2009 NAD Youth Leadership Camp

NAD, Jr. NAD, and Miss Deaf America!

2009-07-22T13:20:00.000-07:00

This morning we did something different with the campers. We had a wrap up session for the campers with the camp director. The campers were given the chance to give feedback on the program so we can improve for next year! We truly value the campers' input and opinions, there is always room for improvement! YLC is, after all, all about the experience of our campers!

Today we had two very important guests visit us here at YLC. Melissa Draganac-Hawk, who is a member on the NAD Board, and Michelle Lapides, Miss Deaf America 2008-2010! Melissa gave a workshop to the campers about NAD, Jr. NAD, and state associations. The campers learned about what these associations have to offer and how they can become involved in their communities! She talked about the importance of NAD and what services they provide for deaf people throughout the United States. Melissa also talked about how important it is to fundraise for their organizations. The campers and Melissa made lists for fundraising ideas that they can use to raise money for their Jr.NAD branches! She explained the different ways campers can get involved in NAD, the campers have already gotten a head start by coming to YLC!

After yet another delicious dinner, the campers got to host tonight's evening program. Everyone was buzzing with excitement because the campers got to decide what they wanted to do for the evening, and what they wanted was for the staff to perform for an Improv Night! The campers had a lot of laughs as the staff made utter fools of themselves up on stage! Everyone had a great time!

Tonight we had two fireside speakers, Melissa Draganac-Hawk and Michelle Lapides. Melissa talked about the importance of appreciating culture. She explained about her experience traveling around the world and how she learned to appreciate other countries values and culture, even if they did not match with her own. She told us about one of her experiences traveling through Africa with a friend. They were in Zimbabwe and stopped at this one town, specifically a very unique restaurant. She and her friend are both vegetarians, but they decided it was important to respect the culture at that restaurant and eat the meat they served there. On the menu: Zebra, ostrich, alligator, boar, and snake! It was a once in a lifetime experience for her that she is glad she took! She recommended a book called Culture Shock and gave us tips for traveling in different countries. She emphasized how important it is to read up about any country you are planning to visit before you go so that you can become familiar with their values, customs and cultural beliefs. We all really enjoyed Melissa's story and wish we had time to hear more of her adventures!

After Melissa wrapped up, Michelle Lapides got up in front of us to give her fireside chat! She told us about her experience with the Miss Deaf America competition. She explained that she has wanted to be Miss Deaf America since she was five years old and she met the Miss Deaf America at that time when she came to visit Michelle's class in Kendall school in DC. She became fascinated with the sparkly tiara and immediately knew that she wanted to follow in her footsteps. She approached Miss Deaf America and asked if she could borrow her blue dress when she runs for Miss Deaf America when she was old enough. Who was Miss Deaf America when Michelle was five? Our very own Jennifer Yost Ortiz! Michelle went on to describe how her life long dream was made a reality, she told the campers that if they have dreams, they should go for them! She shared an inspiring quote: "The world needs dreamers, and the world needs doers. Above all, the world needs dreamers that do!" She wrapped up by giving advice to those who are interested in running for Miss Deaf America, "Just be confident, be yourself and it will shine through!"

Melissa was ready and happy to answer any questions our campers might have!

The campers watching the presentation on NAD.

Adam Jarashow acting as a ballerina playing football and order a meal from McDonalds all at the same time!

Adam won best actor for that performance!

Jon Kessel acting like a contestant for Miss YLC!

Martin and Shari having an argument about leaving hair in the drain!

The Pixel's final fireside performance!

Melissa Draganac-Hawk telling us about her traveling experiences.

Miss Deaf America: Michelle Lapides!

Knowing very well that tomorrow is the last day of YLC, we gathered in Leadership Hall to wish each other a heartfelt YLC '09 GOOD NIGHT!

The Importance of Culture and ASL Night!

2009-07-21T00:45:00.000-07:00

Vlog by Firefly

Calisthenics? We are so up for it! At the beginning of YLC, most of us didn’t like morning exercises, but today it started to grow on us. The campers will return to home and continue their morning calisthenics, we hope! Morning exercises rock our socks off!

We had a guest speaker today! From Rochester, New York, we welcomed Dr. Peter Hauser to YLC! Peter graduated from Central Connecticut State University in 1994. He then went to Gallaudet University, where he obtained his MA degree in 1998 and his PhD degree in 2000. He currently works as the Director of Deaf Studies Lab at NTID and as Director of Neurocongitive Research at Gallaudet. Today he gave us, the YLCERS, a workshop on “Cultural Knowledge: Identity and Cultural Capital.”

We learned that deaf and hearing people’s brains function differently, deaf people use both sides of their brains because we are visual people while the hearing people tend to use only the left side of their brain. The left side of the brain focuses on linguistics and speech. The right side of the brain focuses on creativity and the use of space. In Peter's studies, there is living proof of the idea that the more visual space used, the more stimulation people get in the right sides of their brains!

After explaining two different aspects on deaf and hearing people’s brains, we moved onto the topic of our own cultures and the influence on us. We learned that we have two different kind of cultural influences. The first one is cultural capital which represents the major society of the United States and the second one is the community culture wealth. It is something that the minority has, such as Deaf culture. The ability to be able to integrate ourselves in both cultures improves our ability to succeed in the world. After the presentation, we had a chance to discuss it with our groups and we were able to determine how the things that came up in the workshop apply to what we learned in NAD YLC. We also discussed how these cultural influences will become present in our lives after YLC.

We truly enjoyed the workshop by Dr. Peter Hauser!

“I learned that the locations we all come from lead us to have different cultures and ways to look at life.” – Anthony Finocchio, Camper

For tonight's evening program we had our ASL night! The two hosts, Jordan Ramser and Jay Werner, did great job planning and running the event! There were no judges tonight because ASL night is all about having fun! Campers and staff lined up by the stage to tell their jokes and perform ASL stories! Some stories were so funny that we were all rolling on the floor of Leadership Hall laughing! All in all, ASL night was a major success, we were thrilled to have the opportunity to practice and gain experience being on stage and polish up on our storytelling skills!

For fireside we had two speakers: Peter Hauser and Amy Siebert! Peter summarized his life, explaining about how he was adopted, and how he became deaf after being sick with spinal meningitis. Peter explained that when he became deaf he didn't realize he was deaf, he thought the whole world had gone silent! He resisted learning sign language for a long time. He finally became immersed in the deaf community later during college, he realized that he had a passion for deaf research. He opened the floor for questions and the campers were definitely curious! His stories made us laugh, especially his most embarrassing moment! We wont publish it here for the world to see, but if you ever meet Peter, see if he will tell you. We guarantee you will laugh so hard that your sides will split! After Peter wrapped up, Amy Siebert, YLC staff, took the floor. She explained that she has a deaf family and a very close relationship with her parents and siblings. She explained how grateful she was to her parents for preparing her for everything she would ever need to face. However, one thing her parents never prepared her for was the loss of a friend. A few weeks before her high school graduation, a friend of hers committed suicide. She explained her experience dealing with the loss of her friend without being able to know or understand exactly why he did it. She explained that her friend had been bullied, and that it seemed that he didn't really talk to anyone about his depression. She left the campers with some valuable advice: if you feel depressed or suicidal, talk to someone; killing or hurting yourself will not solve anything. We were all touched by Amy's story, some of us got emotional thinking of the pain she had to go through.

Esther Fass and Kassie Stutler watching campers talk about their culture.

Greg Beattie watching as the campers discuss Peter Hauser's presentation!

Amy Siebert gives her input to a group of campers.

Richard Bertling pondering during the group discussion.

What's on your mind, John Hagner?

Jillian Apfel listening to her fellow campers.

Leo Curry watches as Dathan Brown talks about his background

Uh oh, Lanna Hostovsky has her mischievous smile on her face!

Dr. Peter Hauser talking about how deaf and hearing people's brains are different!

Assistant Chef Martin Dale-Hench preparing lunch for our hungry campers!

Just two days left of YLC? We all gathered together at the end of the night to cry YLC '09 GOOD NIGHT, knowing that this tradition will soon be put to rest until next year for future YLCers.

A Puzzle of a Day!

2009-07-19T23:52:00.000-07:00

Callus is back to write this blog once again!

This morning’s exercise went fantastically! The best thing about having the calisthenics in the mornings is the energy we always retrieve from exercising! For some reasons, some campers start laughing as we exercise so our mood is lifted up instantly! After exercising, we went to Leadership Hall to gobble a healthy breakfast!

After breakfast we had a Camp Council meeting. We discussed about few important topics, especially upcoming events and projects such as the Camp Project, ASL Night, Banquet, and the you-decide Evening Program. We brainstormed about what we should make for our camp project. After creating an official list of the ideas, the campers voted and decided on what we will make for YLC! After wrapping up on the Camp Project, we shifted to the topic of the Banquet. We discussed what food we will have and what to do for the Banquet program. The discussion went so smoothly that we finished the topic in just a few minutes. The Gizmos (the staff) allowed us to decide what we will do for our last Evening Program. Many of us had various wonderful ideas, but we could not decide on one idea, so we stopped talking about it as the time had run out. Last, but not at least, we talked about what we would do for ASL Night tomorrow!

“Juan Dillard and I are ready for the Banquet! You all will never forget the Banquet because it is going to be the greatest night!!” – Subrina Morales, Camper

We had a typical afternoon with OLS class, media hour, and another delicious dinner! After dinner, Joshua Beckman called us into Leadership Hall for a brief meeting. Joshua announced that something horrendous had happened—someone had the guts to steal a whole package of candies from the canteen. Confusion overwhelmed us as Joshua jumped to conclusions and decided to accuse us of stealing the candy even though they did not have any evidence that a camper committed the crime. Suddenly Cesar Ayala entered the building with a wrecked looking face. He approached Joshua and cried, “Blair's dead!”

