The Curse of Mother Nature: City Year Winter Camp

This was an intense, demanding week, simultaneously disappointing and fulfilling. It was the week of City Year Winter Camp. All last weekend, I was pumped for it. On my drive to Trinity Church – the site of my region's first two days of camp – I couldn't wait to arrive. But it was hard -- really hard. My energy and optimism was slightly tarnished by the end of the first day, but I was able to reflect on what needed to change and I recovered my energy to help me and others through the rest of the week.

I think it would've helped to have more time with my co-team leader, Lauia, to develop a game plan for how we would work together and with our students. Creating a plan at the beginning of our sessions threw me off of my game; I wasn't comfortable. Since I'm a very strong North, I tended to take over during most of our team time. This is something I tried to avoid during the rest of the weeks since I didn't want Lauia to feel slighted or to take away from her involvement.

The hardest part of the day was dealing with the rambunctious and disinterested group of sixth graders. I instantly reverted to my former camp counselor mentality; my patience was minimal and I responded to most misbehaving students by ordering them to stop. Since I had to do this many, many times throughout Monday, I ended the day feeling frustrated and angry. I wanted students to listen and discuss the topics we covered, but they weren't being respectful. During our feedback and debrief session at the day's conclusion, Bear pointed out the problem with this kind of behavior. Though he was making a general comment on the day – and included himself in the group of people who relied on this approach – it helped me realize why my day was not as good as I wanted. I need to be much more patient and laugh off their behavior -- a technique I can use even after camp is over.

However, there were some great victories during the day. Two of them occurred after our Ubuntu workshop. Ubuntu is a shortened version of a Zulu proverb that means, "I am because you are" – my humanity is tied to yours. This is a pretty grand idea for City Year corps members for grasp, let alone for sixth graders. But one student, "Alfred," really understood the concept. He clearly explained his thoughts on the reason why the Celtics break on the word "ubuntu" before their games. "They work together as a team. They're a community because they're all working for the same goal and rely on each other to succeed," he said. I was so impressed by his insight. Later, "Thomas," a student that works with Diane, showed that he understood the concept. "You need other people. If you don't have other people, you don't matter." Thomas is a wise and intelligent young man, but he doesn't show it often enough. I'm hoping that his time at camp shows him he needs to let that wisdom out.

At the immediate end of Tuesday's day of work, I wanted camps to be over. It's just really disheartening to be spat in the face constantly and I didn't want to do it anymore. But after talking with some people on the camps team and other corps members, I felt that I could have an outstanding final two days of camp. Again, I was disappointed that some kids aren't being respectful but I'm the only one in charge of my emotions and reactions.

Going to bed Tuesday night, I mentally prepared myself to be full of energy, optimism and high spirits. I knew that our time at Camp Berea would be insane. When I saw the weather reports calling for heavy snow, I became even giddier. I knew that things were going to be incredible no matter what happened.

Two minutes before my roommate Moshe and I left for work, I received a phone call saying that camp was cancelled for the day. We were both disappointed but our sadness was immediately converted into a quest to make the day a major success. Our plan started off with food: get some snacks, drinks and donuts and feed the site. We arrived, set the food up, then began creating welcome posters. Joe, a senior corps member who helps out with running workshops and other program events, reacted positively to our idea to power greet the incoming corps and staff members.

We had some great responses. Taylor, one of the staff members, and other employees of the business park honked their horns and waved back. Unfortunately, when the two vans full of corps members from Manchester returned, my exuberance collided with the realism of the situation. Our trip to Camp Berea was cancelled and it was terrible. To see the frustration and sadness on the faces of my fellow corps members was sobering and I seriously considered stuffing my joy in a sack and going about my business.

But things weren't going to stay in that place for long. Bobby, the guy who is pretty much in charge of day to day operations of our programming, gave me the responsibility of leading a brainstorm for ways to welcome the Camps team back. We knew that they were going to be disappointed but we wanted to pump up their spirits so we could make the best of Thursday, the last day of camp. When many people gave suggestions, including those who had been devastated a half hour earlier, I felt much more comfortable with the situation. We were going to do some great things.

People broke into groups to work on the various ideas; that's how we spent the three hours before the camps team arrived. My stomach was going wild -- I was apprehensive, concerned that the camps team would not want to have us be so positive in the face of such a crummy situation. But when 2:00 rolled around, the corps members were waiting in the lobby, ready to go ahead. Bobby gave us the cue, and we went out to meet the camps team doing the chant that we use to start PT. It felt a little funny and possibly excessive to me, but it ended up being perfect. We stood in a line on the pathway to the Timberland building, chanting. Moshe called me up to the front of the line and that's when I lost it. I began stomping around and being as proud and ebullient as possible. When I heard the camps team join in with the chant, I knew things were going to be fine. They entered the building, greeted by other corps members who had balloons with thank you cards for all of them. We met up in a room and I led the site in regrouping and tried to put all of the love and positive energy into words. I wasn't as eloquent as I would've liked, but people were happy.

The whole day was a topsy-turvy one; I didn't do anything but be as positive and energetic as possible. By the end of the day, I think most people's spirits were improved. Obviously, nobody wanted the overnight part of camp to be cancelled. But some of the people who were most devastated by having to stay in the office today were the same ones who felt the day was actually a good one. I don't think I can say it enough -- I love this job and I love the human beings that I work with. What other job lets you spend the day planning a party to boost the spirits of your co-workers? People here just want good things for those around them. It's the greatest place I've ever been.

All of my week's energy was gone by Thursday morning. Since I had spent almost my whole Wednesday bursting with energy and positivity – in addition to having served at the first two days of Winter Camp – I was dragging. However, I was able to energize myself at key moments and help make the day a major victory. There was a lot of time for fun and games as well as some teachable moments. We ran two workshops during the day. "The Jungle" dealt with racism and classism. "The Privilege Line" focused on differences in our advantages and disadvantages as people. While some students took neither seriously, there was a lot of wisdom shared by campers during each.

A great part of the day was the appreciation activity at the day's conclusion. Campers had made journals at the beginning of the week; Thursday gave them the chance to go around and sign each others'. Several campers, including some who were not perfectly attentive throughout the camp, came up to me to ask me to sign their journals. I took the opportunity to praise them using mature language. I wanted all of them to know that they are important human beings – they are in charge of how they live their lives. Though it maybe wasn't as grand or majestic as two days at Camp Berea might have been, the last day of camp was a great success.

Friday was a strange day but a perfect cap to the week. It started with a power outage – a storm came through Thursday night and knocked out power across the New England region. It seems like Mother Nature is out to get us here at CYNH. Thankfully, she spared the Timberland building – a great thing, since we had a big day ahead of us. Jeff Swartz, the CEO of Timberland, talked with us about his worldview. It was an incredibly inspiring morning. You might expect a CEO to be stuffy and self-absorbed, but Jeff is an incredibly engaging human being. Whenever I hear an eloquent and intelligent speaker, I am in awe at their ability to put words together in a profound way. Dylan, Nate and others asked intelligent questions; Jeff had insightful answers. To close it out, Eddie, another corps member, gave Jeff a piece of art that he had created to thank Jeff for speaking with us. It was a replica of the Timberland logo made out of steel. I am still amazed by the greatness that this group of people possesses.

The camps team led us through a wrap up, giving us a chance to give pluses and deltas for the week. There were many deltas but even more positive energy. This week could have led to a lot of anger and resentment – the very nature of a four day event with so many moving parts can result in people getting bent out of shape. Yet everything rolled smoothly. Even with the cancelled portion of camp, things still went well. I'm proud of my fellow corps members and friends that helped to give me another great week.