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Each summer,
Our oldest campers have a special opportunity to be part of Peacebuilders Camp’s PeaceJam team. Part of each day at camp is set aside planning a peacemaking project that team members will carry out together over the next months. Peacebuilders staff guides the process as campers focus in on an issue they want to impact, brainstorm ideas for their project, evaluate different options and resources, and come up with a plan for implementation. After camp, virtual meetings with Peacebuilders mentors help keep campers on track as they carry out their project and make change in their communities.
Then in the spring, the team reconvenes and travels together to Tallahassee, Florida for the PeaceJam Southeast conference on the campus of Florida State University. The conference brings together hundreds of youth peacemakers from all over the U.S. Southeast to inspire, encourage, and educate each other. Teams present their projects to the conference attendees and to a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. It’s a fantastic weekend of learning, networking, and celebrating accomplishments that bring the world closer to peace!
"One of the defining moments for me during PeaceJam was hearing Tawakkol Karman
speak. Not only did I have the rare experience of hearing a Nobel prize laureate speak,
but I was also able to meet and talk to her over the lunch period. That is an experience
that I will always remember. I learned a lot from her about the humanitarian conflict
in Yemen and the Arab Spring events. I couldn’t help but be inspired by what I heard
she had done. This opportunity is one that I would have never expected to be offered,
and the faith that she put in the youth attendees was inspiring. It is one thing to hear
that the youth are the future from some random adult, but it is quite another to hear it
from someone who made so much change in the world. She really made me believe it
was true."
Bryn
PeaceJam Team Member
Campers’ involvement in PeaceJam opens up many other doors of opportunity through PeaceJam’s worldwide movement. They can participate in virtual and in-person events hosted by chapters in other countries, and they can be nominated for PeaceJam’s Billion Acts of Peace Award. It was an incredible honor when Peacebuilders 2015 camper Joshua received this award at the 2019 World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Merida, Mexico.
For more information about PeaceJam, check out their website, or PeaceJam Southeast’s Facebook page