That was the beginning of the Evening Program, MYSTERY NIGHT! We were to divide into our teams and solve two cases, which are the theft of the candies and the murder of Blair Rasmus. All of us had to find out who were the suspects and interview them to discover who were the thief and murderer. Also we had to figure out how the thief broke into the canteen, when the murderer killed Blair, and what weapon the murderer used to kill Blair. All of us really enjoyed the activity as we attempted to solve the crimes. All four teams had to produce a final report and give the report to Detective Adam Jarashow. Most of us tried our best to guess, but Evermore did an excellent job by being the only team that accused two correct suspects. But everyone did wonderful, and congrats to all teams for trying their best and making it through the night!

For our fireside tonight we had two awesome speakers, two proud Kendall Green Alumni: Joshua Weinstock and Jonathan Kessel!

Fireside started with Joshua Weinstock, who shared his childhood experience. Joshua began to like writing and reading in high school. He attained the position as a graduation speaker by admitting his essay to a panel of judges who will pick two top essay writers and assign them to become the graduation speakers. In the end Joshua got the opportunity to give his speech at his graduation, Model Secondary School for the Deaf. Joshua also explained his experience as a camper in YLC in 2003. He enjoyed YLC so much that he came back as a staff and we are grateful that we have him as our staff!

The second speaker, Jonathan Kessel began his story with a question. He asked us if we thought that he comes from a deaf family and the most of us answered ‘yes’. Jonathan chuckled at our assumption and revealed the shocking fact—he is the ONLY deaf person in his entire family! It was so hard to believe because his essence seemed to belong to someone who had a strong deaf family. Jonathan explained that he had lived in District of Columbia for his whole life. Jonathan shared his experience about his first year working at YLC as a counselor. He wrapped up his speech by announcing his plans for next year. He is joining a group of few friends to go through the Appalachian Trail, which begins in Georgia and ends in Maine. It will be a six month journey for Jonathan and his friends. His presence was clearly of a person who loves outdoors. We bid him good luck!

“I can’t imagine how YLC will end, this entire month is truly amazing and indescribable. I will cry and be devastated on the last day.” – Dan Mabashov, Camper

The campers listen as Yolynn Valdez expresses her thoughts during group process.

R.I.P. Blair Rasmus!

Dana Hill and Martha Wolcott pondering about the mystery they have to solve.

Mike Hesser explaining who he thinks the murderer was.

The Callus team questioning a suspect while Jay Werner takes notes.

Valerie Farr, you look confused, have you figured it out yet??

Suspect Lauren Sanchez smiles for the camera!

Nha Kim going over her team's notes from their interviews with the suspects.

Bethany Weiner and Jennifer Wrenn watch as their teammate explains who he thinks committed the crime.

Joshua Weinstock at fireside explaining about his childhood.

Jonathan Kessel describing his first YLC staff experience in 2006!

The campfire weakened and is left with red hot burning logs. Callus dumped water on it and the red hot flames sent out a huge trail of smoke up in the air. We all skipped to Leadership Hall for the typical announcements and gathered together as we screamed, “YLC ’09 GOOD NIGHT!”

A Delicious Day!

2009-07-19T10:13:00.000-07:00

Today is our second laundry day! We were divided into two groups (Pixels and Firefly & Callus and Evermore) and went to two different laundry places in Salem. While we were washing our clothes we played card games, did some reading, watched television, talked with each other and made several stops to a Mexican restaurant to get some horchata (delicious drink!). When we all were done with washing our clothes, we went to the mall nearby!

We all were thrilled to go to the mall because we like to go out! Many of us bought some stuff such as clothes, candies and several things. We didn’t just go to the mall; there was a Target across from the mall, so some of us went there for some shopping. Several of us were unable to resist getting burritos from chipotle, ice cream from coldstone, and coffee from starbucks!

Today was also our picture day! We were all excited to pose for different pictures! First of all, we all were split in our teams and then we decided our own poses for those pictures. After taking team pictures, we all were split in our cabin groups and then took pictures with our cabins. Last but not least, we all sat together for the big group picture!

After we finished our photo shoot, we cooled down by doing some discovery games. Our first discovery activity was the “Seesaw”. All of us have to balance on a platform that is set up like a seesaw and our goal is to bring everyone from one side to the opposite side. The tricky part is that the seesaw sides have to be equal (meaning the length of the board on one side must be equal to the length of the board on the other side) and we are not allowed to let the wooden board touch the floor or we will have to redo everything! In case you were wondering, yes, we, the Evermore team did it! Our next activity was “The Wall.” The goal of the activity is to get every camper in our group to climb over a 15-feet wall! Of course, it wasn’t easy, but we also made it on that one!

We bet you're all wondering why the title of this blog is "A Delicious Day," right? For our evening program, we got to play “Top Dessert Mania” created by our chef, Matt Krueger! The game was set up so that each team had supplies to make a dessert (such as knives, bowls, etc). There was one table with different ingredients such as marshmallows, peanut butter, cherry pie filling, gumdrops, and more! Each team had one representative who would spin an arrow on a game board, depending on where the arrow lands that team would be able to choose their own ingredient or another group would be able to choose the ingredient for them! Each group had to create a dessert with those ingredients plus a secret ingredient that would not be announced until all the other ingredients were divided up among the groups. We really enjoyed that activity because it was full of delicious-looking desserts! We still haven’t found out who won the competition, we will find out tomorrow night. Also, we were the first group in YLC history to play that game! We are proud to be part of that history and because it was a hit, it will become a new tradition!

”It was really cool to have that program to see how well our minds work,” -Asia Riedinger

Guess who were our speakers for fireside tonight? If you have guessed Jennifer Spensieri and Lauren Sanchez, then you are right! Jennifer shared us a story about how her mother, from Peru, and father, from Argentina, moved to America and met each other. Then, Jennifer explained about her experience in school, having a cochlear implant and her experience losing her best friend/roommate who died in a car accident recently. She wanted us to grab every opportunity in our lives, because it can be over in less than a minute.

Lauren presented to us about her life and experiences in Cuba and Spain. She also explained us about how she was frustrated with languages because she grew up using oral language and had to learn sign languages in Spain, and then learn ASL in America. She emphasized to us that we should grab any chance to travel to other countries during the summer, or we might end up not having time to after we graduate college.

Jennifer Wrenn is thrilled to have a clean sleeping bag!

"Should I wash this one with my colors or whites?" asks Dakota Johndrow

Tiffany Hill and Anthony Finocchio reading while waiting for their laundry dry.

Dan Mabashov, Bethany Weiner, Bianca Hamilton, and Juan Dillard posing for a great picture!

Jordan Ramser enjoying his lunch at the mall's food court!

Robb Ingram giving his opinion on the outfit Ashley Bergeron is thining about buying.

That ice cream looks good, Patti!

Subrina Morales enjoying a great Starbucks drink!

Shari McMahon and Jay Werner goofin' off at the food court!

Blair Rasmus watches as team Firefly does the Alligator boards activity.

Greg Beattie watches the Pixels pull each other over the 15 foot wall!

Samantha Krieger times the Evermore team doing the seesaw activity.

The Callus team working on the spider web activity!

Some of the delicious deserts during Top Desert Mania!

The campers huddled around the ingredients to see what they might want during the game!

Matt Krueger explaining the rules to the team representatives.

Shu Han Guo helping her team make the dessert.

The fireflies creating a delicious cake for the judges!

The Pixels' scrumptious entry!

The Callus team's delicious entry!

Dana Hill waiting to present her group's entry to the judges on stage!

Jennifer Spensieri explaining that the campers should grab every opportunity they can get!

Lauren Sanchez shared her worldly knowledge with the campers during fireside!

Oh, you have been curious what the secret ingredient was? Vanilla Donuts!

After a long, delicious day, Jennifer Yost Ortiz led the YLC '09 GOOD NIGHT! tradition. It was her last night to be here with us, she is going home to Maryland! We miss her already and we really appreciate all that she has done for us!

Special Note to YLC alumni!

2009-07-17T15:39:00.000-07:00

40 years of Youth Leadership Camp could not have been successful without our wonderful alumni, especially their support they have given us over the years!

We are currently updating our database so we can keep in touch with you, our beloved alumni. If you would like to update your email to receive future emails about YLC, contact Jennifer Yost Ortiz, Director of Youth Leadership Programs at www.nad.org/contact.

As usual, the walls of Leadership Hall are adorned with murals and signs contributed over the years by YLC campers.. Let's take a walk down memory lane, can you spot your year's contribution??

YLC '03!

YLC '88

YLC staffer, Vivienne Schroeder, proudly wearing her mother's (Thelma Schroeder nee Gonzalez) YLC shirt from 1972!

The campers and staff alike love the wonderful signs and gifts that have been collected over the years, we are eager to make our own contribution that campers 40 years from today can admire!

By the way, we have updated several of our older blogs with vlogs. Be sure to look back over the older posts to check out our campers' hard work!

So, tonight, we ask that every YLC alumni who reads this blog joins us in wishing our campers a spirited "YLC '09 GOOD NIGHT!"

Mr. and Miss YLC Pageant!

2009-07-11T01:12:00.001-07:00

Today is a day that we have been preparing for for days and days! The Mr. and Miss YLC pageant!

Our co-chairs, Dan Mabashov and Carolina Kohn, did an excellent job! We spent the day preparing for the event! All the contestants practiced their talents and platforms, and the committee members decorated Leadership Hall, and prepared the certificates for best talent, best dressed and best platform!

Our Master and Mistress of Ceremonies were Ray McCall and Valerie Farr, they did an awesome job at keeping the audience entertained between performances and introducing each couple! Our judges were Blair Rasmus, Cesar Ayala, Joshua Weinstock, Ryan Commerson, and Samantha Krieger!

This year we had a really high number of contestants: ten couples! The competitors were Jay Werner with Stephanie Johnston, Joshua Canulla with Hillary Frankowiak, Douglas Brock with Sophia Stone, Joshua Ralstin with Hilary Stone, Ryan Baldiviez with Martha Wolcott, Patrick McMullen with Shu Han Guo, Anthony Finocchio with Kayla LaBruno, Juan Dillard with Mary Ann Peterson, Robb Ingram and Dana Hill, and John Hagner with Lauren Hostovsky!

