Oh! The Places You'll GLOW: Character Day

Each day of Camp GLOW has a theme. A theme that lessons are planned around. That games encompass. And that facilitators are charged with driving home to the learners. It’s an effective way to make organizing and planning easier. And it also ensures that the main objectives of Camp GLOW (leadership, diversity, gender equality, HIV/AIDS awareness and future planning) are covered.

Day one of this year’s Camp GLOW was Character Day. And it just so happened to be my day as well (Along with Ashley and Jeffie B). Character Day is the real kick off to camp, when learners are assigned their Camp GLOW teams, which include kids from all over the country and from every tribe. They’re taught about ideal character traits that make good friends and great leaders. And they’re introduced to the idea of stereotypes—something they all face but have never really defined.

The first day of camp is usually a lot of fun—we get to welcome the learners, hand out their T-shirts, and get to know some of their names. But it can also be a big challenge. For a lot of learners, this is the first time they’ve left home, and coming to the big city and interacting with kids from all over the country can be a bit overwhelming. While some kids thrive in this new, challenging environment, many are too shy to talk. So while Character Day is about showing the kids what it means to be a good person, it’s also about getting them comfortable and secure in a strange new environment.


Once campers have been assigned their Camp GLOW teams, they must work together to come up with a team name, poster and cheer.


Doing something artistic early in the day seems to help campers get comfortable with the idea of opening up to their peers.


Team posters are the first exercise in different tribes working together. This is one of the most important lessons at Camp GLOW.


One of the finished posters. B.O.B. (Bringing Out the Best), designed their banner to look like a bag of chips. They said they wanted to be a refreshment for the entire camp.


T.S.G. (Teens Simply GLOW!) had TONS of spirit. And Zumbureeke, the small boy in front (who's actually 13 years old), quickly became one of my favorite learners at camp.


The GROW team working on their cheer before performing it in front of the entire camp.


Lunch Time!(The food wasn't always good, but we were always hungry!)


Jeffie B's icebreaker, Evolution Paper Scissor Rock, was a huge hit. Kids started out as eggs, and winners moved on to become chickens, dinosaurs, and eventually, the ultimate Camp GLOW Campers.


Learners got their own Camp GLOW T-shirts, but they were also given plain white ones to design using colored fabric pens (thanks Darby!) and adjectives that described their positive character traits. Felly, one of the facilitators, did a great job helping the kids.


Zumbureeke hard at work on his character shirt.


A work in progress.