The best part about Empowerteen’s high school summer retreat is seeing the close bonds the participants and mentors develop. Within a matter of hours during that first day of the week, the participants began cracking jokes with the mentors and looking up to them as both role models as well as friends.
“I would say my favorite part about yesterday was just the morning when everyone starts rolling in,” shared mentor Grace Darazs, pointing out the moment that made the first day of the retreat so special. “You get to say hi to everyone you haven’t seen for a while and do the introductions and name games.” Darazs has been a mentor for several years now, but being reunited with old participants and meeting new participants is one of the things she looks forward to most.
For another mentor, Sophia, this retreat marks the start of her mentorship. “I did the Empowerteen camp when I was in middle school in 2016, but I didn’t really have a chance to come back until now,” Sophia explains. Despite this being her first retreat as a mentor, she bonded easily with the participants over favorite anime shows, which was a popular topic amongst the group during one lunch. From the outside looking in, one would assume that all the mentors had years of experience as they all worked together extremely well and garnered a lot of enthusiasm from the participants.
One obvious show of affection for the mentors came from the cooking lesson. Participants were tasked with making sushi, stuffing cucumbers, carrots, rice, and more into wraps of seaweed. While this lesson was meant for the participants, the mentors were quickly reaping the benefits as the participants began preparing multiple rolls so that they could share with the mentors. All it took was a simple, “Can you make a roll for me?” to have the participants jumping forward with enough sushi for everyone.
“I really liked the goal setting posters,” commented mentor Hana Terpstra. “It was really nice to see how everyone applied the lessons into what they were doing.” For Terpstra, observing how the participants absorbed and interpreted the lessons was just one of the many fun parts of being a mentor. Terpstra also had a lot of praises to sing for the other mentors, saying, “I really love my fellow mentors– they’re super fun and very welcoming.”
Each day the mentors would show up around nine in the morning to help set up activities and games for the day, and most days they wouldn’t leave until after five. Each day was long and stuffed full of enough activity to make mentors and participants equally busy. Yet, the mentors handled the hours well, always showing energy and excitement, which they also praised Dr. Paula for. “Dr. Paula’s great at what she does,” shared Sophia. Seeming to have an endless supply of smiles and energy, Dr. Paula was a favorite of both mentors and participants. “Dr. Paula is basically a second mom to everyone,” Terpstra said with a warm smile.
As the retreat neared its end, everyone took on a more relaxed demeanor while the group became good friends, regardless of participant or mentor status. “I feel a lot more at ease, especially compared to the first day,” shared participant Andrea. “It’s just really easy to get into it.”
WRITTEN BY: Grace Bland, Empowerteen Journalism Intern
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