Local CYFAR Program Spotlight

Camp Zama Army 4-H Teen Clubs, Japan

Camp Zama youth learn to disassemble computers and repair them

Camp Zama is a US Army base located about 25 miles from Tokyo and a short drive from Naval and Air Force installations. Zama also houses the United Nations Command. Camp Zama’s 4-H clubs operate under the best of circumstances – an audience of hundreds of involved families, good funding and good staffing. Being in Japan, they are isolated by language, but on the positive side, they have access to the very latest technology for their projects. CYFERnet spoke to Chris McKibbin, 4-H youth program leader for middle school and high school-age youth at Camp Zama.

Can you tell us about Camp Zama 4-H and its relationship to CYFAR?

It is not a CYFAR program but our kids did a CYFAR presentation at the annual conference in Boston a couple of years ago. Four kids led technology sessions teaching how to utilize technology in middle school teen programs and they made a video for the final day’s keynote presentation. That was the first time we were asked to bring our technology group to a program such as CYFAR. Our kids still have fond memories of being asked to teach. That’s what put us on the map. We were doing good things prior to that but [4-H/Army Youth Development Specialist] DeAnn Acosta and [4-H/Army Technology Specialist] Bob Greenberg in Hawaii saw that we were ahead of what other people were doing at that time. Our leader, Marty Clark, made it possible for us to purchase our own high-end computers.

Our building was built in 2002 and we opened in April of that year. Before we opened this facility we were not a place where I would feel comfortable sending my child. We were not doing developmental programs at that time, getting kids ready for the future. We started getting new staff and our mentality changed. That is the number one factor why we’re so successful – staffing. Caring, interested staff that want the best out of each and every kid. The building is 15,000 square feet in size. It has a karaoke room, computer lab, DJ booth, middle school room, sports lounge -- pool tables, homework club – and a multi-purpose gymnasium and outdoor fields.

We started getting new staff in here and we started doing a lot of programs, and were coming up with programs on a weekly and daily basis. The staff who didn’t want to do programs ended up leaving. Before that it was an open recreation program, there was no guidance and no structure. We at that point didn’t have a vision. And then in 2002-2003, we came up with a vision and one of the really great things was we had three core staff that were with the program and still are, and we built around it. We hired people who wanted to be here and who wanted to be with kids. We grew a mentality that we want to become the best in the world. Whatever that means to each individual is up to them. We want every child to go to a higher level of education or find a trade where they can make a living. College is not for everybody. I ask my staff, “What traits can we teach them that will make them better off in the future?” and “What’s my short term goal and what’s my long-term goal?” If they don’t know what they want to do in 3-5 years from now, they’ll just become stagnant.

How do you recruit staff?

Four of them were Zama American high school alumni. They graduated high school here, a couple of them went away for a couple of years, a couple have stayed since they graduated. One has completed the military youth practicum – she is a shining star in the army region.

How many youth do you reach?

We have 546 kids registered in the program. On a daily basis 100-110 kids come in, and a large portion of our population comes from the Navy base – our high school has Navy and Army kids.

What is the range of programs you run?

We have a computer lab. We get involved in music making programs, learning how to mix loops and put finishing touches on editing music. Strut is a program we started in 2003, and it’s taken from one in Phoenix – we get used computers donated form the community we take them apart and put them back together, put on a new operating system, the kids get to take them home and they can troubleshoot them when something goes wrong. It’s run by kids. Two kids actually teach that program to other kids. Lego robotics is one that’s really big.

All of our programs are open for kids 11-18 years old. One of our most accomplished programs is ZTN – Zama Teen News, run by middle schoolers, a bi-weekly podcasting program created by the kids. They do the script, the editing, they film it they do everything. Our staffer, Dan, oversees it with a parent volunteer. Every week they meet and write a script and the following week they film. The kids take ownership – they wear ZTN T-shirts. You can go on our website and watch it. [See this link: http://zamayouthcenter.org/ZTN/index.htm]

We have another activity called Strata 3D – it’s three-dimensional imaging where you can take a 2-D image and make it 3D. Another is called Skiltech—learning music making, photography, graphic design, photo editing, web design. Music in the USA is a program that’s coming up; an opportunity to see how music has grown, was made played and heard since the 1950s.

