USD Magazine Spring 2010

AROUND  THE PARK

Children of soldiers surround Cally Evanhoff ‘12 on a British garrison in Paderborn, Germany, a joyful snapshot from a day at Camp Adventure.

OPERATION MAGIC MOMENTS Y o u t h c a m p f o r m i l i t a r y f a m i l i e s c h a n g e s l i v e s [ u p l i f t ]

which encourages students to experience other cultures and expand their world perspec- tives with international study and internships. Through Camp Adventure, USD offers the two- fold benefit of global education and service-learning for college students throughout Southern California, and, because the pro- gram provides travel and living stipends, it opens up the opportu- nity to a wider range of students. Heinecke discovered Camp Adventure in 1989, when his staff brought it onto the Long Beach Naval Base, where he was chief commanding officer. “It was very uplifting for the fami- lies,” says Heinecke, who was so impressed with Camp Adventure that he joined the staff when he retired from the Navy in 1992. “People not only loved having the college students take care of the children in a professional way, but they enjoyed just having them there, because with that comes a whole bunch of enthusiasm.” On base, the counselors create magic moments with the children as they develop new skills and leadership competencies. They also learn quickly about a child’s life in the military. “We were at a base for a week and on the last day of camp, the military was deploying to Afghanistan,” says Evanoff, an international relations and Spanish major who hopes to work as an interpreter for the CIA. “The dads came in and said goodbye to their kids at camp. It was so

COURTESY OF CALLY EVANOFF

by Trisha J. Ratledge T

day of summer camp on a military base in Naples, Italy, sophomore Cally Evanoff smiles. Her eyes brighten as she recalls her own campers in Paderborn, Germany, last summer. “I miss them a lot,” she says. “There are crazy bonds.” Camp Adventure is a program conceived in 1985 for military and State Department families around

the world who lacked meaningful youth activities. Today, 900 col- lege students staff more than 200 program locations in 16 countries. USD is home to Camp Adven- ture’s Southern California training site, run by Heinecke through the School of Leadership and Education Sciences Global Center. It’s a natural fit for the center,

he picture inWalt Heinecke’s USD office shows all he wants to articulate about

Camp Adventure: young girls and their camp counselor in a bear-hug, unable to hold back tears. It captures what Heinecke calls “the worst day.” No one wants to say goodbye. Looking at that image of the last

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