Spotlight on Terrific Teens!

Editor’s note: This weeks guest blogger is Ben H., from England. Ben flew across the pond to volunteer here for a month! As the former Head Teen Mentor, Ben brings two years of hands-on experience from the program and in a brief, yet eloquent way. Please comment below with your thanks to Ben for his genorous donation of time and spirit. 

– Mike

Our Terrific Teen program is the program that we are most proud of at camp. It is a transitional work program that has been designed to aid our participants from being Campers to being Adults living in the world of work.

The Terrific Teen Program builds off three main aspects; these are Work, Camp Improvement and Community Improvement. During their two week session the Terrific Teens take on a work placement in any area of Camp. This might involve assisting our staff working with the younger campers to helping our facilities staff in maintain a building. For this portion of the program our Teens receive an allowance that reflects their performance in their role.

For this session (Session 3 of the summer) the Teens have been building a new rabbit hutch for Sunny the Bunny as part of their Camp Improvement Project. Each session the Teens are expected to take on a project that in beneficial to the camp community. In the past, Teen groups have built benches, a stage for our weekly talent show, cultivated the learning garden and even built a basketball court.

John and John work on the frame of Sunny’s new hutch!

The Community Improvement element of the program is intended to highlight social responsibility in a way that the young adults can relate to. In the past the Teens have volunteered at local food pantries, a thrift store and at animal shelters in the Southern Maryland area.

One of the main focuses of the program is the personal growth of each participant. This can be measured in many ways, perhaps one of our Teens will attempt an activity for the first time or maybe their attitude towards a particular issue may change or evolve. Each Teen’s progress is measured by two reviews, taking place at the end of each week. Our Teen mentors use this time to set measurable goals for our teens that help to boost their allowance.

Becca Dobbs, one of the program’s veterans says that the most beneficial thing about the program is that it has allowed her to use the skills that she has learned here to set goals and work towards them.

Basketball brings us together

Riding lawn mowers hover over the green patches of Melwood Recreation Center’s 108 acre campus. They have the motion and sound of bees hovering peacefully over lily pads in a pond.

Yesterday’s storms have cleared the oppressive heat and left us with warm air stirred by the  occasional crisp breeze.

Two new staff members have arrived at Melwood just in time to see the change. Lukasz from Katowice, Poland and Dale from Manchester, England.

Dale was a winning contestant on Deal Or No Deal [UK] and will be keeping the office together this summer.

David and Lukasz spent some time helping in the horse barn today. Riding lessons are used as therapy as well as entertainment for campers.

Lukasz is going to be working for the Facilities Crew this summer. He and lifeguard David, from Belfast, Ireland, were walking back from the Learning Garden, discussing their shared love of sports.

“I loved playing [European] football (soccer) until I was about 16,” Lukasz said. “Then I discovered basketball. I find it’s much more exciting. With [European] football a goal is only worth one point. In basketball you have three-point shots and other variations. It goes much faster.”

David laughed.

“For me it’s about opposite,” he said. “I played basketball until I was about 16. Then I turned to [European] football. You have to be pretty tall to play basketball in school, so after 16 I didn’t really have much more I could grow. But I still love to play!”

David stands 5’ 6” tall next to Lukasz’s 6’ 2”. Even though it’s just one of many differences, we here at Melwood can think of one place you’ll be able to find these two fast-made friends this summer.