About PALS
The Purdue Athletes Life Success Program (formerly the National Youth Sports Program - NYSP) has been at Purdue University since 2002. Enrollment is open to all youngsters in the community ages 8 to 14 whose parents or guardians meet Department of Health and Human Services income guidelines. The program is free to attend! The goal of PALS is to inspire kids to stay active and healthy. However, the program is much more than a sports camp.
The Four Pillars of Character
At PALS, we work to create an environment that allows each child to grow and become the best version of themselves. We strive to provide a climate that focuses on personal improvement and building of positive relationships with peers and adults. Each week at camp, the program focuses on one of the four pillars of character: respect, caring, responsibility, and trust. The pillar for each week is incorporated into activities throughout camp such as sports, art, computers, and service learning.
Respect
Respect deals with acknowledging and valuing the worth of each person. We focus on getting to know each other and the rules at camp as a foundation for developing respect. We also emphasize acceptance, courtesy, conflict resolution, and treating others as you want to be treated. Activities focus on developing and maintaining positive relationships with others, fair play, self-respect, and respect for the environment.
Caring
Caring is showing genuine interest in and concern and compassion for other people. We focus on working together, developing clsoer relationships, helping each other, and being charitable and giving to others. Acitivites this week focus on further developing supportive relationships, cooperative games and activities, sharing, and developing a sense of unity within each camp team.
Responsibility
Respect involves being reliable, dependable, and accountable for your actions. During this week, we focus on accountability, demonstrating self-control, doing your best, and doing what is expected of you. Activities focus on setting realistic and challenging goals, taking on roles and responsibilities within the team, developing leadership skills, and managing emotions and conflicts.
Trust
Trust is believing in each other to be reliable, responsible, caring, and respectful people. It also involves acting in such a way that other people can have trust in you. We focus on standing up for your beliefs and values, being honest, sincere, dependable, and loyal. Activities focus on having courage to try new things, relying on each other, being reliable, being truthful, and looking out for other people who care for you.