Thursday, July 26, 2018

Summer Teen Camp 2018


In the early morning hours of July 14, thirteen members (11 teens, 2 advisors) of our Santa Rosa teen group embarked for a week long adventure at the beautiful mountain site of Buckhorn Camp in Idyllwild Ca. for Centers for Spiritual Living summer teen camp 2018. Along our travels we met up with one more teen and advisor making our group 15 strong! A total of 345 teens and advisors from Centers through out the USA, Canada and Jamaica were present for a week of spiritual connection, workshops and play.

Cabin bonding night has become a great way to get to know the people in the cabins. Since we don't spend much time in our cabins, other than to sleep and get ready for the day, this event is a fun way to get to know each other make new friends and create a bit of team spirit.

This year each cabin created a cabin flag (not pictured) and a paper chain and choose one representative to compete in the great Rock Paper Scissors challenge. Pictured to the left is Lily Downs who made it through the first round.

Estrella Pacheco and Charles Woodside each made it into the semi finials. After each round the winner acquired the paper chain of the looser. What you can't see in the picture is that both Estrella and Charles were covered, and or trailing, a huge pile of paper chains. Shout out to Estrella who won this round and went up against the eventual winner of the event.

Our evenings sessions continued with a variety of events. Advisor night being one of the most powerful. This is where a team of five to six advisors share something very personal that they have overcome through applied spiritual practice. Other events include advisor talent night, teen talent night and the Hootenanny, a night of comedy, skits, music and the infamous Padawan skit. A parody of camp put on by those moving into adulthood.

Then there is Empowerment night. This year we separated into age groups and were guided through a series of questions posed by advisors on what it's like to be our specific age. Each person was invited to create a paper leaf in a specific colors with a positive affirmation or statement written on it. When we came back together, each group added their leaf to a large family tree. The tree became a symbol of our connection for the week. It also became a great place to take photos with our camp families as pictured below with mine, Family 16.
On Wednesday afternoon we participated in the teen business meeting facilitated by the current International leadership team. During this meeting teens voted for one of three organizations that will receive a tithe donation from "CSLTeens". The organization chosen was the International Red Cross. We also listened to speeches from the candidates running for the incoming teen leadership team. Nine teens in total created the slate of candidates with six positions available. Only teens are allowed to vote for the incoming leaders. They are instructed to put aside popularity and friendships and choose who they feel will make strong leaders to represent them over the coming year.
Our last day and night together was a mixture of closure with our camp families and a super fun outdoor party complete with water slides, a dunk tank, a pie toss, and carnival snacks. It was a wet and wild adventure full of laughter and fun.
Later that evening was the closing dance. Halfway through the dance the new slate of leadership was announced. Santa Rosa had two teens running for leadership and BOTH of them were voted in! Congratulations to Dylan Jansen and Danna Iversen for your dedication to Center for Spiritual Living Teens.
There are many more stories from our week at camp. Our days were long, beginning at 7:30am for great awake and ending near 11:00pm for lights out. We made new friends, strengthened bonds with existing friends and said farewell to those moving on. We are very grateful for all the love and support of our Santa Rosa community who made it possible for us to attend. Thank you for making our 2018 summer camp experience one to remember for a lifetime!















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