And now for something completely different

It has been seven years since I have been around middle/high school students for any length of time. Sure, I go and observe classrooms a few times a semester, but I am there for 2-3 hours at most and then I leave. And when I am there, I am doing my best to be invisible, because my focus is on the pre-service teacher, not the students.

This week, I have the pleasure of hosting a summer camp for music students at my university. While not a big camp, as camps go, we have 31 students from age 13-17. I had almost forgotten the rare and wonderful energy these students have. If you can win them over they can be a delight to work with. As the week began, I was nervous…most likely because I felt a little out of practice. The first day or so, I was uncomfortable, but today, I began to feel more at home with them. Some of them even started to open up and to share small pieces of themselves with me. At this age, that is no small feat because they are so unsure of their identity and each day is about finding out who they are in this world. For them to share even a sliver of that journey is a blessing.

Don’t misunderstand, I have no real desire to return to the classroom, but this week is kind of like being a grandparent. I get to spend time with them, spoil them a little bit, and at the end of the week they go home. I am sure that when Saturday afternoon rolls around, a part of me will feel a little bit emptier, but for this moment, right now, I am enjoying witnessing this week in their lives. I hope that when the dust settles and they have gone home to their communities, that their lives have been made a little richer having spent this week up here on the Hilltop.

We had no idea if this camp experiment was going to work. Last year we tried it and we had to cancel for low enrollment. This year, by March, I thought we were going to fold again. However, through the support of my department and some creative marketing, we got enough to open and today I heard the sweetest compliment from several of our campers. It was offered in that quiet space when we weren’t looking for it. Students would be standing talking to me and then innocently say, “When we come back next year can we…?” We have only finished two days and already they are looking forward to next year. Apparently we are doing something right…I’ll take it!