OOXXOOXOXO Workshop

Pardon me while I gush about Workshop (check out the video). Shana's back in the summer swing of it for her last year as a Peer Leader (volunteering over 300 hours a year). It's her fourth year,

(here are a few shots from Summer '09)

as Miley Cyrus

with BFF Wade

Bat Girl

Some of the gang

but she was a "participant" for many years before that. This summer will be full of more responsibilities for her, more leadership, more calling the shots, more involvement in the running of the three-day training this weekend and the week long sessions all summer and the four-day wrap up at Hawley Lake in August, culminating with her "Exiting" ceremony. It's been exciting to see her step up to the plate so far, getting involved with some pretty deep issues already with some of her peers. She's also still learning  from her mentors, like the totally amazing, I wish half of the things that came out of my mouth were as meaningful, Dr. Franny. This summer there is also a new team leader, just graduated from college and back to Workshop after being away for several years. She remembered Shana from way back when and has gone on to do some pretty amazing things with her life. Hard-to-impress Shana came home the other day and said, "That's what I want to do with my life," so the fact that they will be spending some intense time together for the next three months is a good thing. You can't buy that. Shana's been pretty lucky and seems to have learned more from what not to do over the years. Workshop allows the kids to really let all of their feelings out. She's seen and heard some pretty traumatic stories. Abuse, depression, addiction, divorce, death, illness, peer pressure, boy-girl and parent-child relationships, school problems and more are some themes that circle through their days as they learn to go out in to the world and successfully deal with whatever is thrown at them. It's truly an amazing experience and, believe it or not, a lot of fun, too. I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with soccer camp and swimming lessons, God knows we've done that, too, but this is a one in a million program that I know is changing the world. Check it out and sign up the kids for a week this summer. You'll be glad you did.

Four days in the woods with a bunch of kids

I just spent four days trapped in the woods with a bunch of kids and I'll never be the same.

The whole gang, muddied from Capture The Flag
Warriors Maddie and Megan
Partners in crime Shana and Wade
Shana and Super Forth Year Kristin


I've been around Workshop for Youth and Families (www.orho.org) for a long time, probably since Shana was around 11. She started with the one-day workshops, then did one or two week- long summer programs for several years. For the past three years, she's been volunteering as a Peer Leader (over 300 hours a year!) and has committed to one more year. It's always been hard to explain what exactly "Workshop" is. Here's the official mission statement "To foster personal leadership and resiliency in youth and families that inspire positive growth and change," but that doesn't do it justice. I tagged along for the finale of the year, a retreat up north at Hawley Lake where all of their hard work and lessons learned over the year bubble up into an amazing experience of playing and bonding and challenging each other to go farther, cross the line, dig deep and be stronger in order to reach their goals. We followed ancient rituals and applied them to our own lives. We learned about what it means to be a family and how hard that is to find. I joined girls with colorful wildflowers in their hair as we walked into a meadow to join a circle of sisterhood and I heard teenage boys express their true emotions, overcoming any fear. I watched a fierce Capture the Flag game, complete with intense team pride and lots of mud and I was there when the forth year Peer Leaders said good bye in an incredibly moving ceremony (I'm a big cryer as it is, but this pushed me over the edge). These kids (along with the one-of-a-kind Dr. Franny and her Leadership Team) have made so many connections over the years in a thousand different ways and I was amazed how the entire group came back together again one more time before getting back on the bus to head home, taking a part of each other with them until they meet again.