Last Sunday, I was afforded the privilege of having breakfast with Teacher Art Egel and a prominent young member of the Anguillan Community Mr. Jevorni Lloyd, affectionately called by his peers “J.” I initially contacted Teacher Art because of my keen interest in his summer camp known as “Camp Be Aware.”

I have heard many great things about the experience the children have and thought it was worthy of highlighting. I must say, before I begin, that I am extremely impressed with this summer camp. Every organization could learn a great deal from Teacher Art’s design. Camp be Aware is a unique camp that teaches responsibility, a sense of community and environment, leadership skills, accountability and self discipline. However, it separates itself from other programs because it is predominantly run and maintained by youth. Of course, for any youth program to be valid there must be an adult presence and engineering. This is definitely true with Camp Be Aware as there are three passive organizers that play a role as observers and step in only when the student teachers or leaders need guidance. Art Egel is of course the founder and director of Camp be Aware and he is joined by Jemesha Webster and Linda Gratton. Yet, before we arrived to any of the aforementioned names, my attention was immediately directed to J, as he was introduced to me as the person who ran the camp. His official title was Head Student Teacher and he began this role on the first day of camp, July 10 and continued until its eventual end, July 21.
J proceeded to explain the structure of the camp and how it places responsibility on past participants in the form of a leadership program that is broken down into leaders, student teachers, and the head student teacher. Leaders are chosen from past participants, student teachers are selected from students who were former leaders, and the head student teacher must have been a student teacher in the past. This was J’s 4th year being involved with the camp and I was even more amazed to hear from him and Art that J, at one time, was almost expelled from the camp by nearing three strikes. There is a strict discipline code in the camp that exerts a three strike format; on the third strike, one consequently asks themselves to leave. I was told that no child is expelled that, in actuality, they ask themselves to leave by breaking the code. This anecdote, in my opinion, shows how positive programs in the community can actually save children from delinquent behaviour in the future.
As J continued to talk about what Camp Be Aware entailed, and as I continued to redact page upon page, I could not help but note a sense of enthusiasm in his tone that also affected me in a profound way and propelled me to keep taking notes more vigorously. He explained that this was the 8th year that this program has been offered to a very select few. Each year, there are 42 children accepted into the program, 6 camp leaders invited, as well as 6 student teachers, with one head student teacher running the camp. In order to be selected as a camper, a child should be a member of an environmental club from their respective school, but in recent years due to lack of parental and teacher support at some schools, these clubs were not established. Each child’s name is placed in a hat in which three names are eventually drawn from all the schools. If a school did not have an environmental club, they were randomly selected from the 4th and 5th grade.
The camp’s mission and philosophy is to teach leadership skills while dealing with issues in the environment. It also focuses on Anguilla in terms of its environment, topography, and history. The camp is divided into two sections: Field trips and the swimming, art, and journal component. Each morning, 21 students take a field trip while the others do the swimming, art, and journal. In the afternoon, the two groups switch roles therefore making it an all day affair. This year’s leaders were: Tamilee Harvey, Angelique Laurent, Whitney Rey-Harrigan, Darvel Richardson, Tanasia Rogers and Megan Coburn. The leaders were supervised by the following student teachers: J, Kristie Webster, Nzingha Banks, Morihinzi Richardson, Brittany Jeffers, Ferneldra Carty and Tammy Hughes.
The first of 7 field trips took the children to the Sandy Ground salt pond where they learned the history of exporting salt in Anguilla, boats coming in, as well as a visit to the Pumphouse. Next, they visited the new golf course in West End where they studied the infrastructure and recycling of building materials which helped them to realize how one can combine the environment with modern day development. The next day, the children arrived at the East End Pond while being accompanied by the National Trust. Here the children participated in a treasure hunt and they watched birds with binoculars. Continuing, the campers visited the marvellous Katouche Caves with Alvor Hodge as their guide. They viewed the formation of the cave and were told stories of people’s adventures such as Don Mitchell’s fall. Next, all the campers went horseback riding from El Rancho de Blues and toured the Blowing Point area. Here they were able to witness the symbiotic relationship with nature. This trip was then followed up by an exciting voyage to Prickly Pear where the children relaxed, did a nature walk around the island, and had lunch at the Prickly Pear restaurant donated by Allan Ruan. They witnessed turtles, bird nests and jelly fish. This trip was made possible by five boats donated by Cap Juluca, Special D (Duggy Carty), and Funtime. Finally, the children went to Dolphin Fantaseas and spent a fun and relaxing day there.
Although the field trips are of great importance to the children, there are many other aspects of the camp worth mentioning. During the camp, Linda Gratton spearheads a swimming initiative in which she makes certain that all campers can swim by the end of the experience. She works diligently and many long hours to assist the children in achieving swimming skills. Even though some children are terrified of the water, at the end, all children eventually make it through the swimming portion thanks to her devotion and dedication. Also, at the end of the camp, there is a large sleepover at Teacher Art’s house on the tennis court where ghost stories are told at night and the next morning is followed up with a trip to Barnes Bay. Throughout the camp, all participants receive prizes and have a splendid time.

I asked J, “as a young man and the head student teacher of Camp Be Aware, what are your thoughts?” J replied, “although I was a little discouraged, it really paid off because I was able to handle things I didn’t think I could. I played a big role in the camp and it was a privilege for me.” When asked his impressions of the camp, Teacher Art replied, “It went well. We teach responsibility, leadership skills, and learning about the environment while making sure the kids have fun. I started this camp so that kids could have fun, and they certainly did.” In total, between donations in kind and in money, Camp Be Aware costs almost USD $15, 000 to run each summer. I was made aware of many of the major sponsors and I think they are worth mentioning because without their help, the camp could not have been made possible. They are: Social Security Board, Department of Education, The Chief Minister’s Office, The Anguilla Printers, Digicell, Tackle Box, Cap Juluca, Ashley and Sons, Troon Golf, MAICO, Fair Play Management, Special D Diving, Caribbean Silk Screen, Dolphin Fantaseas, NBA, CCB, ANGLEC, and Scotiabank. If any sponsors were regrettably omitted, I apologize.

All in all, Camp be Aware is doing its part in the community to help children better themselves. I must say again how impressed I am with this program, its coordinators, and especially J. He is a fine young man with great potential and he is serving as a positive role model for the youth. Congratulations to Camp Be Aware for yet another successful year.

If you know of any programs, organizations, people, or children that are doing great things in the community, please e-mail to jallen@caribcable.com.

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