This photo was taken one morning while the kids were playing their usual morning game. Every morning and after lunch every day we play a game to wake the kids up and to get them excited for another day on the water. This particular day the children were playing the game Captain’s Coming, a game about following sometimes wacky and zany commands and finding teams to help you complete them. This game is a popular one at Piers Park, because it always brings a smile to the kids’ faces and makes everyone feel involved and happy, which is what we strive for at Piers Park.
This summer has been my first at Piers Park as an instructor. It truly has been an amazing one. As an instructor, you learn so many things that are such important lessons to learn. You learn about responsibility, fun, education, respectfulness, hard work, versatility, and so much more that all serve as such valuable lessons for the rest of your life. As a kid growing up learning how to sail at Piers Park, I had always wanted to be an instructor, and becoming one has been so amazing and has taught me so much about the world.
Piers Park is a place to teach people about sailing, but although you sign up to learn how to sail, you leave with so much more. At Piers Park, we teach our kids about life through sailing. We teach them about responsibility and respectfulness on the boat with their tasks. We teach them about teamwork and inclusiveness through the games we play every day. But most importantly we teach them how to enjoy themselves and how to live their lives to the fullest, which is the most rewarding part of the job. If the children take away one thing from our Youth Program, it is how to have fun. Giving the children this happiness makes being an instructor the best job ever.
Being an instructor, my whole job is to teach these children. But these kids have taught me more than I could have ever thought. I’ve learned that making people happy is the best thing you can do as a human. I’ve learned that how to treat someone, specifically children, impacts the way that they treat others, and the amount of positive growth that you see in these children is amazing. Throughout the two weeks of the Youth Program, you see so many kids evolve and you see shy children coming out of their shells and you see children become kinder to each other. Seeing these children change for the better and being a part of this change has been so helpful to me.
I’ve learned that making people happy is the best thing you can do as a human.
One of my favorite parts of the program are the games that we play before we go out on the water. They are some of my favorite times because it is when kids bond with each other and have fun with each other. Most of the time the children stay with the other kids that are in the same boat as them, but playing games on the lawn offers the children a chance to meet and have fun with the rest of the children in the program. It also is a chance to interact and play with the instructors that they don’t have. From an instructor’s point-of-view, these games are a time to make kids smile. To get all of the kids involved and having fun is such a rewarding thing.
I am an incoming sophomore in high school, so I still have my adult life ahead of me. Being at Piers Park has helped me a lot in figuring out what I like in the world and a possible career option or a path to follow. Working with children, teaching them and watching them progress, has inspired me to continue to work with people, whether it be as a social worker or as a teacher or as any kind of mentor. As for Piers Park, I will most certainly continue working here for my summers. It is truly an amazing program that has helped me so much and taught me so much.
-Daniel Tracy
