YouthWrite, a non-profit organization aimed at teaching youth writing and art skills, will be coming to Calgary this July, although the camp is open to those outside the big city, including Airdrie.
YouthWrite is hosting two camps in Calgary next month – Elbow River 1, for those ages 12 to 14, and Elbow River 2, for those ages 15 to 19. Elbow River 1 runs from July 3 to 8, while Elbow River 2 runs from July 10 to 15. Both camps will be hosted at the FCJ Christian Life Centre in southwest Calgary and the campers can choose if they want to stay overnight or sleep at home.
The overnight camp costs $735 while the day camp option is $635. Through fundraising and grants, YouthWrite is able to subsidize the cost for each camper, according to YouthWrite director and coordinator Gail Sidonie Sobat. The camp also offers different scholarship opportunities to help make the camp affordable for everyone.
A typical day at the camp, which has been running for 26 years, means an early start for the kids, who wake at 7:30 a.m. and have breakfast together. Campers then head off to their lessons, which could be yoga and writing, drumming and writing, or poetry and fiction writing, according to Sidonie Sobat.
“They learn how to hone their craft as poets and playwrights and fiction writers,” Sidonie Sobat explained, adding that skills learned from lessons in one craft can easily be translated to other crafts.
A small break marks the beginning of the next lesson of the day, where the youth can pick between potential classes like cartooning, graphic novel writing, songwriting, or illustration writing, Sidonie Sobat said.
Teaching each lesson is a professional instructor that has been hand-picked and invited by Sidonie Sobat.
“They are everything these kids want to be when they grow up,” she explained.
Following lunch, the campers and staff send and receive mail from each other, as a way to break the ice and create a sense of community, according to Sidonie Sobat.
“We send everyone little notes of welcoming and we make sure that every kid feels encouraged and is receiving mail…we try to show our appreciation [for the staff],” Sidonie Sobat added.
Following lunch, the campers have dedicated time to work on a writing project.
“Everyone drops what they’re doing and we just write,” Sidonie Sobat explained.
An outdoor activity fills part of the camper's afternoon, before the kids return to classes. Some of the multi-disciplinary classes offered in the afternoon include animation, screen-writing, and play-writing.
After the final class of the day, campers are invited to dress up for dinner based on the selected theme of the night.
“We might have a mystery writer’s [theme] so we dress up as characters from the board game Clue,” Sidonie Sobat explained.
Costumes are then judged and the winning campers collect prizes.
Nightly entertainment for the campers includes The Big Show, where the supervisors host an improvised production, inspired by the theme of the evening.
In addition to The Big Show, Sidonie Sobat said other nightly activities include writing under the stars, a movie, a guest presenter, live music, or a campfire.
The daily activities typically wrap up around 9:30 p.m.
Although the camp is focused on developing writing skills, the campers learn other skills that will benefit them throughout any career path they choose.
“It’s more than a writing camp. It is a place to build confidence, to try some skills for being resilient [and] taking a look at the world and knowing that there is a tomorrow and there’s a way to face it with courage and grace,” Sidonie Sobat said.
“They learn how to give support and constructive feedback, to take the feedback graciously and do something positive with it.
“The thing that kids must learn is that they have a voice and they have a right to tell their own stories.”
