Sr. High Camp (ages 15-18)
July 28 – August 17, 2013 (ages 15-18)
The greatest tradition in the 83-year history of Rowe Camp is Senior High Camp. Tradition is a stream of experience so step into that stream this summer. Senior High water is soothing, but the stream has a vital, churning, and wild side.
Each day, campers participate in a wide variety of amazing workshops on topics such as dreams, identity, spirituality, body image, addiction, sexuality, grief and loss, and politics. In the evenings, campers join the whole community for events like talent shows and large-scale games or dances and rituals. At the end of each evening, we all go to Chapel for a time to share readings, songs, and reflections about what touches us most deeply. It is a time when we can choose to express, or simply feel, our greatest joys and most profound hurts in an atmosphere of acceptance and safety.
The Senior High program staff brings a diversity of experience as well as a love of and respect for teenagers. The staff is present to ensure safety, provide emotional support, share their talents and skills, listen without judgment, and lead by example. They are committed to coming together and being very intentional about building a community in which all people are treated with dignity and respect.
By making workshops, chapels, and even sleep optional, we’ve found that campers consistently go home from camp with a stronger commitment to taking responsibility for their lives and with increased self-confidence, self-respect, and acceptance of others, including brothers, sisters, and parents. The Rowe Spirit offers a magical and compelling sense of belonging, warmth, growth, intensity, and love.
Yana Talon-Hicks has a B.A. in Liberal Arts focusing on GLBTQ community studies and adolescent sexuality and education. She is a sex/sexuality writer and educator for both adults and young people whose work regularly appears in both local newspapers and national magazines. A former camper and staff member, she can’t wait to return to Senior High Camp this session for her first year as co-director.
Kieran Laly has been coming to Rowe every year since 1989 and has worked on both Junior and Senior High Camp staff. Kieran is a baker, carpenter, father, and youth advocate. Kieran believes that everything we do can affect the world at large. He is energized and excited to help make Senior High Camp the best it can be.
(Photographs courtesy Jennifer Loeber)