Highlights from our annual Hands4Hope Youth Leadership Camp

Seventeen high school Hands4Hope Club leaders participated in the 4th Annual Hands4Hope Youth Leadership Camp, spending 2 nights and 3 days at the Coloma Outdoor Discovery School (CODS) in Coloma. This camp provided an opportunity for all of the Hands4Hope (H4H) High School Club leaders to come together from six local high schools including: Union Mine, El Dorado, Ponderosa, Oak Ridge, Folsom, and Mira Loma. 

Hands4Hope High School Club Leaders participated in both the low and high ropes courses at CODS. In addition, the H4H Leaders participated in a series of workshops focused on strength-based leadership development, meeting and project development skills, and site-based teambuilding. We were also fortunate to have El Dorado County Sherriff D’Agostini as our camp closing speaker. 

These teambuilding and leadership development opportunities provide an excellent opportunity for Hands4Hope youth leaders to build foundational skills essential for running a successful service learning club in the 2014-2015 school year. Hands4Hope staff will continue to support and offer additional progressive leadership skill building opportunities for our young leaders throughout the year. 

Haley Lehtola, this year’s Youth Board President, had this to say about Hands4Hope’s Leadership Camp, “I have gone to camp for the past two year and can honestly say that I use the skills from camp everyday. With Hands4Hope, I am pushed past my comfort zone and grow as a leader. I also love getting the opportunity to bond with my fellow leaders so we can work together throughout the year.”

Our high school H4H Club leaders are excited to kick off the 2014 - 2015 school club year; many have meetings scheduled for as early as mid-September.

My Experience At NTLP

NTLP (National Teen Leadership Program) is a motivating, inspiring and fun three-day camp at Sacramento State University.  We've been sending youth for years and we always enjoy sharing their great experiences.

NTLP was without a doubt the highlight of my summer.  The life lessons are definitely going to stick with me throughout my life.

I came into NTLP expecting it to be another boring camp where the speakers are all the same and speak on the same thing, but I was definitely surprised with how good of speakers NTLP provided, especially Calvin Terell. 

Listening to Calvin speak was pretty much a life changing experience, he's such a powerful speaker who really made me think and evaluate myself... my parents even said I came back home more mature, just after those three days. 

It was also really exciting getting to be a college student for a little bit.  We stayed in dorms and all had roommates and we all had to make it to the different seminars or events on time. We also did a lot of team building activities, pretty much always done in silence, which really strengthened our communication skills and brought us all closer together.  

I loved NTLP and I can't wait for the next one and to be reunited with the friends I met there and to also make new ones. I really enjoyed how everybody was themselves and I got to truly express myself.  I don't think I've ever danced like that at my own school's dance before, I really felt comfortable and at home at NTLP and can't wait for the next one!

-Writted By: Kellien