Short-Term Camp Administrator National Camping School Training

 A new position is coming to BSA camping in 2021—Short-Term Camp Administrator. The short-term camp administrator is responsible to oversee the safety and planning of the short-term camp. In addition, this person will be responsible for the NCAP assessment process for the short-term camp.  

Short-Term Camps. A short-term camp is any council-organized overnight camping program, whether one-time or continuing, that is one, two or three nights in length where the council or its agents provide the staffing and program and may provide food services, and includes camps conducted off council properties.  National training courses are subject to the short-term camp requirements, regardless of format.

So, what kind of camps will fall under this new classification? Put simply, all council, district coordinated overnight events that are three nights are less. This includes district camporees, council camporees, Cub Scout/Webelos Family Camps, Order of the Arrow events, training events and more.    2021 NCAP Standards PDF

Short-Term camps will have a reduced set of NCAP standards to follow and each camp will be required to have a “Short-Term Camp Administrator”. The short-term camp administrator will be trained to coordinate and support the short-term camp. This training will be available in November 21st via Zoom session or December 12th via Zoom.  

The goal of NCAP has always been to ensure safe and quality outdoor programs. The addition of the short-term camp classification, and the subsequent retirement of the family camp classification, will ensure that all our council and district council programs have the support materials and training they need to run top-quality and safe short-term camps.

More information about the short-term camp classification will be released in the coming months, including the short-term camp standards, training, and special webinars to help councils understand this exciting new NCAP program.

As a reminder, the short-term camp NCAP classification goes into effect on January 1, 2021, so the fall courses will allow councils to “Be Prepared” to offer short term camps at the beginning of 2021. Each short-term camp will be required to have a short-term camp administrator to operate; therefore, councils are encouraged to recruit these staff or volunteers and make plans now to have them trained in this role as soon as possible. 

The training will consist of several modules designed to prepare the participant to manage the short-term camp from planning and program development to staff recruitment to assessment. Training will last several hours with interactions and discussion designed to help meet the needs of the participants while conveying the strategies to serve in this role.