As in years past, a small group of Oregon teens used their Spring Break to come together near their state capital in Salem for three days of pro-life education, lobbying, and leadership training. Now in its sixth year, Camp Joshua has exposed over 100 sixteen- to twenty-one-year-olds to all aspects of the pro-life movement.

This year's 10 dedicated students spent the three very long, but fast-moving, days in seminars and on field trips. Seminars were led by Oregon Right to Life staff members and experts alike, including Dr. Debbi Canepa, an embryology professor at Linfield College.

Field trips were taken to places operated by selfless pro-lifers, like a home for unwed mothers in Salem and the Pregnancy Resource Center of Portland.

On the final day of "Camp J," students got a crash course in politics and lobbying and how the pro-life movement uses both to advance the cause of life. Seminars were about politics at the state and federal level, but the highlight had to be the visit to the state Capitol and meetings with pro-life leaders in the state House, including Speaker of the House Karen Minnis.

I noted previously that days were long, but fast-moving, and that's because they started at 6 a.m., ended close to midnight, and, in addition to field trips, were filled by seminars that covered all the bases. Stem cell research and cloning, human development, abortion methods, physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia, politics, legislation, and the courts were all covered exhaustively.

However, they still found time for nuts and bolts topics like delivering a speech, how to respond to pro-abortion arguments, and ideas on ways to be active pro-lifers in their own communities.

These workshops were exactly what motivated Meredith Anderson, a community college student from Woodburn, to come this year. "I would like to raise awareness for the cause by starting a pro-life group at my college," she said. "I think there are a lot of pro-life students up there open to a group and I would like to provide that spark. I have learned a lot that I can use in this effort at Camp Joshua."

Following each seminar, several teens were randomly chosen to give "table talks," impromptu speeches reacting to the presentation just offered. Not only did they practice speaking off the top of their heads, but table talks gave them practice in public speaking and helped them become more comfortable talking about life issues in front of their peers.

Now Camp Joshua is not all work and no play. In between seminars and much-needed rest times, which were usually filled with more conversations about life issues, the participants played pro-life versions of popular games, like "Who Wants to Be a Pro-Lifer?" a trivia game to test each teen's knowledge and to entertain everyone.

Nathan Sheets, a "Camp J" alum and current chaperone from Portland, spent his fourth Spring Break with the camp because "Camp Joshua instilled in me the need to be involved in all aspects of the pro-life movement," he said. "And with the tools I learned, I've been able to start a Students for Life group at Portland State University and educate even more people through my pro-life blog on the Internet."

Oregon Right to Life is definitely on the right track in training its state's youth for a lifetime of activism in the pro-life movement. The participants of Camp Joshua are leading their peers to respect life at all stages, and remaining active well beyond their teen years.