Podcast Episode - The Good Life Camp Part 1, with Melinda McKevett-Isham
This summer Lac Courte Oreilles Child Support Services (LCO CSS) launched the Good Life Camp, its first-ever cultural camp for youth.
About the Good Life Camp
Held at Camp Highlands in Sayner, Wisconsin, the week-long overnight culture camp for tribal youth brought together 31 children (20 boys and 11 girls) aged 11–13 from the Lac Court Oreilles community to learn about their culture, history, language, values, and practices. Like the larger Good Life Vision project that it’s part of, the camp is intended to encourage young people to make good choices about their future with a full vision of living the Good Life.
The Podcast
On this episode of News from Peak, Melinda McKevett-Isham, a Child Support Specialist with LCO CSS and the project lead for the camp, gives us insights into the goals of the camp, how it turned out, the lessons learned, and the impact she has already seen on the youth and the community at large. She also talks about the long-term vision for camp and the youth who participate as campers and counselors.
This is the first of three interviews about the Good Life Camp. Subsequent hope will provide a thorough understanding of the complexity and importance of the camp and its impact on youth in the LCO community.
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TRANSCRIPT of this podcast episode can be found here.
Sponsored by the Lac Courte Oreilles Child Support Program as part of a federal 1115 grant through the Administration for Children and Families’ Office of Child Support Enforcement, the Good Life Camp provided training in the Ojibwe language and taught protocols for song and dance and Ojibwe regalia, while also making sure campers understood the meanings behind them and their connections to the larger culture and the kinds of choices and values youth should bring to their own decisions about parenting.
The campers also gained first-hand experience into how environmental and conservation sciences are used in Ojibwe culture and in the traditional uses of natural resources. Alongside all of this, campers had ample opportunities for swimming, archery, and traditional crafts. A celebration feast and award ceremony rounded out the week, giving parents, caregivers, and other family members a chance to celebrate the campers’ many achievements.
Every part of the camp experience—including wonderful meals and transportation to and from the camp, as well as sleeping bags, water bottles, t-shirts, and backpacks filled with other necessities—was provided at no cost to the campers.