As the COVID 19 Pandemic stretched into the summer months, not knowing what the future would bring, our youth educators began to plan a virtual Summer Leadership Institute. In prior years, our Sahuarita camps are completely full with a waiting list of youth ages 12-18 participating in team building and leadership activities.
This year, our creative team was able to put together a week-long virtual camp. On the Saturday prior to camp beginning, the facilitators delivered all of the materials for the upcoming weeks activities to the students homes. The students completed 25 lessons from Real Essentials, a healthy relationship curriculum. Additional activities included a virtual paint day with an art teacher, a Power of Youth presentation from MADD, and a guest speaker gave a story of recovery from substance abuse. 17 youth completed the program by attending every day and upon completion they all received an AZYP backpack and a Walmart Gift card.
Our Youth Educators are continuing to develop new ways of doing our programming virtually. We currently have Loving My Future, Wyman TOP Club, and a virtual version of our Stronger Families Project is coming soon!