Manager Gets Her ‘Week To Be A Kid’
‘Jennifer, You are like the awesomest person in the whole wide world. You made this week for me. You definitely rock!”
Yearbook note from Michael, a recent high school graduate from Mackay, Idaho.
Jennifer Kosareff wept sorrowfully during the final night of the weeklong summer youth rally at Schweitzer this month.
She not only said goodbye to new friends from Idaho, Alaska, Utah and Wyoming, but to her teenage years. Like a time machine, buses spirited away the 70 campers and jolted Jennifer back into the real world, where she is the 34-year-old marketing assistant for Kootenai Electric Cooperative.
“I love the camp,” she says, back in her office. The wilted daisy crown campers gave her when they chose her queen of the dance sits on her file cabinet. “I get my week to be a kid.”
Idaho’s power cooperatives sponsor the annual camp to teach select high school students the value of non-profit cooperatives. In 10 years, today’s teens could run the co-ops, so the agencies spare no expense to secure their futures.
The co-ops pay for everything and hand out $4,750 in scholarships. The week is more than motivational speakers and trips to dams and fish hatcheries.
“I don’t think an hour went by that you weren’t being thrown in a lake, sprayed with whip cream or covered in ice cream,” fellow chaperone Robert Pierce wrote in Jennifer’s rally yearbook.
Jennifer reluctantly agreed to chaperone two years ago. One day in camp awoke the fun-loving teenager in her and washed away her reluctance. She laughed at the practical jokes, pulled some of her own and found out the kids were her friends more than her charges.
“Wow, they really liked me,” she says, with a child’s happy surprise. “That’s so important because kids are so honest and open. You can trust them. They allow you to be young again.”
“Jennifer, You still have the heart of a teenager. That’s what makes you so cool.” Yearbook note from Brandi, a Grangeville junior.
Don’t look for Ricky Nelson
The Latah Historical Society’s garden party this Sunday is not for shrinking violets. Dress kids in turn-of-the-century work duds so they can wash clothes with an old wringer washer, beat rugs, sweep carpets or try the hand-operated writing machine.
The party will celebrate the 100th birthday of Carol Ryrie Brink, author of “Caddie Woodlawn.” So kids will play what Caddie played way back when: jump rope and jackstraws.
The party’s for adults, too. Take tours of the McConnell Mansion at 110 S. Adams in Moscow and the historic Fort Russell neighborhood, then gorge on ice cream, cake and lemonade. Watch your manners, and call 882-1004 with questions.
T-time
Moscow’s Claudia Childress had no problem fulfilling my request for funny T-shirt messages. The most Idaho-appropriate one? The road-kill T-shirt: “You kilt it, you eat it.”
Another T-shirt offered this warning about tequila: at two glasses, “I’m rich;” at four glasses, “I’m goodlooking;” at six glasses, “I’m bullet-proof;” at seven glasses, “I’m invincible.”
But my favorite is “Life is too short - eat dessert first.” And make it plenty gooey…
The name game
The woman who cut my hair last week admitted that her mother made life a little tougher for her by naming her Centhia.
Seems too many new mothers in her hospital chose Cynthia for their daughters. (And why not? I like it.) She wanted something different. Too bad no one ever pronounces or spells it correctly.
What names have plagued you through life and how have you handled it? Name names to Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene, ID, 83814; FAX them to 765-7149; or call 765-7128 and I’ll sympathize.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo