We’re a bit late getting this onto the web. A couple weeks ago, we were celebrating DuBois Center 2019 campers and leaders from Week #3. Many were registered and excited about returning this summer… before the health crisis struck. We MISS YOU and have a bunk with your name on it for next summer! A big thumbs up to our Just You & Me, Boy Meets Camp and Settler campers! If you haven’t already done so, like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram to see more photos and stay connected.
Join Chaplain Windsong (Tarrah Vaupel), DuBois Center staff, volunteers and camp families for another virtual campfire this TONIGHT at 7pm. This week’s event will be packed with songs, skits, stories and family fun. We hope you’ll join us.
Timing an issue? Videos are available to view after the initial release, however the chat feature is only available with the initial viewing.
If you would like to be a part of the cast – create a goofy skit with your family or share your favorite silly jokes and riddles. Remember to SPEAK LOUDLY! Send videos or written jokes and riddles to our YouTube email address – dbcprogramoffice@gmail.com. Be sure to keep submissions clean and positive! No put-downs allowed! All items will be reviewed for appropriateness and some may be saved for upcoming editions. Your submission implies consent for DuBois Center to use the submission in items produced and shared by DuBois Center.
This week on Facebook, Instagram and during our virtual campfire, we are celebrating DuBois Center 2019 campers and leaders from Week #2. Many were registered and excited about returning this summer… before the health crisis struck. We MISS YOU and have a bunk with your name on it for next summer! A big thumbs up to our Splash! – Trail Mix – Wrangle – Xplore campers!
We are also celebrating five graduating high school seniors this week. Congrats to Isaiah, Meredith, Paige, Sam and Wendy! All are long-time DuBois Center campers, and this would have been their last summer as DBC youth campers.
If you haven’t already done so, like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram to see more photos and stay connected.
We are highlighting week #2 in 2019 for this third week in 2020 because the sessions in weeks 2 & 3 swapped places between 2019 and 2020.
Join Pastor Skippy (Rev. John Holst), DuBois Center staff, volunteers and camp families for our THIRD virtual campfire this Tonight at 7pm. This week’s campfire will be packed with songs, skits, stories and family fun.
If you would like to be a part of the cast – create a goofy skit with your family or share your favorite silly jokes and riddles. Remember to SPEAK LOUDLY! Send videos or written jokes and riddles to our YouTube email address – dbcprogramoffice@gmail.com. Be sure to keep submissions clean and positive! No put-downs allowed! All items will be reviewed for appropriateness and some may be saved for upcoming editions. Your submission implies consent for DuBois Center to use the submission in items produced and shared by DuBois Center.
If all goes as planned, we hope to join together around the campfire on these Thursday nights – June 25, July 9 and 16. Each of these, except the last one, would have been the nights of our closing campfires this summer. We hope you’ll join us.
Timing an issue? Videos are available to view after the initial release, however the chat feature won’t be available.
Our first ever virtual campfire aired last Thursday night at 7pm and is now available to view online. Join us “live” this Thursday at 7pm for the second edition – even more staff and volunteers will be joining us. This week’s campfire will be packed with songs, skits, stories and family fun. We are adding a segment with silly jokes and riddles!
You can share your favorites by submitting them in video or written form to our YouTube email address – dbcprogramoffice@gmail.com. Be sure to keep the jokes clean and positive! No put-downs allowed! Remember to SPEAK LOUDLY! All submissions will be reviewed for appropriateness and some may be saved for later editions. Your submission implies consent for DuBois Center to use the submission in items produced and shared by DuBois Center.
If all goes as planned, we hope to join together around the campfire on these Thursday nights – June 18 and 25, July 2, 9 and 16. Each of these, except the last one, would have been the nights of our closing campfires this summer. We hope you’ll join us. Watch for details. The link will be available each Thursday.
This week on Facebook and Instagram, we are celebrating DuBois Center 2019 campers and leaders from Week #1. Many were registered and excited about returning this summer… before the health crisis struck. We MISS YOU and have a bunk with your name on it for next summer!
A big thumbs up to our Just You & Me, Quest, Settler, Horsin’ Around and Trekkin’ It campers! If you haven’t already done so, like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram to stay connected.
Join us tonight at 7pm
Miss the crackle of the campfire? Singing silly songs with your counselors? Making s’mores with friends? Listening to inspiring words from chaplains? Praying together under the stars? SO DO WE!!
It won’t be the same, but staff and volunteers are working on creative ways to share some of these favorites with campers and their families via virtual campfires. The first release is scheduled for 7 pm on Thursday, June 11. That would have been the first closing campfire of Summer 2020. We hope you’ll join us.
Four of our 2019 Summer Program Staff are graduating this month! Since graduations will be so different this year, we wanted to celebrate this milestone with them here.
Mtipe Koggani AKA Amani graduated from Eden Theological Seminary on Friday night, May 15. It was a virtual ceremony – which was different – but it did allow friends and family from around the world to join him! Hailing from Tanzania, Mtipe graduated with a Masters of Theological Studies. Due to the current health crisis, his plans are still in the works. He was accepted at Princeton University Graduate School, but is also exploring the possibility of a one-year commitment to Deaconess Anne House in St. Louis, which is part of the Episcopal Service Corps.
Mtipe is a gifted musician who sings, plays the piano and now the ukulele. He brought his years of successful experience working with children, youth and young adults in ministry settings to DuBois Center. Mtipe’s goal for his time at camp was to immerse himself in another culture and work with young people from backgrounds very different than his own. Though nervous at first, especially about the horses and the lake – he embraced the experience. He even learned to ride and swim at DuBois Center and now enjoys both immensely! In fact, one of his favorite memories from last summer was a dock to dock swim – which he completed. He also loved playing on the water mat with campers and staff!
Mtipe worked with every age group at DuBois Center from the youngest campers and their adults in Just You & Me Camp to high schoolers in X-Plore and related well to all of them. Mtipe is one of the most positive, gentle and kind people I have ever met; many, many others echoed this sentiment as well. His camp name is Amani, which in Swahili means peace. This is especially fitting for two reasons – PeaceWorks was our theme last summer and Mtipe embodies the word.
CONGRATS Mtipe!
Four of our 2019 Summer Program Staff are graduating this month! Since graduations will be so different this year, we wanted to celebrate this milestone with them here.
Bailey Reichert AKA Minnow will be graduating from Illinois Wesleyan University with a Bachelors of Science in Biology and a minor in Psychology. Illinois Wesleyan has postponed graduation until August, so she is hoping to actually walk with her class – live and in person. Bailey is moving to Carbondale and plans to finish some prerequisite courses before applying to an accelerated nursing program. After a year in that program, she will have a second Bachelors – this one in Nursing.
Bailey attended summer camp at DuBois Center in 2016 and then spent most of the summer of 2017 volunteering as a counselor. She joined our summer staff team in 2018 and returned in 2019 as our Waterfront Coordinator. When asked about a favorite memory from last summer, she couldn’t pick just one. She especially enjoyed returning to the rustic cabins for a week of counseling during High School Week and the evening of wacky relays at the waterfront. Bailey loves to sing, dance and act! Spending time with the horses and at the waterfront are two of her favorites activities, but she’s also a fan of candle times, crafts, creek walks, water games and almost anything DuBois! One of the many gifts Bailey brought to our staff was her organizational skills.
In addition to a heavy course load and work schedule, Bailey served on the Executive Council of her sorority – Kappa Delta – for three years and as the president for 2019. These experiences only served to strengthen her administrative and leadership skills. Bailey’s attention to detail, creative program planning, and the care she extended to campers and staff were an asset to our team.
CONGRATS, Minnow!
