Youth Blog
« 9 Month Report presented at Spring General Assembly
Posted on August 12, 2010 in
Summer Camp 2010 Reflection- Campers, Counselors, and Co-Directors
by Michelle Hawe
This summer over 30 of the young people from St. Anna attend St. Nicholas Ranch and Retreat center for a week of summer camp. The children had a wonderful time and learned how to “Claim their Faith” and made friendships that will last a life time. Camp offers the same activities to each participant, but the way camp impacts each of us differently.
By: Yianni Smyrni
300 kids, beautiful weather, an incredible monastery, great counselors, awesome clergy, wonderful programs, and of course the core of it all—Jesus Christ and our Orthodox Life program—which led us to be able to achieve our goal, and our theme for the summer camp sessions which was to, “Claim Your Faith”.
What an especially great treat it was for the campers from Saint Anna’s in our first week. During this week of 110 campers, we had 40 from Saint Anna’s, along with the co-director of the Camp Michelle Hawe, counselors from the parish were Nikki Smyrni, Christian Burkhard, Sam Johnson, Jennifer Rice, Kristen Smyrni, myself—who by the way, turned 50 years old while at camp (that was weird), and of course Father Chris and Constantine. This first week truly had Roseville “in the house”, and I actually think that the camp was run (or should I say overrun) by Constantine Flesoras and Alex Smyrni, the youngest of the group, who seemed to be everywhere at the same time!
As a co-director I cannot tell you what a blessing it was to be able to work with Michelle and I am grateful that Saint Anna’s allowed her the summer to work with me. The activities that went on, day in and day out, such as aquatics, canoeing, archery, nature & archeology, and arts & crafts kept both the campers and counselors on our toes 24 hours day.
As I reflect on the summer camp sessions I want to say how impressed I am with the youth (and the parent’s of the youth) of Saint Anna’s and how dedicated they are to the summer camp. Finally I want to say how proud I am of the young adults from Saint Anna’s who acted as counselors and staff dedicating more than 5,200 hours of time this summer to run a successful camp. As always I can’t wait till next year!
By: Georgia Cambra
It has been three years since my last visit to Saint Nicholas Camp up until this year. Not as enthusiastic about Camp as my previous years, I had no idea what to expect. I feared that I was too old for Camp and that there would be no one my age. However, before the first night was over, I had already made friendships that would grow throughout the week. The opportunity to meet Orthodox Christians my age was an enlightening experience. Sharing a common background in faith, you are able to connect with each other easily. With the strong friendships I made, it is remarkable to think that I have known the group of 30 high-school students for just 6 days instead of a lifetime. Through the discussions we held about claiming our faith, the theme of the week, I was able to learn a lot from my peers. It was a relief to know that 30 other kids my age faced the same daily obstacles with claiming their faith as I do. Camp was a learning experience for me, where I was able to grow closer to God. Not only that, but I had so much fun doing so. Sharing many laughs with my friends, I enjoyed all of the many the activities provided. Even the least appealing activities to me brought the most fun. Who knew I could bond with 15 other girls while shooting bows and arrows? No matter if I was relaxing by the pool, singing songs, or hand making gifts for my friends at arts and crafts, I was always laughing and having fun. During the final day at the Olympics, I was able to act as a role model for all the younger kids on my team and think back to when I was that age. Both when I was a junior camper and now as a senior camper, I have shared many wonderful memories that will last a lifetime. No matter young or old, Camp serves as a break from reality where you can grow in your faith and just have fun. Saint Nicholas Camp was truly a remarkable experience.
By: Sam Cambra
I loved Saint Nicholas Ranch. Some of the things we got to do were, archery, arts and crafts, canoeing, and daily devotionals. We had two church services a day, but both of them put together wasn’t even as long one of our liturgies, because they were Orthros and Vespers. They were outside, which was better than inside. I really liked the monastery. We got candy, pink lemonade and paximada. The chapel was enormous and beautiful. It had a huge chandelier in the middle. The chairs are wood with a hinge that makes them fold up when you are not using them, you sit against the wall. I wish I had a camera. We had our last service in the chapel, it was a liturgy, it didn’t seem that long, and it went by fast. I can’t wait to go to Saint Nicholas Ranch again next year.
Sam Cambra
More reflections to come…
Pictures from camp can be found on the website.
