If people see kids hitchhiking on Giant City Road and they are looking kind of dirty, please do not pick them up, asks Katy McCullough, director of the Spectrum Wilderness Course.

McCullough said the Spectrum camp at Touch of Nature has had four campers attempt to run away this month, totalling six attempts, because one camper ran three times.

But everyone has returned to the program, McCullough said.

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Last week, three juveniles ran away from the camp and hitchhiked to Centrailia, which is about 85 miles away from the camp. Two other campers attempted to run away on Monday, but soon were returned to camp.

When kids do run away, they try and hitchhike, McCullough said.

She said people need to understand that they are putting themselves at risk by picking up runaway campers.

McCullough said the Spectrum camp offers a Wilderness Stress Challenge Program for at-risk youth.

She said the kids who attend the camp are 14-18 years old and are considered at risk of failing at home, in school or in the community at large.

She said some of the campers are ordered by courts to attend camp, some are on probation, some are wards of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and some are private referrals.

We have a wide range of kids, McCullough said.

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She said runaways are pretty common at the camp, and many of the kids who go to the camp already have the behavior of a runaway because of their problems.

McCullough said the camp is very challenging, and there are a lot of confrontations concerning behavioral problems. She gave the example of a camper throwing down his pack and refusing to go on.

McCullough said one of the camp’s goals is to eliminate self-limiting behavior.

It is not a lock-up type of program, McCullough said. We don’t physically force kids to do anything.

She said the camp is not a boot camp. It does not have a gate, and the campers are not locked in.

However, when kids run away we follow them, McCullough said.

She said if the camp loses contact with the runaway campers, a missing persons report is filed with the University Police.

Anyone who spots a runaway camper can call Touch of Nature at 453-1121.