Tate Discovers His Inner Leader
When first meeting Tate at Family Orientation, he wasn’t hard to miss. As a 6 foot 11th grader, he hung in the corner of the room with the other older participants waiting to hear what the year of Project Kindred programming had in store. With our year round model, 11th & 12th graders will be “Leaders,” similar to a Counselor in Training. His year will be spent giving back to the younger participants and practicing what it means to be a leader with the younger campers.
When he showed up to the Kindred Summit, he said hello to all that approached him, taking the que to join the rest of the group, seemingly unsure what to expect in this role. Our relationship coaches Ben & Mario shared the day’s Leader responsibilities would include joining an Explorer group (7th &8th graders) to chaperone during the event while looking for 5 hidden stations to do mini games! This was a large task for anyone.
When we started the frenzy, everyone was high energy and going everywhere. Looking for the games, getting their whole group to catch up, trying to catch a roaming station. It was a big ask of our leaders to control their ready-to-go groups. But when you’d see Tate’s group around the building, they were always together. They were always chatting, working together and he was really a part of this “Explorer” community. One of our Community Agreements is “everyone paddles”, meaning, we all do our part for the great good of the group.
Tate could have easily looked at this role as a “supervisor role” and watched from the sidelines, opting out of play. But you would see him participating in the games, actively engaging in the program storyline and keeping his group excited to find the next thing. It was great, it was seeing a leader in action.
The day went on from there and Tate continued to stay involved in conversations with all the young people. He joined in on the adventures, four square games, and shared his experience with fellow Leader, Vin, during their Kindred Time. Throughout the day Tate was there. It may sound silly to shout out the idea of being present, but with 45 people at the program, that’s a lot to be present for! Tate was reliable and trustworthy, values you don’t think to appreciate until they aren’t there.
We end each program with Bridges, a way to connect with one another and share gratitude. Sometimes it takes a minute to get our young people participating - it can be intimidating to share with a large group. Tate showed leadership, courage and community by sharing. By “Paddling.”
We’re so thankful Tate is with us this year and can’t wait to see more of his leadership bloom. I want to build a bridge to him, for his dedication, trust and energy that helped bring our first year-round program to life!