Tom Farley does all of the CYO Dances every month at Oaks Park for CYO 7th and 8th graders.  He does a great job for CYO and we are really proud to share this news clip on Tom.

Bryan and MaryAnn Stewart, the CYO Middle School Dance Coordinators have worked with Tom Farley, the CYO DJ, for the past 7 years and have this to say about Tom: “In working with Tom for the past 7 years at the CYO Middle School Dances we have come to appreciate his skill as a DJ. Tom has been extremely helpful ensuring our mission of offering a safe, fun and appropriate environment for  several hundred youth who attend each of the dances.  We recently saw Tom featured as a Community Hero on KATU news. It was evident that Tom uses his position of a DJ as a mission showing dignity and respect to all that he works with.  We are honored to work with such a wonderful individual, who clearly shares our mission and values here at CYO/Camp Howard!”

http://www.katu.com/news/specialreports/147415925.html?tab=video

Next CYO Dance is April 20th open to all current CYO 7th and 8th Graders – sign up on the CYO Website if you haven’t been before!

It was a special night at the Rose Garden for CYO Volunteers, Staff and Friends as nearly 50 gathered to spend an evening of fun and relaxation at the Rose Garden.  Highlight of the evening was watching Phil Kent, CYO Coach from St. Joseph in Vancouver honored for his work with Seton Catholic High School Girls Volleyball.  Coach Kent has coached for several years and turned out some exceptional teams.  congratulations Coach Kent!

Special thanks to Jolie Abraham Phanton for setting up the evening for the group!

We are now in the season of Eastertide and it lasts until Pentecost – the time in which the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles – 50 days after the Resurrection of Christ!  Many Catholic Schools are given Easter Monday off to honor the sacredness of this Holy Day and season.  

Today is the day that gives meaning to my whole life.  If Jesus had not risen from the dead then it would not make sense for me to be a Sister or to work at CYO/Camp Howard.  The world would not need me in either place as they would not exist.  The fact that He DID rise from the dead gives an awesome meaning to everything I do.

Thought to ponder – How does Easter make a difference in your life?

God Bless You

Sr. Krista

Karen von Borstel is the Facility Manager at Camp Howard and an excellent writer.  She is our guest blogger today writing about her observations of sixth graders attending Multnomah county Outdoor School Program at the Camp Howard site.

Wet day at Camp Howard April 2012

The first yellow school busses arrived at Camp Howard today, loaded with 6^th graders participating in Outdoor School.  As the busses passed by the house I could hear the kids singing their camping songs, so excited to be here.  Camp greeted them with a spring hailstorm and Outdoor School Counselors lining the road singing as the busses went past them.   The students departed the busses in their rain coats with their waterproof shoes, laughing and singing, oblivious to the hail, and I was able to watch Camp Howard come alive once again with the infectious joy these children bring with them.

Camp has been resting the past few months, catching her breath, as we put some new boards up, painted here and there, and repaired a toilet or 2.  The wildlife has taken over camp.  The robins have moving in, conducting their mating rituals and patrolling the fields for worms.  The camp deer wander through camp taking time to lie down and nap if they wish.  The 4-point bull elk that wintered in camp just shed his antlers in the upper field.   It will take a few days for them to adjust to the new arrivals, but they will, and the campers will be so excited to catch a glimpse of the animals and birds.

Outdoor School students will begin their day here at 7:00AM wakeup and then report to the Dining Hall for 7:15 table setting, flag raise, and the weather report.  They will eat a hot, hearty, breakfast prepared for them in the kitchen, then on to cabin clean up and camp duties.  At 9:00AM they report to Field Studies where they will learn about soils, water, plants, and animals.  At noon they will eat another great hot lunch and they will be hungry.  They will have walked several miles by now, through the woods, in all types of weather.  They will devour that lunch and then head back out to Field Studies.  At 4 PM it is snack time and then recreation.  At 5:30PM they will have their evening flag ceremony, do their weather report, and prepare for 6PM dinner.  This dinner will be a big hot homemade meal with hot homemade rolls topped off by dessert.  They will eat like High School Football players.   At 8PM they will have campfire and then lights out by 9:45PM.  They will lay in their bunkbeds hearing noises they have never heard before, giggling, turning their flashlights on and off, scaring one another, walking to the bathhouse in pairs, whether they really need to go or not, just experiencing the night in the woods.

They will spend the remainder of the week here, walking miles every day, making new friends, experiencing nature like most of them never have in their lives.  It is a wonderful experience just watching this process.  What an adventure!  They will leave Friday, worn out, but with memories they will hang onto forever.