In 1972 Steve Brannan, professor in special education, established a partnership with the Metro area Kiwanis Clubs who operated a residential camp for children with disabilities. A two-week practicum was developed for pre-service teachers to work with children at the camp. The camp program provided a rich setting where teachers and college students could learn about and practice teaching daily living and social skills to these children.

Kiwanis campers get to experience many challenging outdoor adventures. PSU students, who are assigned to campers one-on-one, come from a variety of campus programs.

In the late 1980s PSU broadened the campus undergraduate curriculum to include community-based learning so that all undergraduates would have opportunities to learn first-hand about diversity, civic responsibility, and community service. Senior capstone courses were developed with a wide array of partners; in 1990 a senior capstone course was developed for Mt. Hood Kiwanis Camp. The pre-training and continual coaching built into the course made it possible for students who had little or no prior experience with persons with disabilities to participate. Because of the partnership with PSU, the camp program provides all campers with the support of a student-counselor. This makes it possible to offer the experience to those in our community with more significant and complex disabilities. To see a video of the program aired on OPB’s Oregon Field Guide last year, go to OPB's Field Guide site. To learn more about the camp program, go to the Kiwanis Camp website.

Nearly ten percent of all PSU seniors have chosen this experience for their capstone course, and enrollment has grown to over 280 students per year. Often, students comment “…this is one of the hardest but one of the best things I have ever done.” 

This awareness leads to greater understand-ing and support of persons with disabilities and their families in the workplace and our communities. Capstone students also report the personal rewards of service, providing them with a greater sense of civic responsibility.

PSU students say:

• “No class or lecture has ever taught me as much about life as this experience.”


• “Mt. Hood Kiwanis Camp was a wonderful experience for all parties involved, campers and counselors. Programs like Kiwanis Camp provide an opportunity for PSU students from all fields to better understand disabilities and their impact on the person and their family. This promotes the understanding and acceptance that is essential to erasing discrimination.”


• “Never again will I look at someone with a disability the same. Instead of thinking about what they cannot do, I will look to see what they are capable of doing.”


• “It’s as if I found a fork in my straight road of life that I thought I had all planned out. But instead I must now venture down this new road and see where it leads me.”


• “I always like to learn new things that are essential for my academic growth. . . . But the most rewarding class to me was, without a doubt, the Kiwanis experience. This is a class that teaches people not only about how to care for others with disabilities, but also teaches people how to dig deep inside themselves and get the caring human out of them.”