“Through The Eeyes of aTeen Camper” – 2011 Teen Week Recap

Enjoy this very personal reflection of a day at St. Andrew’s Camp during teen week! Thank you, Tabitha Chasse, for sharing your thoughts and kindly contributing this post to the blog! As the readers will see, there’s so much talent at camp, including some budding writers and carpenters. It is our hope that teenagers and their families will consider attending camp during teen week in 2012 and the coming years, where they will have a deeply enriching experience in religious and personal growth, make life long friends, turn away from all worldly temptations, and grow closer to the Lord! A gift of St. Andrew’s Camp for a week  – what a perfect present for those hard to please teens!
Here is Tabitha’s recount, uncensored, straight  from the heart:

 

Teen Week

I have been going to St Andrews Teen Week for two years, and I have enjoyed every minute. From the minute I showed up, I was welcomed by people who I am still friends with now. The program itself is great, and the priest in charge really gets teens. The teens have gone on trips, ranging from the beach to a mini amusement park. This year there was a trip to a Russian Monastery.

The only way to describe Saint Andrews is to go through a whole day.

We wake up and go to morning prayers. Breakfast is next, and I have to say, the food is really good. We clean up our rooms and parts of the grounds before having our first lecture with the priest, or sometimes Bishop Michael. Lectures are usually outside near the lake, weather permitting. Father James tried to enforce the “talking ball” in these lectures, but, really, we’re teens… nothing keeps us quiet; not even a volleyball in someone else’s hands.

After our first lecture, we have a little free time to play volleyball or soccer, or hang out at the playground. This is usually the time that some of the guys break out the water balloons, which is always fun, a little boys versus girls brawl.

After everyone is good and relaxed (or really hyper and soaked…) we head off to lunch. Again… great food, even when we’re fasting. The whole kitchen staff cares so much, and even worries if we’ll like the food or not. If any of them read this, take my word for it, anything from quesadillas to muscles, whatever you make is delicious. I have not seen a teen refuse seconds of anything ever. We are given dessert, usually ice cream or pudding before being sent to our lovingly named nap time.

I know what you’re thinking… Nap time? For teens? Trust me, even if you don’t need it, you’ll need it. The nap time, at least in the girl’s dorm, usually turns into a game of “how many people will fit into a dorm room?”

Speaking of the dorms, the girl’s dorm is wonderful. I can’t really speak for the guys dorm, but last year we painted it, and I don’t care what the guys say, it’s really pretty and, no, there isn’t too much pink… yet… Anyways the girl’s dorm has a lot of rooms, enough for all the campers and the counselors, with rooms to spare. There’s a large common area that was a popular location for lectures in bad weather. Its two girls to a room, so no one has time to be homesick; you’re too busy making friends… and having ridiculously funny fights and conversations that absolutely never go past lights out.

Nope… never. Not once.

After nap we have our second lecture, usually an extension of the one form the morning, because with the teens at this camp, we never finish a conversation in an hour and a half. We finish this and, most days, we get to take a dip in the lake.

It’s really not as gross as it sounds. Swimming in the lake is actually really fun! And sometimes you can see little fish in the water, and they are so adorable.

After this, we head back to the dorms to change and then we head off to evening prayers. Dinner follows this. Did I mention the great food? I did? Ok… just checking.

We may have another talk with Father James after dinner. He’s a really cool priest; he gets the teens. He said this year that he didn’t expect us to listen as much next year, because we’d be older and we just wouldn’t listen, but he underestimates us. No matter what he says, we listen more than he gives us credit for; all Rent references were caught this year… No Day but Today.

Twice this Teen Week, we had bonfires, complete with a Beatles sing along and a pitiful attempt at marshmallow toasting. The bonfires are fantastic because it’s just… such a camp thing. We do awful sing-alongs and better sing-alongs. After the last camper has meandered up to the dorm, we all gather for a little prayer before getting ready for bed. In the girls dorm, no day is complete without just getting together again in a room and just talking about the day, like amazing moments in the volleyball game, how much a certain counselor looks like Napoleon Dynamite, little things that made us smile… we just talk.

And, even now, at the end of November, my Saint Andrews girls… we still talk.

Maybe Father James was right; it is rather difficult to get us to quiet down. But how can we with so much to talk about?

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