Diversity Day!

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!

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

Campers' First Full Day at YLC!

Vlog By Firefly

The campers finally tasted a full day at YLC, full of icebreaker activities, workshops, presentations and FUN!

We started our morning with our daily exercises and a hearty breakfast.

This year we have started something relatively new for our campers, every other morning we will have 30 minutes of Group Processing in which the campers meet with their groups to process what they have learned and what challenges they have been faced with over the course of two days. This morning Group Process focused on answering three questions: 1. What do you hope to learn this month as a leader?, 2. What do you hope to gain personally?, and 3. What do you hope to gain as a leader? The campers wrote their answers to the three questions on a piece of paper with their names and handed them in to us, we aim to help our campers reach their goals this summer!

After Group Process the campers had their very first Outdoor Living Skills (OLS) class led by staff members Jon Kessel and Greg Beattie. The first thing the campers learned about was fire safety and how to build a fire properly. This is a skill that will come in handy for the rest of the month during our evening fireside presentations and for the rest of our lives on camping trips. Suppose ten years from now, one of us got lost in the woods, he/she would know how to make a fire. A very important skill to have!

After lunch, the campers had their first Media hour. Media hour is when the campers will work on their blog, vlog, DVD yearbook, and, of course, the Daily Drum. The Daily Drum is our daily newsletter and is one of YLC's oldest and most cherished traditions! Campers will get to work on and edit the Daily Drum every day, gaining valuable journalism experience as they submit and critique each other's work. The Daily Drum staff leaders, Joshua Weinstock and Samantha Krieger are looking forward to passing on their knowledge and experience to our campers!

In the afternoon we played an icebreaker game designed to allow campers from each group (A, B, C and D) to learn the names of campers from other groups, the campers had a lot of fun competing to see which group could get the most names right!

The campers got a chance to present their proposed group name, sign and motto as well. Unfortunately the groups are still known as A, B, C and D, but they are getting closer and closer to succeeding in their goal! Deciding on a group name, name sign, and motto is another one of YLC's favorite traditions! The campers must decide on a name that they feel fits their group, a name sign that visually embodies the name, a performance that explains what their name means and why it was chosen, and a motto that ties everything together. We are looking forward to seeing what our campers will come up with!

During the first couple of days of YLC, as well as during our staff training, we had a special guest with us: Dr. Jeff Lewis. Jeff grew up in New York and attended mainstream schools from K-12. After he attended YLC in 1970, and again in 1971, he made the decision to attend Gallaudet College. He earned his Bachelors from Gallaudet and went straight to NYU to earn his Ph.D. in Counseling. He now works at Gallaudet University as a professor in the Masters program in the department of Counseling. This August, Jeff will celebrate his 31st wedding anniversary! He and his wife have four children; their oldest daughter, Tandy, is a camper this summer. Jeff wrapped up our first day with an inspiring Fireside chat that emphasized the importance of respecting diversity and never giving up on your goals! He explained his experience working to get sponsorship for the Deaflympics and the different obstacles he has faced as a deaf person.

The guys lining up for their morning exercises.

Patti Klinger is ready to lead the campers in a jog around Leedle basketball court!

Martha Wolcott talking about her goals during Group Processing.

Dr. Jeff Lewis looks awfully proud of his handiwork!

Group D discussing the three questions proposed by Jeff.

Douglas Brock is listening intently to his group members

Patrick McMullen building a fire during OLS class!

Instructor Jonathan Kessel explaining the importance of fire safety!

The campers gathered around the bonfire.

Camp Director, Travis Clevenger, and Dr. Jeff Lewis during the Fireside Chat!

After a long and busy day the campers gathered in Leadership Hall exhausted but elated, ready to wish each other an inspired "YLC '09 GOOD NIGHT!"

Campers Arrived!

At last! The day we have been anticipating, planning for, and looking forward to has finally arrived!

Five of our staff members got up bright and early to go to the airport to meet and greet our campers. Excitement was building as the campers arrived from all four corners of the US and Canada; thrilled to have our campers with us, we loaded up the buses and headed off to Camp Taloali. After a long day of traveling and waiting, the campers finally made it! What was once a quiet campground has now become YLC 2009!

After the campers got settled into their new home for the next month we gathered at Leadership Hall for our kickoff cookout! After we stuffed ourselves with Chefs' delicious food, the campers found out which group they will be in for the next month: Team A, B, C and D were born! Soon each group will have their own unique name, sign, and motto!

Next, Dr. Jeff Lewis, YLC alumni and guest visitor, led some icebreaker activities, we sure had a lot of fun learning about our campers! 

This year is a special year for NAD YLC, not only because we have our wonderful and unique campers with us, and not only because we have a wonderful staff and administration team working together to make this summer a successful one. This year is NAD YLC's 40th birthday! We ended our evening with a small celebration with two birthday cakes, one for YLC, and one for two of our campers who also celebrated their birthdays that day: Valerie Farr and Meri Goldman!

Tired, but still buzzing with excitement, we went off to bed to rest up for our first full YLC day! 

With tons of spirit we bid our campers a great "YLC '09 GOOD NIGHT!"

Valerie Farr and Tandy Lewis were psyched to greet their fellow campers at the airport!

The first group of campers eager to get going!

The first set of campers arriving at Camp Taloali.

The second group of campers ready to leave the airport!

Joshua Ralstin  looks happy to be here!

The campers had a great time getting to know each other as they arrived!

TIffany Hill and Ashley Bergeron chatted away while waiting for dinnertime.

Something amusing you, Hilary Stone?

Bianca Hamilton, Sophia Stone and Megan Bernella burst into laughter during their icebreaker activities.

Michelle Mansfield-Hom says "SHH! Pay attention to Jeff Lewis!"

The campers wait to see what the next activity will be.

Our campers being silly, Dakota Johndrow, are you supposed to be a cat?

Californian campers and staff got together for a group picture!

WOW! Great spirit, Joshua Canulla!