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ICEP JAPAN 2019 DAILY REPORT

7/2 The group arrived at 12pm at the Sign Barn for an orientation meeting with Alysa and Becky. It was so exciting for everyone involved to finally put faces to names! After our orientation meeting (where was served by TSP) the group said goodbye to their parents and began the larger orientation process at Chimney Corners. Swim tests were conducted, we discussed LOD and POD responsibilities, and several campers also shared their assigned presentations about Japan for the group.

We played some icebreaker games to pass the time and then had a lovely cookout at the waterfront. After dinner, health checks were conducted and group members enjoyed free time on the Big Top playing four square. We had cabin chat outside at night before getting to sleep.

7/3 The group had a busy day today, as it was our final day of orientation. After , we finished up our presentations. Following this period, we went into leadership training. The leaders discussed the four tenants of leadership and the participants responded by filling out the first page of their CCRs. Lunch was held after a short free time.

After lunch, the group had a siesta before going back to the Chimney Dining . Becky was there to give the group a talk about non-negotiables. After this talk, we took a group picture and walked around Smith Pond. At this point, the group was ready to have a relaxing free time where the trip leaders conducted their initial conferences with each participant. Dinner was held in the Chimney Dining Hall, and afterwards, the group packed bagels for the following morning, as we would be waking up extremely early! The group returned to their housing to repack their bags and discard any unnecessary items before having chat and going to bed early.

7/4-7/5 The group woke up at a seemingly impossible 2:45 AM to walk to the Chimney Dining Hall in order to catch our school to the Newark Airport. We travelled about 3 and a half hours until we reached the airport and then participants were allowed to wander around the airport looking for and for an hour at a time. We boarded our flight at 11am and set off for Japan!

The group arrived at Narita Airport at about 3pm local time on July 5th. Atsuya, our ICEP Japan leading staff member, met us at the airport and we had some lovely introductions. We loaded our bags onto a very nice coach bus and headed on the 2-hour journey to our living quarters in Utsunomiya. Once we put our bags down and set up our sleeping areas, it was time for dinner. The group was treated to a lovely cold noodle, rice and tempura dinner at a where several other YMCA Tochigi staff members were present. Following dinner, the group was so jetlagged that we skipped chat and went straight to bed at around 9pm.

7/6 Everyone woke up extremely early (5am) due to the jetlag. Because of this, we had a lot of time in the morning before it was time to head out for the day. The group watched Japanese cartoons in the meeting room of their housing, and even went for a walk to visit a nearby temple and baseball field/park. When we returned, several lovely elderly ladies who were there for a Saturday get-together had arrived. The women sang us a song about being thankful for life. Atsuya arrived at 1030am and we were out of the house by 11am.

We were taken to a nearby YMCA where several members (volunteers and regular staff) gave us a short Japanese lesson. Everyone split off into groups to practice their newly acquired Japanese phrases before heading off to lunch. Lunch was held at a giant mall where everyone could more or less choose where they ate. Most groups elected to eat at a delicious ramen restaurant. After lunch, there was extra time to walk around the mall. Many group members got a chance to see a Japanese supermarket for the first time and stocked up on candy and other snacks. At around 330pm, everyone returned to the YMCA we had visited before. It was time for our welcome party.

Many Japanese teens attended the welcome party, along with nearly all the homestay families and their children. Everyone mingled and introduced themselves to one another before it was time to play some games and practice some of our Japanese phrases. ICEP Japan even performed a rendition of the “Cha Cha Slide” to our audience of Japanese onlookers. Following a dinner, we returned to our housing and held an early chat at 8:45pm. Jetlag continued to be an issue for the group, so everyone was in bed by about 9:30pm.

7/7 Jetlag was once again a factor as the group woke up between 5-6am. Everyone hung out at the house until it was time to catch a local bus to Utsunomiya city at 9am. We walked about 15 minutes to a bus station and then we were off. Once we arrived, we took a short walk to meet up with volunteer members of the Y. Everyone split up into 3 groups and walked up to the city’s most famous shrine. After soaking in the cultural aspects of the city, we moved on to a five-story department store where participants went shopping and played arcade games. The 3 groups then split off to get lunch, and had additional free time to explore the city. Some people went shopping while others opted to go to a cat café or play more arcade games.

