That which doesn't kill us makes us stronger

You all clearly gained many benefits from being in the program. Perhaps you even understand my title a little bit better than you did before you started. You faced many tough challenges and I am impressed with all that you took from them. You stretched yourselves beyond your comfort zones and I'm not talking about sitting mountain. You learned how to plan and organize six weeks of activities to keep a demanding group challenged and engaged. You learned to set limits, settle disputes, maintain a raucous crowd, communicate effectively with both your campers and your fellow mentors. Most importantly you built enduring attachments to your campers. You battled hardened glue and even a somewhat hardened teacher, who due to Zach's timely apology softened to the point where she actually expressed interest in our program. Thank you Zach!

I know this has not been an easy time, but it is clear that you have all grown and learned and best of all it didn't kill you!
Cathy

Time Spent and Lessons Learned

Taken as a whole I would have to rate working as a mentor at this camp as one of the most fun and frustrating summer jobs all mixed into one and I would not trade this experience for the world. This camp has not only provided me with some new and lasting friendships with the fellow mentors and hopefully the children but has also taught me many things about myself. While I was extremely excited to work at this camp I did have some doubts about my own personal abilities to work with this certain group of kids. I am now happy to report that these few doubts have been successfully proved wrong. First of all I had some worries about working with kids of this specific age group. In the past I have always worked with kids much younger and even my own mother was a little apprehensive about my ability to successfully relate to these children. However I have learned that while many times it is much more difficult to work with older children the relationships that are formed are that much more rewarding.

Another thing that I was particularly worried about was my ability to discipline these children. While I may be a loud and outgoing person I also have a tendency to avoid confrontation and do not enjoy reprimanding others whatsoever. In addition I try to keep everyone happy and tend not to yell at others for fear that they may dislike me for it later. This camp has shown me that in fact I am able to discipline others but also that they will not think less of me for it. It is quite the contrary, it seems that they will respect you and look up to you more for it. I feel that this lesson has had the greatest impact on my personality and will definitely help me stand up for myself and realize that just because you are speaking your mind or regulating others there is no need to fear being disliked. 

On a last note this experience has definitely enforced the old saying "don't judge a book by it's cover". While at first glance some of the kids just seemed like absolute tornados of destruction and misbehavior but once you uncover the true source of the problem a whole other light of understanding is shed on the situation. People really do in fact wear "masks" in order to cover their true feelings and with a little work and perseverance you can get to know the real person underneath. Overall I am so grateful for this experience and had an absolutely amazing time this summer. 

...Benefits....

I would say [hands down] I had a super amazing Summer and I wouldn't change my experience for the world. This Summer was full of various eventful memories with the campers that at times brought smiles and laughter and at other times frustration and impatience. 

By the end of camp I became really attached to the campers and was sad to see them leave. I learned a lot during this Summer, and these young children taught me a lot about myself as well. They made me laugh, they gave me memorable stories to share with my roommates, and at times I went home concerned about their circumstances at at home. This camp has helped me realize that working with children from "at-risk" backgrounds is what I really want to do in life. 

They tested my patience, they tested my authority, they even tested my athletic ability when they challenged me to a race!...But most of all they tested my willingness to be there for them when they needed an adult to talk to and open up about their feelings. This camp meant a lot to me because my childhood was very similar to what many of these campers are going through. As we learned in training, sometimes our negative experiences in life can become a vicious cycle as we reenact them in our lives as grown ups, not intentionally, but because its the only way we learned to do things... I always told myself I would never continue that cycle because I wanted things to be different. This camp helped me realize how much of an impact one can be for these young children. As oppositional as these campers were at times, they still look up to us even though they might openly deny it. It made me strive to be there for them even more because, as i've said before... it only takes one person to make that difference...and we happened to have nine...so the impact could be even greater!

This camp gave me a lot of useful skills that I can benefit from even out of camp. I've worked with children for several years now...but for the most part it was one-on-one work...Working with our 26 campers taught me crucial skills on managing a large group of children, dealing with conflict/resolution issues, learning how to spread out my attention so that no child feels ignored, being able to cater the lesson plan to suit every individual child's special needs, and the fact that working with children isn't a 9-5 job. You grow to care about this kids in a very special way...so much that I would go home sometimes and be wondering what the kids were doing at the moment, planning what I would want to do with them the next day, wondering how I could get Tessa to participate in the activities since she refused to do so the day before, and at times being at the store and seeing an item that reminded me of my kids and bring a smile to face. 

I plan on keeping in touch with my girls [atleast before i leave the country! lol]. I want to continue watering the friendship that we started over camp and hopefully see them blossom into the young beautiful ladies that I know they will become. Thank you Cathy and Lisa for this opportunity to work with this young and talent children. They brought so much into my life and I will forever keep the memories I shared with them over the last six weeks.

