Pretor, Prespa, Macedonia

July 5th- 8th ,2011

American Corner Bitola

Youth Leadership & Creative Writing

Camp 2011

Pretor, Prespa, Macedonia

July 5th- 8th ,2011

In order to enhance young people's creativity and generate

understanding of the concept of leadership, the American Corner

Bitola organized the Youth Leadership and Creative Writing Camp

2011 from 5th- 8th July. The Youth Leadership and Creative Writing

Camp 2011 was an amazing opportunity for the 24 participants to

learn more about the leadership concept through the various

workshops organized in the beautiful camp site in Pretor, in Prespa.

Traditionally, fourth year in a row, the Creative Writing Workshop also

took place during the four camp days. In the text bellow, you will find a short

overview of every presentation, workshop and event organized during the AC Bitola

Camp, as well as the results from the feedback forms which were filled by the

participants on the last day of the Youth Leadership and Creative Writing Camp

2011.

Watch the camp video!!! It was especially made for this Camp!

Pretor, Prespa, Macedonia

July 5th- 8th ,2011

Creative Writing Workshop

The first day of the camp started with the Creative

Writing workshop during which the participants

developed their English writing language skills and

searched for new ways of expressing their ideas.

Rozita Gjorgievska, Ivan Nikolovski, PCV Lauren

Hofer and AC Bitola Intern Zlatko Tasevski, the

ones in charge of this workshop, led the kids

through it with pleasure and ease during the four

camp days. The workshop started with the participants making their folders, and

continued with writing the Name acronym, which in the next days picked up to writing

poems, Sudoku puzzles, River stories and Plays. At the end of this outstanding

workshop the acting of the plays took place and every team got the chance to

present their work. The teams Awesomes, Steal Pillots, Wall Eggs and White snake

made the best theater for this summer!!!

Feedback form results: Like- 25; cannot decide- 2

Day 1- July 5th

Pretor, Prespa, Macedonia

July 5th- 8th ,2011

YMCA Leadership Workshop by Vikitor Iliev, president of YMCA Bitola

The schedule continued with

YMCA’s representative Viktor Iliev

for an interactive leadership

workshop. The participants were

fully involved and responded very

well to the practical applying of

team work by making wooden and

paper towers. Each group gave

their best and the workshop more

than successfully finished with

achieving the main goal-

understanding team work!

Feedback form results: Like-20;

cannot decide- 7

Interactive workshop on Negotiation by PCV Phebe Phillips

PCV Phebe Phillips stole the show from everyone with this

intro catchy line - “with the techniques I will teach you, you will

get what you want without letting them know”. Everyone paid

maximum attention and was eager to try negotiating

techniques with Phebe, face to face. Everyone present on this

workshop had the opportunity to reconfirm the truth about the

fact that communication means everything in today’s world,

and learning how to speak, think and act at the right time and

on the right place is essential.

Feedback form results: Like- 27

Pretor, Prespa, Macedonia

July 5th- 8th ,2011

Scrabble Tournament

The two hours after dinner on Day 1 were reserved for

developing the competitive spirit among participants.

Everyone did their best at the game of Scrabble. Filip

Joshevski and Stefan Tabakovski were the best in the

Scrabble competition and won awards from the AC Bitola.

Feedback form results: Like- 19; cannot decide- 8

Highlights of the Day

After every day filled with programs and

activities, it was time for the best

moments of the day!!! Videos were

made with the best photos of the day

and were screened so everyone was

eagerly waiting for the next photo and

laughing to the funniest moment during

that day.

Feedback form results: Like- 27

Pretor, Prespa, Macedonia

July 5th- 8th ,2011

“Kick like a girl” movie screening

Exhausted and ready to relax the children

headed into what they had known as the

working area only this time it was a movie

theater. The transformation struck them pretty

well and they “fought” their way to a chair as

near to the screen as possible. The campers

watched the documentary “Kick like a girl”

which as they stated “was really motivating and interesting to watch”. The daily

activities finished with the animated movie “Tanged”. After the movie the participants

bounced their way back to the bungalows- some sleeping on their feet and others

still full of energy and impressions from the day that passed. After an intense battle

to get them into bed, the staff was finally able to get off their feet and head to their

own beds.

