Different Programs. One Mission.

Cody Carlton
7 days ago
5 min read

After working across Birmingham Summer Institute, Alabama Virtual Institute, ACT Prep, and now as a CAMP program manager, Kenyatta Congress began noticing something: the programs kept changing, but the way students were supported did not.

Five days. Eleventh graders. An age group she had never taught before.

Kenyatta Congress had spent her career working with elementary students. So when she signed on to work with 11th graders during a five-day CAMP ACT Prep bootcamp, she was nervous.

"Up until that point, I had never worked with students outside of elementary," Kenyatta said.

By the end of the week, that nervousness had changed into something she had not expected. She was surprised by how much she enjoyed working with the older students.

"I was so shocked by how much I genuinely enjoyed the older group and my experience," she said.

That week gave Kenyatta one more point of comparison. She had already worked with students through Birmingham Summer Institute and taught STEM virtually through Alabama Virtual Institute. Now she was helping high school students prepare for the ACT.

The programs looked very different from one another. Still, the more Kenyatta experienced them from the inside, the more she noticed that something about the student experience kept feeling familiar.

One Opportunity Led to Another

Kenyatta graduated from Troy University in 2022 and began her career as a kindergarten teacher in Birmingham. Over four years in the classroom, she taught several lower elementary grades, experiences she says strengthened her passion for education and student success and shaped the way she works with students today.

During her third year of teaching, her principal mentioned a summer program that would be hosted at their elementary school. Kenyatta applied to teach math with Birmingham Summer Institute, and that became her introduction to CAMP.

At BSI, she worked directly with students during the summer, helping create an environment where they could learn, explore, and enjoy themselves outside the traditional school day. As the summer continued, she also began learning more about CAMP and the other programs the organization offered.

Toward the end of that summer, she applied for a position with the Alabama Virtual Institute, where she became a virtual STEM teacher. The setting changed completely. She was now building relationships and creating STEM learning experiences with students she never shared a physical room with.

Even after spending the school day serving students, she found herself looking forward to AVI.

"AVI never felt like more work," Kenyatta said. "Most days, I might've had more fun than the students."

Later came ACT Prep and the group of 11th graders she had been so nervous to teach. By then, Kenyatta had experienced CAMP with different age groups, in different learning environments, and for very different purposes.

That gave her something to compare.

What Stayed the Same

On paper, Birmingham Summer Institute, Alabama Virtual Institute, and ACT Prep have very different goals.

BSI gave Kenyatta the opportunity to work with students during a summer learning experience. AVI placed her in a virtual environment teaching STEM. ACT Prep brought her together with high school students preparing for a specific academic goal.

But when Kenyatta talks about what connects those experiences, she does not start with the curriculum or the schedule. She starts with how students are treated.

"The most surprising thing about working across multiple programs with CAMP is how they all are different and provide different services; however, they all still create very similar experiences for students," she said.

Across those experiences, Kenyatta kept seeing students encouraged to try something new, build confidence, and consider possibilities they may not have considered before.

"The biggest similarity between all programs is how they all support and encourage the students the same," she said. "The goal at CAMP is clear and implemented in every program, creating that consistency."

Whether students were preparing for the ACT, receiving tutoring, participating in a summer program, or exploring STEM, Kenyatta saw the same priority repeated.

"All students served know that they matter," she said. "There is an intentional effort to ensure that students know that they are supported, capable, and valued."

The programs did not need to look alike for students to experience that.

When Students Know They Come First

Kenyatta's classroom background made that common thread easier for her to recognize.

She knew the pressures that come with teaching during the school day. Grades matter. Student data matters. Academic standards matter. Educators are responsible for knowing where students are, what they still need, and how their progress is being measured.

Working with CAMP gave Kenyatta an opportunity to experience students in a different kind of learning environment.

"Coming from being a classroom teacher and having to stress grades and data, and coming into CAMP programs where students don't feel those pressures was such an amazing feeling," she said. "It felt like a breath of fresh air for me, so I can only imagine what it felt like for students."

That did not mean the academic work stopped mattering. Students in ACT Prep were still preparing for an important exam. Students in AVI were still learning STEM content. BSI still created opportunities for students to learn and grow.

What changed for Kenyatta was how she thought about the starting point.

"The results will come and they do matter, but the students know that they come first and actually feel it," she said.

That realization stayed with her as she moved from one program to the next.

"Working across different CAMP programs has reminded me that serving students goes beyond providing a lesson or an activity," Kenyatta said. "It has shown me just how important showing up for students really is."

The Culture Behind the Programs

The longer Kenyatta worked with CAMP, the more she noticed that the support she saw surrounding students was not limited to students.

Before moving into her current role as a program manager, Kenyatta experienced CAMP from the contractor side. That gave her the chance to work with different teams and supervisors while seeing another side of the organization.

"Each and every staff member that I encountered with CAMP while working on the contractor side was the most amazing supervisor," she said. "Just as much as they poured into the students, they supported the staff just as much."

That experience gave Kenyatta another way to understand the values she had been seeing within CAMP programs. The support she saw extended to the people doing the work, too.

"The values are exemplified in their character," she said. "CAMP feels like a safe place for everyone that has the opportunity to experience it."

By that point, Kenyatta had seen CAMP as a classroom educator entering a summer program, as a contractor working across different initiatives, and eventually as a program manager. Each role showed her something different, but the priorities she noticed remained familiar.

More Than One Way In

Kenyatta first came to CAMP because her principal told her about a summer teaching opportunity. She could not have known where that first experience would lead.

What began with Birmingham Summer Institute led to Alabama Virtual Institute, ACT Prep, and eventually her current role as a CAMP program manager. More importantly, working across those programs gave her the chance to see the larger connection between them.

"Being able to experience their programs from the inside has helped me see that CAMP isn't just about the individual program," she said. "The organization is about creating opportunities for students to grow, explore, and see themselves in places they may not have considered before."

When asked what makes CAMP different after experiencing so many parts of its work, Kenyatta put it more simply.

"CAMP does more than create programs for students," she said. "It creates possibilities."

For Kenyatta, CAMP always comes back to the students:

"No matter where CAMP meets a student, it is made known that we care about them, their future, and we're here to help them reach their goals."

With thanks to: Kenyatta Congress, CAMP program manager, for sharing her experiences as a classroom educator and across Birmingham Summer Institute, Alabama Virtual Institute, ACT Prep, and CAMP.

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