Boyz II Men (Not the 90s band)

I made it through my third camp of the year, this time for 8^th grade boys. Surprisingly, it went better than either of the girls’ camps. This was surprising first because we planned it at the last minute, and second because it was for 8^th grade boys. I expected lots of behavior problems, but the boys were great (it helped that we had less than 30 boys, whereas the girls’ camps had 60 and 70 each). Plus, this camp was the most fun because the boys got so into the teamwork and leadership games. The enthusiasm was just off the charts.

The gang

Human knot

Acid river: cross without touching the ground!

BoyzIIMen focused on five pillars: respect, community service, leadership, teamwork, and ambition. We also had some peer educators from the high school talk about drugs and HIV/AIDS. They brought ukuleles and sang some awesome songs – the boys were singing the “say no to drugs” song on the bus ride home!

Improvised CPR lesson

Discussing goals

The best part of the camp was our evening bonfire. We introduced the all-American s’more, which was a huge hit (how could it not be?), and glow sticks (which I guess would have been more appropriate for the girls’ camp, considering it’s called Camp GLOW).

This camp served as a “pilot program” for BoyzIIMen on Pohnpei (we got the framework from the Chuuk volunteers have been doing it for several years), so hopefully next year the remaining Pohnpei volunteers will be able to expand the program to more schools.