Staff at the Sylvan Lake Municipal Library have set up a GoFundMe page that would allow the organization to send a teen to YouthWrite.
YouthWrite is a summer camp for teen’s ages 14-19, who are passionate about the arts.
At this camp they explore how to write, along with other types of arts such as dance and music.
The camp runs for six days from July 3-8 at Kamp Kiwanis in Bragg Creek.
Teens who go to this camp stay over night in a big log house with their peers.
They attend different classes of their choice and learn different artistic mediums of their own choosing.
The classes include journaling, song writing, dancing, music and many more.
Sylvan Lake Municipal Library programmer, Corrie Brown, attended the camp twice when she was a teenager and really enjoyed herself.
“It’s such a great experience especially for youth that write or perform,” Brown said. “It’s kind of a very select group within a community. To go to that place where you are completely surrounded by your peers. It is just such a great experience.”
She remembers how there would be nightly talent shows where the teenagers would watch the supervisors do hilarious and entertaining things. The teenagers would also get to share their own talents.
“It is such a great experience for youth,” Brown said. “This will be our second year sending a local teen there.”
A teen has yet to be picked out as the library is currently still in the fundraising stages.
Last year the library sponsored Mckenna Camac, a local teen from town. The library paid for her registration fee, a T-shirt and sent her with a digital camera to take photos of the camp.
Fundraising will continue until the end of May, unless funds are raised before then.
The registration fee is $625, plus the cost of a T-shirt and remaining funds will go towards buying a camera. The staff has currently raised around half of the total registration fee.
Once the funds have been raised library staff will start advertising for the competition. Staff hopes to have a teen selected by June.
Every little bit of money helps to send a teen to the camp. If people can’t donate money, they can help by spreading the word.
The go fund me page can be found at www.gofundme.com/ccshw4hc.
reporter@sylvanlakenews.com