calling all teens

dear my friends who read my blog (all two of you)
actually i'm always surprised by how many people mention they've read this silly/boring little blog, but i figured i might as well try to capitalize on this fact. as many of you know, i work (and currently live) at Birch Creek Service Ranch each year. pretty much its the best place in the world. the ranch is a summer camp for 12-15 year old girls and boys (not at-risk, just normalish teens) and is focussed on teaching them principles of hard work, integrity, service and community mindedness through a curriculum that includes hard physical work each morning (most of which is community service), recreation/arts in the afternoons, cultural enrichment/general fun in the evenings, and backpacking on the weekends. not to mention all the other great aspects that are just inherent in a summer camp setting (i.e. games, swimming, story telling, song singing, pillow fights, etc.). right now we are trying to fill our three sessions (two boys and one girls) and i am asking pretty pretty pleas if you have any teens in your life, or know anyone who has teens in their life, or might have some, PLEASE send them my way!!! you will not regret it. and to back myself i'm going to give you a few testimonials from my thesis (which was an outcome study on the ranch) showing just how great it is! my research showed that there seems to be a pretty strong increase in self-confidence, work ethic, appreciation of nature, independence and social skills for those who attend- and in today's peter pan society, those lessons are worth their weight in gold. so please, do your part, save a teen. xoxo

One mom said: “If you want to teach your kids how to work and how to serve, and give them some independence you have GOT to do this, its huge”.
A campers stated:
“I’ve learned that I can do the work, like I can lift a bale of hay, but that’s not something I use too much. But I’ve also learned that I can get myself to actually work hard and that I can be a hard worker, in school and at home and stuff like that”.
Another talked about the importance the work had for him:
“I think that the work is kind of the point of why you go. Otherwise it would just be another summer camp. The working I think is maybe what is the more meaningful part of the ranch. I don’t really know too many philosophical ideas that go along with the work, but you just um, um, with the work you kind of, it means more than just hanging around and playing. You play, do whatever you want all summer. But at BC you still have responsibilities and you still have stuff to do and you have all summer to just play around so why just go somewhere else to play around”.

2009 dates are:

Boys Session 1 (JUNE 15-JULY 06) 12-15 year old boys—$1500

Girls Session (JULY 10-29) 12-15 year old girls—$1400

Boys Session 2 (AUGUST 3-24) 12-15 year old boys—$1500

we do have some need based scholarships and try to make it work for everyone who wants to come to come.