The Contestants---are they really?

Our Master and Mistress of Ceremonies, Ray McCall and Valerie Farr

The first event was the contestants platform, every couple had a unique issue to argue! The platforms ranged from animal cruelty, to audism, to gay marriage, to abortion and more! The contestants presented their stand on their issue and explained why they felt the way they do! The winner of Best Platform went to Juan Dillard and Mary Ann Peterson!

The next event was the talent show! All the contestants performed on stage! Some acted out short stories, some told jokes, and some created ABC stories! They were all very creative, and captured the audience's attention easily! The winning couple for Best Talent went to Juan Dillard and Mary Ann Peterson!

The final event before the judges decided on their top five was for best dress! Each couple did their best to coordinate outfits and went on stage to pose for the judges and audience! The couples looked great as they strutted their stuff! The winners for Best Dressed were Patrick McMullen and Shu Han Guo!

After the best dress portion, the judgest deliberated for 10 minutes to decide who should be in the final five. They decided on Ryan Baldiviez and Martha Wolcott, Jay Werner and Stephanie Johnston, Patrick McMullen and Shu Han Guo, Juan Dillard and Mary Ann Peterson, and Anthony Finocchio and Kayla LaBruno!

Next were the interview questions, each contestant separated from their partner to answer this question: Today, the economy and environment are in bad shape. What can you do to help the environment without spending any money?

The contestants all had great answers, some had extremely original answers!

Performing: Douglas Brock and Sophia Stone

Performing: Robb Ingram and Dana Hill

Performing: Anthony Finocchio & Kayla LaBruno

Audience enjoying the performances.

Performing: Martha Wolcott & Ryan Baldiviez

Audience continues to laugh.

Adam Jarashow, Volunteer, performing during one of the intermissions.

Performing: Hillary Frankowiak & Joshua Canulla

Performing: Stephanie Johnson & Jay Werner

Audience in awe.

Performing: Patrick McMullen & Shu Han Guo

Performing: Juan Dillard & Mary Ann Peterson

Audience having ball!

Performing: Joshua Ralstin and Hilary Stone

Performing: John Hagner and Lauren Hostovsky

Our business manager, Joshua Beckman enjoying the pageant.

Our co-chairs, Dan Mabashov and Carolina Kohn

All of the contestants in the pageant did a fabulous job! They were mighty brave to get up on stage and do their best!

After the interview, the judges deliberated once again and decided on the winner of the pageant!

3rd Runner Up: Anthony Finocchio and Kayla LaBruno!

2nd Runner Up: Ryan Baldiviez and Martha Wolcott!

1st Runner Up: Juan Dillard and Mary Ann Peterson!

And the winners, the new Mr. and Miss YLC, are: Patrick McMullen and Shu Han Guo!

The Judges---are they really?

Pieces ready to be eaten!

They were blown away and excited that they won! Afterwards we all celebrated with cake, and the pageant contestants had the privledge of getting up on stage and leading the traditional "YLC '09 GOOD NIGHT!" chant!

Laundry Day!

2009-07-11T00:47:00.000-07:00

At last! The day we all have been waiting for has finally arrived!

The campers were thrilled to wake up this morning and head over to do their morning exercises for one very good reason: today is Laundry and Mall day!!!

After breakfast, we all piled onto two buses with our gigantic laundry bags in tow! We were buzzing with excitement and gave a big cheer as we left Camp Taloali! When we arrived at the laundromat, we all rushed to claim a washing machine! We are sure the owners of the place were shocked to see so many deaf people in one place with so much laundry to do!

For some of us, it was our very first time ever doing laundry on our own! Campers and staff helped each other out with tips and advice! "Separate your whites and colors!" "Use cold water if you don't want to separate your clothes!" Pour the detergent into the detergent compartment! Not on your clothes!" We had a lot of laughs! We did a great job, too! No one's clothes got ruined, except for one staff member who forgot she left a red piece of paper in the pocket of her white pants! Oops!

Once we all got our clothes in the washers, we were free to explore the stores around the laundromat. There was a Borders right next door, so many of us decided to go over and check out books and get some delicious coffee! There was also a Walmart so some of us decided to stock up on a few items we needed! Inside the laundromat was pretty fun too, there were several arcade games, vending machines, even tanning booths (YES, IN THE LAUNDROMAT!). Of course, none of us used the tanning booths!

The next thing we knew, we were putting our clothes in the dryer! 30 minutes, then it's time to go to the mall! Time flew by fast, we folded our clean and dry clothes and packed them away! As we left we noticed a sign that was placed on the window by the owners of the laundromat:

We piled back onto the bus and cheered again! Several campers started drooling over the food they were looking forward to: Chipotle! Subway! Baskin Robbins!

We arrived at the mall, most of the campers took off to find food! Several went shopping and got some new clothes! A few campers even went into the Apple store and got on the computers, guess they just couldn't resist the internet! Our shopping trip went by even faster than the stop at the laundromat! We rejoined our clean clothes back on the bus with our new purchases and headed back to our dearest Camp Taloali!

When we got back we all went to unpack and organize our cabins, we had to work quickly in order to get back to Leadership Hall in time for dinner at 5:30! After dinner, for our evening program we had a Camp Council meeting to elect an ASL night chairperson. The campers elected Jordan Ramser to be the chairperson for this event. Jordan has a lot of ASL expertise and a lot of enthusiasm for the position! We are definitely looking forward to ASL night!

Even at laundromat, it is FUN!

If not for quarter, no clean clothes!

Hmm, a pile of colored clothes?

Sorry about few pictures. We were having too much fun to take pictures. After a nice and relaxing night, we were ready to sigh, "YLC '09 GOOD NIGHT!"

Leadership Day!

2009-07-11T00:17:00.001-07:00

Greetings from the Evermore team! Introducing the Evermore family: Douglas Brock, Tandy Lewis, Ray McCall, Nha Kim, Johnny Bonilla, Patti Klinger, Joshua Ralstin, MaryAnn Peterson, Chad Willman, Lauren Ann Hostousky, Shu Han Guo, Yolynn Valdez and Hilary Stone! Today, we had two workshops about leadership, an Improv Night, and a great Fireside story!

Today’s theme was “Leadership Day.” We started the day by listening to our guest speaker, Dan Brubaker’s wonderful presentation about the real meaning of being a leader. Guess what?! Dan is also an YLC alumni! This summer will be his 16^th time visiting YLC! He grew up and graduated from Kansas School for the Deaf. He has had many rich experiences; he rode on a bike all way across America in 70 days, traveled to 58 countries, and graduated from Gallaudet University!

In his presentation, he talked about the eight parables of leadership. Parables are short stories with morals; Dan shared us stories that taught us about leadership. The Parables he talked about were: “Spizzleinctum”, “Old Dogs, New Tricks”, “Shut up!”, “U1, M2, Always”, “Smart fools”, “Safe Death”, “Hot Air Balloon”, and “Wizard of Oz”. We will explain two parables to you, “Spizzleinctum”, and “Smart Fools”!

The word, Spizzleinctum, means, “To will to succeed” Brubaker showed us pictures of famous big dreamers such as Lance Armstrong, Martin Luther King, Jr., Gertrude Galloway, and Lizzie Sorkin (RIT’s first deaf SBG president!). He then explained us that leaders have to have the desire to reach to their goals.

The next parable is “Smart Fools.” We are sure that many of you might wonder if there really are smart fools. The answer is… YES!!! For example, a person in an audience asks a stupid question during a workshop speaker. That person is a smart fool, because he took a risk just to learn something new. Brubaker then explained us that leaders MUST take risks.

The whole point of his presentation was that all leaders must listen to others, take risks, and do their best at all times, no matter what! We were truly inspired by his words!

"I really enjoyed the 8 parables presentation! The nail story impacted me." -Stephanie Johnston

Later in the afternoon, Jennifer Yost Ortiz gave us a workshop about “Inspiration”. She emphasized that Inspiration is important in life. Then she explained to us about attitude; she mentioned how people would react to others when they asked a simple question like, “How are you?” she noticed that some people would say: “I am tired” or “I am not doing okay.” People don’t realize that those kinds of answers will put other people in awkward position. Therefore, we must put ourselves in their position and think what we should say. Moreover, people who say negative things like, “I hate this day,” will start off their bad day. Jennifer emphasized that “Attitude” is what it takes to either put yourself down or up. Then she applied attitude to leadership; she told us that a real leader must learn how to lead with right attitude because with right attitude, people will pay attention to you and you will achieve it.

In addition, Jennifer explained to us that we must use positive attitudes to achieve our passions or dreams. It is okay to fail 100 times, but we should never pull ourselves down. We can always find other ways to capture our passions even if you failed! Moreover, Jennifer said that it is up to us to believe in something or not. If you believe that you can do it, then you CAN! However, if you believe you can’t, then you CAN’T!

"I learned a lot! I was very impressed, it's one of the best presentations I've ever seen!" -Dakota Johndrow

Finally, after her wonderful speech, we analyzed ourselves more about our attitudes. We realized that we should always pay attention to what we say to others with the right attitude and right approach.

Tonight was Improv Night! We started the night by meeting our four fantastic judges from different places all over the world! Leon (aka Greg Beattie), a British rocker, who doesn’t know any American Sign Language. Second was Miss Hollywood (aka Lauren Sanchez), a celebrity from Los Angeles, California. The third judge was Miss Bean (aka Vivienne Schroeder), Mr. Bean’s cousin. Last but not least was Alfa and his sock puppet, Alf, who came here from another planet! They were all hilarious!

Jennifer Spensieri, our YLC staff and also our hostess, called four participants, one from each team, up on stage. Jennifer would give them a topic and they had to improvise their best acting skills in order to make the judges laugh. After that, the judges would bang on a drum to tell which one was funniest. Whoever won the performance would be given points for their team! It went well! We laughed all the night along till our tummies hurt!

