By Kaelan Young
Since 1951, Happy Hollow Children’s Camp has welcomed over 45,000 children from the Greater Indianapolis area. The camp serves children ages 7 to 14, focusing on those from economically disadvantaged households, the foster system, or those who attend outdoor education programs at Happy Hollow. Located on 850 acres in Brown County, Indiana, Happy Hollow offers residential camping activities that promote self-sufficiency, teamwork, and outdoor learning.
One camper shared, “(What I want people to know about camp is…) that nature is loving and caring and that bugs and trees are good.” This perspective reflects the camp’s role in fostering a positive connection to the natural world.
To help advance these efforts, Viristar partnered with Happy Hollow Children’s Camp to support the camp’s 2024-2028 strategic plan. Viristar’s contributions included developing curriculum to enhance summer and academic-year programs. This involved creating structured program schedules, detailed lesson plans, staff training materials, and resources to establish a multi-year adventure camp experience.
The Need for Enhanced Curriculum
The goals of Happy Hollow’s 2024-2028 strategic plan focus on expanding and deepening the camp’s experiences, particularly by establishing a continuum of year-round camp offerings and enhancing the quality of summer programs.
To help achieve these objectives, Viristar was hired to develop a curriculum designed to create engaging, developmentally appropriate, and impactful educational experiences for youth across age groups. By designing structured field trip schedules and lesson plans that align with Indiana Academic Standards in Earth and Space Science and Life Science, the curriculum supports Happy Hollow’s mission of fostering self-discovery and environmental awareness.
The curriculum also includes activities that build on one another, creating a progressive learning experience that encourages schools and youth organizations to return year after year.
Additionally, the introduction of the “Adventure Camp” provides a tailored experience for campers, helping to attract new participants and offering developmental progression for returning campers. This new curriculum is an important component of Happy Hollow’s broader strategy to provide accessible, high-quality outdoor education, strengthen program offerings, and create lasting connections with youth from diverse backgrounds.
Curriculum Design Process
Viristar took a thoughtful, client-centered approach to ensure the curriculum design met the organization’s specific needs. By collaborating closely with Happy Hollow’s leadership, Viristar gained a deep understanding of the camp’s mission, audience, and goals.
“I was impressed by the thoughtful process in which Viristar engages its clients, which led to deliverables that are tailored to the unique populations we serve,” said Serae Neidigh, Happy Hollow’s Camp Manager. “They took a great deal of time to meet with me and think through the ‘why’ of these deliverables, so that every piece felt intentional.”
To support Happy Hollow’s school-year programming, Viristar created four field trip schedules designed to engage students from grades 3 through 6. These schedules incorporated relevant academic standards and featured a progression model, allowing schools to return year after year while building on students’ learning experiences.
In tandem, four detailed lesson plans were developed to promote environmental awareness and nature-based learning, particularly for those who may be unfamiliar with outdoor environments. The lessons emphasized developmentally appropriate, experiential activities aligned with Happy Hollow’s program goals.
To extend this work into the summer season, Viristar designed a new Adventure Camp crafted to attract new participants and offer returning campers new experiences over multiple years. The Adventure Camp introduces a progression-based model for campers ages 7 to 14. Activities build in complexity, beginning with foundational camping skills and culminating in a structured outdoor survival overnight experience.
To support the implementation of this new program, Viristar delivered a suite of tailored resources. These included:
- Three complete lesson plans on topics such as shelter-building and orienteering.
- Activity descriptions that integrate into Happy Hollow’s existing curriculum materials.
- Position descriptions to support the recruitment, hiring, and training of staff.
- A comprehensive Adventure Camp Manual outlining activity progression, age-specific programming, and Standard Operating Procedures for activities such as overnight camping, firebuilding, and outdoor cooking.
In addition, Viristar provided a development guide for lesson planning to assist Happy Hollow staff in designing high-quality instructional content. The guide introduces key curriculum components, instructional strategies, and includes both blank and sample templates to support lesson planning.
Conclusion
The collaboration between Viristar and Happy Hollow Children’s Camp resulted in the development of curriculum and resources aligned with the camp’s strategic plan. The materials developed aim to expand and deepen camp experiences and create year-over-year progression in youth engagement.
As campers progress through these programs, they gain skills, develop a deeper connection to the natural world, and build confidence that extends well beyond camp. These outcomes support Happy Hollow’s long-term goal of encouraging human potential through exploration, connection, and self-discovery.
For organizations interested in education program design services, Viristar offers expertise in curriculum and syllabus development, lesson planning, policy and procedure creation, training program design and delivery, and more.
Learn about Viristar’s education program design services here.
