September 22, 1999

Camp life changing experience for local teen

By Garret Leiva
Herald editor
       For 8 weeks this summer 16-year-old Ron Yerrick couldn't watch television reruns, log onto the Internet or even burn a few dollars of spending money in his pocket. It proved to be the best 56 days of life - once again.
      This was the Garfield Township residents third year attending the high adventure Camp Bil-O-Wood in Blind River, Ontario, a place where campers learn valuable lessons about the great outdoors and themselves. Now in its 54th season, the coed summer camp draws campers from around the world, including Yerrick and 12 others from the Traverse City area.
      While it is hard for Yerrick to speak about Camp Bil-O-Wood without a smile across his face, his first trip to the camp located two hours north of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. was anything but a pleasant experience. Instead his parents, Ron and Sandy, had to drag Yerrick kicking and screaming across the Canadian border.
      "I put up quite a fight about it. I didn't want to go," recalled the Traverse City West Senior High School junior. "Now I love it. I've had so much fun up there, it's the best time I've ever had in my life."
      Part of what appealed to Yerrick early was the day-to-day activity found at Camp Bil-O-Wood. Mornings full of soccer, baseball, tennis and conditioning along with afternoons of water football and ultimate Frisbee were bridged with a deserving hour and forty minutes of R&R. Keeping campers constantly interacting with each other, weekends featured dances on Saturday nights and special Sunday services on Vesper Rock.
      Camp highlights this year included several long distant canoe trips, including a 12 day, 400 mile trip on the Spanish River and an 80 mile hike where Yerrick helped lead 14 campers along an old voyager fur trapping trail.
      "After camp you're like a full-blown outdoorsman. Before all this I didn't know how to read a topographical map and I was out there paddling a canoe in circles," said Yerrick, who also learned everything from packing a backpack so its evenly weighted to the proper 'j stroke' paddling technique.
      Stopping himself from going in life's vicious circles was an equally important lesson learned. Before camp, Yerrick said he was not into the wilderness scene at all. "I was hanging out at the mall. I was dirty," he noted. In a matter of eight weeks, however, Yerrick developed both a greater sense of friendship and self-direction.
      "I was working my way into a gang and getting into fights all the time. Since camp, I haven't been in one fight. The other day at TBA a kid busted me in the mouth and I just walked away," said Yerrick, who is planning on going back to Camp Bil-O-Wood next summer as a junior counselor.
      As evidence of his new found direction, Yerrick was honored this summer by receiving the Merle Edwards Award. One of the camp's highest awards, it signifies outstanding excellence in leadership capabilities, responsibility, attitude and willingness to help others.
      It didn't take an award plaque, however, for Ron and Sandy Yerrick to notice the significant changes in their son's behavior and overall outlook on life. Even after his first year at Camp Bil-O-Wood, Ron saw the important impact on his son's life. He has also witnessed the special effect of Bil-O-Wood on his young daughter, Ashley, whose only complaint was that she wanted to go the full 8 weeks next year.
      "I think it has a lot to do with kids getting a second opinion on something as simple as table manners to learning about who you are," the elder Yerrick said.
      "When you go to pick up those kids on the last day of camp the counselors and campers are in tears. (Ron) had tears in his eyes all the way out that driveway. He didn't want to go home. Seeing that kind of bond, that's powerful."
      For teenager Ron Yerrick, his three summers at Camp Bil-O-Wood have taught him the finer points of canoe paddle techniques and topographical maps. It has also imparted knowledge perhaps greater than the great outdoors: learning about yourself.
      "I know who I am and I've found out what I want to do with my life," Yerrick said. "It was literally either camp or jail at one point. If I hadn't gone to camp I'd probably be in juvenile hall right now. It basically saved my life."