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When summer time arrives
the average child is excited to go on vacation, chill, relax, go to
sporting camps, etc. However this July there were sixty selected bãlaks
from all over North America who showed their excitement in a unique
way to become ãdarsh for a common goal of bringing BAPS further.
These bãlaks were not just average but they were above and
beyond average. These balaks were selected to come to the annual National
Summer Training Camp to sit in various different workshops, classrooms,
study, take tests, and quizzes, etc. Now let us be honest not a single
soul including you and me feel the need to study or read outside the
nine months in which we are in school. These bãlaks took all
this in a positive manner and decided to attend the STC 2006 for duration
of two weeks from July 9, 2006 to July 22, 2006, in Chicago, Illinois.
With the aim of molding future karyakars and the leaders of tomorrow,
the camp had a rigorous schedule filled with classes, workshops, and
activities.
Each day of the Summer Training
Camp had a different theme that highlighted important aspects of satsang,
such as asmita, dharma, atmiyata, seva, satpurush, etc. On each day,
classroom sessions were related to these themes. For example, on Sanskruti
Din, the classes were "Proud to Be a Hindu" and "Mera
Bharat Mahan." Furthermore, there was a Gujarati class every
day that all balaks had to go to, depending on their level.
Also, each balak attended 2
separate talent development workshops, choosing from Writing or Microsoft
Office. In addition to this, every balak that attended the camp received
training in playing classical Indian instruments - either tabla or
harmonium, and public speaking.
To give the bãlaks
the “real camping” experience in addition to their usual
training and education, the bãlaks were taken in a luxurious
coach bus to the Lake Monroe Camp Ground for a total of five days,
from July 12th to July 16th.
The balaks also took part in a variety of games and activities throughout
the camp to help them get better acquainted with one another. These
included a volleyball tournament, kirtan antakshari, satsang taboo
and many more. Though the balaks had a full schedule, with as many
as nine hours of class time in a day, the fourteen days flew by in
quickly, leaving memories to last a lifetime.
Due to the grace and inspiration of Param Pujya Pramukh Swami Maharaj,
this training camp turned out to be a huge success.
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