{"id":6585,"date":"2016-04-22T15:47:25","date_gmt":"2016-04-22T23:47:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mightyelephant.com\/ams\/?p=6585"},"modified":"2018-04-15T08:05:17","modified_gmt":"2018-04-15T16:05:17","slug":"camp-unity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mightyelephant.com\/ams\/camp-unity\/","title":{"rendered":"Camp Unity"},"content":{"rendered":"
April 19 – 22, 2016<\/h5>\n

“Camp Unity is a requirement for the social justice pathway since it is great camp that focuses on social injustice of all types that help students become leaders within the school. This goal ultimately aligns with the Social Justice Pathway\u2019s (SPJ) goals for our students as it serves as foundational understanding for our students in terms of discussion, understanding of leadership, and our perspectives when considering social justice issues.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, this camp will help unify the students within SJP as a shared experience. Ms. Evans and I find that this will be such valuable experience for Amelia because it will give her a platform to explore issues she is interested in as well as allow her to bond with other classmates beyond her immediate friend group.”<\/p>\n

Day (Evening) 1:<\/h5>\n

We arrived at Camp around 7:00 PM after a long and windy trip through traffic to Boulder Creek, in which my friends and I pretty much just slept the entire way, as comfortable as we could get in the cramped bus seats, one torso piled on top of another.<\/p>\n

First things first; bags out of the buses, and we entered into the main lodge with our duffles piled on a lunch table outside and newly made nametags secured around our necks.<\/p>\n

“Rainbow!”, someone called, and we learned that “Rainbow” meant the whole room shuffled around seats, actively trying to sit with people not of the same race, gender, or friend group. \u00a0One of the best traditions of camp, as I don’t believe all 60 of us would’ve gotten half as close if we hadn’t been forced to sit and eat and talk to everyone else we didn’t know.<\/div>\n
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It was here we first met Richard, the lead counselor and adult of Camp Unity. \u00a0Not so tall, not so short, bone white hair and a grizzled, tanned face. \u00a0I remember one of the first things he said to us, an order to enjoy the food of our first dinner, to clean our plates because of how good the pasta bake was. \u00a0I jokingly replied, “we’ll try,” and he clapped me on the shoulder and chuckled.<\/div>\n
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After dinner, it was bunk assignments and I got to meet my cabin mates. \u00a0Luckily, they put me in one closer to the main hall so I didn’t have so far to go in the morning.<\/div>\n
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Back at the main hall, we all sat in a huge circle and introduced ourselves and “built community”, until the main event of the evening; tackling racial stereotypes. \u00a0No notice, just straight “hey kids while this particular ethnic\/racial group steps out of the room, please come up with every derogatory term\/slang\/stereotype for them you can think of, and we’ll bring them back in and make them look at them.”<\/div>\n
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Peer Comments<\/h5>\n

“Ace Emelia Straight”<\/p>\n