2nd DEFY Camp A Stellar Success
Story & photos by SPC Charles Ames
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The Wall. It's an imposing structure, towering 16’ above the drill floor of Camp Murray’s Building 33. It is a challenge even for experienced adults, and is one of many confidence builders used during the various programs conducted by the Washington National Guard's Drug Demand Reduction (DDR) Office. These programs are conducted conjunction with other local school, city, county and state programs aimed at enriching the lives of Washington youth. Today parents accompany their children - just graduated from the DEFY program - as they romp around the monolith's base, gearing up to ascend the 4-sided portable climbing structure.
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DEFY stands for Drug Education For Youth, but also gives these kids classes in crime prevention, gang awareness and violence prevention. There are pro-active events as well. The participants study self-image, individuality, physical fitness, hygiene, nutrition, safety, citizenship, authority, peer pressure, communication, conflict resolution and goal setting. The methods used are intended to instruct and reinforce decision-making skills, social responsibility and awareness and to develop an appreciation of cultural diversity.
The Wall is manned by members of the Washington Army National Guard's Special Forces and other trained climbers to ensure that a challenging experience does not become a dangerous one! One of the NCOs from Company A, 1-19th Special Forces is shown at right checking a local reporter for a safe connection. The entire structure can be broken down and transported by truck to locations such as schools and camp grounds used by the youth programs.
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"It’s fun and exciting. We learned a lot of new stuff we haven’t learned before," says 10-year-old Kayla. Her favorite part of the camp was the "Circle of Life". The kids are paired up, then one is blindfolded. The other vocally guides their masked peer into a circle scattered with various toys. The objective is to be sent to a toy of their choosing, without disturbing any of the other items, pick up their toy, then return via a different path. Then they swap roles.
The camp is supervised by 'Camp Leaders'. One of these, Ed Aviles, is a former Tacoma Police Officer and is now active in a number of programs focused on local youth. He is a Community Mobilization Specialist for the 'Weed and Seed' Program for the City of Tacoma, and is also active in Tacoma's 'Safe Streets' program. "We teach these kids the skills they need to have in order to become productive young citizens. It’s a great opportunity to be around these young people. I’m looking forward to coming back next year and gauging the results. One of our goals is to have them be our 'loudspeaker' when they go back to school. They can share their experiences and their skills on how to say ‘no’ to drugs and gangs with other young people, their peers."
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The participants are selected from 7 different schools within the area designated by the program. Tacoma high school students from Stadium, Foss, Lincoln and Bethel participated as mentors.
"I found about the camp through Lincoln High School because I am a ‘Village Model’", reports Margie, an assistant Camp Leader. "I really enjoyed the rock climbing and interacting with the kids and helping them out with their work and… how to say ‘no’ to drugs." The 'Village Model' program works through student role-models and draws it's name from the proverb "It takes a whole village to raise a child". These programs are aimed at build a better 'village'.
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Each year's Camp Director is elected from amongst the dozen or so Camp Leaders. This year's Camp Director was Pat MacGregor. "We had double the number of kids that we had last year. It was a lot of work. We had to gather up and recruit kids through the schools, contact the parents, have parent orientations, drive to houses to make sure that these kids actually got to camp".
"Making sure we had the facilities, cooks, and all the stuff needed to make the camp a success; that was my job. Everything went real smooth… the kids were there on time; last year kids would get there 45 minutes late, this year they were getting there fifteen minutes early! Last year was our first year... this year went far better. Next year we’re looking at getting more kids, maybe doing an overnight camp", said MacGregor.
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The defining moment for Pat occurred when Melody, a tiny 11-year-old camper faced The Wall. It took some time for her to get up about halfway, then she was uncertain if she could continue. "You could see it in her eyes. She wanted to get down. But the group never let her down. Everybody clapped and cheered for her and she climbed!" They say Melody grew a foot that day. "Now she’ll be able to go up to other people and say, ‘Hey, you shouldn’t use drugs’, whereas before I don’t think she would have been able to do that."
As the 38 graduates return to their schools in September word of mouth will provide the program with quite a bit of free advertising. "When the kids go into the schools, they’re the ones doing the promoting. By the time I get into the school, kids come right up to me and and ask to join the DEFY program! Whatever the kids learn, they go out and start teaching the other kids. It’s more than I ever could have imagined," said MacGregor. All this is merely Phase I of DEFY. Phase II will match adult volunteers to the program participants. They all meet a minimum of once a month for workshops and special events that will largely be selected by the kids
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Charles Potter is the Program Director for Safe Streets for the Tacoma area. He's happy with events to date but understands that the most important part is yet to come. "When school starts up, we'll be doing some mentoring and some additional leadership education." He asked us to stress that this was the result of a litany of departments spanning several aspects of government. Some of those who contribute to the program are:
- The City of Tacoma's 'Weed & Seed' program
- The City of Tacoma's 'Safe Streets'
- The Department of Justice, US Attorney’s Office
- The Department of the Navy
- And the Washington National Guard Drug Demand Reduction Program
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"I’m very glad that I actually was able to come here. I enjoyed my time here," says Chris, 12. "I learned how to cooperate as a team." Despite his fear of heights, and his unsuccessful attempt, his favorite part of camp is ‘The Wall’. But, he will be back next year.
Congratulations to the graduates of this years DEFY Camp! They will change their world... one student, one school, one neighborhood at a time.
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One aspect of the DEFY program is 'team building'. After the kids have had a chance to get to know one another each team creates their own unique 'flag' that will represent them at the camp's various events. These flags reflect the unique composition of their group. At graduation the teams each have a chance to describe their flag and it's meaning. The flags pictured below are from this years camp.
To find out more
about this and other National Guard youth programs call the
Drug Demand Reduction Program office at (253) 512-8008, or visit their website!
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