In a lot of ways manners are a lost art, but over the summer Cross Timbers Fine Arts Council imparts the knowledge of how to shake hands, speak to others and much more during its annual Manners Camp.
Through June 10-15, six young ladies and five young men participated in this year’s CTFAC Manners Camp in Stephenville.
“Our Manners Camp is about more than basic etiquette and place settings. It includes lessons on how to be kind to people and to treat people with respect. It helps students build confidence as they learn how to interact with others. The mantra for camp follows The Golden Rule: ‘Treat others as you would like to be treated.’ That is such an important life lesson for all,” CTFAC Executive Director Christine Newton said.
Each morning, the young ladies would meet and learned how to sit properly and how to get into and out of a car in a dress.
In the afternoons, the young men learned how to help ladies in and out of a car, how to put on a tie and the etiquette of hat wearing.
All of the campers were taught how to write thank you notes on their own personalized note cards and learned how to address an envelope.
They also learned how to speak to adults, how to properly shake hands and how to introduce themselves to others.
All of the campers learned about and got to practice setting different table place settings, painted ceramic vases that were fired in the kiln and then learned how to arrange cut flowers for their vases.
At the end of the week, CTFAC held a morning reception for the ladies and an afternoon reception for the gentlemen. Local dignitaries were in attendance as well as the camper’s families.
At the receptions the campers were able to practice and demonstrate what they had learned each week and were awarded a certificate showing they had graduated manners camp.