When I returned to Yap, I knew that our summer session would
be starting approximately 30 hours after I stepped off of the plane. What I did not know was that our staff for
summer session consisted of Fr. Corcoran, Fr. Mulreany, myself and… oh wait –
it was just the three of us.
Now – my
year of experience as a math teacher helped me to quickly figure out that with
only three teachers, and four classes of students (first year with Freshmen
through Seniors!) – we could not logistically cover all of the necessary
classes. So we did what we do best here
on Yap – we improvised. We combined the
Junior and Senior class in to the Super Sunior class which would focus
primarily on SAT prep. Mickey then
adjusted the schedule so that each of us had a homeroom and would teach two classes
as well as proctor a silent reading period – all of which would be 55 minutes
(that’s a LONG time in a teacher’s world.)
We adapted quickly to our morning schedule of teaching/ working non-stop
from 7:45 AM – 11:40 AM (with a quick bathroom break in the middle) – and it
actually ended up being a great experience.
The real
fun began after classes… Mickey basically gave me free reign of what to do with
the students from noon til the end of the day at 4:00 PM. That is how Camp Yap was born. Now – the term “Camp Yap” was never used in
an official sense, but it is certainly what I called it in my head and
sometimes accidentally out loud – but the term pretty much summarizes our
afternoon activities and shenanigans. I
went into Program Director/ Community Outreach/ Scranton mode and began making
calls, e-mails, lunch dates, walks around the lagoon, and random chitchats
after masses as I recruited a great variety of incredible presenters who would
come in and direct different activities and sessions with the students. We had Americans, Italians, Australians,
Yapese, Outer Islanders. We had sign
language, nature hikes, lawyers, martial arts, local cooking, basket weaving, dancing, singing, canoe demos, lei making. We played every
camp game/ ice breaker that I had in my repertoire. And the entire time – we had a blast.
It was so
inspiring and rewarding to work with such a diverse and amazing group of people
who gave so self-lessly of their time and talents. Camp Yap was exhausting… but at the end of
the day – we were excited to come back and see what adventures were waiting for
us tomorrow – just the way any good camp should be.
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| Intense Game of "Ninja" |
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| Team Builders |
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| Rufus and Jonah showing off their lashings by the "crying Buddha" |
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| Eunice and Bradley dominating the 3-legged races |
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| Joslyn sad to be going home on the Apocalypse Bus |
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| Practicing the local dance that Martin Ruwniyol taught us |
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| Lupo and I attempting to teach modern line dances (Cotton Eyed Joe featured here) |
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| Sophomores and Juniors with Dr. Margie |
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| Freshmen working on nunuws/marmars |
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| Mary Guchol (my Yapese mom!) teaching delicious new local cooking |
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| The Lovely Agnes and her nunuw/marmar class |
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| More Team Builders |
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| Our kids just being kids... the best. |
“Whatever form it takes, camping is earthy, soul enriching and character
building, and there can be few such satisfying moments as having your tent
pitched and the smoke rising from your campfire as the golden sun sets on the
horizon--even if it's just for a fleeting moment before the rain spoils
everything.”
-Pippa
Middleton
