Digital Bulletin

EXETER - On a mercilessly hot summer day, clusters of butterflies linger at various points on the rocky trail leading to Camp E-Hun-Tee -- an appropriate representation of what lies ahead.

This is where nature and circumstance collide, where young men aim to choose metamorphosis over the rocky trails that have brought them here.

A few hours within the camp's wooded trails, and it is clear that there are many representations at camp.

"Everything we do here, it's always got a meaning to it," said Nicholas, an outgoing 17-year-old, who landed at camp in January, after several run-ins with the law and stays at the state Training School for Youth.

"Every little thing in here has something to do with out there," agreed Camp Director Richard Boshwitz.

There are tents and colored camp T-shirts. There are mealtimes and letters home. But Camp E-Hun-Tee isn't your average overnight camp.

A center for growth

E-Hun-Tee is one of more than 18 youth wilderness therapy camps across the nation and one of 3 in New England, under Eckerd Youth Alternatives, which was founded in 1968 by Jack and Ruth Eckerd of Eckerd Drug Stores.

The 275-acre Camp E-Hun-Tee, which means "his growth" in the Moskokee Native American language, straddles the Exeter-West Greenwich line in the woodsy Arcadia Management Area.

Boshwitz said the outdoors is part of the "Eckerd model" -- "using this kind of environment to help treat kids . . . help them work through difficult psychological or emotional issues."

Like Nicholas, many of the young men at E-Hun-Tee have found themselves in Family Court or Training School cells.

"Most of [the campers] have some sort of criminal charges against them," Boshwitz noted. Their offenses range from truancy to robbery to drug dealing.

Children at E-Hun-Tee are typically between the ages of 12 and 17. They can be referred by the state Department of Children, Youth and Families or ordered to attend by a Family Court judge.

Boshwitz also makes weekly trips to the Training School and does interviews with children and their families to determine if the camp is a good option for them.

E-Hun-Tee is not equipped to deal with sexual predator issues or serious substance abuse, though Eckerd Youth Alternatives does run programs in other states that address those issues. Boshwitz also weighs whether the level of violence is more than camp officials will be equipped to deal with.

Increasing gang involvement and aggression among youth are also issues that Eckerd officials have had to adjust to, say Boshwitz and Michael Strauch, regional director for Eckerd Youth Alternatives. In addition to Rhode Island's E-Hun-Tee, Strauch oversees camps in Vermont and New Hampshire.

The fact that children are more likely to have been adjudicated before entering the program, may also be because the perception of the Eckerd program has changed over the years.

Programs like E-Hun-Tee were originally viewed as an alternative to training school for children who had just started to have behavioral problems, Strauch said. Today, E-Hun-Tee is viewed more as a place for children that have made progress at training school or in other programs.

"The child that comes to us now, the needs that they present are greater than maybe the kids that came back when E-Hun-Tee started 15 years ago."

"I just think a lot of people, not just kids, don't take the time to think about the impact of their actions and quite often don't realize that there are better ways to solve problems rather than moving right to a physical confrontation with somebody," Strauch said.

Problem solving

Strauch said the benefit of the "Eckerd model" is that children learn to think of other ways.

"That's really what we try to teach at camp -- learning how to talk things out," Strauch said.

Those alternatives are then applied to a child's previous environment.

"We really try to process what's going on with the child and talk about what could be different," Strauch said. "If this weren't at camp, if you were in the community, how would this affect your family?"

In addition to classes and activities, campers meet with social workers on a weekly basis to go over their goals, both long-term and short-term. When campers first arrive at E-Hun-Tee, camp officials use information from family members and Family Court files for a specialized treatment plan.

Leaving camp is contingent upon significant progress toward those goals, which for many campers include anger management and respecting authority. Campers receive aftercare for one year, with a social worker assisting the child in getting settled back into school and the community.

Campers also make daily goals for themselves, which help them put their issues and needs into perspective.

Before coming to camp, Nicholas said, "I didn't want to listen to anybody. I was mad disrespectful."

He is "in transition," which means that he has about two months left at camp and can go home once a week. Campers who are not in transition go home just once a month. Typical distractions are not a part of the camp environment. Campers are not allowed to bring CD players or iPods. They communicate with their families through letters.

Boshwitz said the only time campers are allowed to use the phone is if there is "a therapeutic reason" for them to be on the phone, such as a need to communicate with a parent about an issue in the home.

There is no such thing as a typical day at camp. Each day starts at 7 a.m. But anything from class to daily chores can be interrupted, because, as Boshwitz puts it, at camp "we deal with problems when they come up."

Camp E-Hun-Tee has about 30 children at any given time and they are divided into four groups, which bear the names of Native American tribes such as the Lakotas. E-Hun-Tee's program is for boys only, but Eckerd runs programs for girls in several other states.

