¡R.U.M.B.O. al Cole!

For me there is no greater joy than working with young people. I spent last week in the high school with nearly 60 teenagers in what is by far my favorite project of all. It´s called ¡R.U.M.B.O. al Cole! "Rumbo" is slang for "let´s go" and the letters stand for "Recreando Unidos para Muy Buena Orientacion," which basically means "doing recreational activities for a good orientation" (this sounds lame in English but I´ve been told it sounds cool in Spanish). At the end of the school year in November I invited all of the graduating 6th graders (who will be entering high school next year) from 7 different elementary schools to participate in this week of recreational activities in the high school. I recruited a group of 25 eleventh graders, who will need to complete community service hours this year, and trained them in leadership skills and the facilitation of over 30 recreational activities. The 7th graders were the campers and the 11th graders were the counselors. I had the support of the high school principal, a P.E. teacher, and the school counselor, but we didn´t actually need any adults to run the camp (besides me, but whether or not I´m actually an adult is definitely debatable).

One goal of the camp was to provide 7th graders with a positive orientation to the high school environment and allow them to meet and form strong relationships with older students. A second goals was to provide the 11th grade students with an outlet to participate in a service learning project, gain leadership experience, and earn their required community service hours. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the project got all of these young people out of the house for the week, which is where they almost certainly would have spent the time otherwise.

Every day began with icebreakers and games done as one big group. A rotation of 3 different recreational/competitive activities followed, and each day ended with a teamwork challenge (kind of like low ropes course activities) and group discussion of their ability to work together to reach the intended goal of the challenge. The leaders were trained to encourage sportsmanship, teamwork and active participation in all activities, and groups that worked together well or were able to resolve problems in effective ways were rewarded though a point system that continued throughout the week.

My service provides me with countless opportunities to reflect upon and appreciate the many blessings I have been fortunate enough to receive in my life, and having constant access to camps over the summer as a kid is one of them. My summers in the States were always jam-packed with activities, summer classes, and camps galore. Here in my community the kids generally have nothing to do during vacation time, except maybe work to help their families. Both the 7th and 11th graders involved in this project took this opportunity to have a healthy, fun, energizing experience and ran with it. I could not have asked for a more positive group of campers and counselors. The best news is that the school counselor and principal want to make it a permanent project for incoming 7th graders, to be continued after I am gone. I´ll be spending the next couple months working with the 11th graders on a manual that will give a step-by-step of the planning and execution of the project and it´s over 30 recreational activities.

I´m so pumped and energized by this experience, I find myself missing it this week now that it´s all over. On the last day of camp one of the 7th graders said to me, "Why can´t we just do this every week?" and I´m starting to wonder the same thing....

Check out the video of the camp activities!!!! Be well, pura vida.