DANIEL TYLER GOODEN

LUTCHER – Friday afternoon some 60 students of the St. James Parish stepped out of their homes and into an unknown adventure. Accepted out of some 260 applications, these students had been chosen to become student workers for the St. James Parish Great River Camp 2001. The kids, from eighth to 12th grades, were headed to the Salmen Boy Scout Camp in Mississippi for leadership training. Some had been through this before, but most had no idea what challenges awaited them. The Great River Camp is a relatively new program, first initiated in St. James Parish last year by Elvis Cavalier, director of student programs for the school system. Last year the camp taught nearly 1,000 5- through 13-year-olds about the environment through hands on experience. The student workers hold one of the most important positions during the camp, both to assist the teachers in the activities and serve a leader to the children and a liaison to the teachers. The trip to Mississippi was to test their mettle, for them to prove they could be a leader and a role model to their younger peers. The trip was chaperoned by Cavalier, bus driver Ricky Morga, and river camp teachers Shawn Oubre of St. James High School, Sylvia Beard of Vacherie Elementary and Monicker Ford of Romeville Elementary. Leaving Lutcher High School at 4 p.m., the bus carried the student worker candidates into rural Mississippi. Past Kiln the bus moved farther down unkempt roads and in the forests. On arrival at the boy scout camp the students found themselves who knows where and settled into a nearby lodge to find out what was in store for them. Little was truly said about the purpose of the trip, until moments before the activity. The first evening Cavalier gathered them into a circle, the first of many actions to physically explain the idea of teamwork. “If we pull this person or this person out, what do we have?” Cavalier asked the students. There is no circle, no unity. Cavalier continued handing out cards, each with a particular description, male, female, east bank, west bank, rich, poor, black or white. Each student who received a card exited the circle. The unity was broken. Cavalier explained, letting each return one at a time, that there are many different people in a community but it takes everyone to be united and complete the circle. Todd Mulford, Boy Scouts of America, Southeast Louisiana Council, district executive for the River Parishes, was introduced to speak of leadership, preparing them for the next day of activities. He also explained what they all could expect of the accommodations: no showers, women sleep in the lodge. “It’s best to stay warm by pulling all your blankets together in the center,” said Mulford. Groans arose from the girls, but that was both expected and the purpose. The trip was not made to be easy. The students were there to rise above the difficult situations they were put in. The men got back on the bus and headed around the lake to their own unheated buildings. The students were allowed free rein, knowing when breakfast was but not told when to sleep. The boys were left with less beds than men, forcing them to work out who got to sleep on the floor. By morning all the men were up and on the bus before breakfast, ready to start the day. After everyone had eaten, more was told about the coming activities. The students would be facing a Challenging Outdoor Personal Encounter (COPE) course which would force them to work as a team. The students divided up into groups and started through the course, which consisted of about seven activities. The students walked on wires, balanced on logs, were carried through spiderwebs and tires and crossed rolling wheels, all to force the groups to work as a team. Not one of the activities could be accomplished by one individual. In each group there were a few who didn’t care to help out, whether it was not what they expected or they simply thought it was silly, and the first activities saw students unwilling to participate. As the teachers moved each group farther into the course, though, the students quickly began to band together. Soon the individuals were stepping up into teams solving the problems they faced in the course. By the end for the day they were worn out, but worn out together. “Putting them in an environment unfamiliar forced them to work together as a team,” said Mulford. The evidence of that was clear by lunch. Many of the students volunteered to help get lunch served, start a fire or clean up the hall afterwards. The Boy Scouts supplied less assistance and leadership than would have normally been expected, said Mulford. Without leaders, the students who will be leaders naturally rose to the challenge and got things done. “They came together, not just in the COPE course, but in their volunteering,” said Mulford. Even if they’re not completely a team yet, the weekend gave them a common bond, developed out of struggle. Not all the students at the leadership training will go on to help at the River Camps. The weekend pulled into the light those who can make the Great River Camp into a successful learning environment for the children. This weekend was perhaps a prime example of what is important in education. Teaching these workers to become leaders, to understand that working together accomplishes more than working alone, will be a gift to their education that they will in turn pass on to their students in the Great River Camp 2001.