Girl Power Camp

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Layne Fry, 10, works on
a friendship bracelet during Girl Power Tween Camp on the campus of Bowling Green State University.
(Photo: J.D. Pooley/Sentinel-Tribune)

As a college student, Tacy Dean remembers how challenging life can be as a "tweenager."
To lend a hand in easing their growing pains, the Owens Community College student is helping girls
between the ages of 9 and 13 bond with each other at the Bowling Green Parks and Recreation Girl Power
Tween Camp.
"With this age group, it’s all about becoming yourself. And It’s hard for them to find new friends
as they separate into different middle schools," said Dean, one of the counselors at the camp.
"Here we’re giving them a fun environment where they can make friends and have something to do in
the summer other than staying inside playing video games."
During the four-day camp, participants listened to guest speakers lecture about health and body image,
self-defense and etiquette, among other topics.
Campers worked on activities such as taking photographs, dancing, journaling, scrapbooking and cake
decorating.
Bowling Green Middle School student Dariona, 12, participated in the camp for the first time this summer.

"It’s fun. It gives you something to do during the day," she said.
Since she likes art class at school and makes rainbow loom bracelets at home, Dariona said she is
enjoying the camp’s arts and crafts activities.
"I liked taking pictures outside. I like photography and Instagram," she said.
Several week-long day camps including Games Galore, Wet-N-Wild Water Olympics and Artapalooza are hosted
during an eight-week period every summer to engage children in summer activities, said Kristin Otley,
recreation manager.
The Girl Power Tween Camp, hosted at the Women’s Center at Bowling Green State University and sponsored
by the Zonta Club of Bowling Green, is a specialty camp intended to give girls their own space away from
the preschoolers’ camps in City Park to work on leadership and team building, Otley said.
"We get to know the girls on day one, find out what they’re interested in and try to do the things
the girls specifically want to do," she said. "If the kids have a particular interest that we
can’t address here, the counselors can steer them to other camps we host and events that they might
like."
The camp was specifically created to address the ever-changing needs of "tweens," she said.
"We started to see a drop off in our camp programs at that age because they’re interested in other
things. What works for 6- or 7-year-olds won’t work for them," Otley said. "Here, we make them
feel more grown up and teach them things they need to know but just aren’t getting anywhere else."

The addition of two college-aged counselors are also a plus, giving campers "role models" to
look up to, Otley said.
"We make sure we get staff out here that they can feel comfortable with," she said. "We
have a respectful theme that we try to get through to the kids in all of our programs so that later,
when they don’t have the staff role models around, they can remember it."

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