Before we closed that event, Jennifer called out four volunteers from each team to act out different secret characters. Another four participants, one from each team, had to guess who the characters were based on their acting. If the participants guessed right, they would be given points for each one character they got right! Many of us did pretty good! It was a wonderful experience for us to conqueror our fear of being on the stage and learn to improvise!

Tonight, Dan Brubaker gave us his fireside story. He talked about his experience biking across America! He was determined to ride across America because his friends said he wouldn’t be able to ride his bike across America, and he wanted to prove them wrong! He and a friend rode from Virginia to Washington state! He saved about $2,000 for 70 days to buy what he need for his trip. On his way from state to state he saw many dead animals every hour, and had many interesting experiences! At first, all the dead animals disgusted him but later he got used to it. He and his bike partner slept in many different places such as churches, schools, restaurants, hotels, and even in strangers houses! We were amazed at his wonderful presentation. His funny stories and the exciting places he described inspired us, some of us are considering biking across America to gain the experience for ourselves!

"His story was great! He went through a lot and I am tempted to do the same thing some day!" -Michelle Mansfield-Hom

Dan Brubaker explaining about the parables!

Yes, Richard Bertling?

Jennifer Yost Ortiz talking about having the right attitude!

Meet our Improv judges! Alfa and Alf, Miss Bean, Ms. Hollywood, and Leon!

Chad Willman and Jordan Ramser improving during the questions game!

Jennifer Wrenn couldn't help but crack herself up while performing on stage!

Are you drowning, Dathan Brown?

Justine Webb showing off her improv skills!

Michelle Mansfield-Hom was overwhelmed with gratitude upon receiving an emmy award from Jennifer Spensieri!

Dana Hill trying to sell us all some Germ-X!

Lauren Hostovsky receiving instructions for her improv skit.

A great and inspirational speaker, Dan Brubaker!

We are extremely exhausted because we had a long day but looking forward for our next great day ahead of us! As usual, we screamed out our traditional “YLC ‘O9 GOOD NIGHT!”

CRISIS DAY!

2009-07-09T14:15:00.000-07:00

C....R...I...S...I...S

You have to come to understand...

The 2009 NAD YLC Olympics!

2009-07-09T00:29:00.001-07:00

Today was YLC 2009 Olympics Day! Each team was assigned a color. Pixels got red, Firefly got yellow, Evermore got blue, Callus got green, and Gizmo got black! Everyone got their face paint on, painted their flags, and created a chant for the opening ceremony. It was a very exciting start to the day!

For the Opening Ceremony, we paraded around the fireside and the Daily Drum building. Travis Clevenger, our camp director, led the parade, he held a flamed torch (which is really a tin cup attached to a stick) and walked around the campgrounds. We showed our spirit by doing our chants and waving our flags proudly in the air. We gathered at the fireside and Travis put the torch into the fire. The Olympics day had begun!

The first event of the day was a relay containing four parts: three legged race, wheelbarrow, piggy back racing, and carrying a spoon with an egg in a dizzy stance. Many of us stumbled as we did the three legged race, but there was no harm. Then the relay got harder as we did the wheelbarrow. Our arms were sore after walking several yards on our hands. After that, we did the piggy back race which was the most challenging because one person had to carry their partner across the field, then they had to switch to run back! The last part of the relay was the egg on the spoon, we all had to spin around a baseball bat then run with the egg across the field and back, if we dropped the egg we had to start all over again! It was hilarious to watch each other stumbling as we focused on the egg. Team Firefly won the event and got to compete against the Gizmos for fun! The Gizmos barely won by one player!

The next event was the water balloon toss! Each teams picked two pairs of players from their team. Each pair had to toss their water balloon to each other, if they caught it they both took one step backwards, if they dropped it they were out of the game! The game got harder and harder as the players stepped further apart! Firefly won again, and got to challenge the Gizmos again! This time the Fireflies won!

We had a game called “Steal the Eggs” which is very similar to the “Steal the Bacon” game. Each team stood on one side of a square, the referees (Gizmos!) placed two eggs in the center of the square. Each team member was assigned a number, when the referees called out a number, the players with that number had to run to the middle and try to steal the eggs and make it to their side of the square for points, or try to tag the player who stole the eggs to earn points! If a player broke an egg their team would lose a point. We all had a blast because we had to come up with strategies, chase others, and some of us accidentally broke eggs! Callus won this game, and went up against the Gizmos! The Gizmos won by one point!

Next, we played "Pass the Lifesaver," which was a really funny game! Each player on our team had a toothpick in our mouths, we had to use it to pass a lifesaver between every player! It was difficult passing the lifesaver candy without dropping it! Many campers were laughing because they never had to face each other so closely before! We couldn't hold our toothpicks with our fingers, so it was a challenge to pass the lifesaver. All teams enjoyed the game simply because there was no way that anyone could not enjoy the game!

The toughest event of the day was the Ultimate Egg Relay. We had to go through tough obstacles while holding an egg without breaking it. If the egg cracked, the person responsible had to do the obstacles again! It was a lot of pressure on all of us! We had to crawl through wet sand by using our upper body only and then we had to jump rope twenty times. After that, we had to jump for a lengthy distance in a tiny sack and shoot a basketball into a hoop. For the last part of the relay, we had to fill a bucket with water using a sponge. Don’t forget that we had to do all of that and hold an egg! Our arms were exhausted and sand covered every part of our bodies. We all agreed that the relay was very difficult, but we had to admit that it was pretty fun at the same time!

After the relay, we went to swimming pool to refresh ourselves and of course we still had more activities! The pool activity was that all groups had to compete against each other swimming with all different styles such as the breast stroke, butterfly, free style, and doggie paddling, while blowing a ping pong ball and while swimming with a sweater on! All of the campers enjoyed this activity, and some of us got to learn new swimming skills!

Next, each team sent in two female and two male players for Hot Shot, a basketball game. The players had to shoot from specific spots on the court to receive points when the basket was made. Some players weren’t really basketball players but they did pretty well. Meanwhile, the rest of the teams created cheers and chants to support the players and impress a judge who is a cheerleading expert. Everyone made the effort to do well and we all had fun!

For the evening activity, we played Tug of War! Pixels and Firefly went first against each other to pull the rope. Firefly won! Next, Evermore and Callus both played against each other, Evermore won! Again, Pixels against Callus, it was a struggle at first, but the Pixels finally won after some of the staff cheered us up and said, “Don’t give up!” Then, because they were the Tug of War champions, Firefly got to play against Gizmo, it was a difficult competition, but Gizmo won!

As olympic day ended, it started getting dark outside. All of the groups went to fireside to celebrate the closing ceremony. Each group got up in front of everyone and said a few words about how they felt about the day, then together each team put their flag in the fire with pride. We had a moment of silence for each flag so that we all could reflect on the events of the day. The last part of the closing ceremony was to put out the fire. This indescribable day required a lots teamwork, bonding, and it became a very unforgettable day. After we burned the flag, we felt a stronger bond to our teams than ever before!

What the campers thought:

Robb Ingram: I loved it because I like competition. I also like to learn work with others and accomplish together!

Patrick McMullen: I liked it because it was fun and it was worth the exercise. I got myself in shape!

MaryAnn Peterson: I loved it, it was mentally and physically challenging. It made me feel good.

Tandy Lewis: I enjoyed it because it was very competitive and I also now feel that I am more connected to my team and even to other teams too! The games were a lot of fun!

Subrina Morales: I loved it so much because it had a lot of challenges!

Richard Bertling: I liked it because it was lot of fun. I am the type of person who likes to do things instead of just sitting there and thinking!

Travis Clevenger led the campers and staff around Camp Taloali for the Opening Ceremony!

The Pixels were full of enthusiasm to start their day!

The Pixels' opening chant!

"Callus! Callus!" chanted the green team!

"EVERMORE!"

The Fireflies getting ready to light up the stage!

Patti Klinger, where's your three-legged partner??

Yolynn Valdez and Nha Kim racing for the finish line!

Jordan Ramser concentrating hard on not dropping his egg!

Don't drop that egg, Shu Han Guo!

Jennifer Wrenn carried her egg with ease back and forth across the field!

All four teams attempting to get points during the steal the eggs game!

Hilary Stone and Douglas Brock trying to keep their lifesaver from falling!

Jillian Apfel and Ashley Bergeron working together to pass their lifesaver!

Chad Willman looks thrilled to be crawling through the wet sand!

Go, Richard Bertling, GO!

Having fun, Jay Werner?

Esther Fass thinking "Are you guys serious??"

Greg Beattie keeping count of Joshua Ralstin's jump roping!

Kassie Stutler looks ready to dive into the dirt!

Sophia Stone is in the lead for the sack hop!

The Gizmos competing against the Tug of War champions!

Team Firefly fought hard against the Gizmos....

...but the Gizmos won!!!

Team Callus celebrating the end of YLC olympics!

All the events made the day an amazing one! We were exhausted but fortunately got some extra early sleep time. We closed the day with our tradition, YLC ‘09 GOOD NIGHT!

Community Day!

2009-07-08T10:50:00.000-07:00

It's community day here at YLC! This morning we got up early to get on the bus to go to Silver Falls state park! We were all excited for a great morning of hiking and beautiful sights. However, we weren't going just for the view, we had plans for community service, too!

Silver Falls is a beautiful place, we wanted to help make it even more beautiful, so along our way we picked up any and all trash we saw scattered along the trails! Community service is an important part of being a citizen, when we contribute to our community we are able to feel more involved and a part of it. Along the trail we saw several waterfalls, we even walked behind one and got to look through the falling water to see the beautiful scenery! We hiked for two and a half hours, by the end we collected two garbage bags full of trash! We felt great about our good work, many of us decided to treat ourselves to some home baked cookies at the cafe/gift shop at the end of the trip! After we ate our bag lunches and took several group pictures, we hopped back on the bus to head back to Camp Taloali.

