Day 1: Outdoor Adventure Begins!
Taking in the sunset
On Sunday afternoon the youth began arriving at the office, excited and ready for a week full of fun. We loaded everyone’s belongings into the trailer, said goodbye to the families, and set off to Lake Corpus Christi State Park. The drive was short, and many of the campers stayed quiet for the drive. When we arrived at the campsite we took up phones and handed out tents and tarps for the youth to start setting up.
The campsite, which was right on the water, had plenty of space for the youth to decide where they wanted their tents. With a large chunk of first-time campers, some of the more seasoned youth were able to assist the others with set-up. Once tents were all set, the youth immediately wanted to go swimming! So they put on their swimsuits and dashed off into the water, splashing and swimming and getting to know each other. We had a filling dinner of sausage wraps and settled in for the night, looking forward to the activities the morning would bring.
Day 2: Discover Scuba and PINS
Discover SCUBA
Monday morning came with an early wake-up of 6:00am, but none of the youth were dragging their feet. They were too excited for scuba diving to be tired! We ate a quick breakfast and hit the road, driving all the way to the Corpus Christi Yacht Club to learn scuba diving with James and Riley Gourley.
Our group of youth were immediately excelling at all things scuba, so much so that James expressed how impressed he was. He told us they were all doing better than any class he’s taught in 20 years! Scuba diving can be challenging, claustrophobic, scary, or intimidating, but this group of participants did incredible and showed immense courage and capability. Hannah Stevens was awarded James Gorley’s “Jacques Cousteau Award” for being the best in the class at scuba. James said it was very hard to pick a winner, since everyone did so well.
After scuba diving, we spontaneously headed out to the Padre Island National Seashore to eat lunch and do some swimming. This was where many of us became covered in tar that had washed up on the shore, and also where the first inkling of some sunburns started to show. The youth had a lot of fun splashing in the waves and looking for shells and sea life. Hannah and Amadeo caught a small fish in their hands and spent time digging for Auger snails in the sand, which we later realized have venomous stingers! Fortunately, nobody was stung by the snails and we were able to witness their beauty peacefully.
After spending a good amount of time at the beach, we loaded up and drove back to Lake Corpus Christi, where the youth immediately wanted to get in the lake and swim some more. They enjoyed the lake while dinner was prepared, and then settled down for another night under the stars.
Day 3: CPR Certifications and Fishing
CPR Certification
Tuesday morning approached quickly, with another early wake up from the campers. They were so excited for the day that they were dressed and sitting around the picnic table by 6:30am when the facilitators came out of their tents! We ate a quick breakfast and headed into Corpus for CPR certification with the Gourleys. All the campers did great at CPR and earned their certifications.
Afterwards, we rushed back to the lake to enjoy a fishing session with the park guides! Rangers Jamie and Alex brought fishing poles, corn for bait, and great attitudes to work with Youth Odyssey by the water. The youth did fantastic at fishing, and most of them caught a fish! Jamie and Alex told us this was the most fish they’d seen a group catch during an interpretive session with them and expressed how impressed they were at our group’s luck. After the hour and a half session was up, the sweaty fishermen were ready to jump back in the lake! They swam until dinnertime again and crashed into their tents at lights out.
Day 4: Surf’s Up!
Surfing Lessons
Wednesday was another early wakeup call, but the habit of campers being up and at ‘em before the facilitators was sticking! They were excited for surf camp and ready to eat a good breakfast before hitting the road. We made it to the beach and the youth jumped right into their lessons with the surf instructors while the facilitators relaxed on the beach while watching them surf. Everyone excelled at surfing and kept up great attitudes and perseverance, even after taking a few wipeouts! The youth were encouraging to one another and impressing even themselves with their abilities.
They were learning important lessons throughout the week about how many different things they could do that they didn’t realize! Unfortunately, surf camp didn’t come without some pretty intense sunburns. The youth reapplied sunscreen often, but wiping the saltwater out of their eyes meant the sunscreen was being wiped off as well. However, even with their sunburns they couldn’t be brought down! The surf camp worked with the youth for several hours before we headed back to our campground in the late afternoon. They were all worn out, but of course they wanted to go swimming in the lake right away again! As was tradition at this point, they swam until dinnertime and then crashed hard for bed once again.
Day 5: Archery Time
Thursday morning we decided to have a slow morning with breakfast tacos and bonding time around the campsite. The youth sat around in camp chairs, had many discussions, played some games, and spent some much-needed time out of the sun.
We headed out to the ropes course to do our archery lesson with James Cadena, which was yet another skill that our youth excelled at. James taught them all the basics of archery, and they all listened and learned quickly. James had the unique challenge of working with youth who were completely exhausted, sunburnt, and emotionally drained from the long week, but he was still able to pull them out of their exhaustion and excited them with learning all about archery. Hannah ended up getting several bullseyes! Several of the other youth surprised themselves with their skills, and they were all nowhere near ready to be done by the time archery wrapped up in the afternoon.
When we went back to the campsite, everyone was ready to jump in the lake again. They were very excited to eat dinner, go to bed, and hurry up to archery the next morning!
Day 6: Heading Home and Memories
Archery Lessons
Friday morning involved packing up the entire campsite before leaving to go to archery. The youth worked quickly, but their exhaustion was showing as they piled their belongings up near the trailer and sat around one of the picnic tables. They were excited for archery, but also excited to see their families and pets (and real beds!).
When we arrived at the ropes course for our second archery lesson, James and his wife, Ivonne, had some awesome archery games set up for us! The youth were able to play a game where they had to shoot balloons attached to the targets, and then they played some knockout-type games. They had a lot of excitement at archery, and Eden impressed everyone with suddenly becoming an archery star! She did well the day before, but Friday morning she was blowing everyone away with her aim. She managed several bullseyes and was the champion of a few of the archery games. Jonathan also improved a lot in archery on Friday. When I asked him how he went from struggling to hit the target to suddenly aiming near-perfectly, his response was, “Oh, I just stopped trying to aim.”
This group of campers had the unique opportunity to try several new things throughout the week. Not only was it their first time camping for a few, but they were also able to try out such unique skills. We had youth who were able to set up a tent and sleep outside for the first time in their lives while also experiencing scuba diving, learning CPR and First Aid, unlimited lake swim time, surfing, archery, fishing, and so much more.
They learned how to scrape tar off their feet in a faucet with dish soap, they learned about hunting from talks with James Cadena, they learned about different species of birds who made their homes in mud nests in our campsite or hung around the lake eating fish, and they learned how to befriend a bunch of other young people they had never met before.
By the end of the week, these campers were able to reflect on how shy they were the first day compared to how close they all grew to each other on the final evening. They were so thankful for all of the amazing experiences they were able to have with each other, and many of them couldn’t wait to sign up for another camp.