Feedback form results: Like- 21; cannot decide- 6

Day 2- July 6th:

Visiting the Church of Kurbinovo

In the morning of Day 2, the long but fun walk to

the Church of Kurbinovo took place. After the

half an hour walk to the church, Meri Stojanova,

an ethnologist and tour guide from the NI

Institute and Museum Bitola, gave a great

presentation about the history and the

significance of the church and the Prespa region

as a whole. Nothing was left out- every story,

legend and detail about the church and the valuable frescos in it was explained fully.

It was obvious how much the children enjoyed

the adventure; it was expressed on their faces.

“You can’t go into the future without knowing the

past” is what some of them said. Feedback form

results: Like- 23; cannot decide- 4

Pretor, Prespa, Macedonia

July 5th- 8th ,2011

“The History of Leadership in Macedonia” by Meri

Stojanova

The past and the present leadership practices were compiled in

Meri Stojanova’ presentation about the variety of leadership

concepts and different approaches characteristic for the past

and nowadays governance. The evolution of leadership

represented in the “History

of leadership” convinced

everyone that great ideas

are not a special

characteristic of our time, but of all the ages

and nations through the centuries.

Feedback form results: Like- 15; cannot decide-

6; Dislike- 7

Red Cross First Aid presentation by Ivanco Cagorski, representative from Red

Cross Bitola

Ivanco Cagorski from the Red

Cross Bitola gave the participants

extraordinary tips on how to help

the people in danger and if

possibly, save their lives. The

techniques for giving first aid were

explained and everyone got the

chance to try this technique on the

life models- MatinI vanovski and

Stefan Dzalev. The essential

knowledge transferred to the

participant was a valuable and life lasting guide to saving someone’s life when there

is a need of it.

Feedback form results: Like- 23; cannot decide- 4

Pretor, Prespa, Macedonia

July 5th- 8th ,2011

Party Time: The magic Show, the Marshmallow party& JEOPARDY

The evening on Day 2 was announced to

be a Movie and Magic show night! The

campers had the chance to see the magic

tricks by Vladimir Gjorgievski, AC Bitola

Intern and were amazed by his abilities and

card tricks. After the hour filled with magic,

the surprise Marshmallow party followed

and the TuTu Train made by the campers

travelled to the kitchen where everyone got

the chance to try the tasty marshmallows. After the nice surprise “Jeopardy” was

played and the competitive atmosphere was brought at the camp. The teams were

astounded by the game and this turned out to be, as they said: “The best game we

have ever played!”.

Feedback form results: Like- 21; cannot decide- 6

Pretor, Prespa, Macedonia

July 5th- 8th ,2011

Energizers with PCV Lauren Hofer

Starting from Day 2, PCV Lauren Hofer warmed up the atmosphere with her

energizers. It turned out that this activities were outstanding and the campers were

eagerly waiting for the “Bananas of the world-Unite” and the “Shark in the water”

energizers with Lauren. Becouse of the amazing atmosphere created after the

energizer, the AC Bitola together with all the campers, announces PCV Lauren

Hofer for the MOST POPULAR PERSON ON THE CAMP. This was definitely proved

with the feedback forms filled by the participants where from 27 comments, 20 of

them finished with the sentence: “I love Lauren, she is awesome”.

To see the videos from the energizers please click on the following links: LINK

1&LINK 2.

Pretor, Prespa, Macedonia

July 5th- 8th ,2011

Presentation by the representatives from the President Ivanov School of

Leaders –Alumni Association: Katerina Veljanovska and Emilija Dzurovska

“Dreaming in Color”

The representatives from the President Ivanov School

of Leaders, Kate and Ema, very successfully managed

to depict the significance of becoming a leader, gaining

leadership skills and how real success stories can

inspire you to achieve your life goals. Their personal

experience from

the Ivanov

Leadership School reflected their words as

they guided the participants through a

refreshing and highly motivational interaction

with the children. As the passion could be felt

in their

motivational

speeches,

they surely got their message across. Very skillfully,

combining all of the things the participants had

been learning previously, they taught what a good

leader consists of, how a person will grow into a

leader and how to make the most out of the

experiences life throws at you- things that shape the young minds into the next

leaders of our community.

Feedback form results: Like- 24; cannot decide- 2; Dislike- 1

The presentation on volunteerism by the NGO Together Macedonia by

Andrijana Karanfilovska and Jordan Trimbrone, an EVS from France

The day's schedule continued with Together

Macedonia’s presentation. They held a

presentation about the history of volunteering and

the advantages and experiences you gain while

volunteering.