We arrived at the camp at around 1 p.m. and headed for Leadership Hall. Mike Wynne, an ASL and Deaf Studies teacher from Texas School for the Deaf, came to give us a workshop on how we can bring what we learn here at YLC back to our communities. He explained how leaders make their ideas stick, and how all ideas must have a tipping point in order to be successful, and something small but powerful enough to impact many people. He showed the campers several well known logos, such as McDonald's, Facebook, and Twitter. Then he showed Jr.NAD's logo and challenged the campers to brainstorm ideas to get their schools and communities involved in Jr.NAD when they return home. The campers mixed into four groups and discussed their ideas. Later they got on stage and presented their ideas to every one. Of course, with YLC there is always a twist or challenge! The campers had to deal with the staff, who acted as if they were students in their schools challenging all of their ideas! The purpose of this was to prepare the campers to face these challenges, and learn how to react in a positive way that can still attract their peers to their organization. The campers really enjoyed the role playing, and enjoyed watching Mike's presentation.

After dinner we had our fireside early, the campers were puzzled, but sat down to watch Mike give his fireside chat. His chat was enjoyable, Mike said he did not plan to stand for 45 minutes and give a long speech about his life, instead he preferred to summarize his life story and open the floor to questions from the campers. The campers asked tons of questions and were thrilled to hear funny stories about two staff members, Joshua Weinstock and Jonathan Kessel, when they were young as Mike used to be their basketball coach! Mike explained how he moved around to six different colleges, and how the path of his life changed as he learned what he wants and what he doesn't want out of life. Mike's fireside was an inspiration for the campers so that they know that they can change their minds about what they want to do in life at the last minute. Mike told the campers that it's better to change your mind and be happy with what you are doing, than to force yourself to do what you don't want to do!

Afterwards, the campers headed over to Leadership Hall to find out what their evening program was going to be. They were all still wondering why tonight's fireside was moved up. Greg Beattie and Vivienne Schroeder, the Deans of Boys and Girls, got up on stage and drew a long line across one of the white boards. They created a timeline from birth, childhood, high school, college, and beyond. Then they made a mark on the line in the high school section. That mark represents YLC, the deans explained how YLC is just a dot in our lifetime, and how we should cherish every moment of our time here because before we know it, it will be over. Greg then explained what we would be doing tonight: Camp Process. Camp process is exactly like the group process the campers have every morning with their groups, except it is with the entire camp. Camp process is our chance to express how we feel about YLC, about each other, and about ourselves. At first, the campers were skeptical, some didn't see the point of camp process. By the end of the night, everyone understood the point of it. The campers took turns getting up in front of every one and expressing how they feel. Many campers and staff shed some tears tonight, and when it was over, everyone felt a stronger connection and bond with one another. We wrapped up with a huge group hug, and a better understanding of each other. It was a wonderful and positive experience for all of the campers and staff.

Yes, you, Ryan Commerson!

Shari McMahon keeping an eye on the hiking campers from the back of the line.

The campers playing near the waterfall and having fun!

Is the water cold, Shu Han Guo?

Patti Klinger looking around for trash to pick up!

Lauren Sanchez loves being outside in nature!

Up, up, up the campers hiked!

Behind the waterfall! Can you spot Hillary Frankowiak, Richard Bertling, and Dana Hill?

Blair Rasmus pausing to smile for the camera as she peers down to the bottom of the waterfall!

Kassie Stutler and Leo Curry behind the waterfall!

Jennifer Spensieri gazing at the top of the waterfall.

YLC '09 group picture after our short journey through nature!

We can't be serious ALL of the time! Campers and staff goofing off!

Mike Wynne talking to the campers about what they can do in their community!

Chad Willman and Nha Kim thinking of ways they can inspire their communities at home!

Shu Han Guo, Justine Webb and Bethany Weiner waiting to discuss their ideas in their group!

Mike Wynne at fireside!

After we wished each other a warm "YLC '09 GOOD NIGHT!" the campers walked together to their cabins, laughing, reflecting on their day and sharing more stories about their lives.

Three Knots, Two Motions, and a Watermelon Sculpture!

2009-07-07T00:24:00.000-07:00

Hey there readers! Pixels are here again to blog about our day! We woke up early and we were very exhausted because we arrived Camp Taloali at about 11:00 p.m. the night before after our long day of celebration for the Fourth of July. We were busy shopping at Newport, playing at the beach and watching fireworks. We had fun, but now we had to return to our regular schedule. It was not easy!

In the morning, we had Camp Council. We voted our YLC ‘09 Banquet chairpersons, Juan Dillard and Subrina Morales! Then, we were able to make our own motions. We made two motions, we sure learned a lot about how to properly state and discuss our proposals! We are excited to learn more valuable information that we will be able to bring back to our schools and communities!

Our next activity was Outdoor Living Skills and we learned how to make a shelter without using trees for support. First, we had to learn how to make a Bowline, Clove Hitch, and Taut. These are three kinds of knots that are very useful because they won’t slip or come undone. Bowline is the most complicated knot comparing to others, whereas the other two are simpler to tie. Then, after we learned how to make the three different knots, we had to make a shelter using these knots to keep it in place. We used a blue tarp and strings. We got big rocks and some large sticks to hold the tarp in place , everyone was successful at making the shelter. Now we know what to do if we are lost in wilderness with strings and a tarp!

During our famous Evening Program (EP), each of the four teams, Callus, Firefly, Evermore and Pixels had to carve their own watermelon to represent their group. Team Gizmo, also known as our wonderful staff, joined too! We had only a hour to finish it, then we chose one or two representatives from each group to explain why they picked their design and what it meant. The judges who decided winner of this activity were Travis Clevenger, Jennifer Yost Ortiz, Martin Dale-Hench, and Jonathan Kessel. The scores were so close, the judges declared that Callus won for the best watermelon carving!

It was fun, campers enjoyed each groups’ watermelons carving, some of them to ate be delicious watery watermelons and after that, they played around running and a lot of laughers.

Last night, we had two wonderful fireside speakers. Cesar Ayala, one of our YLC staff, talked about three words that define his life: Deaf, Latino, and Gay. He is the baby of a strong Latino family; his family immigrated to California from Mexico just before he was born. An audiologist mistook him as deaf so he was placed in California School for the Deaf, Riverside and grew up there. He got exposed to the Deaf community by accident! During his senior year, he had another audiogram. It confirmed that he could hear but he felt that his identity was with the Deaf community, so he decided to attend Gallaudet University. He also talked about how many of his experiences, including YLC, helped him through his obstacles and fears. The advice he gave all of us was very inspiring and to be supportive of others in whatever they may be going through! The next guest speaker was another YLC staff, Samantha Kreiger, she talked about her experiences with bullying. She was bullied by her best friend her childhood friends. They were jealous of her academic successes. It was very hard to believe that a person like Samantha could get bullied but that proves that anyone could get bullied by anyone. It is important for everyone to stay true to yourselves and speak up when you feel bullied by the others.

What an exhausting day we had! Bit by bit we are learning how to be leaders. With every OLS class we take, we learn valuable skills that can be applied to real life situations. We learn how to be skilled media editors on the Daily Drum, DVD yearbook, Vlog and Blog. We have fun with things like watermelon carving contests, which are still beneficial because we ultimately have to learn how to sell ourselves as well as our works of art. We passed our two first bills, and though they will need to be approved by the camp director, we feel empowered that we came to a decision together! And we wrapped up our day with two inspiring speakers whom we see on a day to day basis, but now know just a little bit more!

Dathan Brown and Sophia Stone concentrating on their knots!

Jay Werner practicing the bowline on Esther Fass' arm.

Dakota Johndrow looks confident in his knot-tying skills.

Johnny Bonilla showing Mike Hesser how to do a clove hitch.

Team Callus working on their watermelon.

Valerie Farr discussing what her team should do with their sculpture.

Team Evermore carving out the insides of their watermelon.

Joshua Ralstin, you are supposed to be carving your watermelon not eating it!

Juan Dillard did an awesome job carving up the rind!

Hilary Stone putting her artistic skills to work!

All done? Your watermelon looks great, Tiffany Hill!

As Subrina Morales is showing, there is always time and room for laughter during our Evening Programs!

Gizmo staff: Samantha Krieger, Vivienne Schroeder and Joshua Beckman working hard to make a beautiful entry!

Sergio Carrillo stating his team's motto "Small light, big *impact*!"

The Pixels' finished watermelon!

Team Firefly's piece of art!

Callus' awesome representation of their group!

Evermore's interesting watermelon sculpture!

Of course, the Gizmos had to join in on all the fun!

So, readers, we bid you a phenomenal YLC '09 GOOD NIGHT!

Happy Independence Day!

2009-07-06T00:09:00.000-07:00

Vlog by Evermore

Hello everyone! Now it’s the Pixels’ turn to write this blog! Who are we? We’re a group of twelve motivated campers! Our motto is “as individuals, we go small, as a group, we go big.” We are very excited to work on the blog today! Who are the Pixels, formerly Group A? We are Hillary Frankowiak, Dan Mabashov, Asia Riedinger, Tiffany Hill, Carolina Kohn, Claira Oberrender, Martha Wolcott, Dana Hill, Anthony Finocchio, Dakota Johndrow, Mike Hesser, and Juan Dillard!

It is the 4^th of July and it has been two hundred and thirty-three years since we gained our independence from Britain! It is really important for us all to celebrate the day because if it wasn’t for those courageous leaders who stood up to Britain, there wouldn’t be a country called the United States of America! So, to celebrate we went out to some fun places! Newport, South Beach, and a fireworks show!

At 7:30 am, all the campers and staff got on two yellow buses and headed off to Newport. During the two-hours bus trip, we learned a lot of new things about each other! We played games, talked about our interests and hobbies, some campers slept on the way, some read a book and some of us shared jokes and riddles. Our excitement increased as we neared our destination!

