Volunteer Chad Groover of Slatington, a teacher at Trexler Middle School, talks to students at Allentown's Camp Compass Academy. (MONICA CABRERA/TMC)
For the first two years, Camp Compass was just that – a week-long summer camp where youngsters had the opportunity to experience activities such as white-water rafting, taxidermy, archery, rifle shooting and fly fishing.
The Camp Compass name was chosen, Annoni said, because we ”wanted something to show that we were really trying to point kids in the right direction.” The word academy was added later when the program expanded to include a weekly, after-school mentoring session.
Camp Compass received federal nonprofit status in 2000 and found a permanent headquarters in 2002, when Joe Mascari donated the rent-free use of a portion of his Joe Mascari’s Carpets and Rugs International building at 1221 Sumner Ave.
Camp Compass Academy works with students ages 11-17, and participants are chosen through a competitive screening process. There are currently 60 students enrolled, with another 73 on a waiting list.
”I’ve got so many kids who want to be a part of this, I don’t know what to do,” Annoni said.
Students accepted into Camp Compass are expected to make a long-term commitment. Many youngsters who started with the program in middle school remain involved through high school graduation.
One big reason most students stick with the Camp Compass program is because the biggest rewards aren’t given – they’re earned. Students are invited to attend sportsmen’s shows and go fishing relatively quickly, but the coveted hunting trips are reserved for those who have been around at least three years.
”Nobody hunts without working,” Annoni said. ”All of the kids know that they’ve got to pay their dues.”
Although hunting adventures are the carrot Camp Compass uses to motivate students, the weekly after-school sessions are at the heart of the program’s effectiveness. Held every Monday afternoon, students spend 30 minutes meeting one-on-one with Annoni and eight other teachers who volunteer with the program. The students are required to provide status reports on their schoolwork, social life and home environment, all of which provide an opportunity to identify small problems before they become big ones.
”Kids yearn for structure and discipline, and when they are getting that from us, they actually like it,” said Chad Gruver, a Camp Compass volunteer and Trexler Middle School special education teacher. ”The kids that come down to the academy, I know them inside and out, and the only way you can do that is to spend time with them.”
After the weekly reporting session, the students get an hour outdoor lesson incorporating lessons related to math, English and social studies.
”This is a mini college,” Annoni said. ”Our expectations are high, and with that comes discipline.”
Discipline is exactly what Kim Noss said her son, Jarrett, needed when he enrolled in Camp Compass seven years ago. Jarrett has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and Noss said the condition has caused numerous problems in school.
”My son, when he was younger, was always in trouble, and they would call Mr. Annoni to attend to him,” Noss said. ”To be honest with you, and this may sound a little sappy, my son would not be where he is today without Camp Compass. They help the children focus, and he learned how to focus there.”
Now 16 and a junior at Allen High School, Jarrett is off his ADHD medication and doing well in school. ”If I ever needed help with homework or something, I went to [Mr. Annoni] and he helped me out,” Jarrett said.
Thanks to Camp Compass, Jarrett has been able to experience deer hunting, deep sea fishing and even a waterfowl trip to North Dakota. As a result, he has developed an interest in cooking wild game and hopes to study culinary arts in college.
“If it wasn’t for him, I probably never would have gotten to hunt, because my dad isn’t much of a hunter,” Jarrett said. ”He filled that kind of fatherly role.”