Preparing for Day Camp

Human Knot Game

Today we met some new Dominican teen counselors who will assist us with Spanish translation and the day camp.  We welcome Arianna, Hermes,  Deseret, and Susanna, and are looking forward to seeing many of our Dominican teens from previous years. To break the ice and get to know each other more, several team building activities were led by Carol and Christine.  This included the human knot and "Minute to Win It" contests.  Have you ever tried to stack 3 golf balls or tubes of chapstick with chopsticks?  How about putting a paper plate on your head and stacking blocks on top of that?  Where do they come up with these ideas? It was fun to play and watch and see the teens cheer each other.

Sorting the school supplies

We had taken all of our school supplies over  to the Ecological Foundation and again sorted these into boxes that will go to three schools.  We prepared all of our crafts for tomorrow this morning as well.   This included sorting all of our supplies, cutting yarn and construction paper. Some of the crafts that the campers will be making include paper leis, painting wooden worms, and making a worm puppet.  Beads were also sorted for an educational activity called "the incredible journey" which simulates the water cycle. The teens painted picture frames for them to place a photo of the entire camp in at the end of the week.  The campers will paint their frames tomorrow as well as make mugs for them to use to drink water the entire camp,  trying to emphasize conserving paper and plastic products.  We met one of the students that is doing a project at the foundation today.  Tyler Pool from Cal Poly in California told us about a project that he is assisting in the research  with composting and worms.  Since the resort strives to be self sustaining, this may be used in golf course management, saving on chemicals and fertilizers.  It is good for our teens to hear about all sorts of opportunities that  are available to students.

After a lunch of chicken, rice, beans, and plantains, we tie dyed our counselor shirts.  The process went very well with less mess this year.  (Justin, are you reading this?  We all miss you!) We discussed our schedule for tomorrow and are prepared for about 50 campers!



Day Camp craft preparations

 

Learning about worms and poop from Tyler

Minute to win it games with Bobby Loveland, Ali McLaurin, Chase Smith

Garrett Coffey and Rachel Harriman stack golf balls in Minute to Win It

The beach

View from the beach

The rest of the day was spent either cooling off in the fresh water lagoons, beach, or pool.  After a buffet dinner we met to review our day.  We love the cool evening breezes and the beauty of nature all around us.  The beautiful flowers and shrubs at the Ecological foundation and PuntaCana resort make for awesome photo opportunities as always! We thank everyone for their contributions and prayers and look forward to our service to the youth and schools of the Dominican Republic.

Submitted by Suzanne Loveland, Shenandoah County

(Hola to my roommate from last year - Debbie Fadeley - miss you!)

 

Team Building/Day Camp Preparation Day

Grayson Love, Bobby Loveland, Liam Matthews, Jacob Love

Hello this is the latest blog from Punta Cana. Today was a good day. We started out with a lovely breakfast. We then headed right to the Ecological Foundation Center to set up for day camp and sort our supplies for our donations for the school. It was very hot but we muscled through the day. We then got back from the Ecological Foundation Center then headed straight to the lagoons. We then had a few hours of free time to relax and further take in the beautiful scenery. After that, we went to La Cana for a fantastic buffet dinner. We finished the day off with a group meeting by the pool to share our experiences for the day, now here we are bloggin’ away.

Contributed by Bobby Loveland and Liam Matthews, Shenandoah County

Freshwater Lagoons  "The Indigenous Eyes"

Rachel Harriman and Kathryn Flynn

Jacob Love getting a shrimp pedicure

Shrimp pedicure in the Lagoons

 

                                      Chase Smith, Underwater Photographer Extraordinaire

 

 

Safe Arrival in the Dominican Republic



Boston

Well, this morning most of us woke up at about 1 a.m. to meet in Woodstock at 1:30 a.m. We all met at McDonalds in Front Royal and we set off for Reagan International Airport. Our flight took off at 7:20 a.m. and landed in Boston at 8:15 a.m.  Our layover was only supposed to be an hour but it ended up being about two hours due to scheduling issues with the flight crew. We set off at 10:30 a.m. and landed at the Punta Cana airport at 3:45 p.m.  A nice surprise was seeing Johanna Guidicelli, one of our Dominican teen friends, who met us as we got off the plane.   We were led through customs, got our luggage, loaded into a van, and headed to the Punta Cana

Waiting in Boston

Resort where we are lodging.

Our dinner was at 8:15 p.m. in the employees cafeteria, so until then many of us went to either the pool or the beach. Today was just traveling and finally getting to our destination and being able to rest. Tomorrow will be a bigger work load, for we are meeting the Dominican teens and setting things up for the day camp.

