Sophomore Atkinson thrilled about skills from Leadership Camp

by Dennis Dalman

editor@thenewsleaders.com

When Avery Atkinson received an email in one of her classes she had been chosen as one of 20 Americans to attend a We Day Leadership Camp in Arizona, she burst into tears.

The daughter of Deana and Glenn Atkinson of Sartell, Avery will be a sophomore at Sartell High School when school starts in September.

The honor was so unexpected, with so much competition, she never seriously thought she’d be selected for a Bright Future Award and the leadership camp participation. But she was, and the shock of it stunned her into an emotional meltdown, a “puddle of tears,” as she put it. But they were most definitely happy tears.

Three other young Minnesota students were also chosen for the camp among the 20 Americans, in addition to seven Canadians – a camp membership total of 27. Their ages ranged from 7 to 17.

Recently, Atkinson returned from the six-day We Day Leadership Camp in Arizona, a camp located between Patagonia and Nogales, which is next to the Mexican border. The mission of We Day is to help young people make a difference locally and globally by nurturing compassion in youth and giving them the tools to create transformative social changes. We Day is a branch of the larger organization known as Free the Children.

One of those skills is leadership, and that’s what the We Day Leadership Camp was all about.

“They (the counselors who taught the camp programs) showed us the many different ways to become a leader, how to step up to become one,” Atkinson said.

One of the skills they were taught was to be confident in public speaking, and Atkinson is glad they did because she has always been “terrified” of speaking in public, she noted. Now, that fear factor that hounded her has been lowered, and she believes she will be able to give a public speech without quaking.

Atkinson’s topic of passion is the horrors of child abuse, and she is determined to be a leader with others in an effort to stop the abuse.

“I want to raise awareness about it and find connection with others who are trying to end it,” she said.

The camp in Arizona was extremely hot, as hot as 120 degrees, and that kind of heat was almost unbearable, Atkinson noted, but it was worth enduring because what she learned was so valuable.

“To me, being a leader means someone who is not afraid to do things other people are afraid to do,” she said. “A good leader must be brave, connect with people and show goodness through example.”

At the camp, the participants learned about sustainability and how much society wastes, such as purifying water that is used in flushing toilets. One of their hands-on projects was to build a rock dam, one that can slow the flow of water so the water can be effectively used rather than draining away into the ground.

“We waste so much, and all of us have to learn to do things differently,” Atkinson said. “I also learned at camp how we often don’t notice or appreciate the things around us and the things people do for us. There were two cooks at the camp who did all the cooking for the 27 of us. Those two ladies did an amazing job.”

Atkinson’s favorite subjects in school are social studies and the sciences. She also enjoys photography, volleyball and track. She has two siblings, an older brother named Harper and a younger one named Foster.

Her dream career, she said, would be to become a profiler for the FBI or some job in the field of radiology or ultrasound.

Atkinson gives high marks to teacher Karrie Fredrickson, who teaches a leadership unit. It was Fredrickson who posted the Leadership Camp opportunity on a class website, which piqued Atkinson’s interest and caused her to apply for the chance. It was a chance, she soon learned, that paid off and turned into a puddle of tears – happy tears.