Welcome to TAF 2020, from your Junior High PDs!
Hello Junior High campers!
We (Julianne and Willy) are super excited for the upcoming weekends of TAF Online to further build on our Community. We hope you enjoy the activities & sessions that we, our staff, and our speakers have planned. We’re all here to support each other in this journey together.
TAFLove,
Julianne and Willy
Please reach out with any questions or comments by emailing us at juniorhigh@tafworld.org.
Program Schedule
View our JH schedule online or download a PDF version here.
Our programming will kick off with everyone else on July 24, followed by our own JH kickoff where campers will get to know their small groups and counselors! After that, our weekends will consist of morning speaker sessions and a variety of counselor-lead workshops that campers can pick from. The workshop topics will focus on…
- Saturday, 7/25: E-Painting, K-pop dancing, Origami folding
- Sunday, 7/26: Counselor Jeopardy, TikTok dancing, Lo-Fi creative writing
Campers who have recently graduated 8th grade will also be a part of the 8Q program, featuring a Q&A “Ask Me Anything” session with a group of Youth campers on their experiences in high school, online high school, and anything else.
You can find more information on our speaker sessions below!
Digital “Packing” List
To make the most of TAF Online this summer, campers will need access to their own device and a strong internet connection. All of our sessions will utilize Zoom (zoom.us) so we recommend that the device used has a working camera and microphone. Some of our activities may also make use of mobile devices, but campers will not be required to have one to participate. JH will also be using Mural (app.mural.co) and Google Forms (forms.google.com) throughout our programming. The links we share should not require a sign-in, but if parents have security locks on certain sites, please make sure these two sites are unaffected.
Other items we recommend campers have throughout the weekends:
- a writing utensil & paper in case campers want to jot down notes
- a pair of headphones to use during all of the Zoom calls to help campers focus on the sessions
JH Speaker Sessions
July 25 – “Our Unconscious and Conscious Bias”
Speaker: Bettina Chang, Journalist / Co-founder and Editorial Director at City Bureau
Bettina Chang is the cofounder and editorial director at City Bureau, a Chicago journalism lab dedicated to creating more equitable, impactful local news. She’s a lifelong TAFer, former JH program director and avid dumpling-maker. She loves musicals and hates sea cucumbers.
Session Topic: In this Junior High workshop, campers will be learning about processing information and how their unconscious and conscious biases affect them.
July 26 – “What is Systemic Racism?”
Lead by JH PDs: Willy Chen and Julianne Tsai
Session Topic: JH’s second speaker session will be hosted by the JH Program Directors, Willy and Julianne. This activity is aimed to introduce the campers to concepts of systemic racism and ways to identify it.
August 1 – “Allyship”
Speaker: Allen Yu, previous Youth PD
Allen (He/him) grew up in Naperville, IL and graduated with a B.S. in Integrative Biology from UIUC. This will be his 11th year at TAF, and first year as a guest speaker. Allen currently works as a Dental Assistant and enjoys cooking, running, and playing board games in his spare time. As a guest speaker, Allen will talk about allyship – what it means, why we need it, and resources to help campers on their journey.
Session Topic:In this workshop, Junior High campers will be introduced to the importance of allyship and resources to begin their journey.