Riverbank cleanups are a regular service project for youth at Camp Zama.

We do a lot of community service projects. We work with a chapel on the Navy base, they go down and feed the homeless in Yokohama. We take the kids down there every month to help feed the homeless. We have done a couple of fundraisers to help buy rice for this program.

We also do a program called You Turn. It’s the older kids helping the younger ones with homework, one-on-one or in groups by subject. We teach them how to study, learning skills.

Another community service project is called Call On Keystone. It benefits the families of soldiers. We don’t have a lot of soldiers deployed to war zones, but they do sometimes get sent away. If the family needs their yard mowed, or if their spouse needs some chores done they can Call On Keystone. They are First Aid and CPR certified and babysitting certified.

We also do an entrepreneurial program teaching them to be DJs. They do all of our dances and go out to the community and hire their services out for birthday parties or graduation parties. They get paid. We supply the equipment and a professional DJ trains them, we take them to the location, they set up and we bring them back.

Just today we were teaching the kids about the dangers of gambling. It was a hit. One of my staff built a casino in a back room and it had all the casino games. She gave them each some money, but they each had a household budget to keep at the same time with bills to pay and so on. Then she became a loan shark, so they could borrow money if they got in trouble. There were some kids who just learned to play the games, but other ones really saw how gambling could affect household bills. I didn’t think it was going to work but we had about 25 kids participating and it worked really well.

We have sign language classes. We have also just done a community service project where we cleaned a local river and we had 56 kids, half of them were from a local Japanese high school. They played games and cleaned a good portion of the river and brought back 25 bags of rubbish. Then they had to separate out the recycling.

We have an exchange with an orphanage on a quarterly basis. We teach English to them, play sports like basketball and soccer. They sing karaoke, both American and Japanese songs. We teach them about computer programs like photo editing, music making and online scrapbooking. And they can keep in touch with each other afterward online.

Our leadership club has 42 high schoolers in ninth to twelfth grade. We had to limit it to 42. They came up with the You Turn program, the feed the needy program, and other community service projects. They run the youth center. They’re the heart and soul of it. Fifty percent of our kids are ninth to twelfth graders on a daily basis. They want to come because of the people that are here. They come because of the staff. We have staff of all backgrounds – computers, artsy, sports, video games – we have staff that meet all their needs and of all different races. The diversity is great.

Do these youth face any risk factors?

Some of these 15-16 year old kids have moved 8 or 9 times and they don’t get to see their [extended] families back home [in the US]. They don’t have the same fashion, the same shopping malls as back home, and a lot of the music is different. That’s important to them.

What strengths do these youth have compared with American youth who have never lived outside the country?

Socialization skills. Because they move so frequently, their social skills are so advanced compared with their peers back home [in the US]. Also, in some instances the level of education is better overseas. Their test scores are good compared with a lot of school systems back home. The number of kids going on to college is greater. Here at DOD High School, the graduation rate is 85-90 percent, and many of them go on to college.

The camaraderie that we have is great. We all know why we’re here and that brings our communities closer. We have diversity and not a lot of racism. There’s no gangs, no drive-by shootings. It’s a safe environment.

How is Camp Zama 4-H organized?

We have 12 BGCA and five 4-H programs. We have to meet the club requirements. For 4-H we elect a president, vice present, we have bylaws. But we don’t separate the program from the BGCA – it would be impossible to do because they’re all the same kids.

We run under the rules of each club, 4-H or BGCA, according to what we want to do. For example, we use 4-H club curriculum to teach the kids technology, because 4-H has technology clubs and the BGCA don’t. We call our leadership club the Keystone Club, because the BGCA are strong on that.

We are definitely blessed with everything that we have, and without input and knowledge from DeAnn Acosta in Hawaii, we wouldn’t be where we’re at.

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