Here listed is the entire summer's worth of blogs from the Citywide Steward Program. Check it out! There are funny videos, great photos, and blogs from youth, interns and staff.

Introducing...CSP!
Day 1 - Getting to Know You
Day 2 - Rotation Nation
Day 3 - Long Island Sound Challenge Day
Day 4 - Rotation Nation
Day 5 - Challenge Course at Camp Laurelwood
Day 6 - Outer Island
SPECIAL REPORT: Ort Down to Half a Pound! (aka The Day Miss Hanifa Shaved Her Eyebrows)
Day 7 - Rotation Nation with Guest Educator Brandon Ballengee
Day 8 - Rivers of New Haven Challenge Day
Day 9 - New Haven Watershed Tour
Day 10 - Eli Whitney Museum and Swimming
Day 11 - Hammonasset State Park
Day 12 - Grow Hartford and Trash Museum
Day 13 - Water Pollution Challenge Day
Day 14 - Canoeing the Quinnipiac
Day 15 - YouthWalk on the Green
Day 16 - Whitney Water Center and Swimming
Day 17 - Preparing for the CSAP
Day 18 - Preparing for the CSAP Some More
Day 19 - Quinnpiac River Team CSAP
Day 20 - Mill River and West River Team CSAPs
Day 21 - Whitney Water Center Visits Us
Day 22 - Preparing for the PEF
Day 23 - Public Education Forum
Day 24 - Camping Day 1
Day 25 - Camping Day 2

There's nothing like sunlight for an alarm clock.


Gammy staying warm until the fire is built

Staff were awake first (of course) on a morning that dawned very chilly at the Great Mountain campsite. Hanifa (Camp Director) braved the cold to build a fire, after which other staff and youth ventured out of their tents. It took some time for everyone to wake up and fully recover from a long night.


Joanne leading the Morning Hike

Joanne led a Morning Hike through the trails, showing the youth jewelweed, red and white oak, late summer/early fall flowers, striped maple and other forest inhabitants. Although the youth were tired, every single one went on the hike.

Upon return from the hike, youth dove into a smorgasboard for their breakfast. In record time, bagels and cream cheese, fruit, snack bars, pretzels and juice disappeared from the table. After breakfast, it was time to break down camp, which was done at a decent rate. Youth packed out their things and staff brought down the tents while the youth played kickball. Once everything was set, the entire camp congregated for one last meeting.


Water time!

We had a camp-wide Appreciation Circle. Everyone talked about a memorable moment and thanked someone for something special they did. There were laughs and hugs. Afterwards, campers finally found out the final standings of the River Teams. Quinnipiac came in third, the Mill finished second and the West, proving that their chant "The West is the best, we're better than all the rest" was true, at least for this summer, took first place.

After a 30-40 minute hike down to the bus, youth settled in, had some lunch and we were off, back to New Haven, this time with little incident. Youth led songs on the bus, making the staff very proud. This is some great youth leadership!

We arrived home safe and sound. Everyone said goodbye to each other and then...camp was over.

Thanks for a great summer everyone!

So the adventure begins!

Around 1pm, all the youth congregated at Clarence Rogers School with varied forms of sleeping bags, blankets and bookbags. After some strategic packing, we were off to Norfolk, CT! It's about a two hour drive, but we managed to get lost, get lost again, then get lost some more, so we made it in 3 hours. Maybe 3 and a half. Some youth learned why, sometimes, you just have to use nature's bathroom.


Hiking to the campsite

When we finally arrived after a short hike to the campsite (Great Mountain), we got to work setting up tents. Surprisingly, the girls camp was up much faster than the boys camp. Actually, that doesn't surprise any of the staff. The girls were very organized and had everything just so. Although, to the boys' credit, they did have to put up one dysfunctional tent, take it down, and set up a new one. The camp cook, Dawn (the mother of Randall, one of the campers) started grilling the several pounds of hotdogs we cooked up. Youth were very hungry and gobbled down tons of hotdogs, potato salad and fruit.


