The Camp (past summers)
This summer, I was a counselor at the Barbara C. Harris Camp in Greenfield, New Hampshire. BCH is an Episcopalian Church Camp run by the Diocese of Massachusetts, and has been my summer home for the past seven summers in a row. I've gone to Episcopalian Church Camp for the past twelve summers in a row. My first five were at Bement Camp, a now-closed camp that my mom and uncles used to work at as counselors when they were about my age. I loved Bement dearly, and was sad to leave, but I am so glad that I moved on to such a wonderful place as BCH.
The way that age groups work at BCH are such:
Explorer - going into grades 4 & 5
Adventure- going into grades 6 & 7
Challenge - going into grades 8 & 9
Base - going into grades 10 & 11
Since it's a Church Camp, we had worship services twice a day (morning and evening) and Bible Study every day. We said grace before each meal, and sang fun Christian songs (as well as other crazy camp songs).
I spent three summers at BCH as a camper. My very first year, I was about to go into the eighth grade. I was in a small group called Challenge C, with counselors Tracey and Ara. I remember my week, and all the fun that I had. That summer, though, I didn't talk during Bible Study, and I didn't sing or dance in worship. It took me until my next summer, in Art Camp, to really start to open up. That next summer was my most memorable, as a camper. I had two international counselors, Petr and Iryna. I knew a few of the other campers already. I knew the songs from the previous year, started realizing that it was okay to be foolish and to dance around, and that being myself was what camp was all about. I made friends that year that I still have to this day, both in my fellow campers and in the director of the program, Erin Ferrell. My third year, in Base Camp, I feel was only a springboard into the world of becoming a part of what made BCH so great - its staff. Base Camp was a week that I only slightly remember, most likely due to the fact that no great transformation happened that year. I know that I had fun, but by the end of that summer I knew I was ready to take the next step in the process.
The summer that I was going into 11th grade, I spent three weeks of my summer doing the Counselor In Training program at BCH. For the price of one regular week of camp, my fellow CITs and I (we called ourselves the Frugaloots...that was our insanely original team name, and it stuck) spent our days learning what it meant to be on staff. We spent our first week basically as campers, getting to know each other and getting to know all the rules and regulations we would be expected to enforce. Our second week was spent doing more intensive training, more specific training. Our third week was spent shadowing groups, watching the counselors that we were working with put everything we were learning into action. It wasn't just some job to pass the time, it wasn't just something to do for the money. It was going to be some truly hard work on our part, but it would be some of the most rewarding work that we would ever do. I put my all into learning everything that I could, and into getting to know all of the other Frugaloots as well as I could. We were all psyched for the next summer, being Junior Counselors, and almost all of us returned.
The Junior Counselor program was six weeks long. We had gotten caught right in the middle of a program reformation, so ours was a very different experience from those who were JCs the previous year. Our first few weeks were spent just like our first two weeks as CITs. We went over everything again, and learned more about each other. Though there were a few Frugaloots missing from the Junior Counselor group we now had, there were a few additions, as well. One was a CIT the summer before we were, and had taken a summer off before returning. One was a Junior Counselor the summer previous, and was re-doing the program because of her age. Two were CITs in the second 3-week session of the previous summer. By the end of our Junior Counselor summer, almost all of us were put with a group as a full-fledged counselor.
Of all the Junior Counselors I worked with, there are four of us (other than myself) who were still working at the camp this summer. One has become a program staff member, one has become a team leader, and the other two, like me, have remained counselors. I am so grateful for them, and for the summers that I have spent with them. I care about each and every one of them in a way different than I do for anyone else, because we all spent all those weeks together in the past. In total, I think I have spent between 22 and 25 weeks total over the past four summers working with these fabulous people. The time truly adds up.
Last summer, my first year as a counselor, was absolutely amazing. I met so many new and wonderful people (all the fabulous and amazing staff), and really got the chance to make a difference in all those campers' lives. I went at it being myself completely, and I know that that has been my strength ever since then. I love being able to be the one to show them all that it is okay to be crazy, ridiculous, and a bit eccentric, that being you is all that matters at camp and you will be loved no matter what. I love making those connections with the kids, knowing that they'll go home and remember you and the things you did with them, and the things that you taught them. Some of the things that made me know that my time at camp was well spent were the notes and letters I received from them. One camper wrote letters to me during the school year. One simply wrote a note during an activity, and in it told me that I was one of his favorite counselors in his many years at the camp. The simple act of writing those notes made me realize just what an impact I had. I vowed to go back to camp for another summer. Though I may be home, for now, my mind and heart are at camp.
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