The group took a bus back to our house at around 3pm and played cards inside while one of the leaders took the 2 LODs to a supermarket to pick up groceries for the next few days. At around 7pm, the group took a 30-minute walk to the supermarket in order to grab some packaged dinner before walking back to our house to eat it. Chat was held at 8:30pm.

7/8 The group woke up early once again due to jetlag and ate breakfast, hanging out inside and also doing laundry before it was time to leave for the day. Machan, a Y staff member, took us on a small bus to Uto. This is where igneous rocks from millions of years ago dominate the landscape. In this area, there was a cave that the group wandered about in, and then everyone went to see a giant Buddha statue made out of the same material. We took the bus to a supermarket for lunch and drove through the beautiful mountainous countryside to a rice cracker factory just outside of Nikko.

Group members actually got an opportunity to make their own crackers over an extremely hot stove, and then enjoyed free samples in the store before we all headed to the YMCA preschool and kindergarten. The group got to use the Internet at the Y to email their parents and check in. While people were emailing, others played with the small children in their designated areas and classrooms. We were then driven to a supermarket for dinner and walked back to the house at 6pm. Due to jetlag being such a huge factor, we purposefully held chat at 9:45pm and participants weren’t allowed to go to sleep until 10:30pm.

7/9 The group woke up at 7am and ate breakfast before several YMCA volunteers picked us up in their cars to go to Bunsei Middle School. We were greeted by some foreign (English) staff that brought us to a big classroom where some of the older students (age 15) and the vice principal welcomed us to the school. Within a few minutes, students were interacting with teens from the school! The first class consisted of English conversations that the Japanese students had prepared for ahead of time. Meanwhile, one of the leaders went to the supermarket with Atsuyo to get boxes for lunch.

For the second class, a younger group of students were introduced and rotated from participant to participant. Both parties were asked to share information about American and Japanese culture, geography and food. Once the class finished, the participants ate lunch and took a group photo with the Japanese students. After lunch, it was time to go to a music class. Here, students did small syncopation exercises and then sang a song from “The Sound of Music.” Our final class was held with the youngest group of students (about 12 years old) whose job it was to take our American students and transform their names into Japanese kanji characters. The students also demonstrated their knowledge of Japanese language and culture by explaining what each character meant.

At this time, we were ready to go back to our housing after a tiring day! One of the YMCA volunteers, Mai, cooked an amazing American/Japanese fusion dinner for us, complete with vegetarian options. It was absolutely delicious. After dinner, the group just relaxed and played cards while others showered or ran to the supermarket for snacks. Chat was held at 920pm.

7/10 Today was a free day, and everyone was excited to hit the town! We took a local bus to Utsunomiya station and had free time to return to the “high street” where , arcades and shops were located. In the afternoon, we walked back to the station and continued our elongated walk to the “Round 1” sports complex. This stunning establishment was 5 stories high and consisted of outdoor sports, arcade games, roller skating and much, much more. We spent our time playing and having fun for about 3 hours until it was time to leave. We all had dinner at a ramen restaurant where some people also helped themselves to discounted gyoza (5 for 100 yen!!). We then walked back to the central station and took a bus back to the house. It was time to have a quick cabin chat and then pack, because the next day we would depart for Tokyo and then a 3-day summer camp in Shizuoka.

7/11 The 11th was our much anticipated Tokyo trip! We woke up at 6 am to catch an 8:55am public bus to the station. From there we took a train to Ueno station. We piled all of our luggage into coin lockers within the station, and then explored the streets of Ueno which has many shops and restaurants. After giving the group free time to walk along the streets to shop and eat we walked over to Ueno Park to see a temple. The temple was surrounded by a lake which was completely filled with lily pads and flowers and was stunning. After, the group was fairly tired, so we took a train over to the Harajuku area where our housing was located. In Tokyo we stayed at the Olympic Youth Center, which is where Olympic athletes stayed in the 1980 Olympics, and which now functions more like a hostel. We ate dinner there in a large cafeteria and also checked into our individual rooms which were a fun surprise. After dinner, we made our way to a reserved meeting room in which we were able to have cabin chat. Also in this room, Atsuyo briefed the group on the upcoming camp and had the group plan activities for when they would be counselors. We then had a very interesting discussion chat on gun laws while overlooking the Tokyo night skyline.

