About TAF Juniors 2007

Our pictures are now available! Please check the links on the right!

Welcome Juniors, parents, families, and friends.

This TAF2007 Website is designed to let you know exactly what is going on within our Juniors Program. We look forward to seeing all of you and check back throughout the week for updates!

This years's theme is Leadership- with a SMILE :)

About the Junior Program...
Program Directors: Carrie Lin, Cindy Lee

The TAF Juniors are the youngest campers here in age, and the most valuable assets, for the represent our Taiwanese community's hopes and dreams. In every sense of the word, they are the Foundation from which our proud community has flourished and the source of our current and future leaders. Our theme this year is Leadership with a Smile, meaning we will be trying to convey a sense of what servant leadership means in our every day lives and the impact in can make in our communities.

We believe in the potential of every child and we see that it is our job to bring out that potential to light. We hope to empower our campers to explore the uniqueness of their identities, to recognize their ability to affect change, and to value the gifts that they possess. We do this through intentional involvement with the kids—whether it's through small group discussions, workshops, bedtime stories, or free time, we train our counselors to be pro-active in caring for the development of every camper that walks through our door. How the juniors program differs from the others is that it takes on a different form of interpersonal relationship with the campers. Because the content of program in itself is limiting, we are unable to go very deep into a topic through group discussions. However, we compensate this loophole through deliberate conversations and attentive ears. The activities that we plan for the kids are great, but that is neither our focus nor our way of accomplishing our goal. Direct contact is our method, meaning, we train ourselves to have purposeful conversations and interactions with the kids that would impact each camper and produce fruitful results.

-be respected and learn what it means to respect others
-recognize something special about themselves
-understand the impact they have on our communities
-to feel complete self-worth, self-esteem and self-confidence
-to find pride in their unique cultural background(s)
-to love and be loved unconditionally

Following on the theme of Servant Leadership, as counselors, we will try our best to serve our campers so that they receive the compassion and interest they deserve. Throughout our lessons, and the rest of the week, we hope to incorporate these kinds of positive encouragement in the child's every day life.

The Junior Program is for children in grades 1-5. Occasionally, the Program Directors will use their best judgment to determine if a child should spend one more year in the Junior program or move ahead into Junior High, and this can be discussed with parents.