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 8th 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!
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| Special Projects at Craft Night |
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| Learning great skills |
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| High Rise Trampoline Park fun! |
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