7/12 On our second day in Tokyo, we woke up at 7:30 to enjoy breakfast at the youth center before heading out to Tokyo. We started the day off at Asakusa, where there was a massive lantern, a beautiful temple, and a lot of shopping down the main pathway. We then moved to Shibuya to see the famous crossing and then broke up into groups of 4 or more to eat lunch. After lunch, the group did a quick walk to Harajuku, which is a teen shopping area of Japan. We first went to a thrift store called Kinji, which was expensive for American standards but had incredibly cool clothing items which the kids really enjoyed. We then moved over to the main shopping street of Harajuku and gave the group free time again to explore. Downtown Harajuku was about a 25-minute walk from the Youth Hotel, so we made our way home through a beautiful park that held Meiji Jingu, which was a path and temple that an old emperor of Japan created. When we arrived at the youth center, the kids were very tired and so we rested, ate dinner, and had an early chat and bedtime.

7/13 We again woke up early to eat breakfast by 7 and catch a public Greyhound-type bus to a campsite in Shizuoka, where we would be camping for the next 3 days. The camp was called Yamanakako and was located right on one of the 5 lakes that surround the foothills of Mt. Fuji. The campsite itself is beautiful and is a YMCA-owned plot of land. We experienced cloudy and rainy cold weather while we were there, so we were unable to see Mt. Fuji, but even without it, the scenery was breathtaking. Ten Japanese high school students joined as campers with our ICEP participants, and there were several staff members who came from different branches of YMCA's in Japan to put on this camp. On the first day, the programming consisted of taking a beautiful hike. There was a lot of free time mixed in with team games, and a United Nation Human Rights activity. We had an amazing first day at the camp, and the kids fell fast asleep in incredibly comfortable beds. 7/14 On the second day of camp we woke up at 7:30 to do a walk around the lake, and then headed to breakfast. Afterward, we as leaders helped lead games and teambuilding exercises with the other YMCA staff for roughly an hour. We ate lunch, and then were given free time to explore the camp and the lakeside while the Japanese campers went boating. Later on in the evening, we formed all of the campers into 3 groups in which they planned a dance and a skit for the campfire at night. They were then given free time until dinner, where they really bonded with the Japanese students by playing card games. At 7:30 we started our campfire where we performed songs and skits and it was lovely. That night we split the campers up into 2 groups and had chat with the Japanese campers, took showers, and went to bed.

7/15 On the last day of camp, we woke up at 7:30 to sing a morning song and then ate breakfast. We then packed up and made sure the rooms were clean and checkout ready. Afterward, we had a wrap-up meeting where the kids shared highlights and comments about the camp experience. We then ate lunch and afterwards walked to the nearby station to take another Greyhound-type bus back to Shinjuku station. From Shinjuku station, we transferred onto trains that took us all the way back to Utsunomiya Station. From Utsunomiya Station, we took another public bus back to the closest bus stop to the house and had an additional 20-minute walk home. Upon getting home by 11, we skipped chat due to exhaustion and went straight to bed.

7/16 We were out of the house early to drive to Nikko which was roughly 2 hours away. Matchan was the Y staff in charge of the day and also was our driver. We took a charter bus through the beautiful countryside, stopping at a grocery store to pre-buy some lunch. We eventually arrived at a local government-owned building across the street from the house the group would do service work at. Here the kids dropped off their luggage and stored their . The service took place in the backyard of Mr. Saito's house, who used to work for the YMCA and actually donated the house itself to the Y. The goal was to eventually have the house be able to host YMCA-related activities, and the work we did was to help maintain the house. On the first day, we spent a total of 3 hours fixing a path amongst a bamboo forest in the backyard, named Hamilton Road, that past ICEP groups helped to create. The work itself involved cutting down bamboo to use to line the path, clearing the old and rotting existing path, and lining the path with new woodchips. This was the first service heavy day, as well as one of the few physically laborious tasks. Our kids thrived, and after we were able to play and cool off in the river that runs next to the house. It was incredibly cold and incredibly fun.

We then drove to the hotel, which we were told was haunted. It had an eerie vibe but ultimately was a good bonding experience for our group. The day was a highlight for many of our kids, and it was a fantastic service project.

