Seminars, Work Rotations, and Preparations – oh my!

by Julianna Burlet, Vanguard

Here in the Northwoods, we Vanguards like to keep busy. Since last Thursday, we have had two and a half days of an intensive seminar, three work days, and lots of time spent planning Thanksgiving. Never a dull moment!

Starting Thursday night after dinner and continuing through Saturday night, we had the great privilege of learning from Dr. Matt Milliner and Drs. Amy and Lance Peeler. The focus of this seminar was the Advent season, and we specifically tackled the question “What does it mean to be human?” So basically after two and a half days of sessions with three brilliant professors, we totally have all of the answers. Kidding! But it was truly a incredible learning experience. We learned and took notes in the classroom, but also had chances to put our learning into action by creating picture art in nature (inspired by Andy Goldsworthy), and even composing a song in small groups! Walking away from the seminar it’s impossible to have a perfect definition of what it means to be human, but we undoubtedly gained new perspectives that we now have the ability to explore with one another throughout the course of the year.

This year we will go through three 6-week work rotations. Today is the last day of our first work rotation. As we wrap up our time working around different parts of camp – grounds, construction, housekeeping, kitchen, barn, and office – there’s a mutual feeling of excitement for whatever our next rotation may bring, but we’re all definitely going to miss parts of our old jobs. We hope and pray that those who get assigned to outdoor jobs stay warm as the winter starts to ramp up here!

About a week from now, the majority of our families will be arriving on camp for “A Very Vanguard Thanksgiving”! Our four committees – activities, fundraising, worship, and hospitality, especially – have been working hard in terms of meetings, coordination, and preparation to give our families a big HoneyRock welcome! We are in charge of all of the programming and Thanksgiving dinner, no small task, but luckily for the 12 of us, many hands make light work! We’re all very excited to spearhead this event and also get to see our families!

It’s crazy to think we’ve only been here two months considering the deep friendships we’ve built and countless things that we’ve learned – both inside and outside the classroom – I know we all feel extremely blessed to have been able to share the past two months together and look forward to the next seven!

Thanks you for all your prayers! This is Vanguard signing off for now!

— Julianna, Vanguard