Who says being a Leader can’t be fun?
This year, our Community Action Café teens and Mentoring Program “Bigs” began their journey as servant-leaders with a three-day Retreat jam packed with team building and leadership activities. The North Georgia Mountains provided the perfect landscape for our youth to bond with their YELLS Family and do some important reflective and foundational work. The Retreat revolved around Finding Purpose and Leaving Your Mark, and youth walked away with the desire to Live for Something Greater than Themselves. Below are some highlights of the trip:
Welcome to Camp Blue Ridge!
Upon arriving at Camp Blue Ridge, each student was grouped into a “family” for the trip which served as their team for all of our various activities and team building exercises. Teens had to “go all in” and dig their family assignment out from a bucket of guck!
Watermelon Rubberband Relay Illustrates YELLS Values
Just as a rubberband stretches, YELLS will stretch you as you strive to be your best self and give to your community. YELLS Mentoring Program Bigs and Community Action Cafe Teens worked together in a watermelon relay challenge to see which Family could stretch enough rubberbands to make their watermelon EXPLODE first! To get their rubberbands, though, each Family had to complete multiple challenges that demonstrate YELLS Values.
Family Lunch Challenge!
Each day at lunch, Retreat Families complete challenges to build team morale and bond as a Family. Check them out below as they make an ice cream cone complete with syrup and sprinkles by dropping ingredients from above into a cone held by a Family member’s mouth!
Messy Twister Teaches Teens How to Leave Their Mark
Things got messy as our Cafe teens and Mentoring Bigs played an intense game of twister – with colored shaving cream! By the end, teens were covered in red, blue, green, and yellow. This provided a chance to talk about the different types of “marks” we can leave on each other. Through a group reflection, our youth were challenged to be sure the marks they leave on others are positive. Each youth shared one concrete way they will leave a positive mark on those they encounter.
Exploring Identity and Finding Purpose
YELLS youth participated in a series of workshops to explore their identity and search for their purpose. A blind-folded “Guess Who” activity revealed the superficial ways in which we often view our identity, and prepared teens to dig deeper. Youth explored the major influences in their lives and created “Identity Fingerprint Art.” They decoded a scavenger hunt using a compass to track down and uncover their “purpose.”
Live for Something Bigger than Yourself
YELLS teens discovered how they can live for something bigger than themselves. To help them remember and keep this call in their hearts, we had a little fun with a GIANT beach ball. We’ll always remember to give to our Franklin Gateway community and live for something bigger than us!
Family Bonding over the Campfire
Evenings around the campfire provided a special time for YELLS Family bonding. It was incredible hearing about the journey of each of our YELLS members, how YELLS has shaped their lives, and their commitment to leaving their mark on others.
Fun and Games!
Our youth learned a lot, but they also had FUN! When they weren’t planning their service initiatives or developing goals for their Community Action Cafe Apprenticeship Teams, our Teens and Bigs could be found canoeing, playing “Kiddie Pool Kickball,” or planning for their big YELLS Variety Show.
Our YELLS Mentoring Program Bigs and Community Action Cafe Teens will take the lessons they learned and the bonds they forged at Camp Blue Ridge everywhere they go. We’re so excited to see the mark they each will make in the Franklin Gateway community and in our world …
