The Best Part of Summer

I am a strong believer in the benefits summer camp. It is one of the best decisions a parent can make for their kids and I can't thank my parents enough for sending me away to camp because I wouldn't be the person I am today if it wasn't for it. Over the years, camp transforms from a just an average place to the place I call home. It is the place that teaches self-confidence, love, and friendship. It is an environment where people accept everyone and laugh uncontrollably. It gives children the chance to try new things while having the time of their lives'.

Because I feel in love with camp, I kept going back. I did the leadership in training program then counselor in training program. Over the years, I have spent closed to 14 weeks at camp. Those 14 weeks taught me more than all of my years in school and in sports. Now that I am to old to be a camper, I hope to be a counselor this coming summer. Being a camp counselor is more than a job, its who we are. Everyone has similar reasons to be a counselor. I want to be a role model and help kids grow and learn.

This past summer while I was in the counselor in training program, we were given a paper titled “What is a Counselor?”. It is an essay that speaks right to the meaning of camp:

“A camp counselor is a rare combination of doctor, lawyer, Indian and chief. They are an excellent child psychologist with sophomore textbooks as proof. They are an underpaid baby-sitter with neither a television nor a refrigerator.”

“You wonder if they really know how much they are worth and you realize that you can never pay them enough. Yet when they leave, they wave good-bye and say, “See ya next year!””

So its hard to put into words what camp means to those that love it but this quote pretty much sums it up:

“For a moment you will be reminded of your summer here. You will think of a child with whom an interaction deeply affected you. It will be the child you helped learn to swim, or the child who so desperately needed a friend to take care of them. And you will not be able to figure out if the true gift was the one you gave to them of yourself, or if the gift was, in fact, given to you.”

(405)