Which organization was founded by an orphan who grew up feeling she was stupid and ugly? The answer is Winners’ Camp Foundation at the Hawaii Leadership Academy. It provides weeklong programs for Hawaii teens at its facilities atop Kamehame Ridge in Hawaii Kai.
"I was a foster kid," says founder Delorese Gregoire. "Other kids put me down for this. I grew up feeling stupid, ugly, and thought the world was against me.
"When I became an adult, I took several self-awareness courses and realized I could turn off those negative thoughts and replace them with positive affirmations.
"It occurred to me that if I had this information as a teen, I would not have felt so alone. I took it as my mission to help other teens, and Winners’ Camp was the result."
One of the courses Gregoire took was called "Money and You," taught by Marshall Thurber. "He told me about a mainland program called Super Camp, and initially I wanted to bring that to Hawaii. Marshall convinced me to create my own program for teens."
Winners’ Camp was launched in 1985 and celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.
Since then Gregoire has poured her heart and money into the camp. More than 15,000 teens have participated. "Most of the camps are seven to 10 days, and some are weekends," she said.
The top lesson of Winners’ Camp is for teens to take total responsibility for their life and the results they get. "If it’s to be, it’s up to me" is a Winners’ Camp maxim. "Teens often blame the world, their parents or outside influences for what happens to them," Gregoire said.
"Some kids hang with the wrong friends. If you ask people who are incarcerated how they got there, inevitably they’ll say something about hanging with the wrong crowd. They got dragged into bad behavior and didn’t see it coming."
Winners’ Camp graduates are made aware of this dilemma. "We get them to be mindful of the situations they put themselves in."
"A second lesson we present is to stop being so self-centered. We want them to be less focused on me, me, me and open their hearts to others. You didn’t create the universe, and you are not the center of it."
One of the key lessons of the camp is to "be bitter or be better." A lot of bad things can happen to us growing up. "We can either be defined by it and be bitter, or we use it to become a better person," Gregoire continues. "This came from my own experience of being in foster homes."
"Unfortunately, some teens come from divorced families. They often can’t seem to move off it. They’re walking around wounded. We say to them, ‘Be bitter or be better.’ ‘Better’ might look like making smarter choices in whom they hang out with. A parent’s divorce can mean they are crushed, or they can use their experience to be better at relationships."
Self-worth is another important component of Winners’ Camp. "Even privileged young adults often feel they’re not good enough. The teen years are a setup for the rest of your life. We have an exercise at Winners’ Camp where the participants look at negative decisions they’ve made about themselves, such as ‘I’m ugly’ or ‘I’m stupid.’ At camp they have an opportunity to rewrite their lives and have a keauhou, a new beginning."
Teens and parents applaud the profound changes they notice. One teen said that "the most significant lesson I learned at Winners’ Camp is that we cannot escape the results of our actions; we get what we give. I have been given so much, and I want to give back to my island community by becoming a psychologist and working with teens and their families."
A parent told us that Winners’ Camp has totally changed the way their daughter communicates with others. "She is so clear about who she is and what she values. She thinks and acts so responsibly now! Winners’ Camp is the best gift parents could possibly give their teen."
There are two Winners’ Camps for teens coming up: March 16-20 and 23-27. For more information, visit www.WinnersCamp.com.
Bob Sigall, author of the "Companies We Keep" books, looks through his collection of old photos to tell stories each Friday of Hawaii people, places and companies. Email him at Sigall@Yahoo.com.
