Tinsler, a sociology major at Allegheny College in Meadville, specializes in nature studies at Camp Cornplanter. The
nature activities include short hikes, fishing in nearby Dunkle Run, building milk carton bird feeders, scavenger hunts and building
unique pretend animals from paper cups, and pine cones and discussing them with others.
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| Through her programs she hopes to create an interest in nature and teach that the outdoors is not a scary place, but something
that is worthy of interest and respect. "Some of the counselors are the same as the campers, they want to kill every bug that they
find," she added.
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| Program Director Beth Ramsey takes charge over Creative Dramatics at the camp. Her programs deal with such activities as pantomimes,
hand puppets, telephones and lessons on manners. Much of her work is aimed at stimulating the imagination, verbal expression and coordination
of body movements, as well as interaction with others. Staging short skits before other group members, for example, "gives them confidence
in being in from of a group and strengthens verbal expression skills," Ramsey said. "Often if you put a puppet on a child’s hand he is more
able to talk because he can speak through the puppet. We also use telephones for the same purpose."
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| Expanding on the general purposes of the camp, director Hinderliter explains that the primary concern is teaching basic daily self
care skills such as making a bed, using a bathroom, and brushing teeth. But the special things Camp Cornplanter can offer beyond
institutional living include providing meaningful outdoor recreation and physical fitness through walking, swimming, and group games.
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| "The camp helps campers develop a sense of reality- being here in the woods is different from being in an institution," Hinderliter said,
pointing out a woman from Polk State Hospital. He said coming to camp this year marked the first time she had been away from the institution
in about 20 years.
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| "Many of them live with their parents isolated from others. The kids next door don't invite them over to play ball," he said. "Coming
to the camp is a start for them." "It's surprising the things that can be accomplished through interaction with others of a similar ability,"
he noted. "Many develop poise and self confidence when they used to be very shy in front of a group."
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| The individual attention necessary to accomplish these goals comes from the close ratios of one counselor to three campers. "The three-to-one
ratio is necessary to do anything meaningful," Hinderliter said. Four to six counselors are assigned to each of the eight cabin groups, where
they live and work with the campers.
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| Staff members range in age from 16 to 24. The average counselor is 19 years old and has completed a year of college. Pay for counselors,
in addition to room and board, averages $55 a week. "Everyone of them could be making three or four times the pay here in another summer job,”
Hinderliter said. "They've got a volunteer like spirit because to them it is basically an attractive job. Most have a professional interest in
the field and many are special education majors or plan to be occupational therapists.
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| "They're all loyal and dedicated," he noted. The job is very demanding, but on the other hand they get a lot out of it. One guy has been
here seven summers." Among the staff re two Emergency Medical Technicians and a full time nurse. The nurse takes charge of the six bed
infirmary.
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| "Our problems usually aren’t emergencies," Hinderliter explained. "They're the routine kinds of things like colds, sunburn and allergies.
One of the health related measures incorporated into the daily schedule is an hour of rest from 1 to 2 p.m. The day begins for campers at 7:00 a.m.
Three hours of activities take place before and after lunch. One hour programs such as a clown show, campfire, sports show or square dance
demonstration highlight the evening before campers "hit the sack" shortly after 8:00 p.m.
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| Organizing the nine-week camping program to serve the average 500 campers each season creates a year round job for Hinderliter who holds a
doctorate in History from Brown University. A Warren native, Hinderliter assumed the camp director post in March 1978. He replaced retiring
Annabel Bollinger who founded the camp in 1959. During the non-camping season, Hinderliter , with the aid of a part time bookkeeper, mainly
keeps up with the paperwork involved in running Camp Cornplanter Inc., a non- profit corporation bases out of an office at 211 Market Street.
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