July 13, High School Kids

This week I have a new challenge while initiating activities at quest, exercising leadership and trying to provide a good setting. This week is Sr. High camp. I mean, yeah, there were high schoolers last week, but not very many, it was mostly Jr. high. This week the majority of the campers will be the same age as me or older. This is a big challenge, especially because the other girl working at the craft shop with me is also 16. Today I was really nervous for quest, and also for free time (when the campers can come back to the craft shop and make anything from the display case if they want). I decided to respond to this new challenge by not telling anyone my age, and just acting confident and in charge. It worked. I discovered that the kids were very well behaved anyway and just assumed that I was their authority. They didn't try to take advantage of my age and did what I told them to do. Maybe they were just a good group of kids, but I was really surprised at how well everything went. Through this experience, I was able to exercise leadership in a new way. I think this will help me to become a better leader. Next time I am teaching a group of high schoolers, next quest I guess, I will continue to act confident and in charge. I think the campers also liked their projects. They seemed to feel confident and accomplished while learning more about art because their projects turned out well. I think this shows that I did a good job of leading the campers in their projects and I hope that that these positive effects will carry over into their everyday lives.