Setting up tents

After some down time, youth sat around the fire as the sun went down, roasting marshmallows and telling stories. It just so happened that a meteor shower was occuring that night, so youth looked for shooting stars. When it was dark enough, the youth set out on a Night Hike with Joanne (Executive Director) and Rosana (Assistant Camp Director). Youth saw how Lifesavers Wintergreen mints sparked when crunched (because of the wintergreen oil and sugars in the mints rubbing against each other). They also learned a little bit about how a camera works by creating a negative on the film. They were asked to stare at each other and close their eyes once they saw a flash. They could still see the other youth with their eyes closed because the flash made the image on their retinas. They also stared at each other in the dark until their partners' faces "ghosted" away. Try all of these tricks, because they are definitely awesome!

At the end of the hike, the youth had the choice to walk a short way alone in the dark to reach the campsite and the intern on the other side. Many youth took on the challenge and felt proud of themselves for doing it. Once we got back to camp, the youth had half an hour to get ready for bed.


Roasting marshmallows by the fire

Of course, no one actually fell asleep when they were told to stay in their tents. Youth played games (Uno was a favorite), told scary stories (although we asked them not to), chatted and generally goofed off.

Adult staff slept around the fire, but the noise didn't die down for hours. I wonder what the kids will feel like in the morning?

Public Education Forum


At the Mill River Team station

At 5pm on Thursday, August 10, the doors opened to the Peabody Museum Auditorium. Inside was a Solar Youth bonanza! Youth manned tables of their River Teams, telling family and friends all about their CSAPs and other camp activities. Videos made during Challenge Days and other footage was screened on one wall. A slideshow of the summer camp was running on another. Brandon Ballengee, one of our guest educators for the summer, brought two live turtles and a frog, which fascinated youth and families alike.


At the Quinnipiac River Team table

At 6pm, the presentation began. Each River Team sang an original song and received awards for participating in the Citywide Steward Program. At the end, interns led a camp classics sing-along. It was a great way to wrap up a great summer.

But wait...aren't we going camping?

Yes, we are!

KIDS TEACH!

On Thursday evening, August 10, 2006, from 5:00 to 7:00pm at the Peabody Museum on Whitney Avenue, Citywide Stewards will be presenting about their summer. Each River Team worked very hard on Wednesday (8/9) to prepare an exciting and interesting program about their summer. Come and support the youth as they present about their summer, their Community Service Action Projects and all the things that make Solar Youth summers so unique!

STAY POSTED...
...for pictures and blog from the PEF (Day 23)
...for pictures and blog from the Great Mountain camping trip (Days 24 & 25)

August 7, 2006 – CSP Day 21
Sikai, Paule-Ann and Adisa’s Days


CSP participants creating a map of how water travels to our houses from the reservoir

Sikai’s Day
Favorite food: Ice cream
Current school: Worthington Hooker

A lady named Lisa came from the Whitney Water Center and we made a big model out of pipes and straws and paper and a big carpet. The model represented the water entering our homes from the pipes. Way later we went swimming at Wilbur Cross.

Paule-Ann’s Day
Favorite food: Pizza
Favorite TV show: The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
Favorite sport: Soccer

A lady named Lisa came from the RWA to tell us how water gets to our house from the lake, from the reservoir. She told us that the water was cleaned before it gets to our houses; it doesn’t come directly from the lake. We made a model of pipes and houses in the neighborhood to show how water gets to from the lake to our house.

And later on, we ate lunch. The lunch wasn’t from the New Haven Schools. I liked it.

Then we went swimming at Wilbur Cross. Some people were playing Marco Polo, but I didn’t play. I was swimming in the deep end. Then we got on the bus to come back to home base.

