Following the conclusion of the Aim High summer program, seven Aim High students and a teacher spent a week learning about peace and personal reflection while enjoying the beautiful Tehachapi mountains north of Los Angeles as part of the Tools for Peace 2009 Summer Camp.
Tools for Peace promotes peace and compassion by providing programs for youth and adults to study and create mandalas. This year, TFP partnered with Aim High to provide opportunities for youth to participate in the camp at no charge, and to encourage Aim High students to take the lead in bringing peace to their schools and communities.
As part of the camp, students created personal mandalas, participated in yoga and meditation, and learned about world cultures alongside more traditional camp activities including sports, swimming, crafts and campfires.
“I learned how to be happy with myself and how to see the good in people,” says camp participant Jose, an 8th grader. “It was a cool experience, and it helped my self-confidence.”
This fall, youth from the camp and from schools in San Francisco and Oakland will have the opportunity to explore peace and mandalas as they spend a week creating a Community Sand Mandala at Grace Cathedral alongside Tibetan lamas.
Meghan Hewitt, the Aim High teacher who attended the camp, plans to work with Aim High to incorporate concepts from the camp into Aim High curriculum, and will explore ways to work with Tools for Peace to create opportunities for Aim High students network-wide. Aim High hopes to continue to offer this Tools for Peace opportunity, which was introduced to Aim High by supporter Anne Dickinson Lind, to students in future years.
Following the conclusion of the Aim High summer program, seven Aim High students and a teacher spent a week learning about peace and personal reflection while enjoying the beautiful Tehachapi mountains north of Los Angeles as part of the Tools for Peace 2009 Summer Camp.
Tools for Peace promotes peace and compassion by providing programs for youth and adults to study and create mandalas. This year, TFP partnered with Aim High to provide opportunities for youth to participate in the camp at no charge, and to encourage Aim High students to take the lead in bringing peace to their schools and communities.
As part of the camp, students created personal mandalas, participated in yoga and meditation, and learned about world cultures alongside more traditional camp activities including sports, swimming, crafts and campfires.
“I learned how to be happy with myself and how to see the good in people,” says camp participant Jose, an 8th grader. “It was a cool experience, and it helped my self-confidence.”
This fall, youth from the camp and from schools in San Francisco and Oakland will have the opportunity to explore peace and mandalas as they spend a week creating a Community Sand Mandala at Grace Cathedral alongside Tibetan lamas.
Meghan Hewitt, the Aim High teacher who attended the camp, plans to work with Aim High to incorporate concepts from the camp into Aim High curriculum, and will explore ways to work with Tools for Peace to create opportunities for Aim High students network-wide. Aim High hopes to continue to offer this Tools for Peace opportunity, which was introduced to Aim High by supporter Anne Dickinson Lind, to students in future years.
