For 10 days, the Terry Ashe Recreation Center swarmed with what appeared to be miniature contractors. Sixteen kids, outfitted with their own tool belts and matching Tshirts, learned anti-bullying tactics from the Paradise Center for Tolerance and Nonviolence's First Camp Friendship.
  Activities for the campers, ages 8 to 13, included music, sharing, trust games, noncompetitive sports and physical activities, story and drama time, conflict resolution practice, arts and crafts, journaling and learning to say "hello" in a different language each day.
  "It's giving kids the tools that they need so that they can be friendly instead of bullying, and so that they can befriend other kids that perhaps have witnessed or been bullied," said Wendy Hartley, chair of the PCTN's Programs and Services Committee, "... and to give kids the tools that they need so that if someone bullies them, they'll be able to respond."
  As the camp concluded Friday, students sat on, the recreation center's stage and produced the tools they had made - physical manifestations of their new arsenal of behavioral strategies.
  These included ribbon chains; "rings of respect" featuring Popsicle-stick totems for such virtues as kindness, love and helpfulness; and bead necklaces symbolizing the diversity of the multiethnic group.
  "All the beads are like everybody here," camp facilitator Sarah Anderson said to students Friday. "We're all different."
  For Paradise resident Alfredo Rodriguez, the camp was a revelation.
  "We read this in the paper and thought it might be something we'd like to involve our granddaughter in," he said.
  Hernandez and his wife enrolled the West Sacramento girl, who they say benefited from the camp.

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  "She has been a very shy-type child," he said, "still is to some extent, but she's beginning to come out through the workings ... of this wonderful program. ... She'll be coming back from now on, every summer, to be in Paradise."
  Anderson confirmed the camp will be held in the future, adding they exceeded their enrollment goal this year. I
  "We were shooting for 15," she said. "actually, we got a little over 20, but we thought a smaller group would be more effective."
  She said parents are taking a survey to determine, how to improve the camp, but added most of the kinks were worked out during the firs tweek.
  "It's been a blast; it's been really fun," she said. "The kids have been awesome and responsive. "
  She said her favorite part of the camp was a chart on the wall, upon which students recognized their peers for displaying virtues like peacefulness and helpfulness.
  The camp was also a hit with the kids, who proudly displayed their hand-decorated tool belts and

newfound knowledge.
  For 10-year-old Paradise resident Kirk Schmitz, the camp was an opportunity to learn how to cope with a bullying problem he has experienced from all sides.
  "I've been a bully, I've been bullied, and I've watched it," he said, adding the c~mp has taught him morals and nonviolent tactics.
  Schmitz said the most important thing he learned at the camp was respect.
  The most difficult lesson? Cooperation.
  "I really enjoyed it," he said. "I'd recommend it to all the kids in the world if they would let them.

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"I've been a bully, I've been bullied, and I've watched it."

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I bet they would. But I would recommend it to as many kids as I could."


The writer can be reached at jwalsh@paradisepost.com.