Each group has two camp counselors -- one female and one male -- who live alongside the groups in their own tents and, like Boshwitz, are known as chiefs.

A family environment

Eckerd recruits nationwide for camp counselors, who are generally young, 20-somethings, interested in helping kids, Strauch said.

"[Counselors] come from a wide variety of backgrounds," Strauch said. "The thing that would sort of bind them together . . . is a desire to work with kids and help kids straighten out their lives."

Both Strauch, who has worked for Eckerd for 20 years, and Boshwitz, who has been with the company since 1990, started as camp counselors.

Everything a camper does is done with their group. If a camper uses profanity or doesn't want to do the task at hand, his group stops whatever they are doing and addresses the problem. This is known as "the huddle."

"It's a discussion of why we're in there and what you can do to prevent it," said 14-year-old Eugene, who has a knack for drawing, and likes to write rap songs and sing in his spare time.

Campers stay in their groups for their entire time at the camp, which is generally for 11 months. Because children enter camp at different times, group rosters vary. Over the course of their stay, campers find that they go to each other for support and veteran campers often assume leadership roles in their groups.

"[The group] becomes your family," said Eugene, who has been at E-Hun-Tee since April.

For Nicholas, having to eat every meal, discuss every problem and do every activity within a group has helped him to do things he wasn't able to do at home.

"I learned how to communicate my feelings without being disruptive or negative," Nicholas said.

"Sometimes your parents will give up on you, like, ~'I don't want him to come home,' " Eugene said. "Camp will help you find ways to get better at home and at camp, with yourself."

Nicholas and Eugene agree that living in a group has helped them, but that is the hardest thing about camp, Boshwitz said.

"We purposely put kids in a stressful environment," said Boshwitz. "We purposely put them in the kind of environment when problems are going to come out."

Boshwitz emphasized that E-Hun-Tee is not a boot camp. The physical challenges of hiking and building, pale in comparison to the emotional challenges that kids experience at camp, Boshwitz said.

"It's such an overwhelming experience for a young person to have to come to camp," Boshwitz said. "We do the best we can in helping that young person just get accustomed."

The adjustment can be even more difficult for children coming from the Training School, Boshwitz said.

"They unhook the handcuffs and they're here," Boshwitz said. "They don't even get the luxury of coming from home, so that's harder."

But the group system is an integral part of Eckerd programs.

"Kids have to learn how to be accountable to each other instead of learning how to work the system," Boshwitz said.

Working the system is something that many campers know about. At the Training School, there isn't time to address every little problem.

But as Eugene and Nicholas have learned, problems can linger and worsen.

It's only the second day at camp for Kevin, 13. His wide-eyes and dimpled cheeks give him a look of innocence and it's surprising to hear him speak of the Training School culture -- a lot of spare time, inside alliances -- with familiarity.

He talks excitedly about why he prefers camp and the innocence is back.

"You get to go swimming, build tents, go fishing -- eat better meals here," he says. "And you get a pull-up bar in your room."

The wooden pull-up bars that hang near some of the campers' beds add a tiny flare to the outside wooden shelters, which campers refer to as tents.

The terminology may be misleading. Boshwitz is quick to point out that building a tent isn't easy. Under the supervision of their chiefs, campers spend months building their living spaces. Camp runs year-round and the shelters are made to adjust to temperature changes. Heaters are put into every structure to fend off winter's harsh cold.

Relishing a second chance

E-Hun-Tee is an accredited school and classes include both traditional and experiential teaching methods.

"They do more than seven hours of school," Boshwitz said. "They just don't do it [all] in a classroom."

A daily siesta gives campers time to reflect on the day, write letters or poetry or read books.

Each night, groups sit on makeshift benches around a fire and go over the events of the day.

"The fire signifies problems going up in smoke," Boshwitz said -- something camp officials hope will also transfer to home life. "Hopefully when they go home -- they're not talking over a fire with their families -- but they're communicating with their families."

Thinking about the prospect of returning home soon, Nicholas said, "I feel happy. When I first got here, I was doing alright. I almost got sent back to the Training School, but I switched up. I started doing really good."

Nicholas looks at camp as a last chance. "If I mess up it's a wrap," he said. With his 18th birthday approaching, the Training School won't be an option anymore. Getting into trouble with the law could mean a stint at the Adult Correctional Institutions.

"And my judge don't like me," Nicholas says. "So that's probably exactly where I'd be going."

But he doesn't seem to be worried about that. Instead, he focuses on his goals of getting a car, graduating from high school, going to college and getting a job in landscaping or construction.

What has E-Hun-Tee changed the most?

"My attitude toward life, I guess," Nicholas says. "I barely had a chance to come here. Some people"-- he grins at Boshwitz --"believed in me."