Youth Participate in Spring Break Camp

From Monday, March 18, through Thursday, March 21, about 35 students aged 6 to 18 participated in Comanche Nation Youth Services’ Spring Break camp.

Director for Comanche Nation Youth Services Dena Landers said there are four focus points: culture, education, citizenship and wellness.

Some of these activities for art wellness included pottery, stained glass and painting and the group also played handgame.

“Numunu Bingo is always a good one because a lot of these students, a lot of our participants, they've been to our camps, so it's really cool whenever a majority of them know the words, or they can help each other out,” Landers said. “That one's really awesome to watch. We play a game called Chiefs, and that's a movement interactive game, and same thing, the students, they've been in the program, so they also help the new participants with those games, so those are really fun ones.”

Spring break participants also went to the science museum in Oklahoma City.

Landers said it’s nice to see the students interact with each other because they don’t always get the chance to.

“We have some who come to the area to come visit family, so we have some that are, some out of state that are visiting us,” she said. “We also have, you know, just from different communities, and they're all meeting each other here, and a lot of [them are] family that they don't get to see throughout the, you know, the year. This is the only time they really get to see each other at camps and events like this.”

Landers said it’s important for students to join the spring break camp.

“Like we say here at the, you know, at the youth services, we're all family, you know, we're all connected, and so coming here where we get to teach each other, like, how we learn, you know, each community is different, and they all learn different things, and so it's really cool to come here and see the, you know, the differences, but we all have the same, you know, we're all the same, same people, same family,” she said.

The youth coordinators are also an important aspect of the camp, according to Landers.

“With our younger participants, they're, they relate more to our, you know, to our teenage kids, and so it's really cool seeing our youth lead youth,” she said. “They listen to them, they adapt better to their instructions because, like I said, they're just more relatable to them, and so it's really cool to see those older participants interact with our younger ones.”

The program is hosting Games for Grades for students to go to a Thunder game in April, as well as an incentive for out-of-state students. There will also be Tek Camps this summer.

More information can be found at the Student Services page on comanchenation.com.