If you have a copy of our 2020 camp brochure, you’ll notice this quotation on the back page. According to the parent who shared this with us, these words were spoken by their son, a long-time camper, to his sister, the day she joined him at Centauri for the first time. He wanted to convey to his sister that Centauri Arts Camp wasn’t a place you had to pretend. You could be your true self without fear of judgement.
There are few things more important than this to kids on the cusp of adulthood. It’s during their teen and pre-teen years that young people figure out the kind of person they want to be: the values that will be important to them as adults, the priorities they will have, the belief systems that will guide their choices and the skills and interests they will focus on. Often, the world we live in fails to allow young people the space to discover these things, and does not value the development of a unique self. Kids face all sorts of pressure in school – pressures from their peers to conform; to be just like everyone else. Such conformity can inhibit their development into confident adults who know what matters to them, and are not afraid to reach for their dreams. As cuts to education place increasing pressure on our schools, young people must fight harder than ever to assert their individuality and to discover who they are, deep down, and the person they want to be. It is through the arts that kids and teens often begin to express their uniqueness – and we’re seeing arts programs cut in all our schools. But cuts threaten our kids’ individuality in so many other ways, too. Recently, the daughter of a friend of ours told us something very worrying. She had just started Grade 9, and her math class was so big that the teacher refused even to try learning the names of all his students. Instead, each seat in the room was assigned a number, and the math teacher referred to each student using the number of their seat. When my friend’s daughter raised her hand to ask a question, or contribute to a discussion, she was simply ‘number 27’, and at 14 years old, she was old enough to recognise the dehumanising impact of that.
The growth of a confident self should be actively supported by the adults in a young person’s life. Kids need role models, and they need them everywhere they look; not just parents and family members, but teachers, community leaders, employers. And, of course, camp counsellors.
A few years ago, a camp parent expressed to me what she saw as the most important gift that Centauri had given her teen. She observed that the time comes when a parent cannot always be the role model their child needs, because whether short-lived or not, rebellion against the values of parents is a part of growing up. But at a time when their son looked critically at everything they said and did, camp counsellors were there to fill the gap. Eager students with curious minds and a good work ethic. Good people, warm hearted people. Enthusiastic, trust-worthy and creative individuals who value the needs of others as keenly as their own. Counsellors have a small number of campers in their care– not the thirty or forty kids a teacher may face. And at overnight camp, they have the time to get to know each camper, and to see them as individuals. That was what this parent saw as Centauri’s greatest contribution to the life of their son: positive role models who could offer him support and celebrate his individuality, as he worked to discover the person he truly was, and the person he wanted to be.
Julie
Director
Centauri Arts Camp