Who? 18 seven- to eleven-year-olds and 5 exuberant facilitators! Summer Jam Staff Our vibrant staff team is made up of a collection of BC-certified teachers (Learning Consultants at Wondertree) and passionate youth workers. As a team, we encourage each participant's brilliance by role modeling self-love, self-awareness, honesty, compassion, respect, clear communication, decision-making and leadership, and by giving participants the power to make real decisions about how to use their time. With boundless enthusiasm and much experience, we support participants’ choices, collaborate with them on group projects, facilitate playshops and group games, and generally enjoy the company of your kids. A ratio of 1 staff member to every 4 participants ensures that each child receives quality time and attention. Each staff member brings his own special skills to our camp – training in theatre and theatre games, a background in fine arts and music-making, and tons of experience with cooperative and group-bonding games, to name but a few… What we all have in common is huge hearts, playfulness and boundless creativity. This spring, we will work as a team to develop communication and conflict resolution strategies for making Summer Jam as fun, safe and inclusive as it can be. Safety And Conflict Resolution Staff members ensure that participants are socially secure and physically safe as they discover themselves and the world around them, and learn to flourish as a group-community. We have backgrounds in re-evaluation counseling and nonviolent communication, and are adept at dismantling social pressures and potential for conflict before conflicts arise. Of course, conflict can be a great learning opportunity, and we are grateful for the occasions when conflicts do erupt because the process of resolution brings us in touch with our needs and allows us to practice communicating. The Summer Jam staff team works with participants to resolve conflict and deepen our understanding of our selves and each other through practices such as Restitution, Re-evaluation Counselling, and Nonviolent communication. Circle Time provides an ongoing opportunity to resolve group issues through facilitated group discussion, group games and activities. Summer Jam staff members are trained in First Aid, and our hiking guide and his support team are trained in Wilderness First Aid. Staff Mentors Each participant is paired up with a mentor – a member of our staff team who meets with your child once a week to talk and listen, to discuss whatever’s on your child’s mind, and to ensure that your child feels fulfilled by her/his pursuits and activities at Summer Jam. If s/he is not, we use this time to discuss strategies for improving her/his experience. The regularity of these conversations allows a caring relationship to develop between your child and his mentor - your child learns that his mentor is invested in her/his well-being, and is a safe person to go to for guidance and support. Staff Bio's Ilana Labow Ilana has spent the past eight years working with youth. Her experience facilitating character development programs for youth ages 7-17 has primarily involved work as an overnight camp counsellor at Camp Chi, Counsellor-In-Training Director at Camp JCA Shalom, and an apprenticeship with Growing Power. All have taken part in fuelling her passion for sharing in magical moments with people of all ages. Ilana has participated in cooperative dialogue sessions between Israelis and Palestinians through the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies. She has completed a 40-hour anti-oppression, anti-violence worker-training program and recently earned a BSc in Global Resource Systems at UBC. Ilana loves taking part in interactive street theatre and local merrymaking. Excited, patient, and full of life, above all else Ilana loves to laugh. Christache Ross Christache is an enthusiastic and playful youth ally. He loves facilitating group activities, circle games, sing a-long songs, and storytelling. He's a painter and photographer and enjoys making arts and crafts of all kinds. He's a play director, writer and actor who loves seeing the imaginations of youth realized through the magic of theatre. At the ongoing school of life, Christache learns from the teachers all around him, especially the younger ones. Christache has lots of experience caring for kids of varying ages and abilities, working recently at an elementary school's after-school center, a daycare for pre-school-aged kids, and a summer camp for youth with special needs. He firmly believes in the principles of child honouring, empowering youth with respect, support, attention, compassion and real choices. Christache is excited to be helping to develop the Moss and Sauce Collective and Summer Jam into something spectacular and deliciously fun. Michael Gabriel Rosen Michael loves to play music, sports and games of all sorts. He is continually impressed with the creativity, integrity and empathy of youth when given the opportunity to create a safe and positive space. Michael has worked with diverse groups of youth in a variety of settings over the last 15 years. Recently, he has been trained by, and done volunteer work with, Power of Hope and Check Your Head. Currently, he does youth empowerment and violence prevention work with SafeTeen and teaches Latin Dance to adults and youth. Michael is extremely excited to be a part of creating Summer Jam 08. Christine Boyle Kitchen Staff Christine's work with youth is rooted in caring, listening, validating, and engaging, and is deeply inspired by the many children and youth whose lives she's been a part of. Passionate about accessibility, Christine has spent the past few years working in the public education system, as a Gardens Project Coordinator and Youth Worker at Grandview/?Uuqina'uuh Elementary in East Vancouver. She helps coordinate an Aboriginal Good Food Box Program and facilitates a Community Kitchen for families. She's also been involved in numerous youth camps, conferences and retreats across Canada. Christine has an undergraduate degree in Urban Agriculture and First Nations Studies, is a Hatha Yoga teacher, and next September will begin a Masters Degree in Community Organizing in Berkeley, California. She especially loves arts and crafts, bicycles, folk-rock music, public spaces and dinner parties. And she is SOO excited to be cooking with kids at Summer Jam! Leah Herman Director Leah's passion is to collaborate with 7- to 11-year olds on living and learning activities that meet their needs and honour their natural interests. A B.C.-certified teacher and long-time youth advocate, Leah has supported young people's growth in many places and ways, from wilderness expeditions to free school classrooms, self-discovery workshops, and one-on-one listening, guidance and support. Leah is currently employed as a Learning Consultant for SelfDesign, a youth-directed learning program offered through the Wondertree Foundation for Natural Learning. She practices re-evaluation counseling, leads workshops in Nonviolent Communication, has trained with Headlines Theatre, and is a certified wilderness-expedition leader. She loves to sit in circles, play with her food, get hugged by trees, dance, laugh and sing. Rose Clark Family Liaison/Administration Rose is an artist of many forms with a strong background in dance, theatre and film. She is currently a professional actress working and living in Vancouver. Rose's hands-on learning approach has made her an Academy of Dramatic Arts graduate and a well-traveled student of the world. Connected to her roots, Rose is a young mind in Vancouver's community, and an active member promoting local change. As a child of alternative education, attending schools such as Wondertree and Windsor House, Rose gears her attention to communicating with youth on an even surface. Rose is a strong believer of self-propelled learning and has enormous faith in every child's natural pace. Rose has experience working with children ages 5-14 as a gymnastic coach, and with teenagers as an acting mentor. Rose brings lots of energy to Summer Jam, viewing herself as a participant, confident that a fun exploration with just the right amount of guidance will unfold. "I am going to be a mature friend," says Rose, "with a big bag of supplies."