It's Wolf Shirt Wednesday every body. Can I get a what what? I loaned out my wolf collection this morning and the wolf pack grew.
After chapel the morning the CILTs gathered in the Party Room for an activity called the Sherpa Walk. They had no idea what was about to happen.
The craziest thing about this group initiative is that most of the participants never receive any instructions explaining what they're going to be doing or what the goal is. The activity starts and they're just thrust right into the craziness of it all.
This morning as we debriefed we talked a lot about how you best help the whole group be successful. They changed their method of figuring things out about half way through and became a lot more efficient. Though they were efficient that didn't necessarily mean they were very effective.
Activities like this make people either step up and contribute in a positive way or they reveal that they'd rather retreat and not participate in a helpful way. It's really eye opening to the way that people react under pressure and what their attitude will be.
I'm proud not only of how this group is performing, but even more proud of how they're learning and thinking through everything they've been doing.
Next we did two awesome things.
1. All 45 of us spent about 20 minutes writing love tank notes to other CILTs. We want to make time to build one another up and make it a priority to think of how we can encourage each other and highlight their strengths. I love seeing a whole room of teenagers so thoughtfully writing these notes to their friends.
2. They got their wooden name tags!!!! Counselors all have wooden name tags so it's a huge deal and rite of passage for the CILTs to get to have them too. They'll proudly wear them for the next few days and then hang them up at home or from their rearview mirror. These things are better than gold.
Kelly and Maggie met during CILTs this summer and have become great friends. They're in Catawba together this week and I'm continually impressed by their partnership. They are balancing being friends and giving all their attention to their campers. I think they would be awesome counselors one day.
The time right before lunch is one of the times during the day when we get to see the rest of the counselors. It's crazy that in just a week I'll have a "normal" schedule of teaching clinics and leading cabin activities just like them. Oh holy it'll be a switch. I'm excited to take that on but will definitely miss this CILT Pack life.
Right after rest hour it was time for River Village Gold Rush. The gold rocks are spread out through Main Field and all over the OT. Campers run around with their friends, CILTs and counselors to collect as much as they can for their cabin. Since I don't have a cabin collecting gold, I ran around taking pictures of CILTs with their kids and any other fun people I ran into along the way.
Just looking back at all of these pictures makes me think about how Tecumseh really is the coolest place. Finding rocks around camp was cool, but the best part was that all of these campers were getting to hang out with CILTs that make them feel so special and awesome. That's why this place is fantastic.
Safety officers of the day: Emma and Suzanne.
I had to run some errands with Smoon and Arielle...
But luckily I still had time to get to free time at the pool to play with my buddy Carrie Gaffigan and her friend Lindsey. Then Stevo was walking around with this really cool cicada on his face. Of course I happily agreed to put it on my face and soon Emma and Grace did too.
Roberto almost came with us on RFAJWD tonight. Can't believe it's the last one of the summer. I actually really, really hate when things end.
Then RFAJWD happened...
but I can't tell you anything about that.
No comments:
Post a Comment