Occupying adolescents during the slow summer months can be a tall order. Enter “Commune with Our Community,” a camp for sixth through eighth graders offered by St. John’s Episcopal School last week. Led by St. John’s Middle School teachers Gwendolyn Chestnut and Linda King, the camp encouraged compassion and challenged campers to spend the week helping others.

Each day, campers completed a variety of community service projects. They packed food bags at White Rock Center of Hope, played bingo with residents at Juliette Fowler Homes, passed out survival kits at the Stewpot, cleaned up the shoreline at White Rock Lake, weeded at Jubilee Park, and worked in the Family Place Outreach Program.

Campers also spent time throughout the week writing letters to U.S. soldiers, making blankets and coloring books for Parkland Hospital, and collecting donations for the Stewpot survival kits. Sixth grader Lauren Chester says of her experience, “I loved this camp because while we had so much fun, we were helping all sorts of people and [places] around us.” Eighth grader Nathan Larkin seconded that with, “This week was a great new experience.”

Eighth grader Katherine Sitler-Elbel says of her morning spent packing food at White Rock Center of Hope, “I learned that people have really hard lives, and they appreciate everything – even the little things that we take for granted… Everyone can help, and everyone can make a difference.”

St. John’s summer camps run through July 17 and are open to all children four years old through eighth grade. Learn more at www.stjohnsschool.og/summer2009.