Plast youths participate in annual springtime camporee (06/10/01)

Plast youths participate in annual springtime camporee

by Deanna T. Yurchuk

MIDDLEFIELD, Ohio - Over 350 Plast members gathered at the "Pysanyi Kamin" campsite in Middlefield, Ohio, over the Memorial Day weekend for the annual spring get-together "Sviato Vesny." The participants and organizers of this spring event traveled long distances from various parts of the country in spite of a rainy forecast in order to meet with friends and continue the celebration of Plast Ukrainian Souting Organization's 50th jubilee in the United States.

This year's Sviato Vesny was organized by Alex Brozyna, of Wood Ridge, N.J., and other members of the Chornomortsi fraternity. Mr. Brozyna, along with a committee of his Plast peers from various fraternities and sororities including Chervona Kalyna, Chortopolokhy and Lisovi Mavky, began planning this event back in November. Since the participants hailed from nine cities in the United States - Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Washington, Newark, N.J., Philadelphia, New York, Passaic, N.J., and Buffalo, N.Y. - the committee decided to hold this grand affair at Pysanyi Kamin, the most centrally located Plast campground in the country.

The main objective of the weekend was to have Plast youth age 11-17 (yunatstvo) come together, have them meet others from around the country and show them that Plast doesn't end after "yunatstvo," but that you can continue working in it as a leader throughout your life, according to Mr. Brozyna.

The three-day event was full of challenging activities that required teamwork, cooperation and critical thought. It was, however, also a social venue, where the adolescent participants had a chance to meet new friends and reconnect with old ones.

"The program was very well organized, but yet it still allowed time for some relaxation and chit-chat with friends from different cities," said Natalia Hud, a participant from Philadelphia.

According to Mr. Brozyna, the greatest logistical challenge for the organizing committee was how to keep 262 teens occupied and interested for their full three-day stay at Pysanyi Kamin. Instead of having the participants compete in the groups in which they arrived, the planning committee divided them into 20 co-ed and age-mixed groups. As a result, the younger plastuny learned from older ones and were guaranteed to go home with at least 10 new acquaintances from outside of their city.

"We tried to come up with a program that would hold the attention of both younger and older yunatstvo," Mr. Brozyna said, "The activities we chose were conducive to learning, taught Plast ideals and stressed teamwork." Activities included various sports games, survival exercises, singing sessions, a cooking contest, a dance competition, a bonfire and more.

Another important figure at Sviato Vesny this year was the bunchuzhnyi, Danylo Kuzmycz of Boston. According to him, "the weekend was a perfect example of how the collaboration of a group of older plastuny and friends can take the skills and lessons learned over time about camping and create a successful program."

In Mr. Kuzmycz's view, the attitude of the leaders attributed most to the success of the event. "Call me superstitious," he said, "but I think our smiles moved the clouds away."

Similarly, Ms. Hud added, "Attitudes are very contagious, and the great attitude, energy and enthusiasm of the leaders seemed to directly influence the yunatsvo."

The best aspect of the weekend for Mr. Kuzmycz was the lack of division between the participants and their leaders. "We were all in it together, we all got rained on together and we all worked well together." He also noted that the presence of older Plast members and parents from the various cities was extremely important. "These senior plastuny helped tremendously behind-the-scenes to help everything run smoothly," he said.

The 65 "starshi plastuny," or leaders, who came to Sviato Vesny this year were all dedicated members of Plast who volunteered their free time to work with yunatstvo. "The kids in Plast are important to me," said Taras Lisowsky, a member of the Chervona Kalyna fraternity from Detroit. "I want to help mold them into productive members of the Ukrainian society."

Mr. Kuzmycz also is passionate about working with younger plastuny. "I do this because I owe it to Plast. I was one of the kids that was more difficult to bear. Kids these days need camps and who will provide them but us?" he said.

The motto of Sviato Vesny this year, "Shanuyemo Mynule, Tvorymo Maybutne" - "Honoring the past, creating the future," was intended to urge the Plast youths to think on a higher level. "We wanted to inspire them to learn from past experiences and to strive to make the future better," Mr. Brozyna added.

"Fifty years is a very long time, especially for a foreign-language-oriented organization to last that long in the diaspora," Ms. Hud stated, "We have to celebrate this jubilee because it teaches us about our past, our Ukrainian heroes, and why we have to cherish the language that our grandparents and great-grandparents tried so hard to preserve."

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