Day 2!

Ever since the 14 hour drive up to Madison from Little Rock things have not slowed down much! As soon as we drove in it was off to dinner and other such good times...


Helga's Homies!

Mike and Helga
 

 The next morning started with the AEE Conference welcome and prestigious Kurt Hahn address. This year the address was given by long-time experiential educator Jasper Hunt. After that we had lunch, wandered around the city a little bit, then a few of us went to the Mad City Urban Adventure 3 hour workshop. It was soo much fun. Mike and I chose to the do the biking route. Although they told us it was not a race, we enjoyed acting like it was one. Although, once we began the route and figured out it was a 25 minute bike ride to the first destination, we decided to just go for the fun aspect instead of trying to "win"... which was probably better because we didn't even know what winning at this little workshop would even look like! haha. We were actually the last ones back to the meeting room at the end of it. We did not even care though because the last destination we made it to was a pasta company called RPs. We got to test about 6 different types of handmade pasta. I think the overall favorite was squash filled raviolli. mMmMMm. Oh! By the way... the bikes were called B-cycles. They are a part of the growing movement of urban bike sharing. Basically you check them out at one place and can return them to any number of stations throughout the city. There is a fee to use them, but luckily we got to use them for free! Here are a couple pictures of our team: Helga's Homies! (Our team "accomplice" was Helga-the little doll in a pink hat and dress.

Our B-Cycles at the Olbrich Gardens

 The evening after this great adventure ended essentially with a nice dinner with Mom and Dad. They drove down from Prior Lake, MN and we had a wonderful time. I absolutely love being around my parents, so it was so great to spend time with them (well, that is when they aren't telling embarrasing stories about me to my direct supervisors).

At the Goodman Center.

mmm. pasta!

 If anyone is actually reading this as I post it, you will see that I am writing day 2 on during, well day 4 ... but that is because it is after midnight. The important part is that I am writing about day 2 and how much fun it was exploring on the B-cycles and spending time with Mom and Dad once they got into town. I hope to post tomorrow about today! To say the least.... it was quite eventful. :)
Love you all.

for.the.kids

This is just the beginning!

This morning a select few of the rowdy leadership jumped in the 15 passenger van and headed off to the International Association of Experiential Education Conference in Madison, WI.
This few includes the likes of Mike, James, Aaron, Jana and myself. And when we say morning... we literally mean we got on the road at 3:00am to finally arrive in our hotel suite around 5:00pm. There were many memorable moments along the way... moments such as Mike and Jana hijacking my laptop to plug Mike's speakers into them so that they could jam out in the back of the van (I was not aware of this happening for a while), James ordering a pizza from a place in his hometown and it being delivered by his mother at a Love's trucker stop (the pizza was delicious by the way), and Mike conveniently forgetting to buy/telling me that Walmart did not have Red Vine licorice.
 Like I said... just a few things. Most of the time it was actually just us rotating drivers and catching up on the sleep we didn't get since we had to meet at 3:00am.
Anywho, the important part is that we ALL made it to Madison safely and have been having a great time since we got here. We have this amazing suite and are taking advantage of every second of it. We have of course been enjoying each others' company and I imagine it will only get better as we continue into the next four days of the conference.
BONUS: Mom and Dad are driving down here from Prior Lake, MN tomorrow so all of my coworkers that haven't met them will get to get to know them!

I look forward to updating as the conference continues! More adventures are to come!

The Pfeifer Camp Teachers, - Jana and Tammy... and Mike- my fellow Program Director

The view from the special place we get to hangout because of the high-classness of our rooms at the hotel!

The Service of a CIT

The service of a CIT (Counselor In Training) at Pfeifer Camp is not for the feign of heart. The expectations are high and the demands are physically, emotionally, and intellectually exhausting. Ask any CIT though and they will tell you the exhaustion at the end of the week is well worth it. It is well worth it because for most of them, they have been looking forward to this opportunity since they first attended camp; which for some could have been as early as nine years old. To be a CIT is a huge honor for anyone that knows the system of Pfeifer Camp. It requires a high school aged student to dedicate themselves to serving the kids at camp through the ups and downs alongside an AmeriCorps Counselor. As one of these counselors, I find each of these CITs to be amazing in the work they do. Not only do they sacrifice their summer and the possibility of having a job to earn some extra cash; they do so to come out into the mosquito infested woods, run around in 100 degree heat, and on occasion get some serious attitude from campers. On top of all this- they do it for absolutely free. This last year we had many of the CITs volunteer week after week. That is essentially volunteering Monday morning until Friday afternoon in some very stressful conditions for five weeks. What seems to draw these CITs back week after week is multifaceted. Not only do they get to give back to the place that for many of them they call a second home; they get to serve alongside their peers. Some of these peers they grew up with at camp. As they serve with the AmeriCorps Counselors that have travelled from all over the country they also get to learn about the culture and background they come from. They learn leadership skills as they are put in a position alongside the AmeriCorps Counselor and get to teach the kids the skills they grew up learning at camp. These skills include problem solving, outdoor living skills and team building. They get to meet, interact with, and positively influence kids from all over the city. Each week they come back with an unparalleled energy and a drive to serve together so as to continue the traditions that make Pfeifer Camp such a magical place. So when I think of success as it relates to summer camp here at Pfeifer Camp, I can’t help but acknowledge the huge success our CITs are because of their courage, intellect, and tenacity.