With love from GLOW 2013!

GLOW Day 3: YOU CAN!

Discovering oneself we discover the world. Today the GLOW girls discovered GLOW world through four steps. Do you want to know those four steps? Then let's join the GLOW campers in their home groups going through the challenges the counselors prepared for them.

One of the challenges was to safely pass through the dangerous "hula hops" tunnel. The second one was to get water for the animals of the circus. The other challenge put them in the "danger" crossing the river with poisonous water.
The five finger model of roles in a team was introduced to the girls.

Leader or follower? Attacking or caring? Each one of them had a chance to identify own role in their team. Should they avoid conflicts or manage them? Should they prioritize the problem or relationships?
Those were among the questions they faced today.

Now it is time for you to get acquainted with GLOW junior counselors. You are right, I did not yet introduce them to you. I was waiting for the right time! Our four girls: Anahit, Meri, Anush and another Anahit. The girls were very nervous since the morning - they were getting ready to run the Peer Education session for the GLOW participants.

A week long GLOW summer school is only a start for the campers. It provides the opportunity to the girls to move their wings and become the colorful butterflies of their dreams flying under the sun.
The girls who actively organize peer education sessions and community projects throughout the year, get another chance to join the GLOW world, in the role of a junior counselor.
YOU CAN is the slogan of GLOW junior counselors. They got the spirit, excitement and enthusiasm from GLOW alumnae and pass it to newcomers to the network.

 

This evening was undoubtedly colorful like a real circus! Singing, dancing, jungles, magics and tricks, clowns ... we had them all!

The junior counselors had a surprise for girls at the end of the CIRCUS night. Short movie "Butterfly" Circus once again proved YOU CAN!

Article by Mane Papyan
GLOW 2013 Counselor

GLOW Day 2: Self-discovery

 
You are interested in what GLOW girls are doing, aren't you? Today early morning they started their active camp life. Let's follow them!
Each home group has its room decorated with the colors of a circus, as the theme of GLOW summer school this year.

Today the GLOW home groups had a lot to do to become a real team. We believe the first step in this path starts starts with self-discovery. The counselors guided the GLOW campers step by step in the process of self-discovery through character building, recognizing own values, building self-esteem, setting goals and believing in oneself. The afternoon continued with appreciating team work and diversity in general and learning how to be an effective team and a full team member.

What was this iceberg about? What about the Armenian cultural dress, chess, different traditions and customs mentioned on it ... Are you curious to know what they were doing? You are so impatient! Here is the key - the girls were drawing the cultural iceberg. Similar to each person, each culture, each nation has an iceberg of its "characteristics", where there is a whole mentality, a whole lifestyle, past and present hidden.

Let's leave the GLOW girls in their home groups and go for a walk in the yard of the resort hotel. Maybe we could reveal our own iceberg ... Here is a counselor hiding behind the building. Here is another one in the gazebo waving to us. What are they doing?

Finally, we got an explanation from Sona, the coordinator of GLOW summer school 2013. This is scavenger hunt and the girls are looking for treasures going through various circus tricks. All four groups successfully overcame the challenges gaining all the treasures they could! But do they realize that the most important treasure for the day was discovering oneself!

Article by Mane Papyan
GLOW 2013 counselor

GLOW summer school 2013 has started

Similar to the last years it is summer again, we are in Stepanavan and GLOW summer school has started bring together girls from different towns and villages all over Armenia. They got together to open new perspectives and most importantly to discover themselves.

This is the sixth time GLOW summer school is taking place for the Armenian teenagers.  It started on July 1st this time through magical and fun curtains of circus! Let's open the curtains and see what is hidden behind those colors and lights.

If we try to enter the cottages in the resort hotel in Stepanavan in this hot summer weather, we will see a real summer activeness. The hotel staff is preparing the rooms bringing beds, chairs and tables in. In a different room some young people are drawing different circus animals using watercolors. Some people are blowing balloons, others are practicing some dance moves.

Aha! those are counselors of the summer school and they are preparing for the start of summer school and arrival of the campers!

Here they are! the participants who arrived and are all dressed in GLOW red t-shirts. Each one of them is a part of a small home group, where they will jungle the difficult yet magical path towards self development.

Group one: CRYSTAL

Group two: FOCUS-TONUS

Group three: SUN GLOW

Group four: JUMBO

  Can you become an umbrella?

Or an elephant?

 

It is late evening already, but the active life in summer school is not over. Everyone has gathered together near warm and inviting campfire to celebrate the start of the summer school. Let's carefully approach them and listen what they are talking about. Each camper is writing on a piece of paper a characteristic they want to get rid of and putting it in the fire, hopes that same moment to get rid of it, becoming an even better person.

Article by Mane Papyan