7/17 This was our second service day in Nikko at Mr. Saito's home. We ate a -style breakfast at the hotel and left by 9:30. We went to a grocery store to get lunch and started working by 12 pm. Half of the group was asked to help clean a small koi pond and the other half helped weed and clear the garden irrigation system. Again all gear and tools were provided for the cleaning. The work went very quickly and the kids really enjoyed it. Afterwards, we played in the river again. The owner of the house, Mr. Saito, was around and helping too, and his wife baked cookies for us to enjoy. We ended the service work by 3:00 so that we could get home by 6. Once we got back home, a volunteer had already cooked us dinner. Overall the service days in Nikko were fantastic and served as one of the highlights of the trip for our kids.

7/18 Our group was happy to be back in Utsunomiya, and we were picked up in the morning in several volunteer cars to attend Kita High School. The participants were split up into several groups and attended classes with high school students. Some classes were in English, but others were not. The highlight for most people was an English class where ICEP participants got to answer questions from the Japanese students. Classes continued until about 330pm when we were dismissed and went back home.

7/19 Today was a free day, so the group got an opportunity to sleep in. We didn’t really get going as a unit until about 930am, and we caught a bus to the Bell Mall of Utsunomiya at 10:15am. Once we arrived, people split up into groups of 4 and grabbed lunch before we headed to our next destination. At 1pm, everyone went to the neighboring Toho cinema to see the new Spiderman movie. Afterwards, we returned to the mall in order to connect to the Internet so participants could email family and friends.

We took another bus at this point to Utsunomiya central station, where we took a 15- minute walk to a restaurant. Bellies were filled with delicious sushi before returning to the station and taking a bus back to our YMCA housing. Participants spent about 45 minutes preparing for the weekend’s summer camp with Japanese children before having chat and going to bed.

7/20 Everyone woke up extra early today, as we needed to catch our 7:45 coach bus to the local YMCA. Once we arrived, we picked up young Japanese campers to head to the oceanic province of Ibaraki for a day and a half long summer camp. This specific camp was quite unique, as participants of ICEP had been split up into “counseling groups” where they would be responsible for their 3-4 Japanese kids for about 36 hours.

We arrived at the ocean-side campus at 11am and had a quick orientation before having lunch. After lunch, groups split up and designed “group flags” before going to the beach, playing in the shallowest parts of the ocean and enjoying several beach games. We returned to our housing at about 4pm and took this time to shower off. After a 6pm dinner, we moved into a large meeting room and played games with the kids. Bedtime for the campers was at 9pm, and the ICEP participants were allowed to stay up in the common room of our housing as long as one participant was present in the bedrooms with the young children. Everyone went to bed at 10pm in order to wake up bright and early for the final day of the weekend camp.

7/21 The group woke up super early at 6am in order to get their campers ready and prepared for a 7am breakfast. Following this, everyone returned to their rooms to tidy up before a building staff member came by to inspect the rooms for cleanliness. From 10-12, the groups went outside and played on a gigantic ship-shaped jungle gym! It was complete with several slides, swings and footbridges. Everyone had a lovely time running around and getting some exercise. After lunch, the group decided to return to the jungle gym for another hour or so before loading up the bus with the Japanese campers to return to Utsunomiya. We arrived at the Utsunomiya YMCA at 430pm, and the Japanese children were greeted and picked up by their eagerly awaiting families.

As a reward, the Tochigi YMCA paid for a wonderful conveyor belt sushi dinner! The group stuffed themselves until it was time to go back in the bus and return to our original Utsunomiya home. Everyone relaxed and showered until it was time for chat at 9:40pm.

7/22 The group left the house this morning at 9am to drive to the long-awaited Nikko Shrine. During the morning, we walked around in the shrine area, visiting several temples doused in mist from the clouds. The atmosphere gave off an aura that made everyone feel closer to the spirits above. The group ate lunch at a lovely noodle , and then it was time to get back on the bus and head up some of the tallest mountains in Tochigi province. As we went up the mountain, we soon became engulfed in fog. With each turn, it became harder and harder to see what was in front of us. Thank goodness for our safe driver!

Through the fog, little by little, we were able to see the contents of a large lake. The skies cleared and everyone got off the bus in order to take pictures of a large clear lake surrounded by misty mountains. We then continued on the bus, stopping at scenic spots along the way. We finished our tour of Nikko by visiting a large waterfall and taking a walk through the woods. We got back to the house at 630pm where dinner was served by a YMCA staff member. It was a participant’s birthday, so the group had a birthday song and cake prepared. As a surprise, one of the leaders also bought sparkler sticks for us to light at a nearby field. We ended the night with cabin chat and got ready for bed and our homestays, which would begin the following day.

