Building Friendships and Making Memories at FIUTS Camp

FIUTS Camp is a beloved annual tradition where new international students make lifelong friendships and wonderful memories. It is one of our most anticipated events by FIUTS staff, facilitators, and students each year.

FIUTS held our annual camp at Camp Arnold in Eatonville, WA this year. The camp was a great host with plenty of amenities, including a game hall, a large playing field, a lake, and lovely cabins!

Campetition: FIUTS Camp is kicked off by a competition containing several fun, wacky activities that participants complete in groups of about 16. These activities utilize beach balls, hula hoops, and more! Campers had such a great time letting loose and tuning into their competitive side. Groups included students of all levels, from freshmen to doctoral, from all over the world, and were led by FIUTS volunteer student Facilitators.

After Campetition, campers had a lot of time to get to know each other and participate in other American-style camp activities, including canoeing on the lake, tie-dying, learning to square dance, playing games, and learning how to make s’mores at FIUTS S’morientation! Unfortunately, this year was especially rainy so we were unable to have a bonfire. However, we improvised and make microwave s’mores for S’morientation, shared popular camp songs, and allowed participants to share songs from the culture on a stage in the camp gymnasium.

FIUTS Camp concludes with students forming groups to perform cultural skits, representing their countries or joining with people from other countries to make a multicultural group. Skits featured songs, dances, plays, and other fun (and educational!) presentations of aspects of students’ cultures.

We can’t wait until some of this year’s campers come back to lead FIUTS Camp as Facilitators next year!