Rogers Ozone gains New Director: T.C. Shippy!

T.C. Shippy is a native of Odessa, MO (which is not the Odessa from Friday night lights) which is right outside of Kansas City. He has worked at CWE as a counselor for the past two summers and has just recently graduated from Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, MO with a Biblical Studies degree. He is engaged to a wonderful girl from his hometown and is excited to begin his married life in NWA serving the community of Rogers as an Ozone Director.  We are thankful to have TC join our staff and look forward to all he will contribute to the team. Learn more about T.C. below!

The 3 words that describe me:

Buzzkill, handy, trustworthy

My favorite camp memory:

When I was able to go to the cove with my cabin and blob while wearing my signature full body, extremely heavy when wet Pooh bear suit.

Five things that would be part of my Best Day EVER:

Mountains

Snow

Imax premier of a brand new movie that isn’t going to come out for few months

My soon to be wife and friends

A brazilian steak house.

My Favorite thing about 365:

That the amazing youth and counselors that I loved and grew with during the last two summers are just a phone call away.

The personal attribute/ability i'm most excited to bring to the CWE365 staff:

I can relate to a lot of different people and am glad that I get to use that to meet so many new people from different backgrounds.

If I could create any camp special event (or bring back an old one with updates) what it would be:

Space Travelers- which is full of intergalactic games, alien and Star Wars/Trek themed costumes and a school bus converted into a Millennium Falcon.

Camp War Eagle Mentoring Program's Events this Year

When you’re a “camp person” and the weather begins to turn cold, you have to find a way to make your own fun. Thankfully, there are plenty of options for good times when you’re part of the Camp War Eagle Mentoring Program. While the school based mentoring program has adult mentors visit students in Fayetteville and Springdale weekly at school, there are also several opportunities for mentors and kids to connect in the midst of other mentor matches in the community.  The last few months have been full of some really fun opportunities through the program.

Our Fall Festival was held in October and the day kicked off with an awesome waffle bar breakfast. Kids and their mentors came dressed in costumes for a costume contest. Pumpkins were carved with great mastery, pictures were taken of the mentoring matches, and face painting left everyone looking colorful. Everyone left with big smiles on their faces and lots of fall candy. It was a chance for mentors and kids to build a bond together through competition and activity!

As the temperature dropped, we began to look toward Christmas and all the hustle and bustle it brings. The chill of the air brought in the need for a night of warm soup at our Christmas Craft Night. We split up the group; the guys learned some new woodworking skills and created a Christmas gift of a candle-holder they made from scratch. The girls worked really hard on painting Christmas tree centerpieces that would later be used at the Camp War Eagle Community Christmas dinner. It was such a great time to be together and focus on the meaning and joy of Christmas. The students and mentors both got a chance to flex their creativity, learn new skills and serve others in a tangible way!

In January, we got a little antsy and decided we needed to jump off some energy. So, we hosted a big night at High Rise Trampoline Park in Rogers. Wow, it was so much fun. Kids jumped, flipped, dunked, and bounced until they had nothing left but jelly legs. We received many requests to do this on another night, and lots of questions as to when Camp War Eagle will get it’s own trampoline park! The year 2015 was kicked off to a great start with this night and it was so fun seeing mentors and mentees having so much fun together! Harold Crow, mentor of Logan, an 8^th grader from Springdale, recounted why it was special to them, “my mentee learned how to do a backflip on a trampoline for the first time! It was fun to teach him something like that and share the excitement together. It was awesome.”

We are looking forward to lots more events through the mentoring program this year, and many more opportunities to invest in the lives of children in Northwest Arkansas through mentoring!

Special Projects at Craft Night

Learning great skills

High Rise Trampoline Park fun!

What Are We Learning? Primetime and Summit

This semester is all about helping the students apply what they have learned throughout their involvement in the year round program. Last semester our focus was on the foundation of who God is, and now our focus is going to be on applying that foundation to the lives of the students. Below is the schedule and description about how we are going to achieve our goal this semester.

Weeks 1-4 (Jan 13- Feb 5) will be focusing on testimonies, which will include four different leaders telling their personal stories about how God has impacted and changed their lives through Jesus and his teaching. We hope to encourage the students to be comfortable with telling their testimonies through this, as well as teaching them to recognize God's work in their lives and the lives of others.

Weeks 5-6 (Feb 10- Feb 19) will be starting a two-week series on learning how to read the Bible. We will be using Ephesians 2:1-10 as our passage of focus, and help the youth to ask questions and interact with the Bible using this great piece of Scripture about redemption.

Weeks 7-9 ( Feb 24-Mar 12) are going to focus on the person of Jesus and why we should put our faith in him. By discussing different stories in the gospel, we will understand better who Jesus says he is and what he came to do.

Week 10 (Mar 17, 19) is a week preparing the youth for the Spring Break retreat, which is going to focus the book of Philippians and the theme HOLDING FAST to Jesus.

Weeks 11-14 (Mar 31- Apr 23) are going to be our final weeks of Club for this school year! This is where we are going to drive home everything we have been teaching this semester by looking at questions that people asked Jesus, or questions that Jesus asked his followers. Asking ourselves some of these same questions will be the perfect way to finish a great year.

We are looking forward to teaching and learning with our students! Come to club each week to get involved in what's happening!

Rogers Ozone Gains New Director: Bonnie Black!

Rogers Ozone gained a new director in Bonnie Black, this January. Bonnie, a native of NWA who attended Rogers schools herself, has spent the past 3 summers at Camp War Eagle in both counselor and top staff roles. After graduating from John Brown University of Siloam Springs in December, she moved back to Rogers to join the CWE365 staff. We're excited to share in all the joy and blissful happiness she'll bring to the organization! Bonnie shared more about herself, below.

Describe yourself in 3 words: quick to laugh

What attribute about yourself are you most excited to bring to the CWE365 staff?

I'm excited to bring a perspective of someone who grew up in Northwest Arkansas. 

What are you looking forward to teaching/ sharing with campers?

I am really excited to join campers in their journey of knowing God and learning how to follow Him faithfully in day to day life. I am also stoked to share my love for celebrating the small victories in life.

5 things that would be involved in my best day ever:

1. Swedish fish

2. A car full of friends on a road trip

3. My cat patterned shoes

4. Live music

5. Mexican food

What's your thing about ozone so far?

I absolutely love going to school lunches.

What's one of your favorite camp memories?

My favorite camp memories always involve the oldest girls campout. There is always lots of laughter, good food from the campfire, and every better conversation.

If you could create any new special event for Camp War Eagle, what would it be?

I would also create a cat appreciation special event where everyone dresses up as cats and dance to songs with meows instead of lyrics.