7/23 Today was a food-themed day! The group woke up and took a chartered bus to the Bunsei Junior School, where we would be making gyoza (a traditional dumpling of the Tochigi region) and egg soup. It was first demonstrated by the head , and then the participants got a chance to make their own with the help of the university students. The food was absolutely delicious and everyone enjoyed the . We took a group photo with everyone involved and got back to the house at around 2pm. Some people napped while others played card games before homestay families arrived to take the kids home for the first night! All the participants were gone by 515pm.

7/24 The group met back up at 10am at the YMCA elder care building in Utsunomiya. Today, the group would be taking about 12 elderly members of that community to the Bell Mall to get some mid-day shopping done. After helping the elderly at the mall, everyone split up into small groups for lunch at a . We returned to the elderly home at about 1pm and went around shaking people’s hands and singing songs. It was a powerful experience, because most participants did not have family members that old. We even met a woman who was 103 years old! At the completion of these events, participants were picked up by their homestay families and spent the remainder of the day and night with them.

7/25 Today was “America Day” hosted by Texas, a man who was once an English teacher at Kita High School but now serves as a volunteer for the Tochigi YMCA. All day, our participants played games in English and Japanese with children ages 2-10. Activities included counting in English, name games, drawing competitions and other silly games like carrying a ball using only your and your partner’s backs. The group split up into groups of 4 to get lunch in Utsunomiya city and then re-convened until 4pm to take part in more activities with a different group of children. At 4pm, homestay families picked up the participants for the night.

7/26 The group was brought together again at 9am and at 930, we began to interact with kindergarten and preschool students at the Utsunomiya YMCA. Participants broke out into groups of 4 and 5 and separated into classrooms, where they introduced themselves to the children and then played with toys and colored. At one point, the children went outside to play and even had a choreographed dance/exercise routine for everyone to follow! This day was a particularly hot one, so participants helped the small children change into their swim clothes and brought them over to a pool to swim inside. After the students dried off, it was time for lunch, so ICEP Japan split up into two groups depending on what food was desired. The group reconvened at 2pm for a Japanese traditional ceremony that was held in the same building as the school. Several elderly and middle-aged women led the group in the cultural event. A mother of one of the trip leaders also arrived at this time, as she is a native of Japan! At around 430pm, the group members were picked up by their homestay parents for the night.

7/27 The day started with our group meeting up at 9:30 in front of the Utsunomiya shrine. Texas was in charge of the day, and once everyone was together, he took the group to the Kama River, which was more of a stream that traveled through the city. We met Japanese volunteers from various schools and organizations, and with a combined group of 34 people, scrubbed the stones in the river to remove the algae. We finished by 12, and the group walked to the neighboring outdoor shopping center for lunch. We gave some free time until 1:30, at which point the group walked back to the meeting place to go back to their homestays.

7/28 This was a free day for the participants to spend with their homestay families.

7/29 The kids slowly started arriving at the house from 10-12pm and it was a very relaxing day. The only thing that was planned was a 12pm meeting with Tsuku Tsuku and a couple of Japanese volunteers for the upcoming day camp the ICEP members would be helping with. They brought over pizza for the lunch meeting, and gave us a detailed itinerary and had us assign groups and bus seating. The rest of the day consisted of the kids catching up, playing cards, and hanging out. We walked to the closest supermarket for dinner, allowed kids to stay up a little later than normal, and went to bed.

7/30 We were picked up at 7:30 by a charter bus which took us to the YMCA/ Kindergarten, where we met up with the staff and Japanese volunteers who would be cos with each of our ICEP campers. We met up early to go over the itinerary for the day again, and we made name tags and gave general introductions. At 9:00 we moved to the gym of the YMCA and waited there for the kids to show up. The ages of the kids varied from 3-12. Each of the group leaders was in charge of 3-4 kids. Once everyone arrived, there was a general orientation and the ICEP members were asked to lead a group game. We played duck duck goose, who stole the keys from grandma, and 4 corners. At 9:45 we got on 2 to go to the Shinrin Nature Park. The day was brutally hot, so though the day was supposed to be filled with a lot of outdoor play, we largely spent our time doing games in an indoor location at the park. We did take a 20-30 minute hike which was lovely. At 2:45 we headed back to the YMCA and played games until all of the kids were picked up at 4:00. We went back home for dinner, walked to the supermarket for food, and watched several episodes of an incredible Japanese tv show called Terrace House. We had chat and went to bed.