What will be will be

Well, there are a few things that I took from this program. First, I learned about the importance of being able to dedicate at least a little portion of time to someone, especially since these kids can barely get the amount of attention that just comes naturally in my family. There were also a few times where I would talk to Hunter, Seb, and a few others when they seemed to be having a rough day. But the fact I took a little time to stop and devote to them really made a difference in the moment or showed fruits later on in their behavior. Another thing I learned from this program is how to deal with people I work with a  more positive manner, because most jobs I have had did not require me to work as closely with 9 other people directly everyday. All of these mentors proved to be very cool and easy going people, so there did not seem to be any negative energy between anyone. A third thing that I believe is very important that I learned over the course of this program is how to care about someone and not bring the stress from the job back home, all the time. There are a few kids that seemed to have grown on me over the summer and there were things that they either said, did, or talked about doing that would get me concerned for them, but in the end I had to leave some of this stuff at work so that I could come home and be able to go to work refreshed and ready to do it all over again the next day. It is hard to work with children and not eventually care about their well being and future, but I know that what will be will be and if I can help effect them positively then I at least did one thing my life. 

Benefits

First of all, I had a such great time working with all the campers and mentors this summer! It was such a great experience to learn about each individual kid and realize how much they are dealing with at home.  Their emotions and actions during camp definitely represent some of the things that they might be dealing with at home.  However deep down, these kids are so sweet and are using their strong attitudes as a way to cover up the wounds inside.  I have learned that I am so grateful of having such a good support system.  These kids have so much potential if they had the constant support system behind them.  

My patience for kids has definitely changed a great deal.  Even though I have worked with kids in the past, these campers definitely tested my patience everyday.  However as camp went along, I learned that kids love to test your patience.  You can't get angry cause that will never solve anything.  In addition, being able to actively listen to these kids definitely helped a lot as well.  Some of these kids just need someone to listen to them.  They aren't able to have that at home, which is why they sometimes just want to talk about the issues that are occurring at camp, but it also sometimes leads to other issues they might have with themselves or at home.  

Just being able to be a part of these kids' lives and making somewhat of an impact is a fulfilling feeling.  I loved watching these kids come to camp with such a great smile and excitement.  Just being able to see these kids have a great time and seeing them smile and laugh were the greatest benefits.  Hearing Jonanthan say that he was going to miss us was such a great feeling and knowing that he wanted us to be there and keep camp going made me realize how wonderful these kids really are.  They just needed an outlet to be themselves and camp was that to them.  

This was a great experience and I learned so much from each individual camper.  They are so different in many ways, which made camp so interesting everyday!

Benefits

I feel like there are so many benefits to this job, that I'm almost at a loss for where to start.  Most of the what I gained from the experience had to do with things that I picked up about myself that I might not have discovered otherwise.  I was amazed to find my patience tested further than it ever had been at times, and I was pleased to find that when I needed to maintain composure I was able to exercise it.  At times it was extremely difficult not to look at one of the kids who had been making some kind of cruel remark to another camper and cut him down a peg with my own two cents.  I was very relieved to know that when necessary, however, I wouldn't let the kids down by stooping to that level.  Rather I could draw up the patience and maturity to do the right thing and count the offending camper.  I was also really happy to work on active listening.  I wasn't sure how well I would do with it, and I'm sure I was pretty rusty at first, but by the end of camp I felt like the kids  seemed more comfortable opening up, which I took as a good sign.  A benefit that doesn't relate directly to the kids so much would be having the opportunity to work with eight other students that I really had not met prior to this summer.  It was great to work on a team comprised of people with diverse interests and see everyone come together for the kids.  Overall, I'd say that knowing the kids had a good time, made some friends, and improved behavior and social skills is a huge benefit, because I can feel a great deal of satisfaction knowing that I helped make that possible.

I have benefited greatly from working with the talented students of Manheim.  Over the past 6 weeks I have had to deal with an assortment of situations.  My experience at camp has made me a stronger and more confident person.  I am somewhat of a shy person, and camp definitely helped me become more vocal.  I was able to get in front of a large group and assert myself.  

Working with the children also has made me a better person.  It easy to get along with people that are like you, but when you have to deal with all types of people it can be a challenge.  All the kids are different, thus I learned how to deal with all kinds of people.  I wasn't able to handle every kid them same.  Each of them needed specific needs to be fulfilled.  

  Also, I plan on becoming a teacher after I graduate from F&M.  This program was great experience, as it taught me how to manage a large group of kids.  Although the program was not specifically focused on academics, I definitely learned different ways to teach children.  There is no doubt in my mind that I will carry my experiences in camp into the real world when I hopefully become a teacher.  

I believe that kids have taught me a thing or two as well.  The kids have such a positive outlook on life, even-though their lives may be tough.  They have taught me to keep a positive attitude even when things are not going good.  I consider these kids to be my friends, and really do look forward to keeping in contact with them in the future.  

Finally,  I enjoyed working with the 8 other mentors, and believe I have learned from them.  Each mentor brought something different to the table, and I was able to learn from them.

Zach