Welcome to the YRS Conference of the Americas 2015 |
Final Conference Reflection - by Caitlin Gordon
Early on a Monday morning, the 29 student leaders met all of the delegates at one of the most amazing places in the Lower Mainland - Grouse Mountain. Between riding the chairlift, seeing the grizzly bears, and getting to learn about First Nations culture, we began to meet new people and get to know each other. We had our first activity rotation, had our flag parade, and got to learn a ton of new facts about the different schools attending the conference. We then ate our first dinner at Camp Summit (the dinner song, anyone?), got to listen to Colin and Julie Angus's adventures, met our baraza groups for the first time, and finally went to bed in our cabins with 10 other people we didn't know. The first day was filled with a lot of new people and new experiences. The sun was out, and everyone had a good time from the moment they arrived at Grouse, to the moment that they fell asleep. Everyone got their first true taste of the West Coast, and made a lot of memories while doing that.
On Tuesday, we got to go through another four activity rotations, experience more amazing meals (who doesn't also love Summit's breakfast and lunch song?) and participate in either Sublovia, or campfire. (Campfires? We love campfires!!) At the fire, we sang a ton of songs; some classics, and other hilarious songs that were new to us. For the first night of Sublovia (a leadership activity where you recreate your own culture), Lower Sublovia liked tying their left shoe first, and Upper Sublovia thought that everyone should tie their right shoe first. With our countries, we developed a culture, before showing and telling delegates from the other Sublovia about it. We met in our baraza groups again to discuss what happened that day in our activity rotations and our evening activities. Once the (extremely rainy, but fun) evening was over, we returned to our cabins for the night, with a ton of stories to tell all of our new friends.
On Wednesday morning, one third of the delegates woke up bright and early to head up to Whistler for ziptrek. The rest of the delegates woke up a bit later to either head up to Whistler for their own ziptrek adventure, and the other half travelled to Anderson Beach for their Earth Day beach cleanup. While all of this was going on, the majority of the student leaders remained behind at Camp Summit for a teamwork and leadership workshop. After lunch, the groups switched activities before returning to Summit for dinner. Ziptreking was an exciting experience for all of our guests, and a new one for some others. The beach cleanup was a lot of fun for everyone, with many strange things found, including: a lot of wooden boards and planks, 12 dryer sheets, and for one group, and a slightly sketchy crashed RV. (#SaveTheRVs2k15) That evening, we switched activities for the evening, to either Sublovia or campfire. (Campfires? We love campfires!!) For the second evening of Sublovia, Lower Sublovia liked chunky peanut butter better, and Upper Sublovia liked smooth peanut butter better. We wrapped the evening off with baraza, and everyone's exciting stories about ziptrek and beach cleanup.
On Thursday, the majority of the day was filled with another four activity rotations. One of the highlights of the day would have been the "Camp Summit Stock Exchange" in the evening. One of the biggest takeaways from the evening would have been how environmental events can affect the stock exchange, whether it's from hot weather, or too much rain, or not enough oil. It was a lot of fun buying and selling stocks, and seeing all of the Camp Summit staff dressed up as workers for all of the different companies. (Key example: Jake and Kate from Bootsy's Boot Barn.) We continued the evening with a ceremony hosted by Kalkalilh (a First Nations resident of the Squamish Valley, a friend of Emily’s), where we learnt more about First Nations culture. We got the opportunity to learn about some First Nations legends and stories, as well as the different animal dances. We finished the evening off with a final baraza group meeting, where we had our final discussions and reflections of the week. When the evening drew to a close, you could hear all of the different groups do a final group cheer around the building. (Go Giant Pacific Octopus!!) For the final time during the trip, we returned to our cabins to go to bed, and to say goodnight to all of our “cabin families.”
On the last morning, we all woke up to some true West Coast weather, heavy clouds and a bit of rain. The weather didn't dampen anyone's moods, as we all began to pack our cabins up. After a delicious breakfast, we packed up the rest of our gear before heading out for our last activity rotation. Even with the wet weather, everyone returned back to the main building for lunch with smiles on their faces. For the final time, we sang the lunch song and did the clap-out for the last time. After lunch, we all played our last game of Nuke’em Ball or Ga-Ga Ball, before coming back to listen to Norm Hann. Norm Hann’s presentation was enticing and inspiring, and we were all lucky to be able to listen to him talk. His presentation was followed up by some final thank-you’s, to all of the delegates, teachers, schools, and Summit Staff. We finished up with our final flag parade, and a slideshow with all the photos from the week. After we headed outside, we did our favourite thing… Group photos. Once we finished up with photos, trading all of our contact info, and some tearful goodbyes from almost everyone, we all started the long road home.
This conference left everyone with a ton of memories, exciting experiences, and new friends, as well as a lot of lessons learnt. With the six IDEALS infused into every activity, we made connections, both to life at the conference and at home. Everyone had a lot of fun, and left as a slightly different person than when they first arrived. From the student social to our final goodbyes, the entire week was filled with energy, and packed with activities to fill our time in Squamish. We all played some new games (Nuke’em Ball has no chill bro), shared a ton of jokes, and all took away something new. We all felt reFreshed, reFuelled, and reFocused by the end of the week. Everyone had an amazing time, and on behalf of all the student leaders, we all say thank-you to all of the delegates who attended, all of the teachers and staff who helped bring their students, and to all of the Camp Summit staff who did an amazing job hosting us. We hope to see you all again, whether it’s at another Round Square conference, or here in Vancouver.
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