7/31 We left again at 7:30 to go to the kindergarten where we had a brief meeting with the volunteers before heading to the gym to meet the kids at 9:00. Once in the gym, we had the kids change into their clothes that they were going to get wet in. We left for the park by 9:30 where there was a fake river with a fountain. We played in this river for pretty much the entire day, which was really fun and greatly needed because of the extreme heat. Everyone changed into dry clothes, and then we went on the bus to drive back to the YMCA. At the Y we played more group games led by the ICEP kids, sent the camp kids home, and went home ourselves. Our kids were exhausted, so we were thrilled to find that a volunteer was cooking for us that night. After dinner, we did some laundry, had chat and went to bed.

8/1 Today was what we called Fish Day! It was the last of the 3-day day camp. Again it was an early 7:30 pick up and we also all wore matching t-shirts. We went to the preschool and got ready to pick up our kids at the gym. We were asked to lead a game in the morning, so we played Fishy Fishy Cross My Ocean, in spirit for our trip to the Aquarium! We left for the aquarium at 9:15 because it was in a different prefecture by the ocean. The kids split up into their groups and toured the aquarium separately with the instructions to meet in the cafeteria for lunch. Lunch was prepared bento boxes, but our group members were still hungry so a lot of them got burgers or sushi from the cafeteria. After lunch, we all gathered to watch the free dolphin and sea lion show, which was genuinely incredible. We then took a group photo and left to go to the YMCA. We got to the YMCA, said goodbye to the campers, and then proceeded to immediately write them letters. Then with all of the volunteers, we walked to the nearest conveyer belt sushi restaurant to eat some fish after spending the day looking at fish. We then went home, had chat and went to bed.

8/2 The day was spent entirely in the house at Utsunomiya. We woke up at 8:30 because we had to have every participant pack their bag and also get lunch before we had guests arrive at the house at 2. Packing took a while and we figured out pretty quickly that we would need to purchase extra luggage to accommodate the ridiculous number of snacks and plushy toys the kids wanted to bring back home. At 2, many of the student volunteers came to our house to play games with us. Originally it was supposed to be outside but due to the heat, the day mostly consisted of playing cards and hanging out inside. Volunteers helped dinner that we all ate together, and then that evening we went to the local park and saw fireworks. It was a wonderful day for all of the teens to really interact.

8/3 We were picked up by several host family cars at 10 to be driven to the YMCA elderly home. There every host family, as well as some families of the kids from the camps, came to throw us a goodbye party. There was a buffet of food, games, and a lot of time to say goodbye to their homestay families. There were a lot of tears from everyone involved and it was a touching and wonderful time. We said good bye to our host families and then got changed into our all-white festival outfits! At first, we looked more like a weird ultimate Frisbee club with our white t-shirts and basketball shorts, but then at the festival, we were given cool robes, headbands, and necklaces that completed the outfit. The festival took place along the main street of Utsunomiya which was blocked off, and street vendors lined the sides while different groups carried portable shrines along the street. The portable shrines all differed and usually involved people on top of the shrines playing instruments or dancing. We first went around the streets and watched the festivities, and then we actually got to be in it. The campers helped a local group carry one of the portable shrines with 2 people drumming on top of it up and down the street, ending at the local temple at the top of a flight of stairs. The portable shrine weighed upwards of a ton, and it was a massive group effort with a huge sense of accomplishment by the end. This was also one of the ultimate highlights of the trip and was a fantastic way to end our journey in Japan.

8/4 We woke up at 8 to first clean the house before leaving for the flight at 12. We stopped at a rest station for lunch and then headed to our 5 pm flight. The flight was long but fine, and we landed in . We had a 3-hour layover but also had to recheck all of our luggage, so the extra time was necessary. We then took a 2-hour flight to Newark, and then a 4-hour ride on the school bus home. We got back to camp at 3am and walked through Becket to our home in Gibson Hall.

8/5 The following day was spent at Camp Becket. Participants worked on the group slideshow while the leaders held their final CCR conferences with each individual. At the end of the day, we watched the sunset from the library porch and had a campfire to close out the summer.

8/6 The group repacked in the morning and practiced their slideshow once more before heading to the Chimney Corners Sign Barn at 130pm. The slideshow was held and then tearful goodbyes were given to everyone as participants went home with their parents.