April 2009
It is only 10:00 am and I am already incredibly behind! The day’s list is long and tiring. Interview a new camp counselor, write an email to remind parents of discount deadline, change the schedule for a third time, view the website of new teaching artist, find new grant opportunities, edit the write-up about this year’s main character…. the list goes on and on. No matter how many hours I spend at the Al-Bustan office, it seems that the to-do list is ever-growing. The preparations for camp seem endless, and sometimes, in the midst of the madness, it seems hard to remember what this is all for.
I take a moment, lean back, close my eyes and let images from the many years I have been involved in camp come to me. Singing Umm Kulthum songs with students on stage, playing with puppets and creating skits, watching their eyes widen as I tell them a story, watching them learn the intricate details of the complicated debke dance, eating beans from three corners of the Middle East together, watching students respond to the poetry of Naomi Shihab-Nye, hearing their poems and being moved by their stories – the list of wonderful moments can go on and on. A slight smile finds itself on my already tired face.
Other thoughts come to mind as well – the “not-so-wonderful” moments find their way to my memory. All the work that needs to happen before camp even begins to make it all seem seamless and flowing is daunting. The scheduling of everything to best fit the needs of teachers and students. The curricular planning and teacher training that we need to do to ensure that teachers feel confident in teaching the year’s theme. The teacher and counselor training on the developmental needs of a class full of students from different grades, age groups and backgrounds. The physical preparation of the camp site needed to transform it from a private girl’s school to a corner of the Arab world. After all of that is done, I must be ready to deal with all the many issues that come up once camp begins. Students who do not always see eye-to-eye, teachers who are having scheduling issues, teachers and counselors who do not always see eye-to-eye, making sure that all the campers are safe, healthy and enjoying themselves, making sure teachers have all the support they need to teach creatively – and on the list goes. By now my smile has faded and my brow is furrowed.
I open my eyes and quickly turn to my laptop. Clearly these thoughts are not going to get me anywhere. I check the Al-Bustan website for updates, and am taken aback by something I seldom take the time to notice – process and product. As I browse through the pictures of the students, they all seem to be of children in the process of creating something, or of them holding on to their creative products and showing them to whoever is willing to look long enough. Students working on illustrating a poem, others drumming to their hearts content, others holding a puppet they created at a workshop, others listening to Simon Shaheen explaining the subtle differences between half notes and quarter notes, others acting, directing and editing videos they created, and yet others smiling at a camera with their poet and the source their inspiration sitting behind them. The pictures depict children who seem to be in a constant cycle of process and product. They learn and create, create and learn over and over again. The pictures show more than smiling, happy children. They depict children who are empowered to find their own voice and to make it heard – loud and clear. My brow loosens up, and my eyes look off into the distance.
In my mind’s eye, I am imagining this summer. The voices and faces of students come to mind. The once quiet and still summer hallways and rooms of Springside will be transformed into a vibrant, boisterous learning community. The students will find new joys in the details of this year’s character and how yet another Arab persona has affected the world in such key ways. They will find delight in the adventures they will be going on in the outdoors as they learn about this relatively unknown scientist who changed the field of Science in real and lasting ways. They will love acting out his story of traveling, failure, fear, bondage, inspiration, exploration and success. They will find themes in his life reflected in their own and new ways to document and express these themes. They will find new ways of expressing themselves musically through listening, singing, dancing, and playing. Once again, the students will go through their cycle of learning and creating.
Indeed the role of camp manager has its joys and challenges. It is one of the most challenging and also one of the most rewarding jobs I have ever done. But at the end of the day, I know it is all worth it. The smile has found its way onto my face again, and I have a feeling it will be there for a while.
- Sally Bonet, Camp Manager