After a long and scenic bus trip, we finally entered civilization. After ten days at Camp Taloali we all were thrilled to be in a new and different environment! Don’t get us wrong! We love Camp Taloali, but we needed a break from the place! Newport is a tiny town with little home-owned stores, candy shops, and restaurants. The town smelled like fish, nevertheless, we were thrilled to have free time to go by ourselves and explore! We split into several groups and many hurried to the Ripley’s Believe It or Not museum. The museum was small, but we enjoyed seeing strange people, hovering in a starry room, which is really a room of mirrors and light effects, and dodging the creepy woman and the photographer whose camera flashes randomly. Newport also gave us food that we don’t get at the camp. We bought candy, ice cream, and soda! Several people went nuts over sushi near the Ripley’s museum and some had delicious clam chowder at Mo’s, a locally owned restaurant. We filled our stomachs with junk food and wondered when the next time we would get to eat these treats will be. There were a lot of stores, we had fun exploring gift shops and down to earth stores! Before we knew it, it was 12:45 pm - the time we all had to meet at the meeting spot. We rushed into the buses because we knew it was time for the beach!

“Ripley’s Believe It or Not museum was interesting but short. My favorite part was the ending, in the space room when I thought I was going to fall!” –Joshua Canulla

We arrived at South Beach around 1:30 p.m., the weather was not that great, it was breezy and foggy. The ocean was cold but luckily the staff allowed us to go for a short dip, as long as we changed into warm clothes immediately after! Several campers ran into the cold water and ran right back out! It was exciting and refreshing. After that, we took a lot of pictures of each other jumping and some of us took outstanding posed pictures. Then, the staff gave us an activity to do, which was to build a sand sculpture to represent our group. We only had thirty minutes to do it, but all of the groups did an awesome job! And, of course, we became hungry so our magnificent chefs cooked us scrumptious hamburgers with chips. We enjoyed the cook-out by chatting, playing volleyball, and other games.

“It was pretty fun, I didn’t like the cold weather but the food tasted great! –Justine Webb

When we got on the bus from the beach, we went to watch fireworks at Stayton Middle School near Camp Taloali. When we arrived, we played some games such as Ultimate Frisbee, jump frog, and telling each other many jokes and riddles. When the moment arrived, everyone sat down and started making themselves very comfortable and enjoyed beautiful fireworks show which lasted for a good twenty minutes!

“I had so much fun at the beach, we got to take many pictures, and we made great memories. I enjoyed the fireworks, they were beautiful!” –Sergio Carrillo

John Hagner, Bobby Douglas Brock, Jordan Rasmer, and Leo Curry grinning ear to ear at Newport!

Yolynn Valdez browsing through books at the gift shop.

Mary Ann Peterson got some traditional booth photos with her buddies!

Don't get used to that candy, Ray McCall!

Hilary Stone, Asia Riedinger, and Kayla LaBruno looking very fashionable in Newport!

Our awesome female YLC staff members jumping on South Beach!

Sergio Carrillo was one of the campers who went for a dip in the cold water!

Michelle Mansfield-Hom working on her group's sand sculpture!

The Pixels!

Our traditional YLC campers picture on the beach.

Our fabulous YLC staff!

Our skilled chefs, Shari McMahon, Matt Krueger, and Martin Dale-Hench have been working hard to serve us delicious food!

Oh no! The sugar the campers had today rotted their teeth! Ha ha!

After a great day, we went back to beautiful Camp Taloali, we were very exhausted but we went to bed with a smile on our faces. As we drifted off to sleep we remembered to think to ourselves:

"YLC ’09 GOOD NIGHT!"

YLC is Going Healthy and GREEN!

2009-07-05T11:40:00.000-07:00

These days there is an emphasis on the importance of preserving our environment and preserving the health of our children. YLC is proud to declare that we have joined the world's effort to reduce our carbon footprint! We have found several ways in which we can allow YLC to be a more green and healthy place for our campers! Here are some examples:

We used to send our acceptance letters through snail mail to all of our campers. *This year, we have done ALL of our correspondence through e-mail!

We used to print an average of 85 Daily Drum Newsletters per day, each composed of 8 pages! *Now we print only five copies and put them in binders for our campers and staff to share during meals and free time! Saving 640 pages a day, 4,480 pages a week, and a grand total of 21,760 pages throughout the whole month on the Daily Drum alone!

We used to print an average of 65 surveys composed of two pages each for each guest speaker. *Now we discuss the survey in person and take notes on only one printed survey! Saving 1,920 pieces of paper!

We used to brainstorm for our media hour on paper totaling to about 40 pages a day, 280 pages a week, and a total of 1,360 pages throughout the whole month! *Now we use a white board for everything, using zero pieces of paper!

We used to print an average of 80 yearbooks with an average of 48 pages each, totaling to 3,840 pages every year. *Now we will print zero yearbooks, and will have DVD yearbooks instead!

(With the paper we saved on the Daily Drum alone we spared one whole tree!)

Speaking of all that paper: we used to throw everything away in the trash.*Now we recycle any and all papers we use!

We used to leave the lights on in the administration building all day.*Now we keep the lights off until it becomes dark outside or when absolutely necessary!

We used to sell junk food (candy, chips and sodas) during canteen breaks three times a day! *Now we have only one canteen break in the afternoon selling only healthy snacks such as nature valley bars and trail mix! Every day the campers drink only water, milk, and juice. No sodas and no candy! We provide fruits in the morning for snack.
As a result of this, we save plenty of trash from wrappers, plastic bottles and cans!

We have more vegetarian and vegan options available for our vegetarian/vegan staff and campers!
We also have a salad bar available!
We encourage our campers to use their canteen bottles at all times. If our campers don't have a canteen bottle of their own we loan them one! The more our campers use their canteens, the less water we use washing cups.
We emphasize the importance of LNT (Leave No Trace), and ensure that our campers and staff pick up after themselves whether they are on the campgrounds, or if they go off site for field trips!
We encourage the campers to use less wood to fuel the fire during Fireside every evening. Burning less wood reduces our air pollution!
We used to have our campers sleep at 11 p.m. and get up at 7 a.m. *Now we have them sleep at 10:30 p.m. and get up at 7 a.m. They certainly are more well- rested with that extra hour of sleep!

We are conscious of the well-being and mental health of our campers, every other day we have 30 minutes of group processing, which allows our campers to process what they have learned, what they are going through, and to vent their concerns and frustrations!

We believe every camper has something important to offer, we give them several opportunities to share with each other. For example, every morning we give the campers 10 minutes to share an inspiring quote and to discuss their meanings and interpretations!

We are thrilled with our progress and results! We are searching for more ways to improve every day!

Deaf Studies Day!

2009-07-02T16:27:00.000-07:00

We've survived a full week here at YLC! The first week has definitely been an enriching experience! We can't even begin to imagine what's in store for us for the next three weeks, every day has been a surprise!

Today was deaf studies day! Ryan Commerson came to provide workshops for today, and he will be staying with us for the next couple of weeks! Before Ryan Commerson proceeded with his presentation he warned us, “What I am about to tell you will be overwhelming.” Upon hearing that, we were mystified; what could he possibly teach that was too much for us? We turned to each other and gulped “OVERWHELMING?” Ryan's presentation was based on his work from his Masters program at Gallaudet University!

First, Ryan explained that the environment and society that causes us to view things in an old frame of thinking. Old frame? What? It was difficult to take in what Ryan was saying in our heads, so instead Ryan showed us what he meant by old frame. He used an example, the word earth; a long time ago everyone thought that the earth was flat, that was their old frame. Today we know that the earth is round, that is our new frame. We still use the word earth, but our visual of the word is now different. He gave a piece of paper to five different groups, and asked us to draw the word, “deaf.” Easy, right? But we were wrong. Most of the group drew an ear with a cross over it, symbolizing that we couldn’t hear. Ryan told us that was the old frame. He went on to expand our minds by telling us that it’s not about what we can’t do, it’s about who we are, our own personal values and beliefs. He explained that we need to create a new frame, something we can use to define ourselves instead of letting others define us. After straightening things out, Ryan showed us two films created by Andrew Jones and Robert Sirvage, both from his Masters program at Gallaudet.

What Ryan said at the end made a big impact on us, he shared Jacques Derrida’s phonocentrism theory, an idea that suggested hearing people understand their existence by hearing themselves speak, so how do the deaf people understand their existence? Perhaps by the means of reciprocity? This means that we as deaf people, because we have good spatial understanding and ability to gesture, can communicate easily with people from other countries without even learning their language. Because this is possible, it suggests that ASL leads to less communication barriers and misunderstandings, further suggesting that deaf people could even lead us to world peace! It would lead to new knowledge of technology. New future, new everything.

Ryan emphasized that duality is important in the deaf community and the importance of creating a new frame. At the end, most of us were speechless as our minds were trying to process what Ryan had shared with us. Obviously it has made a good impression on us, as Ryan Baldiviez, member of Firefly, plans to go back to school and give a presentation to his high school peers on the matter of creating a new frame!

Oh boy! Fish sandwich and chips for lunch! There was something on the chef's board that got us all talking, "sit with your groups of fire, air, water, and earth astrological signs." Air signs include Libra, Gemini, and Aquarius. Earth signs include Virgo, Sagittarius and Leo. Fire signs include Aries, Capricorn, and Taurus. And water signs include Pisces, Scorpio, and Cancer. When sat down with each other, we noticed that many campers were air signs, we realized that there were so many people who had the same signs, and it shocked us. When we all sat down, we started talking about our sign and how it applied to our personalities. We talked up a storm, agreeing and disagreeing with things. “No! Libras are better than Gemini! “Please! Gemini are way better than Libras!” Before we knew it, lunch was over and it was time to go. We couldn’t believe it, time had gone by so fast, all we did was talk about our horoscopes! Maybe that was the chef's intention, to get us to learn more about each other!

