Welcome to Paul's Blog

Konnect Camp 2019

13 Mar 2019

Yesterday I came back from the Konnect Mentorship Camp 2019. The Konnect Camp is a weekend camp for high school students, who's ethnic group is Korean Canadian. It was a fun experience. On March 9th Saturday, I boarded the bus at Earl Haig. An hour and 40 minutes later, we arrived at Braeside Camp. Then the camp started with the introduction of the leaders of the Konnect camp. We did an icebreaker and was divided into four groups. We then made our cheers and did a survival game thing where we imagine that we are on an island, and then we are to select a few items from a list of 20 survival items, and then later present in front of everybody else. Then we did our career mapping, where we wrote about our values and what we aspire to become. After that, we had this activity named, "Anonymous Confession." We basically wrote down our concerns for our school, family, and self on a sticky note, and then formed into groups, and read other people's confessions. We then had dinner. Most of the activities in the camp resembled those above. However, there were a few activities that I liked more.

There was the Mock Networking, which happened after dinner, where we dressed up in our semi-formal clothing, and we basically talked to other people, about anything. For example, I asked one of the leaders who graduated from William Lyon Mackenzie about the school, and another kid asked me about Scratch. Another activity I liked was Mock Interview. The Mock Interview is self-explanatory. You practice interview for non-existent jobs such as Professional Fortnite Dancer. You also get to debate with others. Activities like these make the camp educational, unique, and most of all, fun!

Now, the theme for this camp was Konnect Monopoly. So basically, for this year, for each of the four groups, there are points. Points are given when a team does well on an activity. Also, there is a die that when you roll, based on what face you get; you get to add, and take away your points, and even multiply and divide your points. Now, my group, which was called Team Chicken, did okay on the activities, but because of the dice, we got to triple our points. Because of this, at one point of the camp, we had more points than the rest of the teams, more than threefold. However, because in an activity called "Lighting Round," so many points were given out, we were almost caught up, and in the last dice roll, we got +100, while two of the other groups got x2 and one other group got x1. Finally, with the points, we could bid our points to get prizes.

Aside from the camp itself, the facility was also good. As I mentioned before, the camp was hosted on the Braeside Camp. The camp was good, especially the cabins, where you get the luxury of having fewer people in each cabin compared to others, and a washroom in all cabins, which means we didn't need to go outside for washroom in a chilly, cold, winter. The staffs were very very friendly. The food was provided by the staff, and it was good! (Although some other people complained about the food.

The Konnect Camp staffs themselves were very nice, and they taught me a lot about high school life, about universities, and career options. Overall, the camp was worth my time, and I plan on returning next year, and if possible the year after that as well.

More importantly so, I have realized how lonely I was, being in a new city and all. I mean, I do have friends in school, but I don't hang out with them outside, so I've gotten way lonelier than before. I have realized the importance of meeting many new people, especially those from the same/similar culture. If you don't meet up with people with the same culture, I strongly advise you to do so. Anyways, this camp would be one of the most memorable camps I've attended so far.