I spent the past two weeks working on a community and leadership-building project as part of the St. Paul Public School's TeenVenture Summer Camps. The objective was an Empty Bowls initiative to raise awareness and funding for St. Paul's Keystone Community Services Agency.
The kids at the camp were grouped into various roles including Marketing, Packaging, Sales, and my group, Bowl-Making. I led them through the process of making clay bowls from beginning to end. I had two groups making pots, twenty kids in each group, with a couple youth leaders to help out. The youth leaders couldn't resist the clay and joined in to make bowls of their own, so the end result was 46 bowls that would be sold to raise money for the designated recipient.
The kids used molds to form the general shape of the bowl and then added individual stamps, engravings, and patterns to make each unique. After bringing their pieces home for the weekend to fire, I returned the following week with all of their outstanding bowls ready for glazing. (They had been so careful in the building process that there was not one single casualty in the kiln!)
The patient deliberation of the students to add the underglaze colors with fine-detailed brushes was striking. The end results were truly impressive and I heard comments like "awesome," "beautiful," and "I'm going to ask my dad to buy mine!" as they smiled and beamed with pride while I uncovered each finished piece. Then they packed each up individually and headed out to various St. Paul locations to sell their special wares.
Learning to be part of a community and think about the greater good is a mature thought. I think the kids in this camp are that much closer to grasping this concept and making an impact of their own after attending this camp. I feel very fortunate to have been a part of the Empty Bowls project with them and having witnessed the color and beauty that was added to our community with their talent and goodwill.
