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Camp participants have fun while learning how to be leaders

By Rose Hooper
Picking, Peeling & Hulling

Camp participants designed and constructed the set and made their own costumes and props for the play "Picking, Peeling & Hulling." From left are Kirstin Remacle, Mereya Centers, Samantha Bryson (seated), Andrew Mackey and Dillon Haynes.

Krystle Cabe, 12, of Sylva learned how to be a leader this summer.

Ask her what a leader does and she'll say, "You follow." What you follow, she went on to explain, are six principles:

L for listen,
E for energy,
AD for adaptability,
E for expect change and
R for rapport.

Cabe, along with others her age, participated in a two-week summer camp sponsored by the Family Resource Center.

"I came because the camp sounded like fun - and I like to learn new things," said Cabe, who played the lead role in the camp-produced play, "Picking, Peeling & Hulling."
Susan Kennedy, a FRC volunteer and director of the play, said Cabe was selected for the starring role because of "her articulate voice."

"Krystle really brought the house down," said camp companion Mereya Centers, also 12.

"What Mereya means," Cabe quickly explained, "is that when I said my big piece then went to sit down, the chair wasn't there and I fell. Everybody laughed big!"

"We thought she'd changed the script and did it on purpose," one of her friends said of Cabe's comedy of errors.

Miriam Fuller, 12, art director for the play, found the whole play experience "fun - I'd never worked on a play before this camp."

Fuller, who is from Cherokee, came to the camp "because my aunt signed me up." In addition to the fun activities ("especially skating"), she "learned how to respect other people."

At the camp she also mentored young children. "In the ninth grade at school you get to help the little kids. I'm in eighth grade this year, but next year when I'm in ninth, I'll know how."

Also from Cherokee, 13-year-old Brandi Lambert camp to the camp because "Mom asked me if I wanted to come and it sounded like fun." Lambert said she hadn't thought much about being a leader until her two weeks at this camp. "I learned that to be a leader you have to be responsible."

Camp director Jennifer Baer designed the camp to be fun, but also to serve as a training ground for young leaders. "We also concentrated on community service," Baer said.

Participants shared their strengths with others by mentoring younger students throughout the Catch the Spirit of Appalachia's annual Children's Theatre.

Back to Archive: 07/27/00.