Program Aide Training

Council requires the completion of three trainings in order for girls to earn their PA. The first is the Leader in Action (LIA) award, the second is PA training (also known as Basic PA Training or BPAT), and the third is Program Aide Internship (PAI) training. Specifics on each of these can be found at http://www.girlscoutsofcolorado.org/en/our-program/program-aid—vit.htmll Girls can start training to be a PA when they are a registered Cadette (6th grade).

PA’s lead camp and run the cooking fires at our camp, so in addition to what Council requires, Kiwa Camp has always required what was called Outdoor Skills. This training is no longer offered as a separate training, but is included in one called Camp Specialty which also places a high priority on leadership skills. We’ve read the curriculum, and it teaches a lot more than leadership, fire safety and knots. Many of these skills used to be taught in the old PA program, but when council changed to the new format these skills were left out. We ask a lot of our PA’s, giving them a lot of autonomy and responsibility in a way that no other camp in Colorado does, and this training includes skills and tools that are very helpful in being successful as a PA at our camp. Going forward, it will be mandatory to complete this training before you can PA at our camp. If you would like to look at the curriculum, it can be found at http://www.girlscoutsofcolorado.org/content/dam/girlscoutsofcolorado/documents/Program%20Aide%20Intern%20Camp%20Specialty%20Training.pdf

Because of the number of trainings, and the time required to do them, we will no longer be offering the LIA or PA training at Kiwa. Each year we were getting about three girls who needed LIA, and 4-5 girls who needed PA training. We had, at most, an hour each day to work with this group. We were rushing through the training in order to check off the box, and we believe that we were doing the girls a disservice by offering it this way. These two requirements can be met in a variety of ways (see “Where can I get training” below), and it no longer makes sense to stretch ourselves thin in order to offer training that is available elsewhere.

At Kiwa we will offer only PAI and Camp Specialty trainings to girls entering 7th grade and higher the following fall. Because they will not be PA’s, they will continue to pay the camper rate.

Girls needing PAI will participate in all camp activities. They will be in a regular camper unit and will spend a portion of their day leading activities for our younger Brownie-aged units. These girls will have a MANDATORY training session before camp  just before the All Camp Parent Camper Meeting and S’Mores function camp has planned this year. During this session they will learn how to plan activities, and plan the activities that they will be leading at camp. We understand that opportunities for other activities will come up that may conflict, which is why we’re advertising the date and time early. Unfortunately, there will never be a date that works for everyone. There are several ways in which a girl can earn their PAI. If this training is important to your daughter, please put it on your calendar now.

The next question we usually get is, why only one date for the training? Because of the number of girls we have in the PAI program (16 at camp last year), they work in groups to plan their activities, and work with a different person to plan their activities for each day (Suzy may work with Jane for Monday’s activities, Maria for Tuesday, etc). This way we had 8 activities going at a time, not 16, so each girl had the opportunity to work with someone different each day, and each group had more than one Brownie at a time (usually), which works much better for games. If a separate training is held for just two girls, it’s very hard for them to plan activities with people who attended the other training. The reason why we hold it before camp is that 1) we need time to round up the supplies for the activities they plan, and 2) the girls usually need to communicate between the training and camp to finalize plans. Last year we held the training one week before camp, and it just wasn’t enough time to finalize everything that they needed to. The PAI’s did a fabulous job of rolling with it and finding creative solutions when something wasn’t available/didn’t work, but each year we try to learn from what worked or didn’t and improve the program.

PAI training completes the PA process for a council PA. At this point, the scout earns her PA name and can register with council as a PA and receive her PA pin (currently $7 or so) with proof of completing the entire PA training. She can PA for council camps, SU events, etc at this point. To PA at Kiwa camp, she will still need Camp Specialty.

Girls needing Camp Specialty in order to PA at Kiwa in the future will be participating only in the ‘WOW’ activity each camp day as they will be spending the majority of their day earning the Camp Specialty designation. However, all the materials for all daily crafts/games will be made available to them so they have all the same experiences as other campers  The usual camper fee applies to these girls. Their money will go toward the expenses of this program and the WOW activity as well as their shirts, patches, etc. There will be no additional training fees to cover the costs of supplies for the activities the girls plan, meals they cook (almost every day!), etc.

As the years have gone by, there has been an increase in the number of girls coming to our camp for PA training, which is wonderful! However, one requirement for the PAI program is that they work with younger girls (Brownies are best) and lead them through the activities the PAI’s planned during the training session. Last year, we wore the poor Brownies out! A full day at camp is a long day for Brownies, and adding the PAI activities on to the normal camp program can be a lot for them. We want to make sure that they have time to relax and enjoy camp, and aren’t forcing them to run from one activity to another all day (despite that they love the activities!).

This year we will be limiting the number of PAI’s that we will train at camp, and there will be a priority system to determine who attends. First priority will go to the girls who attended Kiwa last summer as a 5th grader.   Second priority will go to girls from the Longmont service unit. If there is room, we will accept girls from outlying areas. At this time, the number of PAI’s we will accept has not been determined. We will wait until we have a good idea of how many Brownies will be coming to camp. More Brownies = more training slots, and the number of Brownies we can accept is dependent upon how many volunteer Unit Leaders we have. If you know of any Brownie age girls who would like to come to camp, or anyone who is interested in being a Unit Leader, please pass the registration brochure to them when it comes out!

Where can I get training?
LIA: Troop, Council, Service Unit (Laura Chaney lauraannechaney@msn.com and Teresea Jones tereseaj@gmail.com offer it for the Longmont area during some school breaks and do a fabulous job!)
PA training: Council, Service Unit (Laura Chaney and Teresea Jones)
PAI: Troop, Council, Kiwa (information available from Nana and WonderWoman on how to do PAI in troop)
Kiwa Camp Specialty: Kiwa

Believe me when we say we understand that changes are not always well received especially when a girl has grown up with her eye on being one of our fantastic PAs. However, we must maintain the integrity of the PA program for all area Girl Scouts. We sincerely hope you can appreciate that we are doing our best to balance our older campers’ desires to be PAs with the goals and ideals of the PA training program.
Feel free to email kiwadaycamp@gmail.com with any questions.

We look forward to seeing you all at Kiwa this summer!

Sincerely,
Iris, JellO, NightOwl and HummingBird
Longmont Girl Scout Day Camp Trainers