Kristi asked after my last post what I’d be doing during my Summer Plus and Kaleidoscope weeks this summer.
At Summer Plus, which is a program of enrichment workshops for teens (usually 12 to 16) from the Cumberland Mountains, I’ll probably teach creative writing. That’s how I first got involved in Mountain T.O.P.; back in 1993, I heard Gail Drake and George Bass talk about the Adults In Ministry program, and about Summer Plus, and even though I had no experience working with teens I thought it would be fun to teach creative writing. The irony was that, for various reasons, they ended up not having a creative writing workshop that year. But I’ve taught creative writing at Summer Plus many times since.
Each teen attending Summer Plus goes to two different workshops — one in the morning, the other in the afternoon. So, depending on the schedule and on how big the camp turns out to be, I might teach two different sessions of creative writing or I might be involved in one session of creative writing and one session of something else. For that second workshop, I might be assisting some other workshop leader instead of taking a lead role. (There are always at least two adults assigned to a workshop.) Other workshops at Summer Plus can range from basketball to cooking to self-defense to outdoor adventure. We had an elderly gentleman who used to come every year and teach basket-making, and while it sometimes took some persuading to sign people up, once the teens got started they had a blast with it.
It could even turn out that I’ll be an assistant in both workshops or that I’ll be asked to lead a workshop that I wouldn’t have signed up for on my own. For example, I led the cooking workshop once or twice in the past, not because I signed up for it but because they needed somebody and I had assisted with it the previous year.
Most of this won’t get worked out for certain for another month or two, until the Mountain T.O.P. staff gets a better idea of how many adult volunteers will be involved in Summer Plus, what the adults are interested in teaching and what the teens are interested in learning.
In addition to our workshops, the volunteers are involved in picking up the teens and bringing them to camp, in leading a brief after-lunch devotional and in leading a small-group activity called “discovery time” designed to build self-esteem, tolerance or what have you.
Kaleidoscope is an arts program for special needs children. “Special needs” can mean anything from ADD to severe disabilities or even just a really crappy home situation. These are kids from about 6-11. I don’t generally sign up to lead any workshops at Kaleidoscope; I’ll just be assisting some other workshop leader. The workshops tend to include music, puppetry, dance, drawing and painting, arts and crafts. In the morning, we have “focus workshops” — during which each child attends the same subject all week, just like Summer Plus. In the afternoon, we have “rotation workshops,” where the children get to attend a different subject each day.
We also have a brief daily devotional for the kids, and there’s some play time for stuff like “Duck, Duck, Goose” or blowing bubbles. “Uncle Ben” Neal, a regular reader of this blog, will put on a magic show for the kids one day if he’s in camp.
If anyone reading this blog entry is interested, we’re still in need of volunteers for this summer. AIM volunteers come from all over the U.S. If Summer Plus or Kaleidoscope aren’t your thing, you can participate in Major Home Repair. Go to Mountain T.O.P.’s web site or e-mail me for more information.
, 
.