Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

5/06/2003

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES- The first session of Northwestern State University's CAMP (Creating Attitude to Maximize Potential) Program was recently completed.

Five Northwestern students, Ryan Brinkman of Abbeville, Lacey Fletcher of Rosepine, Marc Johnson of New Orleans, Kristy Lane of Metairie and Mandy Owens of Lafayette, served as facilitators for an in-school program at Buckeye High School. The facilitators played major roles in developing the program.

NSU's Office of Student Activities and Organizations created CAMP to bring a leadership development program to several area high schools. CAMP was designed by director of student activities and organizations Carl P. Henry III, assistant director of student activities and organizations Terria Alexander and former assistant director Luke Dowden.

Thirty-two juniors at Buckeye, who were chosen by the school's guidance counselor, took part in a variety of physical and mental challenges designed to help develop team building and leadership skills.

"The students we worked with were the cream of the crop," said Alexander. "They were enthusiastic, had lots of questions and participated in what we did."

The students played a live tic-tac-toe game in which none of the participants could speak. They also formed a human pyramid blindfolded and moved across a room. They also had to complete a mission to collect a document by looking at a map and determining the best route and overcoming a series of obstacles.

"All of the activities were fun but they each had a purpose," said Alexander. "Many people learn better when they are involved in hands on activities. The physical challenges were built on mental challenges. They were divided into teams, so they may have wanted to go into different directions, but had to learn how to work together to solve a challenge within a time limit."

Alexander said the challenges forced the team to decide who was the best at carrying out a given activity.

"This forced some of them to step up. Sometimes, a person who was shy had to get out and do something which could help them with their social skills," she said.

In the fall, NSU plans to take the program to five area high schools.

"The first time exceeded our expectations," said Alexander. "We can't wait to get back in August and go into the schools again."

Almost half of the Buckeye students who participated indicated they were interested in attending NSU after being in the program.

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