Online Teen Leadership Retreat - Why You Should Come
Flashback to the good days of Summer 2019!
Being at home the last couple of weeks has been a lot of things for me, and I imagine it has been similar for you. Pacing in my dining room trying to not eat all of the food in my cupboard. Staring at my cell phone a little too long before falling asleep. Trying to learn tik tok dances that Klee teaches me…
I am lucky to live with a few of my friends, but I miss most of them. And I am an annoying extrovert. I LOVE making new friends, and forming new relationships with people I meet in new circles. And I think even introverts would agree for the most part, the monotony is getting old. You all must be ready to see some familiar faces, meet some new ones, and have a little fun while doing it.
Me too. And do I have the virtual surprise of a life-time for you.
Online. Teen. Leadership. Retreat.
Designed for people like you. 13 - 17 year olds stuck at home, playing more video games than you thought possible and scrolling through more Instagram than you can handle. We want you to join us as we build real community, and make new friends. Real connection over the internet, and it starts with you.
Our first ever teen zoom meet up was so fun!
Technology and Leadership:
We are going to come out of this realizing that so much more is possible with learning and technology. I doubt that school or life as we know it will go back to the way it was. You probably hear your grown ups talking about the “new normal.” Truth is no one really knows what that means.
What the world will need is more people who know how to connect, collaborate and solve problems using technology and remote learning.
Obviously there is nothing that can replace the human component of being face to face and sharing the physical space of camp. Connecting over eye contact and perfecting listening skills are so much harder to do online.
Yet it is becoming so much more apparent to the grown ups and adults around you that you are part of a generation that holds dual citizenship to the digital world and the real world.
David Moursund the founder of ISTE, the International Society for Technology in education, argues that the world needs to recognize this dual citizenship that you hold, and hone in on the qualities and values that we believe are important to have online. I believe that a lot of the values and skills that you already hold as Stomping Ground campers gives you the potential to meet this challenge head on.
You already have experience of making your own decisions about how you spend your time at camp, you know what it means to take responsibility for the impact that your decisions have on others. All of the circles that you have participated in or facilitated for younger campers have armed you with the ability to balance others perspectives and viewpoints.
You are ready to lead the charge on ISTE’s identified qualities of digital citizens, to be inclusive and balanced, engaged, alert and informed.
We need you, your adults need you, your community needs you. You are perfectly positioned to help make meaningful communities online.
What will this look like?
When I was a teenager, I did leadership retreat weekends for the summer camp and high school that I went to. I was blown away by how fast we all clicked, all of the kids in my group and the counselors that led us. My favorite memories did not just involve the panel discussions with alumni counselors, or in-depth trainings on communication and teamwork. The best times were putting on wild costumes and pretending to be disney characters in skits where we made our counselors laugh. And eating oreo cake way too early in the morning, or even having knee hockey tournaments in the basement of our cabin.
And we won’t lie to you. Some of those things we can’t do. We haven’t figured out how to play virtual knee hockey on zoom...yet. But we can host a Virtual Prom, do SNL skits, lead baking classes, do art crafts, watch TED talks, hang out, and so much more. And with all of your favorite counselors?! Who will be there, Tursh, DaKwan, and/or even Laura?!
Become more empathetic leaders, make new friends, and break the monotony of just being stuck doing the same thing every day. April 24-26th, our first ever online teen retreat. None of us have done this before, and it’s going to be awesome.
Come join us.