Adisa’s Day
Favorite food: Pizza
Favorite subject in school: English

Today we stayed in the Solar Youth home base. The lady named Lisa came to visit us from the RWA center which we visited last week. She told us that water came from underneath somewhere. She decided to tell us to draw our dream house and then she laid out a map about where we live. She gave us pipes labeled with street names and she told us where to direct them on the map. After, she gave us a maze but we didn’t complete it. We told her thank you when she left.

After she left we ate our lunch, which Miss Hanifa and Nicole provided for those who didn’t bring their own lunch.


A photo taken by Shanice (a camper) of the youth that went to East Rock Park instead of swimming (Shanice made sure to pose the other youth!)

When we were done we went to Wilbur Cross swimming pool. There was six of us, including me, who didn’t go swimming because I wasn’t feeling that good. So Rose and Dontae and Jody took us to East Rock Park across from the Wilbur Cross High School. We played different games including tag and we went on the swings also. Sometime later after we were all stressed out, Jody showed us some of the pictures on her phone. Shanice and I thought that Jody smiles too much and takes too many pictures of herself, but really, she is very beautiful. We also saw pictures of the staff. Finally, Shareece and I went back to tell the other kids it was time to go back and leave.

We went back to the swimming pool and picked up the other kids. When we arrived it was reflection time which was drawing what we built as a group today and labeling it. After all, today was a great day for me. Everything was fun. I love Solar Youth.

August 4, 2006 – CSP Day 10
Mill River and West River Teams CSAPs

Wintergreen Brook Clean Up
Mill River Team CSAP

This morning, at 10:30am, the Mill River Team CSAP began!


Watershed model the Mill River Team built out of recycled materials

The group started with a presentation to explain the significance of cleaning up Wintergreen Brook, which flows into the West River, which supplies part of New Haven’s running water and flows into the Long Island Sound. The group explained that by cleaning up the brook, we were reducing the amount of non-point source pollution that eventually would end up in the Atlantic Ocean and affect North and South America, Europe and Africa. The group also presented their recycled art model of a watershed, specifically the watershed area that includes West Rock State Park and the brook.



From there, we hiked up the hill to Westville Manor and behind the Solar Youth office. Three groups descended upon the litter in the brook and one group painted signs that read “Conserve Water,” “Don’t Litter,” “Save the Wintergreen Brook” and “Save the Fishes.” These signs will be added to the area around the brook to encourage residents to keep the brook clean. The clean up crews moved out along the brook and took things out of the stream, as well as the area around it.


Solar Youth CSP Program with all the trash we picked up!

Litter We Picked Up: Barbie Jeep, stereo in several pieces, television, boot, milk crate, bike wheel, shelf frame
TOTAL: 10 bags of trash!

It was a great time and everyone helped to make our watershed a cleaner place!

Pick Me Up Mailing Party
West River Team CSAP

This afternoon at 1pm the Pick Me Up Mailing Party began!

The West River Team created postcards about non-point source pollution with the slogan “Join the PICK ME UP TEAM and KEEP IT CLEAN. Spread the word!” and organized a mailing party to get all the postcards addressed, stamped and signed.

The party started with games outside, one being a game that youth created during a Challenge Day. Then the group moved inside and it was time for the focal point of the party: the mailing!

Youth competed in their river teams to complete as many postcards as possible, including stamping, addressing and signing the cards. The team with the most completed postcards won points to add to their team jar.



After the hard work was done, the youth relaxed with music and refreshments. There was a dance contest, where many of the youth cut loose after a hard week of planning and executing CSAPs.

It was a great time all around! Good job West River Team!


The Gimp Outbreak

It’s inevitable. Once one person brings gimp into a camp or classroom, it spreads and everyone has gimp in their hands. A glimpse of some of our gimp creations:

August 3, 2006 – CSP Day 19
Quinnipiac River Team CSAP

H20 Patrol
Quinnipiac River Team CSAP


Natasha from the Q River Team facilitates Water Conservation Jeopardy

The Quinnipiac River Team was challenged to raise awareness of the importance of water conservation by creating recycled art and a public theater-type activity.

