Please note this section is still under construction. I will update it as much as I can.
Grade 7 Catechist Instructor
Since 2009, I have been involved with my church's Parish Religion Education Program (P.R.E.P. for short) where I teach Grade 7 students weekly catechism to prepare for their Sacrament of Confirmation.
I am currently in the process of creating and re-writing my lesson plans to incorporate Matthew Kelly's Decision Point, our new Confirmation textbook. I am quite excited to use it in my classroom because it appears to connect with the youth in today's culture. For this year, I am striving to use more resources and give my students opportunities to exercise, strengthen and rediscover their faith.
Bosco Days Camp Facilitator
Every summer since 2002, I've helped out in my parish's summer camp. This camp is called "Bosco Days" in honour of St. John Bosco, the founder of the Salesian Order, the order of our parish, Our Lady of Good Counsel. During his lifetime, St. John Bosco was a guide to the young and poor children of Turin, Italy. Something I, and our parish, try to emulate everyday. During the course of the week, I watched over kids, ensuring their safety at all times. Led participants and leaders in games, arts and crafts, and songs, encouraging them to actively participate. I also supervised the participants before camp, during lunch break and after camp hours. As I gained more experience, I began to provide support for other facilitators, especially to those who were new to the position.
I never find myself short on words and experiences regarding this camp; the problem is choosing the words to describe the camp. When I started this camp, I was an arrogant teenager who saw this as an opportunity to yell and boss kids around. But something happened and I realized that I have a better impact with children if I don't yell and treat them with respect; before I knew it I was having fun as well. This camp has taught me very valuable leadership skills and possibly planted the seed of my vocation as a teacher. Yes, the camp can be challenging and exhausting at times, but the feeling of accomplishment throughout the week is amazing and gratifying. I see it every year when campers come back a little bit older and tell you they remember you from last year, or when they sign up for the camp as a leader for the first time. I really hope I have inspired many, especially the young people as the new leaders to do what they can extraordinarily well.
I never find myself short on words and experiences regarding this camp; the problem is choosing the words to describe the camp. When I started this camp, I was an arrogant teenager who saw this as an opportunity to yell and boss kids around. But something happened and I realized that I have a better impact with children if I don't yell and treat them with respect; before I knew it I was having fun as well. This camp has taught me very valuable leadership skills and possibly planted the seed of my vocation as a teacher. Yes, the camp can be challenging and exhausting at times, but the feeling of accomplishment throughout the week is amazing and gratifying. I see it every year when campers come back a little bit older and tell you they remember you from last year, or when they sign up for the camp as a leader for the first time. I really hope I have inspired many, especially the young people as the new leaders to do what they can extraordinarily well.
Son Sparks Science Lab, July 27-31, 2015
This year's Bosco Days theme was Son Sparks Science Lab, from VBS. You may be thinking that religion and science combine as well as oil and water (oil and water don't mix by the way... a small science joke there), but the main message of this year's camp was from the Gospel of John where Jesus is the way, the, truth and the life. During the 14 years we've had Bosco Days in our parish, this was the largest camp we've ever done with 137 camper and about 23 leaders! This year, I was in charge of a station which saw approximately 20 campers for 40 minutes in 8 shifts. My particular station was called "Edible Experiments," where campers had the opportunity to play or experiment with their food before they ate it.
As fun as the station sounded, it had it challenges. We had a number of campers who had allergies to different things and I didn't want any of them to be excluded from eating our experiments. With the support and help from other senior leaders, I was able to find experiments that were compatible with our sensitive campers. I must say, I had quite a lot of fun doing these camps; I really get into character and even re-named myself "Professor Kat" and called the kitchen where I worked the Laboratory (the argument can be made that cooking is similar to chemistry, culinary science and food science does exist).
This was our Camp outline for the week: Monday: God Creates Us Tuesday: God Saves Us Wednesday: God Loves Us (Leaders have Bubble Tea time after camp) Thursday: Field Trip to Science World Friday: Mass with the whole camp and Farewell |
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