BY EMMA NAILLE (‘18)

This is not the first time school counselor Elizabeth Adams has mentored high school kids in Granville. She also led them through YoungLife, specifically at YoungLife camp Lake Champion in June of 2010.

“YoungLife is a non-denominational ministry, it’s an outreach program to high school kids that is for anyone who wants to maybe learn more about faith, ask questions about faith, and really it’s just a very relational thing so usually college aged kids who get to be mentors to high school kids,” Adams said.

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTFxVu-BNq4

In this picture, Adams is at a YoungLife camp in Glen Spey, New York.

“It’s like a bunch of fun and crazy activities like physical challenges and games and silly things like dances, just a variety of things,” Adams said. “So thats kind of what it looks like and then you just get the chance to bond with friends in a cabin and again like the deeper stuff of talking through and processing life questions and the week away is just a great time to away from the distractions of home and get an intense week with your friends.”

Adams was reminded of her previous experiences mentoring in Granville by a picture of her at a YoungLife camp, jumping off of the high ropes course.

“It’s a high ropes course at Champion, which is a Younglife camp, and so it’s the very end and I would’ve just jumped off the platform. I think by the looks of it, I didn’t go for the bar,” Adams said referring to the option to either jump and grab onto a bar, or free fall at the end of the ropes course.

“I just jumped and am holding to dear life on my harness and I’m free-falling in the air. I was probably screaming too.”

Adams said she went first on the ropes course but was last to jump.

“I think I would usually go first on the ropes course but then sometimes they would have a leader stationed at one of the post and help people through and transfer their hooks from one thing to another so actually that might’ve meant I was last to jump off so and that was always hard because I was stuck in a random tree platform like waving in the air for long time just anticipating as each person went like ‘i have to do this last’ so I bet I was last because of that.”

Adams remembers being scared and needing “worked up to the last part.”

“I’m not the bravest one, but I’m not the one that the whole cabin has to encourage to come down either. But as the leader I kind of hide that and am like ‘I’ve just gotta do this.’”

Though she was scared, this picture brings back fond memories for Adams.

“I have a lot of fond memories from being a YoungLife leader and I think it’s something that maybe I’ve thought of a little bit more in this job this year because I’ve kind of returned to Granville High School and that’s where i led YoungLife,” Adams said. “I’ve gotten to have some interactions with kids who are currently in high school who have been to camp or just this weekend went to Fall Weekend. It makes me reflect on my time as a leader because I really valued those relationships and I have a lot of fun memories from that time. Of the things that you do at camp, that was not my favorite but it’s an accomplishment too.”

Adams said she can “feel proud” after completing the ropes course.

“It’s a thing I can feel proud of so it’s one of those really tangible moments of taking that leap of faith and doing something where I’m like “oh cool i just did this thing where I feel accomplished about that was scary. That makes it memorable and just that the relationships with people that i would have done that with. Like lead alongside that kid… just extra special I guess.”

She also said being a YoungLife leader is partly what led her to school counseling.

“For me it was really cool to be a leader and get to have relationships with high school kids and help them through what they were going through in high school,” Adams said. “And really that’s what led me to do the job that I do now. I felt like school counseling was a cool way to do that in a different capacity of just getting to help adolescent-aged people through difficult high school things like college and stress of classes, and relational things, friendship issues, all that typical stuff. I enjoy being there for people in that time.”

Though she is mentoring kids in Granville again, Adams’ life has changed quite a bit since this picture was taken.

“I would’ve graduated college, gotten married, gone to grad school, then moved to Cleveland and then eventually moved back to this area and been a school counselor and had a baby.”