The youth created slogans and facts, accompanied by hand-drawn illustrations to put on recycled fans made from the paperboard lunch trays in the packaged lunches the campers receive through the New Haven Board of Education. The youth decided they would give out the fans on the New Haven Green during the heat wave, presenting the public with both facts and a handy way to cool down.


The West River Team explains how much water ordinary household activities consume to the public on the Green

For their theater-type activity, the youth decided on two strategies. One would be to have two of their group (Christian and Trevon, plus A'chan at last minute) dress up as clowns and lead the other two river teams around the green with banners, fans and stickers talking about water conservation.


Bernice and Natasha playing Water Conservation Jeopardy with a passerby

The Q River Team would also have a stationary booth with Water Conservation Jeopardy(a Solar Youth creation), a game they themselves played to learn a little about water conservation. They added a new category to the game (Public Use and New Haven Rivers), also writing the questions.


JJ, a Solar Youth veteran, cools down with Whitney's Water donated by the RWA

The public played for candies and everyone was offered a free bottle of water (donated by the Regional Water Authority!) to cool them on a hot day. The booth also had fans and stickers to hand out. The stickers were donated by the staff of the Whitney Water Center, the educational arm of the RWA.

Everyone had a blast and after awhile, the heat didn't feel so hot. The youth feel that the public really listened and got some knowledge from their project.


The Mill River Team marching around the Green with a H2O Patrol banner, handing out fans and doing a water conservation chant

Water conservation messages on the recycled art fans:

Turn off your faucet, it’s not hard
You’re wasting water from Lake Gallard!
Brushing your teeth with the water on wastes 10 times more water than if you shut off the tap.

Washing your dishes by hand is good
I’m not saying you must, I’m saying you should.
Washing dishes in the dishwasher: 20 gallons of water
Washing dishes by hand: 10 gallons of water
You do the math!

Water: it's not made to waste,
It's made to drink, it's made to taste!
1% of all the water in the world is freshwater that everyone must share, including humans, animals and plants.

Please don't have your sprinklers on all the time,
Taking water from the fishes is just a crime!
Having your sprinkler system on more than necessary wastes water.

We also raised $86.86 through donation given to be put toward our end of camp trip, an overnight at Great Mountain camp.


SCA Interns Borrowed from ECPC


Mira and Liz, SCA Interns from ECPC

During the hot (105 degrees) weather this week, our friend, Ilisa Kelman from Elm City Parks Conservancy (ECPC) called us up and asked if her Student Conservation Association (SCA) interns could work with us, instead of roasting outside. We said sure, so Liz and Mira joined us for the last few days. Mira worked with the Mill River Team and Liz joined the West River Team.

We’d like to thank them for helping out and we hope they had a great time!

August 2, 2006 – CSP Day #18

River Team CSAP Reports

Today the River Teams continued to work on planning their CSAP Projects. Teamwork, hard work and organization were the catch phrases of the day. Everyone worked very well together and got a lot of the work done!

Mill River
Reported by James and Sikai
Our title is the Mill Wintergreen Brook Clean Up. It will be behind the Solar Youth office [at 54 Wayfarer Street]. The date and time is August 4, 2006 at 10:30am. (See more about the Mill River Team’s day below with Gammy’s Day)

Quinnipiac River
Reported by Natasha and Adisa
For our project we are handing out fans on the Green. We need you to help people come to the game show part. You will march around and sing the watershed song. People will answer questions and we will give them candy. Trevon and Christian will be the clowns. Natasha is the game show person.

West River
Reported by Naomy, Jaymiah and Niamke
For our CSAP we are doing a mailing party. Everybody here is invited. This is not just a party, it is a challenge. Each team will have a chance to do the task of putting stamps on the postcard and also putting the address on it. Whoever has the most cards done wins the special prize. To have this party we also need your help. We have made a list of food that we would like to have. If you are able to bring anything put your name near the food you will bring. You may also bring CD’s for us to listen to at the party. Just have them in by tomorrow so that Nicole can make sure that there is nothing bad on there. And we need your games from the Challenge Day.


