Youth develop skills in worship and arts at camp
NEWS
BY DAVID E. BOHNERT
UMCONNECTION CORRESPONDENT
?It?s altogether a fabulous camp.? ?I love the classes.? ?The teachers are amazing.? ?You learn a lot about yourself.? ?It?s everybody like me who loves God and loves music.?
These comments by some of the campers who attended the Youth Fellowship Worship and Arts Camp, July 10 to 16 at
The camp was started in 1974 as a youth choir retreat, said Sandy Pietrowicz, music director at William Watters Memorial UMC and registrar for the camp. Students who have completed grades 6 through 12 were eligible to attend.
The camp was held at the state-of-the-art performing arts center on the college?s campus. Youth from throughout the region developed their skills in drama, vocal and instrumental music, the visual arts, and academic offerings such as fundamentals of writing music, conducting, Bible study, planning for worship, sharing faith, and sound system applications, Pietrowicz said.
The goal of the camp, Pietrowicz said, was to provide fun and fellowship while equipping students to become leaders in their home churches. Each student enrolled in four of 27 classes offered. Teachers for the classes hold music positions in churches and are often full-time teachers as well, according to Pietrowicz. 
DAVID BOHNERT/UMCONNECTION
Jessica Schwartz, left, teaches campers the
art of playing guitar at the recent Worship and
Arts Camp.
The strenuous daily schedule includes two 90-minute choir rehearsals attended by every camper, a morning worship service, the four elective classes, and an hour or so of recreational and free time. Evening activities included a dance, a special concert and a talent show.
Victoria Stowell, 14, from Middletown UMC, has attended the camp for two years. ?I want to be an opera singer,? she said. ?My classes have broadened my vocal range and made me understand how much I love to sing that type of music.?
Another second year camper, Brittany Duff, 15, attends Epworth UMC in
Duff took three classes in drama this year, including classes in liturgical dance and clowning. ?I love clowning,? she said. ?I like being able to hold a character, and you get to act silly. Clowning brightens people?s days and you learn to know yourself more by portraying another character. It helps you know who you are.?
Several of the campers expressed concern about diminishing numbers of campers from year to year. More than 100 campers attended a few years ago. Today that number is just above 60. ?Everybody comes back,? said Chelsea McCauley, a fifth year camper, ?but the graduates are not being replaced.?
Jeff Martin, 18, has attended the camp for five years. He attends Calvary UMC in
A singer, Martin plans a career in music education and believes the camp has helped prepare him for that. ?It?s everybody like me who loves God and loves music,? he said. ?I?ve made friends that I hope I can keep for a lifetime,? he said. ?In one week, you get closer to people than people you see back at home. We interact on a deeper level.?
The Baltimore-Washington Conference Chapter of the Fellowship of United Methodists in Worship, Music, and Other Arts sponsors the Worship and Arts Camp.
Pietrowicz can be contacted at .
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