Brandon Highlander, Staff Writer
“Ya-A-Te!” That means “welcome” in the Apache language, which means the Fall 2018 semester at TJC is underway! The annual Ya-A-Te Student Retreat kicked off on Tuesday, August 21, at Pine Cove Ranch in Flint. Ya-A-Te features 200 of the campus’s students, determined to become better leaders through four days of leadership exercises.
Freshman Honors student Kacey Moore seemed very excited about the camp. “You’re only going to be with these people for three days,” she said, emphasizing the importance of making good connections.
“You have to be understanding to be a leader, because you have all different types of backgrounds around you,” Sharae Corbin, returning student and DrumBeat News Editor, explained about Ya-A-Te, which she attended last year.
Christian Marez, another returning Apache, helped lead this year’s camp, and said that he was “excited for the new leaders coming to campus.”
When asked about the values he hopes the new students can gather from the experience, he replied, “They are all leaders, and some without knowing it. So, I want them to be able to envision their leadership role, and I want to be able to be a mentor to them in their experience.”
With the 40 male campers and 140 female campers that attended Ya-A-Te this year, TJC’s campus is going to be a haven of leadership.
These students have a wide array of aspirations, and the organizations on campus are always ready to see the newest leaders make a name for themselves. Ya-A-Te Retreat supervisor and facilitator Lauren Tyler showed her excitement for the newest herd of leaders, saying that these students were sure to “take the campus by storm.”