Gammy’s Day

Gammy, our second-year (almost) Public Ally, reports about what his team did today!

This morning for the Morning Cruise activities I instructed the campers to draw a picture related to water. I encouraged them to use the scrap papers from their previous projects to add to their drawings. I then led the campers in a team building game called Moving.


It was then time for the campers to go into their different teams in order to prepare for their Community Service Action Project. My team project is to organize a clean up of the Wintergreen Brook and to build a model of a watershed. We did more exploring in order to decide on a final location for the CSAP. So we hiked up the hill to the Westville Manor Housing Project, home of the Solar Youth office. There we went into the woods and took a walk along the brook.


We came across a number of littered objects and other items in the brook that did not belong there such as a bicycle and toy truck. We then hiked back to the camp home base where we spoke about what we saw. The campers then decided that among the three locations that the Westville Manor area of the brook was the best area for the clean up. We then began to draw up a plan for the watershed model. I then showed the campers an example of a human watershed in order to show them what a watershed should consist of. We then played an ice breaker game called AH SO KAY.

After lunch we then did some more planning and then started to put the plan into action. The campers made mountains, houses and trees from card board and twigs for their watershed model. The team then had to present the project to the rest of the camp and tell them about our planning process and about the project itself.

It was then time to call my brother, the Snack Magoo, who is a character who gives the students snack and sings a song to encourage them to eat healthy and to not litter at the end of the day.


SOLAR YOUTH EVENTS SCHEDULE

H20 PATROL
Thursday, August 3, 2006
Noon to 2:30pm
New Haven Green
Join our youth as they raise awareness about the importance of water conservation and test the knowledge of citizens about water and water conservation. You can locate us by asking any Solar Youth camper (bright yellow shirt or singing the New Haven Watershed Chant). Come try your luck at Water Conservation Jeopardy!

MILL WINTERGREEN BROOK CLEAN UP
Friday, August 4, 2006
10:30-11:45am
Behind the Solar Youth Office (54 Wayfarer Street)
Youth and staff together will clean up the Wintergreen Brook behind the Solar Youth office in Westville Manor. Come along if you’d like! Extra hands means less work all around. They will also be presenting a watershed model at our Public Education Project. Direct activism will give the youth a sense of pride and ownership and let them know that KIDS HAVE POWER!

MAILING PARTY
Friday, August 4, 2006
1:00-3:00pm
Gymnasium at Clarence Rogers School (199 Wilmot Road)
The West River Team has created a couple postcards discussing non-point source pollution. On Friday, the entire camp will get together and address the postcards, accompanied with a party to celebrate all the hard work we have done all week! Want to help with this advocacy event? Come along!

PUBLIC EDUCATION PROJECT
Thursday, August 10, 2006
5:00-7:00pm
Peabody Museum Auditorium (2nd Floor)
It’ll be a multimedia extravaganza—youth-created songs, video and art—as well as reports from the three River Teams about their Community Service Action Projects, all they have done and all they have learned this summer of Watersheds!

VIDEO SPECIAL: FASHION SHOW!
In a fit of giddiness, some of our youth who didn’t eat breakfast attacked a box of fabric (provoked by Assistant Director Rose and Intern Nicole) and dressed up. This prompted the infamous twins (Natasha and Naomy) to coordinate a fashion show. Taylor and Abby participated and that's Sikai, rambling on about fish gill pills (a running camp joke). Check it out (I love how creative the youth are!)!

August 1, 2006 – CSP Day 17
Natasha, Niamke and James’ Days

Today teams began to plan their Community Service Action Projects (CSAP). This is the final team challenge for the summer, requiring teams to utilize the teamwork, communication and creative skills they have been acquiring during the Challenge Days.

