On Our Way!

And so it begins….

What an awesome feeling, the excitement and anticipation because in the next couple of days hundreds of energetic incredible Texas youth will be flooding our doors! It’s what we’ve been planning for and workin hard for…

Now we are on the road!

“I’m so ready!” Brent said and I do believe that resounds with all of us.

Here we come camp, love to see you again!

Load Day

Counting Colorful Coins

So we have counted and counted and counted and counted everything we need for camp to make doubly sure the campers have what they need to have a truly awesome, one of a kind camp experience!

NOW IT’S TIME TO LOAD!!!!!

Trailer Tetris

Loading the trailer has become an EYL precamp pastime.  It reminds me of how great teamwork can be when everyone pitches in and does their part with excellence.

Red tubs, green tubs, blue tubs, black tubs, pink tubs, small tubs, big tubs……so many tubs but everything has its place.  We know exactly were everything goes because we know each thing’s purpose, how it works, and where it is best served.

Just like a team….

On a team everyone has a place, somewhere they can be used to their best abilities.  And when everyone pitches in…it’s like a well oiled machine.  In the past, loading the trailer has taken so very long.  We have added people to our team and become very experienced on how to load a trailer.

Just like every team, we have been at it for some time and have learned where everything  goes, prior planning and organization are a must, and we have learned how to be even more efficient.

Plus our handy dandy skills at a well known game can’t do us wrong!

Today, we have loaded the trailer quicker and easier than we have before. Why? Our team.

So today I would like to say a big THAAAAANKKK YOOUUUU! To my fellow team members for their hard work these past couple of weeks! Excellent job! I can already see the benefits for the campers, sponsors, and volunteers who will be arriving for the first camp soon.

- Erienne Reid

Honoring the Past, Living in the Present, Looking to the Future

It all began in 1984 when TWOD, Texans War on Drugs began the first Texas Youth Leadership conferences.  In 1997, these camps were handed to MADD, Mothers Against Drunk Driving and became MADD Youth Power Camps.  Since 2007, EYL, Extreme Youth Leadership has been in charge of these Texas youth leadership camps.  As the EYL Youth Leadership Training Camp prepares to bust open the doors for over 300 campers, sponsors, volunteers, and staff for the summer of 2010 in Kerrville and San Angelo, Texas, we must all look at “honoring the past, living in the present, and looking to the future.”

We do this by looking at what the legacy that we are continuing.  It almost begs the question…..what are we doing that is working so well?

Any one of us who have been will tell you the answer.  Interestingly enough though, you have to see it to “get it.”

It’s like one of those times that your friends come bursting into the room, laughing so hard..tears are starting to appear, and the story they have to tell is funny, but you don’t think its that funny…

One of those you had to be theres….

Well, that’s how camp is. Oh we can tell you thousands upon thousands of stories from hilarious events to awesome and motivating stories.

We get to see the best of humanity, create close and long lasting friendships, serve our communities, and receive more knowledge and skills to better ourselves and our communities all in an incredible FOUR DAYS!

And the best part about it is, you find out that you are not the only one!  There are hundreds of people waiting to lift you up, give you a pat on the back, storm onto your bus, shove shaving cream in your face, soak you with tubs of water, give you a piece of yarn that has so much meaning, and make sure you have the time of your life…and none of them care about the superficial stuff…just you

So if you are reading this post today and find yourself thinking: 1. I don’t get it, 2. Hey sounds interesting, 3. These people are crazy, 4. Hey this is my kinda thing!, 5. Let’s go!, 6. You’ve quit reading this and are already looking on how to get there……. GO! Like I said, there is only one way for you to “get it” and that’s to get goin…

There are people who have been doing this for 25 years!… That’s right… 2-5 years! Their legacy is continuing and only growing bigger! The future holds no bounds!

So what are you waiting for?…………

-Erienne Reid

Schools-based programs help youth community service involvement

I was looking at an article on youth and volunteering, “Youth Helping America: Brief 2.”  As I was reading their study, I found some interesting things.

“- Youth who report current or past participation in service-learning courses that include reflection, planning, and service that lasts at least one semester are almost three times as likely to believe they can make a great deal of difference in their community than youth who participated in school-based service without any of the quality elements of service-learning.

….[Y]outh from low-income families who participate in school-based service and service-learning demonstrate many positive relationships to civic attitudes and behaviors, highlighting the importance of making school-based service and service-learning courses accessible to students of all backgrounds.

….Previous research has demonstrated that youth involvement in school-based service and service-learning can produce valuable benefits to local communities and enable young people to become proactive members of society.

….MAJOR FINDING: Of those youth who have engaged in current or past schoolbased experience, 77 percent, or an estimated 8.1 million, also experienced one or more of the generally accepted elements of high-quality service-learning.

….We found that 77 percent of those who have engaged in school-based service at any time in the past took part in at least one of these activities, with 36 percent, or 3.8 million participants, participating in the planning of their service project, 51 percent, or 5.4 million, writing about or reflecting on their service experience in class, and 36 percent, or 3.8 million, having participated in regular service activities that lasted at least one semester.

….Youth who report current or past participation in service-learning with all three quality elements are more than twice as likely to report that their experience had a very positive impact on them than those youth who only participate in school-based service, 78 percent to 36 percent, respectively.”

(Corporation for National & Community Service, U.S. Census Bureau, March 2006)

I found the research interesting that having school-based programs or service-learning could have that big of an impact on students participation in community service, attitudes towards community service, and future participation in service as well as their belief in their ability to make a difference in their communities.  I also found it interesting how they added this “MAJOR FINDING: Youth with immediate family members who volunteer are more likely to report current or past participation in school-based service and high quality service-learning than those youth who do not have immediate family members that volunteer.”

Impacting students helps when the school is encouraging service, however, it takes more than that and having immediate family members who already show a community service minded behavior can help stimulate that desire in the student through role models.

-Erienne Reid

Camp Ignition

Only a week away from camp and we are all already getting pumped for all the awesome kids we are about to be around for four amazing and energetic days. This year we are celebrating 25 years of this camp legacy with one word “ignition.”

Of course the first thing that popped in my head when I heard the word was the same that I’m sure popped into yours….space, Houston, rockets, countdown… And then it hit me, countdown? To what? To ignition. Okay, so what are we igniting? Or maybe even reigniting? Maybe it’s hidden in why we come back to camp year after year.

There is a fire inside that gets ignited in us. There is a passion and safety in knowing that we are not the only ones out there. We take time to serve and better our communities and to make sure that those coming for the first time, also have that fire ignited. As we continually return to camp to be re-energized, now is the time to also look back and see the foundation in which we are building upon.

To them I want to say an immense Thank You! for deciding to step out and start this incredibly amazing community minded camp which has brought people together like a second family. -Erienne Reid