Social Action and Video

Every year I head up to an overnight camp in Calistoga called Camp Newman to work with a group of teen campers on a social action issue for a couple of weeks.  At the end of their time up there, they will have learned about the issue, spoken with lobbyists and Congressmen in Sacramento, created live happenings, raised money, created social media campaigns, created artwork and poems and songs about the topic.  Last year we worked on the topic of Mental Health.  The year before that, Food Insecurity.  This year we will be tackling the topic of Gun Violence.  Every year the kids blow me away with their caring, their leadership and their creativity.  This is a timely topic.  In preparing to go to camp, I found last year's video and would like to share it here.

Camp usually reminds me of what being an educator is all about and inspires me to do better in my classroom next year.  I usually walk away with some great new ideas and my cup is just more full for the school year ahead.  Can't wait to start this coming week!