Feedback form results: Like- 19; Cannot decide- 7;

Dislike- 1

Day 3- July 7th:

Pretor, Prespa, Macedonia

July 5th- 8th ,2011

“Leadership workshop” by the YES Alumni Simona Ristovska and Martin

Ivanovski

Next up was the presentation from the

YES Alumni. Martin Ivanovski and Simona

Ristovska did an outstanding presentation!

They had an amazing year filled with long

lasting memories and life changing experiences

while studying in the USA as exchange

students and were more than happy to share

the skills, experience and knowledge brought

from the U.S. Still, their presentation about leadership was the cherry on top

because it was easy to see how much the children had progressed on that topic and

how, more than this, their creative

thinking had flourished. The YES

Alumni succeeded in showing the

fact that communication is the key

of becoming a great leader trough a

game.

Feedback form results: Like- 27

Pretor, Prespa, Macedonia

July 5th- 8th ,2011

FREE TIME ACTIVITIES on the Camp!

Pretor, Prespa, Macedonia

July 5th- 8th ,2011

Day 4- July 8th:

Performance of the Creative Writing Workshop Plays!!!

To finish up the awesome AC

Bitola camp, the four teams from the

Creative Writing Workshop prepared their

plays and everything was ready for the

small outdoor theater in Pretor. After 4

days hard work on various tasks during

the Creative Writing Workshop the ideas

were flowing everywhere! The four

teams: Awesomes, Steal Pilots, White

snake and Wall Eggs showed that acting could easily be their life profession.

Impressed by the stories and the acting of the young people, the thundery applause

was inevitable! A great way to finish the

Camp!!! The winner of the Best Team

went to the team Awesomes.

FilipJoshevski won the Best Director

Award, Martin Ivanovski and Teodora

Mishevska were chosen as the Best

Actor and Best Actress! Congrats to

everyone!!!

At the very end, the only thing

that left was the certificates rewarding

and the cleaning of the Camp. As we

were popping up on the bus the wonderful memories of the four AWESOME days led

us to saying in one voice: “See you next

summer!”

P.S. As the participants surprised us and

made their own camp video, we also had a camp

word- “Awesome”. It was heard constantly , on

every occasion, used for everything by everyone,

millions of times !!!

Pretor, Prespa, Macedonia

July 5th- 8th ,2011

THIS IS WHAT OTHERS SAID ABOUT THIS CAMP:

Marta Zmijewska( AC Bitola FB fan): Great project! Congratulations!

Miron York( AC Bitola FB fan): The t-shirts are great good job Ana :D

Mima Geras Dochovska(parent): Many tanks to AC Bitola for the well done work. Kids were happy,

parents very pleased. Congatulations!!!

Cano Josevski (parent): Thank you AC Bitola for Creative Writing Camp 2011! You are the BEST!

Comments from participants:

“The camp was great! I love the friendship. I am so sad to go home ”- Filip Joshevski (11)

“Next year if there is a cam again, I definitely want to come! Love you all! ”- Rula

Chalamani (13)

I loved the movies, playing Jeopardy and the plays we did! Looking forward to the next

summer camp!- Mihail Krstevski (12)

“Everything was really nice. The presentations helped me learn what a leader is and how to

become one. I especially liked the presentation by the President Ivanov School of Leaders

Alumni Association. We had a lot of fun and we loved the staff!”- Marija Torkovska, YES

Alumni (18)

“This camp made me gain new friends. All the presentations and workshops were very

useful and a great guide to show us the right way to the top”- Lea Dimova (16)

I am really glad I had the chance to come at the camp and learn more about the leadership

skills that will help me in my life. I loved playing Jeopardy… and GO TEAM

AWESOME(CWW)!- Igor Stamenkovich (17)

“This camp is the coolest, and I love everything about it! I want to stay here for the rest of

this summer!”- Dimitar Bezanovski (13)

“This camp was really awesome. I enjoyed all the time and I was really happy!... I forgot

something- I love Lauren(Peace Corps Volunteer)!”- Jasmina Lozanovska (18)

“Well I loved the company, the games, the people, the presentations… I think that it has

improved my self confidence and I learned more about team work. One of the best things

were the highlights of the day and I hope that next year I will be chosen to come again.”-

Iskra Dochovska (16)