Promising Futures Youth Summer Camp

Well the snow days are coming to an end so it's back to finding funding for our Hope-Focused Summer Camp for approximately twenty youth from the City Centre schools in Edmonton and Montana School in Hobbema. This first ever summer camp is being hosted and facilitated by the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology and the Hope Foundation during the first two weeks of July.

Students who have been making hope visible and accessible in their personal lives, school studies and their communities will have an opportunity to learn carpentry skills, participate in daily sports and contribute to their Hope e-portfolios. We are piloting this project with a small group of Junior High students as part of our initiatives to help youth envision and move toward a future in which they can participate willingly. In addition to having an opportunity to learn many skill sets, the youth will have an opportunity to see what it is like to participate in post-secondary life.

Although we have chosen to start small this year, we do have dreams for the future. One of those dreams includes helping youth who attend becoming mentors during the school year as well as expanding the experiences to include welding, millwright, culinary arts, and even science camps.

When I was in Junior High school my mom was working toward finishing her BEd. We lived about two hours north of Edmonton so she rented an apartment on campus during the summer months. In order to keep us busy and happy she enrolled us in swimming lessons at the University of Alberta pool. Not only was I able to follow her around, but I had an opportunity to navigate my own way around campus and University life. In addition to choosing to become an educator like my mom (I helped her in her classroom whenever I could), I learned skills that have enhanced by life both inside and outside the classroom. When I did become a student in the Education Faculty some six years later I felt very confident to embark on what for many was a very scary experience.

I believe that youth who are fortunate to attend the camp at NAIT this summer and beyond will have an experience similar to mine!!

I also believe that there are others out there who would like to participate to help build on this very unique and promising opportunity. With that, I look forward to telling you how it is evolving in future posts!!