Finding friendship, fun and faith at summer camp

JUST OVER thirty years ago two young women, Teresa from rural New Brunswick, Jane from rural Nova Scotia, were “sent” to a week-long camp for youth. That reluctant start has grown into a life-long friendship. Even with almost 3000 km now between them, they still consider each other close and supportive friends. Jane Neish, a teacher in Rankin Inlet, and Teresa d’Entremont, a victim services officer in Yarmouth, N.S., both say they owe a lot of what they hold in common to the influence of St. Michael’s Youth Conference (SMYC).  

Posted Date : 2024-03-23 11:10:00

Photo: Sue Careless

By Siobhan Laskey

JUST OVER thirty years ago two young women, Teresa from rural New Brunswick, Jane from rural Nova Scotia, were “sent” to a week-long camp for youth. That reluctant start has grown into a life-long friendship. Even with almost 3000 km now between them, they still consider each other close and supportive friends. Jane Neish, a teacher in Rankin Inlet, and Teresa d’Entremont, a victim services officer in Yarmouth, N.S., both say they owe a lot of what they hold in common to the influence of St. Michael’s Youth Conference (SMYC).   

Conversing a few days ago, it wasn’t long before they were sharing remembrances from SMYC, and catching up on news of other “Michaelites” who now live around the world.  As Neish says, “St Michael’s is not your regular church camp. Yes, there is daily morning and evening prayer, and classes to attend. Yet these classes can be wonderful opportunities to think seriously about one’s faith and to ask questions. And of course there’s the daily fun! Being able to pray, worship, play and socialize together as young Christians was deeply formative for me as a teenager. St Michael’s is a place where lasting memories and life-long friendships are made.”

St. Michael’s Youth Conference-Maritimes began in 1987, and has operated continuously since then with the exception of two years during COVID.  SMYC is for 12- to 19-year-olds who are looking to explore faith and make new friends while having a lot of fun in an outdoor camp setting. The 2024 Conference will be held August 19-24 at Camp Wildwood near Bouctouche, New Brunswick. Over the years Michaelites have come from all three Maritime Provinces as well as Quebec and Ontario.     

At SMYC young people and leaders come together to form a community. Each cabin has a dedicated counsellor and through worship, study, discussion, recreation, and relaxation, the community seeks both a clearer vision of God in Jesus Christ and the strength and power to serve Him in the world.

Each day, after morning prayers and breakfast, Michaelites rotate through three sessions of courses under the themes of Bible, Theology and Spirituality. First-year Michaelites take mandatory courses, while those returning choose a course under each of the themes that delves more deeply into aspects of the faith. The upper-level courses – sometimes offered based on campers’ suggestions – change each year so returning conferees have diverse learning opportunities with instructors, both clergy and lay, who come from a variety of professional backgrounds. Instructors are full participants in all conference activities, so there is plenty of interaction outside classes – informal chats, road trips, recreation, and a healthy dose of ‘holy foolishness.’

Nicholas Saulnier, who came to SMYC as a young teen, has attended pretty much every year since, first as a camper, then as a counsellor and for the last two years as the Director.   Now, preparing to serve as a full-time chaplain in the Canadian Armed Forces, he notes that “Having gone to some other church-based camps, I was impressed with how serious and committed SMYC was to talking about faith in a relaxed setting. Worship was at the fore of all we did, and the relationships I was able to build with both staff and conferees have led to contacts throughout the Maritimes. I felt connected to people outside my own congregation, and now meet people I met through SMYC all over the place.”    

SMYC played a large role in his faith journey.  “It was important, for me, to be able to talk about church architecture, angels, Sacraments, the Bible, and so much more at that age, because it made the worship we did every Sunday have so much more meaning. Sure, I became a priest, but you don’t have to become a priest to have benefitted from all this teaching of the faith.”    

Ellery Furlong, who also went to the conference as a young teen, has stayed involved over the years.  He now lives and works in Ottawa. “My involvement with SMYC helped to give me confidence about my faith as a young adult when most of the people I was around were not religious or Anglican.”

After lunch, the rest of the days at SMYC are filled with recreational pursuits including field games, pool swims and water basketball, zip lining, scaling a climbing wall, canoeing, a trip to a local salt-water beach, learning about the outreach programs at a nearby parish, a movie night, skits or campfires.   

Unlike camps for younger children, where almost every minute is programed, SMYC recognizes the value in the campers having some free time to spend in one-on-one or small group conversation with each other and faculty – and even some time in solitude. The hope is that through the week everyone grows together in grace, as they experience more of Christ in nature, worship, Scripture and each other.     

On page 733 of the Book of Common Prayer’s section for use by families, there is a prayer for those preparing to leave home.  In part, it asks that God will grant for those “now going forth from us…courage, prudence, and self-control” and raise up for them “good friends”; preserving them from loneliness and keeping them under the protection of His good providence. The petitions of this prayer echo the hopes parents, and even youth themselves, might have for any summer camp experience – that in attending they will find lasting friendship, fun and faith.

With those hopes, d’Entremont supported her children wanting to attend SMYC. What these two high school students find in SMYC is the same community their mother had found. As Isabella says, “It can be hard to believe others my age hold the same faith I do and believe the same things I do. When you go to St. Michael’s you find others with the same kinds of struggles, questions and interests that find strength in the same faith as you.”    Isabella also enjoys that not all of the Michaelites come from one denomination, affording her the opportunity to learn from others.   

One of the goals of a residential camp like SMYC is to make space for face-to-face relationships in a world where so much of our time and interaction is de-personalized through technology.   

For Isabella’s sister, Eve, SMYC serves to build up shared community, encourage friendship and bolster relationships. “It isn’t only technology that occupies us, it’s the busy-ness of our lives – school, work, extra-curricular and family responsibilities. I have come to really look to the week at SMYC as an opportunity to slow down and focus on what is really important in my life. And, to get to do that with friends in a beautiful setting is a blessing.”

Even though d’Entremont and Neish had to be “sent” to their first St. Michael’s Youth Conference, it took them no time to recognize the difference in ‘St. Mike’s.’ They knew that there was attention given to the different needs and interests of youth who were facing choices about their futures. SMYC respected their points of view and encouraged them to ask their questions.  More importantly, they agreed, SMYC focused on encouraging them to develop a foundational relationship with God and with others.   TAP

 

For more on SMYC, see smyc.ca & smyc.ca/give

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