Young Person’s Experience (YPE)

A respectful, loving and safe environment for a young person’s self-exploration and growth.

In a nutshell

What: The Young Person’s Experience is a 10-day residential camp for young people aged 6 to 13 years old.  It brings the information from the Experience (Waking up Weekend) into a format appropriate for young people.  Activities are a combination of outdoor challenge, teambuilding, and personal growth exercises which create an event that impacts the young people on many levels.  It’s a powerful learning experience they will remember and treasure all their lives.

The YPE focuses on nurturing the young people’s abilities to communicate, work together in a team, become assertive, responsible, feel empowered, and overcome personal fears and prejudices.  It allows them to reconnect with the excitement and optimism about life that they are all too often deprived of in today’s world. The YPE provides both skills and practical knowledge, as the young people are gently guided and supported through a journey of personal responsibility and discovery.

The Young Person’s Experience allows young people to reconnect with nature, and the energizing and often fascinating natural world. There’s a playful focus on embracing the sensory world, games and interactions rather than mobile phones. Most participants leave the program feeling energized, confident, joyful and inquisitive about nature, the wider world, and their relationships with other people.

With participants from the United States, UK, Sweden, and Australia, the YPE provides an opportunity for children to meet their peers from all over the world.  Our community is characterized by integrity, acceptance, love, trust, and a commitment to personal growth.  As participants, the young people get to experience firsthand what it’s like to live together in harmony and peace; supporting each other in facing together the individual and mutual challenges that life brings.

How: The successful methodology of the Young Person’s Experience has been used to great acclaim by thousands of people over the past three decades. Participants receive the kind of life guidance that doesn’t get taught in schools, and which is essential to develop as a happy and fulfilled human being.

During the final three days of the Young Person’s Experience, parents and/or guardians join their children to focus on establishing and nurturing strong family bonds together.

Participants: Young people aged 6-13 years old are led by experienced Waking Up Weekend facilitators and educators.

When: Friday, August 4th to Sunday, August 13th, 2023.

Where:  Camp Shaw-waw-na-see, in Manteno, Illinois.  Website:  www.campshaw.org

Pre-requisites: At least one parent and/or guardian of the child must have completed the Experience / Waking Up Weekend event.

Assisting:  If you are interested in assisting at the YPE, please click on your country’s link below.

Tuitions and to Register:  Please click on your country’s link below:

Here are the tuitions: