Week one of training has finished and I can confidently
say that I can belay campers and run the high ropes courses. The majority of the week was spent practicing
and climbing all over the ropes courses, rock walls and zip line-it was so much
fun! I should back up a little
first.
Silver 3 left Sacramento May 21 and drove Kuna all day
until we arrived at a little hotel on the border of Nevada and Utah, where we
spent the night before leaving early the next morning to get to Camp K in time
for training. The first day was filled
with team building and ice-breakers, getting to learn names and all sorts of
fun activities. Our team was quite
exhausted by the end of the night having been traveling and up awake from 5am
two mornings in a row.
We have meshed well
with the other counselors and are trying not to be too exclusive, as our team
is used to being a close knit family working and living only with each
other. It’s helpful that the other
counselors have similar passions for service.
Memorial Day weekend has been very relaxing; I got a
chance to explore Salt Lake City a bit with some of my teammates. The Mormon Temple was stunning, and although
we could not enter it, there were two visitors centers and the park and the
tabernacle choir amphitheater. Chilled at a coffee shop to get some internet
and just walked around downtown. Its
beautiful here, I’m hoping to go for a bike ride later today........
BECAUSE I SHIPPED MY BIKE HERE!!! THAT’S RIGHT I HAVE
MY BIKE HERE WITH ME IN UTAH. The road
that camp is on, Emigration Canyon Road, is actually one of the top 10 bike
rides in Salt Lake City, there are hundreds of cyclists that zoom by every
day. I love it.
This next week is more training and then the next week
we get campers! It will be challenging no doubt, being a camp counselor from
7am to 9pm every day for children with mental and physical disabilities, but
absolutely worth it. Its funny how I’ve
wanted to work at a summer camp for years but have never gotten the chance, and
now in my AmeriCorps NCCC year my last placement is at a summer camp for
children with disabilities.
(From the pre-site check list)
“Since 1967 the Kostopulos Dream Foundation
has been dedicated to improving the lives of people with disabilities through
the medium of recreation and leisure education. Their longest running
program, Camp Kostopulos,
accredited by the American Camp Association, is a residential summer
camp where kids, teens, and adults with disabilities are able to choose from
two options a five day residential camp or travel trips.
Campers enjoy fishing, horse riding, swimming, camp
outs, sing songs, create arts and craft projects, challenge themselves on the
ropes course, make new friends, and renew old friendships.”
The mission statement of the Kostopulos Dream
Foundation is:
To
improve the quality of life of individuals with disabilities through recreation
and education experiences
Also, all the counselors need camp names. Examples from my team include Pickles, Ziggy
and Hobbs. My camp name given to me was Africa, by Marianne or “Elm” from my
team. So Africa I shall be for the
remainder of the summer.
love and miss you all
k
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