bus isn?t usually what you think of when you think of leadership tools, but for a prestigious summer camp in the Southeastern United States, wheels are essential.

Patrick Phillips, a Bermudian teenager, toured more than 5,000 miles of the United States with other students in the prestigious William C. Chandler Lions International Youth Camp.

It was an honour for Mr. Phillips to be chosen for the camp. The camp is for young men between the ages of 17 and 20 who have excellent grades and good moral character. The campers must be healthy and neat in their appearance.

?The camp was basically an all male camp that had 42 different young men from different parts of the world,? Mr. Phillips told . ?It was basically to show us some of the United States and to create a group of outstanding young men. It was pretty fun because we also got to make new friends from all over the world. We had people from Israel, France and Germany, among other places.?

Although it was a summer camp, it wasn?t the traditional kind spent in huts next to a lake.

?We started in Washington DC,? said Mr. Phillips. ?Then we went down to Richmond, Virginia and then down to Montgomery, Alabama, and Chattanooga, Tennessee. We travelled on a bus. We were only in huts only once in the whole five weeks when we went to Camp Chandler in Montgomery, Alabama.?

The International Youth camp was founded by William Chandler in 1963 and since then more than 2,300 young men have taken part. To run the leadership camp, The Montgomery Lions Club has partnered with other Lions clubs throughout the Southeastern United States and Lions Clubs from 23 countries including Bermuda.

Mr. Phillips recently graduated from Warwick Academy and will study computer science at Acadia University in Canada in September.

The camp wasn?t all business. Mr. Phillips also had a chance to relax and kick back with activities such as water-skiing in Florida.

?I liked water-skiing the best,? he said. ?I did fall off. I had never been water-skiing before. It makes your arms really tired. I also liked the high ropes that were part of an obstacle course. That was fun because it tested and challenged you.?

Although it wasn?t a requirement many of the students were from other military programmes like the army cadets in Bermuda or were in military school or were about to enter mandatory military service in their home countries.

?The camp aims to create outstanding young men through different tasks and seminars,? said Mr. Phillips. ?We did leadership tasks. We did teamwork and tasks that will push us beyond our limits, like wall climbing and high ropes.

?That was pretty fun. I became involved through the Army Cadet Corps. I was a sergeant, but I just left them this year. I was involved with them six to seven years.?

After the camp he had to give a talk and Powerpoint Presentation to the Lions Club in Bermuda about his five weeks spent in the United States.

?At the Lions Club I showed them what we did and some of the activities that we have done,? he said. ?I talked about the people I had stayed with. I stayed with about eight different host families. Everyone that I stayed with was very nice, so I was lucky.

?It was different from staying in my own family. We had different places to go. Our host families wanted to hear about our countries, and we wanted to hear about their countries, so that was pretty fun.?

Mr. Phillips said he hopes to stay in contact with some of his host families, and some of them might come to Bermuda to visit on cruise ships.

?I got out of the camp a lot of friends and more knowledge of the world,? he said. ?Montgomery was extremely hot. The camp itself was out in a forest, yet it was near a town. Montgomery was pretty nice. It was a lot different from Washington DC. There there was a lot of people and the houses were very close together. In Montgomery the houses weren?t that close together.?

The campers attended a number of seminars and also raised money for the charity of their choice. ?We raised almost $1,800 and all of it was donated back to the camp,? said Mr. Phillips. ?To raise the money we had auctions and we also donated any change from items we bought on the trip, or we just outright donated some of our money. We did a lot of fundraising with the Army Cadets.?

While the plight of many young men in the community has recently been highlighted through stories of violence and discontent, Mr. Phillips credited the Army Cadets and his parents Winette and Glendall Phillips and extended family with helping him to stay on track.

?I do think the Army Cadet Corps helped me,? he said. ?It showed me leadership skills and what it takes to be a leader. My parents have been the biggest influence on my life. They have tried to keep me out of trouble. If I didn?t have them I would probably be out on the street with all those other kids causing trouble.?

Mr. Phillips said he enjoys spending time with his family.

?My parents were strict when they had to be,? he said. ?We also have fun together. We have a day of the week when we just have family time together. We go on a lot of family trips.?

He said he has given much thought to the problem of teen violence in the community.

?I think it probably is caused because these young men have nothing to do and they lack structure,? he said. ?It is basically about the way you look at life. With me I just look at things and deal with them.?

After college Mr. Phillips hopes to get a job in the technical side of computers. He is interested in software analysis.