Urban Arts Camp Week 2 (middle and hs age)

The second week of Urban Arts at City Mission was so different from the first week. My team arrived on Monday morning, knowing that we had 2 kids registered and not sure if there would be any more. I was praying that there would be a camp! When I walked into the building there were already 4 kids there. I knew then, in my spirit, that it was a go. By the time 10am hit, we had 17 kids! I was elated!

Having learned a few things from the previous week, we went ahead and split the up the guys and girls in two groups. They rotated to the different art elements together. Over all, they were excellent listeners and quite respectful. (I always knew I loved this age:) My dad was able to come down one day and share some of his life story. The guys really gravitated towards him. It was neat to see how the Lord used that short period of time to create a bond between them.Throughout the entire week, whenever the guys would see my dad they would always have a smile on their faces and go up to talk with him.

The kids rotated between art, music, drama and dance just like the previous week, but they seemed to be more detail-oriented and it took longer in each of the classes. I decided to add poetry in the drama rotation for this age group. I took a poem by Maya Angelou for the girls and one by James Weldon Johnson for the guys and adapted it as a readers theatre. The girls caught on right away. I knew their performance was going to be nice. They guys had a harder time. Some were not strong readers and they struggled to pronounce words correctly. By the middle of the week, I wasn't sure I had done the right thing, wondering if I had given them something that was too difficult. But I am so glad that we stuck with it. During the dress rehearsal the guys and I both knew it wasn't the best it could be. So I decided a little "unspoken, friendly" competition wouldn't hurt. I put the girls up on stage and they rehearsed. This totally fired up the guys! They were like, "man, we can do that". I was laughing inwardly. So I told the boys to show me something. They got up on the platform and it worked! There were some rough spots, but overall the boys had a decent performance. I was really proud of them for sticking it out!

Another difference with this camp of older kids was giving them the opportunity to design their performance t-shirt. I bought white t's for each kid as well as fabric markers. The only guideline was that it had to have "Urban Arts" on the front of the t-shirt and the designs had to be approved. There were some amazing artists in the group!In the middle of the week, one of the teens approached Renee, our music teacher. He said he had gone home from camp the day before and thought about what we were talking about throughout the day and he had written a Christian rap. We were able to incorporate it into the final performance. The moment when Larry and Troy were performing the rap was the best feeling in the world to me. So many thoughts flashed through my mind at that moment. "They want to be here. These 16 year old guys are actually listening and applying what we are teaching them-not just the art elements, but about Jesus. These guys are developing gifts God has given them." And the thoughts kept running. I think that was one highlight for me during the week.