After lunch we split into groups to write lists of words that apply to the old frame of "deaf." Words such as 'disabled', 'low functioning', 'delayed education'. When we finished we were told to throw that frame away, and to never use those words to describe ourselves ever again! Next we made a whole new list for our new frame of deaf! Those lists included words like 'global citizens', 'collective beings', 'we are what we are', 'we are one'. We felt inspired by our new frame!

After dinner we had our first official debate! "Give me a new definition of 'deaf,'" Vivienne Schroeder began the debate time. Four groups, A, B, Callus, and Firefly picked their brains, what kind of definition should we give and how do we support our definition? We were given five minutes to decide. After we figured out what we would argue, we sent our representatives to give the opening statement. After each team gave their statement, each group discussed their challenges for the other teams. We sent new representatives to go up and give our challenges, many of us were rusty on this part! When the challenges were given, all four groups once again gathered to discuss for rebuttal. After our new representatives gave our rebuttals, it was closing statement time! You see, it’s very important to have a strong and powerful closing statement. Often a powerful closing statement has a lasting impact on the judges.

“Our team, Callus, was great because of our teamwork. I am very impressed with our togetherness and I am very excited that we got first place for Debate Time. I felt that I contributed to the win for Callus!”-Leo Curry

Tonight at fireside, Ryan Commerson shared his story of how he grew up and how he first became an activist. He got his start in activism at Michigan School for the Deaf. He strongly feels that we as deaf people have a huge need for media and film so that we can educate others on our new frame and change the world one step at a time! His story was extremely inspiring! We enjoyed getting to know him a little better and are looking forward to knowing him more over the next couple of weeks!

Campers watching the video about social construction showed by Ryan Commerson.

Stephanie Johnston discussing the new frame!

An inspiring speaker, Ryan Commerson!

The groups waiting for their debate topic.

Dan Mabashov, Carolina Kohn, and Tandy Lewis watching their teammates debate!

Claira Oberrender giving her argument for her team!

Sophia Stone, Robb Ingram, Megan Bernella, and Ashley Bergeron discussing their debate points.

Bianca Hamilton smiled for the camera while waiting for her turn to get on stage.

The Callus team showing their spirit!

The campers watching Ryan Commerson give his fireside chat.

Mike Hesser and Dathan Brown were fascinated with Ryan's story!

When Ryan wrapped up his fireside chat, we headed towards Leadership Hall ready to wish each other a great big "YLC '09 GOOD NIGHT!"

It is all about Trust!

2009-07-01T16:35:00.000-07:00

Vlog by Pixels

Amazingly, time always seems to find a way to go by too fast—today is already the sixth day of YLC! After breakfast and our cleaning assignments, we split into our teams and did an activity to enhance our bond with our teammates. We did a trust fall activity as a group, each member on our team stood on top of bleacher and the rest of the teammates surrounded that person from behind and catch the member when he/she falls backwards. It was very successful! Afterwards we did a blind trust fall activity; we formed a circle around each team member, and that person had to close their eyes and trust their teammates not to let him/her fall out of the circle. Then we did a final activity relating to trust where we had to pair up with a person we least talk to on our team and trust them to catch us when we fall backwards towards them. These three activities definitely boosted our trust in each other!

During Camp Council, we voted for three positions: President, Vice President, and Secretary. We will have elections every week for new Camp Council administration so that several campers can gain experience from the position. We can bring back what we learn about parliamentary procedure to our schools! Several campers ran for the available positions and in the end Martha Wolcott won the president position. Stephanie Johnston won vice-president, and Michelle Mansfield-Hom won secretary of Camp Council! Congratulations to them!

Every day at YLC, we have media hour during which each team works on four different projects: Vlog, Blog, the DVD yearbook, and the Daily Drum! The Vlog is a video blog that will sometimes be featured on this website along with this blog! Instead of just reading, you can press play and get a visual idea of what is going on today! The DVD yearbook is a great way to save paper! It is like a year book but on DVD. Instead of printing papers, we do everything on the computer and burn it to a CD and we still can enjoy it! The Daily Drum is a newsletter for YLC, we write articles, stories, and jokes, and we also put in some riddles and games! The Daily Drum is something for the campers to read and be aware of what is going on here at YLC! The DVD yearbook, Vlog, blog, and Daily Drum are created by us! The staff help us and guide us through the process, they want us to take on the responsibility and gain experience in working on different types of media!

Full of energy and ready to go off to the fireside! It was time for Outdoor Living Skills class. We all sat down, in front of us were ten big green backpacks. We had no idea what to expect! Our counselors told us to make ten groups. Then the counselors came around and picked up our backpacks and dumped everything out and on the ground! Before that they explained to us that the most important things always go on top. It was up to our group to pack our backpack! When we were done we went on a surprise hike! We had to put our skills to the test. It was a warm and beautiful day for a walk so we were glad to have the opportunity walk through nature! When we arrived at our destination we had to find and tree and “bear bag” it. Bear bagging is when you find a branch more than ten feet off the ground, and hang your bag on it with a rope so bears won’t be able to reach it. It took several groups several tries to get our rope over a branch! But we finally achieved what we were trying to do and it felt great! We headed back to the fireside, when we returned it was our canteen break! It sure felt like a prize for all our hard work!

For tonight's Evening Program, we played Turtles and Rabbits! Four staff members stand and "mark" four corners. We split up into two groups, each team starts at opposite corners, the objective is to catch the other player by catching up to them while running around the circle! Firefly and Callus teamed up against Group A and B. It was a lot of fun! After we finished the game we still had some time left, we decided to play knock out again on the basketball court since we all had so much fun playing it a couple of days ago!

The Fireside began with a disappointing start as we (Firefly) nearly failed to light up the fire. The first two matches failed, and we had only one match left. After 15 minutes of trying to ignite the fire, we realized that we needed help. Callus, another group who also had experience with the fireside willfully helped us! We did it! We were unable to give a skit as we were running out of time! Ryan Baldiviez and Bethany Weiner proceeded to give a warm welcome to Vivienne Schroeder, who came on the stage with a smile. Upon arriving the stage, Vivienne went on to describe her personal life. She mentioned that at a young age she thought that she had a perfect life: Two happily married parents and one older brother. Being an innocent child, what could go wrong? But as she got older, she became a victim of abuse. She was hurt physically, emotionally, and especially mentally. Being the strong person that she is, she had to keep it together but she was falling apart every day. She had a hard time during her first year in college and found herself victimized by some people there. But she emphasized that one of the greatest things about going to college is that, even if you feel alone, you will find true friends who will stand by your side. Vivienne was truly blessed to have a friend who helped her through her darkest moments by bringing Buddhism into her life. Today, Vivienne is a most courageous young lady who encourages victims of abuse and bullying to get help immediately, or find someone to talk to, because “no one should ever have to go through it alone.” We were all moved by her story, it was very brave of her to share it with us!

Subrina Morales getting ready to fall back on her group during the Trust Fall activity!

Mike Hesser was smart to trust his group!

Dathan Brown and Joshua Canulla laughing during the group activity!

Team Firefly ready to catch their teammate!

Johnny Bonilla brought an excellent idea to our Camp Council!

Campers cheering for our new Camp Council president: Martha Wolcott!

Shu Han Guo and Kayla LaBruno watching the backpacking and bear-bagging presentation.

Esther Fass, Ray McCall, Joshua Canulla and Kayla LaBruno worked together to pack their bags the right way!

Anthony Finocchio and Asia Riedinger are ready to get going on their hike!

Cheese! Dan Mabashov, Hillary Frankowiak, and Carolina Kohn posed for a great pic!

Nha Kim running as fast as she can during the Turtles and Rabbits game!

We have been having an amazing time here and it is a lot of fun! The staff are keeping us busy all day, and we are really learning a lot as well! We still have 21 days to go! We're excited to see what's in store for us!

LONG LIVE YLC '09! GOOD NIGHT!!!

Diversity Day!

2009-06-30T19:43:00.000-07:00

Vlog by Pixels

At last! We are firefly now! We’re really comfortable with our group because we are working on improving ourselves as well as our team! We knew it wasn’t going to be easy to get the name “Firefly” because we have to get the right concept, and apply it to topics of leadership here at YLC. We discussed it for a pretty long time (four days!) and we finally decided on a name, motto, and play.

“To be honest, I really like it because it belongs to us. Firefly is related to one light, everyone follows it and we are that light.” –Bianca Hamilton

“I think firefly is good name for us. We are all on the same team. Go Firefly!” -Richard Bertling

Introducing the members of Firefly: Sergio Carrillo, Bethany Weiner, Valerie Farr, Esther Fass, Jennifer Wrenn, John Hagner, Jordan Ramser, Richard Bertling, Bianca Hamilton, Justine Webb, Kassie Stutler, and Subrina Morales!

We really have a wonderful group!

The topic of the day was diversity! The campers of YLC come from very diverse backgrounds! We were very fortunate to have four very special guest speakers, Ivy Velez, Tim Albert, Laurene Simms, and Diana Cho, all from very diverse backgrounds, to inspire us with their words of wisdom. The workshop began with Ms. Ivy Velez who enlightened us with some of her experiences being a foreigner to America. The second guest speaker, Mr. Tim Albert, who spoke about successful deaf black people in higher positions. People such as Ms. Laurene Simms herself! Laurene was a 1^st grade teacher and is now a professor at Gallaudet University. She was the third guest speaker who explained to us how people really think in situations where they are faced with diversity issues. She mentioned that the biggest problem is not what we say or do, its how we think. It was truly amazing on a psychological level and the campers were truly fortunate to be able to listen to her inspiring words. Last but not least, Diana Cho inspired us with the quote “I am because we are.” She told us about three people who made outstanding changes in their lives through the power of love, peace, and forgiveness.

Afterwards, Blair Rasmus, Greg Beattie, and Lauren Sanchez, three of our wonderful counselors led the campers in a few activities. Greg wrote the words popular, punks, intelligent, LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgendered), and jocks on big sheets of paper. The campers wrote our thoughts affiliated with each word, and learned a lot about stereotyping and how thoughts related with the labels that are put on people do not always apply to everyone! Lauren shared some personal stories about being labeled as one race when she is another race. Lauren's message is not to judge a person by cover. Blair gave the campers some "thinking outside the box" activities to do, and applied them to our enriching day. She left the campers with an inspiring quote by an unknown author: "Diversity is the one thing we all have in common. Celebrate it every day!"