Quinnipiac River Team Challenge: Use theater and recycled art to promote using less water. The recycled art (fans with water conservation logos and slogans) will be handed out in a public place, accompanied by the theater piece.

Natasha from the Quinnpiac River Team: My CSAP project is about water conservation. Today we tried to get ideas to create a fan to pass out to people. We’re making the fans from lunch trays. Our design is about not wasting water and rhyme about it. We have four facts and pictures. We had fun today.


West River Team Challenge: Design a postcard about how non-point source pollution affects the New Haven watershed and have a mailing party.

Niamke from the West River Team: My CSAP project is to make postcards. We’re going to tell people about non point source pollution. I hope we get a response back. We have the postcard design on the job list. We did different designs.



Mill River Team Challenge: Organize a clean up of Wintergreen Brook and build a model of a watershed to educate others.

James from the Mill River Team: My CSAP project is about a clean up and cleaning up Wintergreen Brook. It’s on the corner of Brookside and Westville Manor. We have gotten done our list of what we’re going to do and our jobs. We looked at some stuff that we’re going to be picking up, up and down streets. We built our model telling people about the watersheds. We used cardboard and that’s all.

Crystale with her microscope at the Whitney Water Center of the RWA!

July 31, 2006 - CSP Day 16
Crystale's Day

Wintergreen Magnet School Student
Favorite Food: Pepperoni Pizza
Favorite Trips this Summer: Ropes Course at Camp Laurelwood and Youth Walk
First I went to breakfast. Then got my bag and water bottle so if I got hot I can drink it. We used the bathroom and got on the bus and off we were to the Regional Water Authority Learning Center. My favorite part there was looking at the bugs under the microscope. I learned how to use a microscope like a REAL scientist. The water we explored was from the Mill River!!! After that we ate lunch at East Rock Park and played games with Gammy. Finally we went swimming. I really like swimming.

July 28, 2006 – CSP Day 15
Taylor’s Day

YouthWalk is an event coordinated by the Citywide Youth Coalition and sponsored by the Regional Water Authority, Hot 93.7, News Channel 8 (UPN 9), Empower New Haven, New Alliance Bank, ConnCAN and the City of New Haven. The event is for youth to raise money for their individual organizations, as well as raise public awareness about the need for youth programming in the city. Here’s Taylor’s Day:

We went YouthWalk on the Green. We played games; we played Cat and Mouse and the game where you can’t touch the bottle with your hands. I saw many people from my school and my cousins and stuff like that. I saw the people from 93.7, Miss Yo, and I got her to sign my poster. I got donated ten dollars. Overall we made $250 dollars for the camping trip. We walked around and we ate lunch and we saw people dancing. We saw the Boys and Girls Club dancing and Newhallville Summer Camp. My favorite part of the day was when Crystale [another camper] was up there dancing.

July 27, 2006 – CSP Day 14
Cecily’s Day

Today, the Quinnipiac River Watershed Association took us on a marsh tour and canoeing on the Q River, completing our tour of the three rivers of New Haven.

Today we went on a marsh tour at Quinnipiac Meadows. There were a lot of bugs but it was a lot of fun. There were like little traps on the floor. It smelled like saltwater. We went to an island where the Indians used to live and go to eat oysters. She also showed us a shotgun cap and that there was a lot of poison ivy. We saw fiddler crabs; the male has the big claw but the female doesn’t. The male had the big claw to fight with another male to fight for a female. We went to the osprey nest. Then we ate lunch and we went canoeing. At first I was scared, but then I knew I wasn’t going to fall into the water because I had a life jacket. There was a boat that had nobody on it, there was just shoes on there, in the water. It had two pairs of sandals in it. Me and the instructor had to keep turning the boat around to help other people. The instructors kept on laughing because everybody kept getting stuck. The other instructor had two boats and he was in front of us. Abby and Claire was stuck all the way in the back. Then we got back we went to where we had started at. We all got on the bus and did our reflection, came back and had our snack.