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Youth Programs

(redirected from CampStarTrail.YouthPrograms)

(This page is archived from the 2009 season.)

Youth are defined as Grades 7 to 12.

Note: Most of the planned programs will be intergenerational.

Early Morning Activities

Before 7:30 AM

Sleep in or participate in early morning activities which could include yoga, bird watching, hiking, labyrinth, etc. There will be a hot air balloon demonstration one morning, if the weather cooperates.

Morning Celebration and Theme Presentation

8:45 to 9:45 AM

After breakfast each morning, Rev. Dr. Kendyl Gibbons will lead the Morning Celebration, which will include an intergenerational half hour of music and worship, and continues with a half hour theme talk for teens, young adults, and adults. A story illustrating diversity will be part of the Morning Celebration; the storyteller is sponsored by the District’s GRACE Team [Growing Racial and Cultural Equity].

Kendyl’s theme talks will be on the topic: Toward Wisdom: How to recognize and become a spiritual grown-up, with or without god.

She says: The greatest prophets and mystics of the world’s religions understand one another across the ages, despite their often eccentric or acerbic personalities. Those who have most deeply cultivated the call of love and justice share some common characteristics, which constitute the quality of spiritual maturity. This genuine holiness – fierce, stubborn, disarming, zestful – transcends specific theological vocabularies to summon our profound humanity into ultimacy. Guided by some of their engaging teaching stories, we will explore what it means to seek spiritual maturity in our own lives, as well as how to identify it in others and benefit from their examples. In the follow-up workshop, we will have an opportunity to discuss the personal application of these ideas and the practices that go with them.

Morning and Afternoon Workshops

10:00 to 11:30 AM and 1:30 to 3:00 PM

Youth, Young Adults and Adults can choose from a variety of workshops, some of which will last through the week, others of which might be just one morning.

The workshops we know of so far include:

Theme Workshop
Morning workshop Monday through Thursday
A deeper exploration of the ideas presented at the Morning Celebration led by Rev. Dr. Kendyl Gibbons

Waking Up!
Morning workshop Monday through Thursday

Led by Rev. Ted Tollefson. Most of our lives we are either waking or dreaming. How can we bring the gift of intentional spiritual practice to these occasions of our lives? Using time-honored methods from Buddhist and Taoism traditions, we will learn and practice various ways of awakening. Awakening our bodies through Chi Gong. Awakening our hearts thru loving-kindness and listening. Awakening our minds thru meditation. “To be awake is to be alive!” Thoreau

Deeper UU
Afternoon workshop Monday through Thursday

Led by Rev. Fritz Hudson, this workshop will ask "How do we internalize and externalize the principles we affirm and promote? Specifically, it will explore how we can negotiate the tensions in trying to:

• pursue meaning both freely and responsibly;
• accept one another and encourage each other to grow spiritually;
• relate to others with both justice and compassion;
• build a human community and respect our interdependence with all existence.

Each workshop session will focus on one of these value-tensions.

• We’ll explore how the values grew to centrality in Unitarian Universalism;
• We’ll consider how one well-known historical Unitarian or Universalist understood and practiced the values.
• We’ll create and share a narrative or artistic expression of our own efforts to embody the values.

Dreaming Deep
Afternoon workshop Monday through Thursday

Led by Rev. Ted Tollefson. Most of our lives we are either waking or dreaming. How can we bring the gift of intentional spiritual practice to these occasions of our lives? We will practice the art of remembering, befriending and understanding our dreams in a way that is safe, choice-laden and animated by questions. The dreamer decides what the dream means.

Survival Skills
Afternoon workshop on Monday and Wednesday
A class for all ages led by Darrel Draper.

Hot Air Balloon
Hot Air Balloon demo [early morning] and workshop [offered once or twice during the week] for all ages

Writing for Spirituality
has been cancelled since the workshop leader has had to withdraw

Alternatives to workshops
With parental permission, youth have the option to use the workshops times to socialize, read, explore the camp, practice their talent show presentation, etc.

Afternoon Free Time

3:00 to 5:30 PM

Water Activities
The camp has a swimming pool and a small lake with canoes.

Hiking and Trail Rides
The camp has hiking trails. It is located close to a state park, which has trail rides.

Field Trips
There are other opportunities within a few miles, including the Strategic Air and Space Museum, and several golf courses [Quarry Oaks and Iron Horse].

Ropes Courses
Ropes courses for almost everyone – the camp has three different ropes courses, at different heights and for people with different skill levels. The rope course activities will be facilitated by the host camp’s professional staff. [Note: there will be an additional charge for these.] See the Challenge Course page for the schedule and fees.

Vespers

7:15 to 7:45 PM

After supper each evening, we will gather for 30 minutes of storytelling and song, meditation, reflection, or prayer. Led by Rev. Mark Stringer, this participatory, intergenerational worship service will be designed to connect us to our shared camp experiences of the day and to welcome our evening together.

Evening Program

7:45 to 9:45 PM

Campfires in one or more locations, a dance one evening, a talent show one evening. One evening, Darrel Draper will appear as Peter Sarpy, a regional historical character. This program really wowed the folks who saw it at the District Annual Conference in Omaha.