The theme of the weekend: www.conclave.hhs. We examined the use of this new social media in the kid's lives. We used the same opening program that was used in the UJA LI Social Media Bootcamp. The kids were asked to create their own identities. They put on name tags and picked a tag line. The tag line was a quote that they liked. They then went around and interviewed other kids who "tagged" them by writing a one word catchphrase that expressed who they were. Everything was then put onto a sheet of paper and hung up for the kids to see. The kids just loved this program! It just spoke their language.
Shabbat services was unique as well. We "blogged" services. The kids were divided up into 10 groups. Each group was given a prayer to "blog." There was a trigger posting about the prayer and the kids had about 15 minutes to write their responses. Then, as we prayed the service together, each group was called up to "post" their blog. They attached it to the prayer that came before. We read the trigger paragraph and then sang the prayer together. It was great!
Of course, there were other programs as well: low ropes course for the 10th Grade kids; special programs for the 8th-9th graders; song session, Israeli Dancing; football; hanging out, playing games... Conclave is an amazing experience. I remember growing up, my rabbi told my mom that one conclave is the equivalent of an entire year's worth of religious school. Certainly the great feelings that the kids have and the connections they make to each other and to the clergy are almost impossible to replicate through religious school alone.
Next year's conclave is the weekend before Thanksgiving. If you have a high school student, sign them up for Hebrew High School and put it on your calendar.