Contributed by Kathryn Flynn and Rachel Harriman, Shenandoah County

Arriving in Punta Cana

At the Airport in Punta Cana

Welcome drinks in the Hotel Lobby



How did the 4-H'ers earn money for this trip?

The Shenandoah County 4-H'ers have been busy fundraising for this trip since the winter months.  They planned and conducted several fundraising activities and events which included a car wash, a steak dinner, a raffle, a county 4-H T-shirt sale and a BBQ chicken sale in addition to serving lunches during a regional 4-H livestock judging contest and sending letters to local businesses and civic organizations requesting donations.  The group pledged to visit clubs and groups during the next year to share a powerpoint program about their trip.
  

Not only were they successful in their fundraising efforts, but they also built teamwork and leadership skills as they planned and carried out these activities.

As part of their service project, all of the 4-H teens have been collecting school supplies to bring to the Dominican Republic to donate to a little school  in Veron that we have helped every year - Colegio Elizabeth.

  

Why did I sign up for this program?

The 2013 Virginia 4-H - Dominican Republic Program participants have a variety of reasons for wanting to participate in this program. 

 

14 year old Jacob Love, from Rappahannock County, signed up because he wants to help out and learn about a different culture.  Jacob has never been outside the United States before and he isn't sure what to expect.

 

16 year old Lexus Ryman, from Shenandoah County, wants to try new things and meet new people.  She also wants to learn more about the language and culture and to experience how the people actually live.

 

15 year old Kelsey Lindsay, from Bath County, thought this would be a good experience and she is looking forward to meeting the Dominican children and learning what they like to do.

 

15 year old Ali McLaurin, from Bath County, thinks this will be a great experience for shat she wants to do in the future.  Her goals for the week are to communicate well, make the Dominican children happy and be successful in her tasks.  She also wants to improve the children's lives in some way because she feels she is fortunate and wants to give and to do what she can do to help.

 

16 year old Rachel Harriman, from Shenandoah County, went last year and completely enjoyed every minute of it.  She wants to spend time with the Dominican kids at 4-H Day Camp and learn how they do things and what they are into.  She also wants to learn more Spanish and more about the Dominican culture.

 

16 year old Bobby Loveland, from Shenandoah County, has been on this trip the previous two years and he thinks it's a great experience.  He's looking forward to the trip to the city of Higuey because it's always interesting and different.  He also wants to learn more Spanish.

 

17 year old Heather Landes, from Shenandoah County, signed up because she learned alot the last time she went (2 years ago) and she is very excited to be working with the 4-H Day Campers again!

 

18 year old Chase Smith, from Bath County, is the 5 year veteran in the group.  He says this trip gets better and better each year.  Besides spending more quality time with the 4-H Day campers this year, Chase wants to help the delegates who have not beenon this trip get accustomed to this fantastic experience.  He also wants to learn more Spanish.

 

Cody Ross, chaperon from Shenandoah County, participated in this program as a 4-H member.  He said he had a great time when he went as a teen. Now he wants to make sure the current teens year get the same experience.  He wants to be sure the teens give 110% to the program.  Cody also wants to make sure the teens see the differences between the two cultures.

 

Chaperon Alex Miller, a High School Spanish teacher in Bath County, loves to travel and wants to immerse himself in the Dominican culture and to learn everything "DR style".  Alex grew up working with non-profit organizations.  This will be the first time he's had a chance to go on a trip as one of the adult chaperons.  We are happy to have him as a Spanish helper/translator!

 

4-H Agent Carol Nansel has had an interest in furthering international understanding since she lived in Germany through the 4-H IFYE exchange program.  She helped establish this Dominican Republic program in 2006 and has enjoyed watching the Virginia 4-H teens grow in their leadership and citizenship skills through this program.  The welcome shown to our Virginia 4-H group each year by the Dominican people makes us feel like we are there visiting family.  Many lifelong friendships have been established, and much cultural understanding has taken place over the years.  End of program evaluations from the 4-H'ers show that this program is truly a life changing experience for them.

What is this Program?

The goal for this program is to give Virginia 4-H High School students an opportunity to travel to a Spanish speaking, developing country to interact with their peers. While there for a week, the 4-H'ers work with local Dominican teen partners to conduct an environmental 4-H Day Camp for Dominican children, learn about Dominican culture and food and conduct at least one service project in the local community.

We offer this 4-H program in partnership with the PuntaCana Center for Sustainability and Biodiversity at the PuntaCana Ecological Foundation, of which Virginia Tech is a research partner. We began this program in 2006.  During 2007, it received the National World Citizenship in 4-H Youth Development Award from the National Association of Extension 4-H Agents.  The current program involves fourteen 4-H teens and six adults from Shenandoah, Bath, Alleghany and Rappahannock counties.

Contributed by Carol Nansel, Shenandoah Co. 4-H Agent