QueenShipp Summer Program empowers youth
Ali Kyabou
The QueenShipp Empowerment Summer Program prides itself on providing a form of community and fun to children from various backgrounds. The camp takes place on Tuesdays and Thursdays over the summer period and helps children develop skills and build relationships with one another. The program provides a fun, safe space for the kids to play, create and learn.
Ms. Tanaka Shipp established QueenShipp to empower young women, including queer, trans, and non-binary students. She aims to create high-value learning opportunities with rigorous course modules supporting affinity spaces for ALL young women by providing them with various opportunities, including mentorship, in-school support, and different course curriculums.
Her summer program is inclusive to children of all genders up to the age of 15 and provides paid leadership roles as camp counselors to teens and young adults in the community. Despite QueenShipp’s focus on empowering young women, Ms. Shipp also finds ways to empower young men. She’s given several young black men, myself included, the opportunity to work with these kids and show them what a positive role model looks like.
Every morning the campers and counselors attend ‘circle up’ to do our check-ins so that everyone understands where everyone is at mood-wise that day. This is done to be mindful of how everyone is feeling that day. Once we’re done with that, each group goes to their first activity for the day, which includes: Music Therapy, Dancing/Singing, Financial Literacy, and organized play time outside. On special days, all campers get to go on an excursion nearby, which is a fun way to expand on the experiential learning part of the program. I value the camp because it has helped me learn a lot about myself and what it means to be a positive role model working with kids. The kids don’t realize that they significantly impact us, counselors. Troi Griffin, a parent and program volunteer, agreed and had this to say about the program: “you can see Tanaka’s passion from a mile away. When I dropped my kids off for camp, I felt like it was a safe space. The kids came home so excited I knew I needed to be a part of the summer camp. It has been a tremendous blessing to be able to be a part of something so powerful and be able to help empower these babies.” Establishing these relationships has been special, and I’m glad to have had the opportunity to participate.