by Shreehari Srinivasan
From August 10th to August 12th, 2022, at Chinmaya Boston in Andover, MA, campers from across the United States engaged in several activities ranging from discourse to dodgeball from 9 am to 5 pm. The camp’s focus was “Stronger than Pressure” focusing on how to overcome the countless pressures faced in the world. Vivekji and Shankarji taught the campers 9 steps to follow in order to reduce the effect of pressure. Vivekji also led a workshop called Vitamin R3 for the campers that consisted of 20 minutes each of reading, writing, and reflecting to help campers begin to learn and self-reflect.
Besides teaching, Shankarji from Pittsburgh, PA was also able to engage the campers with fun activities such as dodgeball, charades, and taboo. Sevaks cooked and provided the campers with a wonderful healthy lunch. CHYKs led athletics every day to help campers explore outside of their comfort zone and work together as a team. Although each day in athletics got progressively more intense, the campers enjoyed it more and more. Later in the day, CSKs and CHYKs also led workshops and a Q&A for the campers to help them apply the teachings in their own life or ask questions that were on their mind. Throughout the program, campers were able to have open 1-on-1 chats with Vivekji and Shankarji about anything on their minds, which helped the youth in general. Overall, the feedback from the campers was very positive and the camp was very successful.