Session 6 Week 6
What do a children’s business fair, a multi-state camping expedition, and four days in the forest have in common? Each one was an opportunity. Not just to have fun (though there was plenty of that), but to grow, connect, and discover something new about themselves and the world around them. This week, our heroes said yes to all of it.
Children’s business fair
Last Saturday’s Children’s Business Fair was so much more than buying and selling.
For younger heroes, it was an opportunity to look a stranger in the eye, make a sale, and count back change for the very first time.
For older heroes, it was an opportunity to think carefully about the market, develop a product they believed would stand out, create their own marketing, talk to real customers, answer real questions, and then ask themselves: what would I do differently next time?
Heroes learned and utilized a remarkable range of skills: baking, crocheting, woodworking, bracelet making, cooking, growing, and more.
survival camp
Driving across state lines to camp in a remote corner of the country was so much more than a camping trip. It was one opportunity after another.
A long car ride can sound like “nothing,” but for our heroes it became an opportunity for boredom to build creativity and for real connection to happen. So much so that many heroes said afterward: “the car rides were the best part!”
The Delicate Arch hike was an opportunity for mind over body: to support and encourage others, meet a difficult goal, listen to your body, and accept help when you need it.
Waiting patiently to spot wild horses, breathtaking ruins, or a meal when you are hungry was an opportunity to learn that some things are truly worth the wait.
Going places we have never been requires us to pivot and adapt along the way. When we get lost, when the road crew is blocking the road at one of our destinations, when trailers can’t get to rock climbing, when we eat dinner at 10:30pm or when the Civil war re-enactor comes to present at 9:45pm… all of these (and more) were opportunities to learn to be flexible! When a car broke down, heroes had the opportunity to see their community come together, stay calm under pressure, and work side by side to serve one another.
Preparing and cleaning up meals for 75 people, without running water or an organized kitchen, was an opportunity to practice patience, gratitude, teamwork, initiative, problem-solving, and brand new life skills.
“I have never chopped an onion before!”
Breaking camp and setting it back up each day was an opportunity to work hard, cooperate, and learn practical skills. For our Delta heroes, camp brought a quieter kind of opportunity: supporting younger Fire Studio heroes who felt homesick, staying beside them, helping them feel calm and safe until they could drift off to sleep. Helping Fire Studio heroes set up and break down their tents each time. That is a quiet kind of leadership that matters deeply.
Sleeping in tents with friends was an opportunity to get along, give respect to other heroes and parents who were trying to sleep, and just have a lot of fun!
Rock climbing was opportunity to use courage, to do something that although it is safe, might make you a little nervous or really scared. It is an opportunity to find out you can do more than you think you can and grow your confidence! We had 5 ropes going and 50+ heroes got on the wall that day!
Visiting Chaco Canyon, and Aztec Ruins was an opportunity to appreciate stunning landscapes that draw visitors from around the world, and to get a glimpse of ancient life, including trying primitive skills like grinding corn and making clay pots. It gave us the opportunity to imagine what life was like back then and compare the challenges and gifts of that time of life vs our lives today.
Skit night was an opportunity to perform for others and to receive performances with joy.
The sand hill was an opportunity to have fun and get completely dirty.
And the campfire? Something simple, yet somehow magical every single time. Sitting together in that warm glow was an opportunity to slow down, connect, and simply enjoy being together.
Forest School
Before every day of Forest School, heroes came together to decide what their boundaries should be. They collaborated, agreed on three or four rules, signed their names to those promises, and then headed outside, free to learn and explore in new ways.
One hero immediately set up shop, trading a leaf for a rock. Others found a snake, determined it was not venomous, and figured out how to catch and hold it. Several heroes learned to build a fire. One hero identified a baby ladybug from their life cycle quest, noting how completely different it looks from an adult. Heroes built dams in the water, tied knots, made homemade fishing rods, and learned to be safe around fishhooks.
Being outside without a structured agenda was also an opportunity to practice something rare and important: boredom. Finding something to do, on your own, with new people and limited supplies, is a skill worth building.
One thing is certain: these heroes love water. Whether throwing rocks, building dams, creating fishing poles, or ending the day with a spontaneous water bottle fight, water found its way into every single day.
At North Canyon Park, heroes used upcycled materials to build a giant marble run, a wonderful opportunity to put their physics knowledge to work in a whole new environment.
Every experience this week, whether at the fair, on the trail, or in the forest, was an opportunity. An opportunity to be brave, to serve, to learn, to laugh, to struggle, and to grow. Our heroes did not just make memories this week. They became a little more of who they are meant to be.