Every summer Banyan staff take middle school youth up to a summer camp. At Osprey Wilds SOAR youth experienced many new and exciting adventures. Camp is often full of activities that cannot easily be done in the city. This year the youth had a class in fishing, went rock climbing, braved some base jumping, pitched tents to sleep outside, and the biggest adventure was a three-hour water rafting trip.
The water rafting trip was led by Hard Water Sports in two person boats. They paddled calm waters, navigated rapids, and worked together to dislodge their rafts from rocks. Even with the high water and current everyone was able to keep their raft from capsizing!
“It was fun and I could do it again.” -Yussef
During the three hours on the river there were many rest stops, where the rafts were connected by holding onto each other’s paddles. Even with the breaks many of the youth found that they had muscles in their arms they didn’t know existed. Reflecting on the trip Cynthia shared, “my arms were so tired.” Despite the effort, the youth said the trip could have been longer and that they would have enjoyed having MORE time on the river.
The other highly anticipated activity on the trip was fishing. Multiple youth requested this activity and Osprey Wilder offered the youth a class and equipment to explore. In typical fashion, there were success and frustrations. It was quite frustrating to the youth when fish would steal their bait without the courtesy of attaching onto their hook. Despite this obstacle every youth caught at least one fish, but Sam and Violet managed to snag multiple!
For many youth this was their first time fishing. Rubi, who moved to the United States last year, has been timid to join activities throughout the after school programs school year. “It was great to see Rubi going through all the challenges and even though she doesn’t speak English. She was ready to pay attention to all instructions and had courage to face all the activities,” shared Barbara Zimmer, Middle School Educator. Rubi soon jumped to the fishing activity, determined to cast her line further out with each attempt. She managed to snag a fish and held it proudly.
By financially supporting Banyan Community you are an integral part of this camping trip. Thank you for continuing to fund programs that allow youth to expand their life experience portfolio. Camp is a unique opportunity for personal growth and social emotional community learning between Banyan youth and staff.