Welcome to my page!

 Dear Family and Friends,
This year I am incredibly excited! I will be part of UCLA Unicamp's WALL (Wilderness Adventure Leadership and Learning).


"UCLA UniCamp is the official student charity of the University of California, Los Angeles. UniCamp operates as an independently funded non-profit organization linking the University with the community. Each year, UniCamp inspires nearly 1,000 children from low-income families to envision brighter futures by sending them, along with 350 student volunteers, to its residential outdoor summer camp."

Last year was my first year doing UNICAMP, where I received my camp name "Soybean"!  After 100 hours of training over the span of 10 weeks (my spring quarter at UCLA), I got to be a camp counselor for Session 2! I was a specialist, which are counselors that lead a specific activity during rotations throughout the week.  I was an archery and biking specialist.  I had an AMAZING time up at camp.  It was from Sunday to sunday, 8 days.  We slept in open-walled cabins, and felt like we were sleeping outside in the beautiful nature.  A common camp tradition is to not shower for the full week! I actually did it! well, I survived, with the help of baby-wipe showers! This is just ONE of the MANY awesome unicamp, or "woodsey" traditions. The preparation for camp did not prepare me for the amount of fun and magic that happens at camp.  I cant express it in words.  All the old "woodseys" try to convey it, but I didn't feel it till I actually lived through it.  Magical. AMAZING. Unicamp. 

The kids I worked with were all great.  The best part about this camp is that it is for the students of the LAUSD who qualify for free/reduced lunch.   UCLA volunteers raise thousands of dollars annually to reduce the cost to only $50-$75 for the kids!  The kids we work with are so incredible.  So funny, sweet, smart, and great campers.  The first day of camp we have campers crying because they don't want to leave their parents, and by the end, they are crying because they don't want to go back home.  The camp counselors cry as well. We just don't want the week to end! The bonds you make with the campers are so strong.  Many of the campers we work with come from very disheartening backgrounds.  Many from extreme poverty, many from foster care, broken homes, and more.  UCLA volunteers become their mentors.  I was adopted into the oldest boys cabin; while I wasn't running the activities, I got to hang out with that cabin, and have meals with them.  During one of the activities where we provide an open space for the campers to share stories and feel the support from their fellow campers, I cried.  These children are so strong to go through what they are going through at such a young age.  Their head counselors, 2 UCLA male student. were told by their campers that they were the camper's role models.  The boys didn't have male figures that they looked up to, and they looked up to UCLA volunteers.  We aspire to send the kids back into their communities to be community leaders, and to be encouraged to do their best in everything they do.  Many of our campers aspire to attend UCLA, and we even have old Unicamp campers as students of UCLA and now going back to be camp counselors.  Its amazing to hear their testimonies.  
This year, I wanted to do more.  I wanted to be involved more.  I wanted to reach out at a deeper level.  I applied to the Older Camper Program geared towards campers ages 15-17 years old.  I was one of the 17 that were chosen to be apart of this program, and I feel incredibly honored.  This year I will be a counselor that will lead 9 students ages 15-17 on a physically and mentally demanding 4 day, 26 mile hike that reaches altitudes of 11,500 feet. The hikers are given responsibilities during the hike that help them build leadership skills and they also learn outdoor survival skills.  When they return from the hike, these campers use their newly acquired skills in mentoring the younger campers and serving as role models.  Because WALL is virtually a self-sustaining program, the WALL counselors have to raise the most money.  With the money, we pay for all the equipment the kids need like backpacks, tents, cookware, and anything that needs being replaced, since so much of the equipment gets so worn down.  
Currently I am part of UCLA's Teacher Education Program, and will be receiving my teaching credential this year, and my Masters in Education in 2012.  UCLA's education program focuses on urban schools, and many of the students I will be working with are actually former campers! Starting next fall, I will be a High School Biology teacher! I am very excited to be a camp counselor and getting to know many potential students before I get into the classrooms!
My goal is to fundraise $2,011.  Yes this does sound like a lot, but I know that if everyone helps out, I will be able to attain my goal.  I have been involved in several fundraising efforts, from volunteering as an elf helping out Santa during the holiday seasons, to putting on my own fundraising poker tournaments.  I appreciate and am incredibly grateful for your donation.  If you would like to donate a large amount, it is tax deductible!  If you are not able to donate at this time, I would love to have your thoughts and prayers go out to my fellow counselors, campers, and I as we venture on this journey.  
THank you all again!  
Follow me on this blog, and I will be posting pictures of our practice hikes, and all the other fun fundraising events UNICAMP will be doing! 
CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO SOYBEAN

Thank you all again! MWL (Much Woodsey Love)
-Soybean
(gloria hernandez)
 MY FIRST YEAR AT CAMP 2010:
UNICAMP SESSION 2 pt1
UNICAMP SESSION 2 Pt 2

Unicamp website:  UNICAMP
WALL:  WALL






UNICAMP VIDEO! CHECK IT OUT!http://www.vimeo.com/uclaunicamp
WALL TESTIMONIALS!:http://vimeo.com/7255306