Youth Summer Camp 2023 has concluded for this year, and in the last days of August, with rain falling outside, it is probably the best time to summarize this eventful summer and look back at everything.
Preparations for the Youth Work Camp Summer began already at the end of last year, but the real momentum for the camp preparations started in spring, as the Youth Work Camp Summer approached.
In spring, we visited various schools in Tartu city and introduced youth work camp life to young people, inviting them to apply for the youth work camp; we finalized agreements with employers, caterers, and accommodation providers, and of course, the application period for young people to join the youth work camp also began.
This year, the youth work camp kick-off took place on the same day, June 26, in Tartu, Tallinn, and Viljandi. The kick-off for the Tartu Youth Work Camp was organized by the Core group, which is involved in camp organization year-round. The new season for the Core group will start very soon, and applications to become a member for the new season will open shortly. This year's youth work camp kick-off once again began at Kassitoome, where almost all of this year's groups gathered. From there, after a brief introduction and some games, they moved in a procession to Town Hall Square, where participants were awaited by Tartu Mayor Urmas Klaas, Tartu Youth Sector Manager Helen Siska, and TNTK Director Margit Kink, all of whom extended their greetings to the participants and officially opened the youth work camp summer. Of course, Maasika-Klaarika was also played, but this time the young people sang themselves, as the portable speaker's battery was not fully charged due to a mishap. This incident best characterizes the youth work camp summer – regardless of what has been planned beforehand, small obstacles arise, but there is always a solution for everything. One must be open and ready to change plans on the fly.
This summer, Tartu Youth Work Camp, in cooperation with employers , prepared 17 work camp groups – 11 within the city and 6 outside the city, with a total of 183 work camp places across 17 groups. This summer also saw two joint groups, one with the Viljandi municipality student work camp and the other with the Tallinn Student Work Camp. In addition, there were two Estonian-Ukrainian mixed groups, one aimed at 15-19-year-olds and the other at 13-14-year-olds.
The very first group started on June 25th, and the last group finished their youth work camp shift on August 6th – making a total of six wild and less wild youth work camp weeks that flew by in an instant, during which over 180 young people, led by 21 different group leaders, gained work experience, made new friends, had exciting adventures, and experienced much more that belongs to a youth work camp group and a youth work camp summer. Within the city, several long-standing good cooperation partners helped the youth work camp groups, including Foxway, the Glass Bead Game Festival, the Oskar Luts Tartu City Library, Naerumaa Kindergarten, Telia AS, and of course the Tartu Youth Work Centre, which offered work to two different groups, one of which worked on Autovabaduse Puiestee, as well as several newcomers with whom we definitely hope to continue cooperation. New employers for the city-based groups included Fudy, Wolt, GoBus, Terminal Oil OÜ, Krõlli Kindergarten, Helika Kindergarten, and HKP Haljastus, to whom our special thanks go, as they were our lifesavers when one planned employer could not offer work to the young people.
While we were able to offer young people a wide variety of diverse job opportunities within the city, for groups outside the city, we took a traditional approach, and almost all groups outside the city worked in agricultural enterprises. They were mainly involved in berry picking and maintenance work, and our groups worked at Viru Maasikas, Jõeääre farm, Raigastvere berry farm, Eeriksaare organic farm, Marjamaa farm, and the Honeyberry blue honeysuckle plantation. Despite the volatile spring and several looming concerns that threatened the groups outside the city, all these groups were still able to operate, albeit with minor differences from what was originally planned.
This entire undertaking would not have been possible without the group leaders, which is why our biggest thanks go to them! This summer, 21 different group leaders worked with our youth work camp groups, offering encouragement and support to young people, and being their best friends when needed. Many of them were so brave and accommodating that they helped instill the camp spirit in several different groups throughout this summer.
This year, the Youth Work Camp Summer was concluded by a nationwide youth work camp gathering, which took place from August 14-16 at Toosikannu Holiday Centre, where youth work camp groups from all over Estonia competed against each other in various fields. All participating youth work camp groups from our side showed their best and were worthy companions to other camp participants. The joint group from Marjamaa farm (Tartu and Tallinn) also brought home second place from the gathering!
We would like to thank once again everyone who contributed to the organization of the work camp, including all caterers, accommodation providers, employers, group leaders, cooperation partners (including the Unemployment Insurance Fund, which offered various job-related training courses to camp participants), and all the employees of the Tartu Youth Work Center who helped in one way or another!
See you next Youth work camp summer!