After dinner, knowing that the evening program would begin anytime soon, we walked outside to await the news of what we would be doing. Usually a YLC staff member would mention the news right away, but they said nothing! Nothing at all! Puzzled, we scrunched our eyebrows together as our minds filled with a lot of thoughts, “What are we doing tonight?” For what seemed like an eternity. Finally, Joshua Weinstock, one of the staff beckoned us to follow him into a path through the trees. While we followed, some campers looked nervous, others raced each other to get there first! Reaching to our unknown destination, not far from Leadership Hall, we found ourselves asking, “what are we doing here?” The answer was obvious as it was it was on a great big board in the middle of the clearing: Camp Bowl! We cheered in excitement, though some of us bit our nails. What IS the Camp Bowl?

Camp Bowl is somewhat similar to Academic Bowl. Four candidates (one from each group) are asked specific questions that they have to answer. If they get the answer wrong, no points were given. If they get it right, they get to roll two dice, whatever number they got they add to their team's points! If only one camper got it right out of all the groups, that group gets double the points! This game was so exciting, and the staff and campers were knocked off their feet!

We asked Ryan Baldinez, a member of Firefly, what he thought of Camp Bowl:

“It was so much fun! At the beginning of the game, we were down by 20 points but we eventually came back up and won 2^ndplace!"

This evening at fireside, it was the fireflies’ turn to create a performance that would WOW the crowd! But wait, we had to make one big nice fire that would keep us warm all night long. At first, the fire started beautifully, but there was one small problem: we put the fuel on the fire way too fast and the big, nice fire turned into a small, unnoticeable fire! Ten minutes left until fireside! Seven minutes left! THREE minutes left! Finally! The fire was beautiful. Next up, the skit! Uh-oh! We spent all of our time trying to get the fire to start that we did not work on our skit! All we had was an idea, one crowd, and one big heart. So we all got up on the stage with excitement oozing out of our pores, and had one mind blowing dance battle to entertain the crowd! Then our fantastic chef, Matt Kruger (YLC '87), got up on stage and explained about his journey to becoming a personal chef. Before he spoke to us, we thought he was “just a chef”. After watching him speak, we realized that he is so much more than that. He has been through so much, has bachelor and master degrees, never gave up, and is now living his dream! So, our advice to you is: live your dream!

Everybody watched Ivy Velez give her diversity presentation.

Say cheese! Tim Albert, Ivy Velez, Laurene Simms, and Diana Cho posed for a photo after their presentations about diversity.

Group A discussing the answer for a question in Camp Bowl.

Joshua Ralstin helping another player on his team!

Douglas Brock giving his answer during Camp Bowl.

Asia Riedinger, Tandy Lewis, Robb Ingram, and Bethany Weiner waiting to get their question during the Camp Bowl.

Vivienne Schroeder and Greg Beattie as the scorekeepers for Camp Bowl.

"Yay! Fire!" says Jennifer Wrenn!

The Firefly team danced with Jay Werner and Megan Bernella.

Chef Matt Krueger making his delicious food!

With a wish for sweet dreams, we bid you a YLC '09 GOODNIGHT!

Quite a Productive Day!

2009-06-29T17:14:00.000-07:00

Vlog by Firefly

Today started with our daily routine of exercising and running.

After breakfast, we had a parliamentary workshop, the campers sure learned a lot! We learned how to make a motion the right way. After the workshop, we opened nominations for our first Camp Council president! Camp Council is similar to student body government (SBG), except it is for YLC!

Jonathan Kessel introduced us to a guest speaker for our Outdoor Living Skills (OLS), Jesse Woosley. He came to talk to us about "Leave No Trace" (LNT) and being prepared in the woods. LNT basically follows the motto "take only pictures, leave only footprints!" Basically, Jesse taught us about safety in the woods and being prepared for the environment. If you are hiking through the forest, it is important that you stay on trails, if you go off the path you can get lost or you could ruin a special plant that grows on the ground if you step on it. Most importantly, respect the environment! If you see a beautiful flower then take a picture of it! Don't pull it out of the ground. Many people like to take rocks as souvenirs, but that could destroy a lizard's home. If you respect the environment, the environment will respect you back! So, be sure to have fun and be safe whenever you are in the forest!

“I love to camp! I learned how to take care of the environment. Jesse was a good explainer and he was easy to understand. I believe that the idea of LNT is helpful and applies to all of our experiences related outdoors” – Mary Ann Peterson

Oh, as for Group C? With all of our might and with fresh innovative ideas, we decided that the group name, 'Callus', is beyond amazing! All of us stood on the stage in the Leadership Hall with a bunch of butterflies swimming in our tummies as we prepared to perform for our fellow campers and staff.

Luckily, there was no shaking in our knees, or sweat dripping down our faces, or any passing out on stage! Because we were positively confident with 'Callus'!

Our motto: “Struggle today, get stronger tomorrow.” Reason: Calluses are the thick patches of skin that come after raw blisters of hard working. So, it is a metaphor of our transformation from struggling, to creating different ways to succeed and becoming stronger the next day.

Approval rang out from our staff and administration and Callus was born!

As was Firefly, formerly known as Group D. Group D performed after us, they walked on the stage with plenty of confidence and we knew the play was going to be awesome! Some group members acted as trees, others were campers lost in the dark. A firefly (performed by Esther Fass) appeared and guided them through several obstacles until they were safe and sound! Thus, introducing their new team name: Firefly! Their motto: "Small light, big impact!" The YLC staff and administration approved and Group D jumped and cheered as their life depended on it! We were excited to see another team accomplish their group name! We are betting Group A and B will come up with two even more terrific team names!

“I was glad that we finally got our name! I was shocked and I am pleased to have our new name!” –John Hanger, Firefly Member

For our Evening Program activity we played Knock-Out on Leedle court. Knock-Out is a basketball game. To win, you must shoot the ball from the free throw line, if you miss you have to try to make a basket before the person behind you does! Congratulations to Joshua Ralstin for winning the first match and to Anthony Finocchio for the second match! We were impressed with the skills of the campers and staff who played in the game, especially Cesar Ayala, who never played basketball before! We had a fun competition with a few mishaps, Jennifer Wrenn fell and hurt her arm. She was brave enough to finish the game, though! What a great sport!

“I love the game, I just enjoyed playing, and accepted when I got "knocked-out". It was a time to have fun with my new friends. Then I won the second game!” -Anthony Finocchio

Our experience of blogging with Vivienne Schroeder was interesting. We were scattered around in first couple minutes. Eventually we became aware of what we were supposed to do and everyone was doing her or his own part: writing, taking pictures, or interviewing people. We created an outline and assigned everyone a job. When the writers were done with writing, they gave their papers to the typers, and then the typers went on the computers and try to type as fast as they could. We were finally satisfied with our work approximately an hour and half later. We were so committed to doing an awesome job that we skipped our Rec hour to finish!

At Fireside, Callus was in charge again! We began the evening with our traditional way of greeting the audience by running through the bleachers and shouting! After that, we had another skit! It was a humorous one. It was about LNT with a twist! Aliens were involved in the skit too.

The evening was special, because when the play was finished, Megan Bernella and Ashley Bergeron introduced four guest speakers! They came from different parts of United States and Canada to work together for one common goal—Deaf Youth Camp for Color (DYCC).They came all way to YLC to see what our program is all about, and to give us a chance to talk to them about diversity issues!

Let us start with the first guest: Laurene Simms! She graduated with B.S. from University of Nebraska, and she also went to West Maryland College for her M.E.D. Lastly, she went to University of Arizona to receive her Ph.D. Her favorite hobbies are reading, travelling, and watching movies.

The second guest was Tim Albert! He attended National Technology Institute for the Deaf (NTID), then he entered and graduated from Gallaudet University. Reading, cooking, exercising, and reading (he wanted to emphasize how much he loves reading!) are his favorite hobbies. He currently resides in Georgia.

Diana Cho was our third guest! She was born and raised in Ontario, Canada! After graduating from Ernest C. Drury School for the Deaf, she attended Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), where she graduated. Her favorite hobbies are enjoying nature, and being with her partner and her bald cat. She also enjoys studying spiritually. She currently lives in New York City, New York.

Our last (but not least!) guest was Ivy Velez. She was born in Puerto Rico, and then she moved to Connecticut with her family. Her mother registered Ivy into the American School for the Deaf (ASD) because her mother thought the first deaf school in America meant it was the best school! She graduated and then went to Gallaudet University. Later, she transferred to a college in Springfield, Massachusetts. Currently, she works at Deep Human Services, where she works with people of different races. She mentioned that she enjoys collecting Coca Cola products, hiking, and being involved in organizations.

The interviewers wrapped up the bonfire with giving YLC t-shirts as gifts to each guest speaker to show our appreciation for their presence at YLC and their contribution to us.

“I enjoyed Callus’ play at the fireside. My favorite part of the play was the time machine, it was interesting to see what earth would look like in the future if we continue to litter!” –Meri Goldman

“I liked the guests’ idea of DYCC. They inspired me and I am going to spread the word to my school. I want to help!” –Megan Bernella

Carolina Kohn and her teammates discussing their first Daily Drum!

Group D, now known as Firefly, walking towards Leadership Hall.

Kassie Stutler and John Hagner walking from their Vlog class.

Jesse Woosley presenting during OLS class.

The campers watching Jesse Woosley's LNT presentation.

Campers waiting in line for healthy snacks during their Canteen break!

Callus working on their first blog!

Campers having fun in the pool during Recreation hour!

Campers trying to knock out each other during the knock-out game!

After a long and eventful day we bid each other "YLC '09 GOOD NIGHT!"

Blog typed by Callus Group