" It's very apparent that everyone involved with I.V. strives to provide our children with an enjoyable, educational, and memorable experience! It's a wonderful program - one that I hope continues for many more years to come."
- Irene Brown, 2007 IV parent
Educational Value
The Ionian Village program places a high priority on its opportunity to educate our teens and young adults. The Ionian Village Program Director and Coordinator both have backgrounds in education and curricula development, and teaching experience. Additionally, many of our staff applicants are educators. With this expertise, Ionian Village carefully designs and creates lessons to cater to all modalities in many areas. Participants are provided with interactive lessons in religious education, Greek history and culture, music, and the arts. Through these areas Ionian Village is able to broaden the horizons of its participants so that they return to their homes with a better understanding of the Orthodox faith and Greek culture.
Safety and Supervision
Ionian Village not only prides itself on the incredible spiritual and cultural experiences that it creates for its campers, but on its camp standards and safety precautions, as well. As an affiliate of the Office of Camping Ministries, the Ionian Village Administrative Team joins camp directors from across the nation to attend the American Camping Association's (ACA) training conferences. Ionian Village implements a rigorous staff application process that requires a national background investigation and screening. This helps assure that Ionian Village only hires the finest of the 100+ interested applicants each year. Additionally, IV maintains a 1:7 staff-to-camper ratio.
Medical Staff and Facilities
Ionian Village employs qualified medical staff to maintain the health and well-being of each camper while in Greece. Typically, the medical staff is comprised of American physicians and or nurses (RN certified). Ionian Village also has a medical clinic on its grounds, which is annually stocked with medications and equipment to meet any medical need or emergency.
Insurance
Since it is considered an international camp, Ionian Village has full liability insurance, which covers injuries, accidents, and kidnapping and ransom for all its participants. Ionian Village also holds insurance that allows us to immediately fly back any seriously injured or ill participant to the United States on a medically equipped aircraft, so that he/she may receive the best medical attention from US physicians and medical teams.
International Travel
Flights will be chaperoned to and from Athens. Upon arriving at New York's JFK Airport, campers will be greeted by Ionian Village staff and clergy. Each flight to Athens will be supervised by several clergy and staff members that will be responsible for escorting all campers safely aboard the flights to the Ionian Village staff awaiting them at the Athens Airport. These chaperones will also ensure that all campers clear International Customs, collect their luggage, and board the Ionian Village chartered busses at the airport, which are supervised by more Ionian Village staff members and clergy. These busses will depart Athens for Bartholomeio, where campers will settle in at the Ionian Village campgrounds. Please see the Registration Form for details concerning extended stay return flight supervision.
As Ionian Village is a "travel" camp, parents should be aware that campers travel to each site by cabin, and that every trip is accompanied and supervised by cabin staff, and administrative staff. As part of the intense training and orientation program that Ionian Village staff members experience, all staff members have been educated on the sites we visit, and several have previously visited the sites. Fully aware of their surroundings, Ionian Village staff are prepared to deal effectively with safety issues that might arise.