Camp Aruga: Building Professional Identity and Resilience in Filipino American Nurses

Camp Aruga Leadership Bootcamp, developed by the Philippine Nurses Association of America, incorporates Filipino cultural values into leadership training to boost professional identity, resilience, and retention among Filipino American nurses. This report provides an overview of Camp Aruga's conceptual design, highlighting its main elements-culturally focused mentorship, ritual-based communal activities, nature-centered wellness, and practical governance and coaching workshops-along with the facilitators and challenges faced during its implementation. Results indicate the program successfully promotes self-care as a leadership practice, encourages interchapter collaboration, and strengthens cultural identity. Key challenges included logistical hurdles, the need for postevent follow-up structures, and limited resources for thorough evaluation. The findings provide an actionable and replicable model for culturally responsive leadership development.