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An essential and large piece of the Leaders program is the weeklong camp, PACAA. Although it is titled as a Leadership School, it is so much more. You get to have all kinds of wild and crazy fun with new friends and you get a ton of memories that will just require you to return to relive them. I have gone since PACAA 34 in 2000.
PACAA can be broken down into a few essential areas. The basic schedule goes as follows:
7:15 am: Early Birds. Some from PACAA 35 were A game of Uno, Cloud Watching, Nature Walk, and Washitosh.
7:45 am: Breakfast starts. You're eating University food. How bad could it be :-)
8:45 am: Morning Meeting. None of us are very awake, so the Junior Staff makes sure you wake up by making you sing camp songs. Also, you hear announcements from the director or Jamie (because she's cool like that) and usually have a reflection.
9:30 am: Forum, which is held twice during the week. PACAA 35's included a Diversity Speaker and spliting up into groups and talking about STD's, the Military, Special Populations, and Current Events.
10:00-11:45 am: Values Groups. These become your surrogate family for the week. You see these people more often that others and, through your values sessions, open up to them and share your feelings.
12:00 pm: Lunch. Need I say more?
1-2:00 pm: Free Time. The campus usually offers a number of services like a Campus Union or Athletic Fields. Also, many Leaders collaborate with Staff on activities for Free Time.
2-3:00 pm: Career Classes. As a Leadership School, the YMCA likes to prepare young people to enter the adult world by teaching some basic knowledge about YMCA related fields. Current career classes include: The infamous L2K/Y2K Introduction class, Day Camping, Outdoor Education (personal favorite), Member Services, Family Programming, Youth Sports, and Day Camping.
3:15-4:00 pm: Leadership Development Classes. Topics such as Team Building, Public Speaking, Motivation, and Peer Listening encourage your growth as a Leader. Also included is the extremely fun Jr. Staff Perspective.
4:15-5:00 pm: Values Groups.
5:15: Dinner.
6:30-7:30 pm: Skills Classes. These are usually a fun way to learn about hobbies. Classes include the ever popular Swing Dancing, Sign Language, and Drama classes. Also, Photography, Arts and Crafts, and Sports are included.
8:00-10:45 pm: Evening Activity. Fun activity which usually gets you to run around and have a good time with your values groups while teaching an underlying lesson. Some activities run longer than others, such as the Thursday night Talent Show and the Friday night Banquet/Dance.
11:00-11:45 pm: Transition and Vespers. After a day of fun and excitement, we close with a wind down activity and vespers. Wind downs include the ever popular human rainstorm, group back rubs, and other resting activities. We then move into Vespers, which is a QUIET time of personal reflection on the day or you life.
12:00 am: Lights Out. We all have to try to rest up for the next day, although it frequently doesn't happen :-).
That, in essence is PACAA on paper. For personal testimonials, see my PACAA Is... page.
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