My home away from home - Barbara C. Harris Camp (pt. 2)

The Camp (this summer)

This summer, camp was wonderful. I left home on June 11th and arrived that day at camp, there to stay until August 6th.The first two weeks were Staff Training, where we learned all about the way that camp was to work, what our jobs and responsibilities were, and were given all the important tools we would need to succeed this summer. We also learned a lot about one another, and started to get to know each other on a personal level. I think that my favorite three events of staff training were our two camp-outs and our hike.

On our first camp-out, we were all still getting to know each other. We all picked partners to sleep in tents with, and we set them all up on the Upper Field. The weather was wonderful, the company was great, and it was an excellent bonding experience for us all. I shared a tent with one of my best friends that summer, and through the power of play and laughter, started on the road to making the close friendships that I did this summer. From sharing secrets to shaking tents, from running barefoot around the grassy, dewy carpet of the field to sitting and relaxing with one another, the first camp-out was an experience I'll never forget.

The second camp-out was smaller. We all broke up by our Small Groups and each small group camped out somewhere different. My small group camped out with another, at the site past Closing Campfire. We set up our tents in the big clearing at the end of the path, and set up fires in the fire circles at Closing. We all had some free time to hang out together and socialize, and that camp-out was such a good experience to foster the relationships I already had with the other staff members. They were very quickly becoming good friends of mine, and that night in particular I had such deep and meaningful conversations with people that I know that they will be my good friends for a very long time.

The staff hike was also an incredible experience, but for very different reasons. The staff hike becomes a sort of bonding experience, and it was very important for me to do it. I did the same hike with my group when I was a CIT, and again when I was a Junior Counselor. The staff last summer also went on the hike together, but I unfortunately had my freshman orientation for college when they had the hike, and had to miss out. This year, I was determined to make the hike, and to develop the sense of camaraderie that goes along with the excitement, hard work, and determination of the hike each and every year. We all work together to make it to the summit, and when we finally do, that sense of completion brings us so much closer together as a staff and as a family. The view at the top of that summit was beautiful, and we all got to share that together.

Barbara C. Harris Camp Staff 2011!

The rest of the summer flew by. Week one, I had Explorers for an age group. Our small group, Explorer A, was made up of myself, my co-counselor, Aiden, and six phenomenal campers (two girls, three boys). Arden, Kati, Marvin, Gabriel, Matt, and Ben were probably the best group of kids I could have asked for to start the summer with. Absolutely none of them misbehaved, and they got along with each other so well that by the end of the week, we were just having fun. We grew so close together that week, and became like our own little family. I miss every one of those kids, as well as my co-counselor and very good friend, Aiden. I could not have asked for a better week to start off with.

Week two was a bit more difficult, but was a good week all the same. Despite my late nights with stomach-achy campers, my girl-crazed Explorer boys, and my Explorer girls' miniscule hissy fits, I had a fun week. My co-counselor was Al, and for the week we also had six campers (three girls, three boys). Meghan, Grace, Rachael, Michael, Eli, and Caleb were a complete riot. I already knew Meghan and Michael from things previous (Meghan is the younger sister of two of my camp friends, and Michael's mom is the priest at my church). Eli and Caleb, two troublesome twins, had managed to become the stuff of Trouble Camper Lore by the time I had them, yet had calmed down enough that I grew to love them both by the end of the week. Grace and Rachael both were new campers to me, but were great additions to our group.

Week three, I was assigned to work with Day Camp. There were several other counselors doing so with me - Jess R, Becca, Frankie, Gracie, Andy, Kevin, Peter, and the day camp director, Karen. I may be missing people, but it was an enormous week! There were SO many kids, they needed us all! I think the grand total got to be 27 day campers. There are most certainly very memorable campers that week - Jack, Madelyn, Ty, Micah, Caroline, and Matthew, just to name a few. Juliette, an adorable toddler and daughter of one of the chaplains from that week, was the favorite of many of us, I think. I was incredibly impressed by the fact that she could form complete grammatically correct sentences at such an early age.

Week four, I had my first of three all-girls groups. Jess M was my co-counselor, and we had a small group of five Adventure age girls - Calista, Ava, Rossely, Cristal, and Alondra. This week of camp, a group of students from the Esperanza Academy came to attend camp. Rossely, Cristal, and Alondra were all part of that group, and so already knew each other previously. Calista and Ava also previously knew each other. They were best friends, and had been attending camp together for years. Ava's grandmother was one of the chaplains that week, and brought Calista along as she did each year. Due to the fact that so many of them already knew so many of the others, incorporating the two groups of girls together was pretty simple. The week was mostly relaxing, and plenty of fun.

Week five was the week that I had been waiting for the entire summer. Last summer, week five, I had gotten an all-girl's Challenge group that was my favorite of the summer. This year, miraculously, and to my great pleasure, four of those five girls were back, and they were all mine again. They had brought along a friend of theirs from their town, so again, I had an all-girls Challenge group of five girls. My co-counselor was a very close friend of mine Allie, and there is nobody else I would have rather had this group of girls with. I am so glad to have been able to share the experience with her, and knew from the beginning of the week that we were in for a wonderful one. Adriana, Abby O, Abi W, Katherine, and Molly were our girls for the week, and though we started out tough on them to show them we meant business, by the end of the week, the seven of us were as much friends as we were anything else. I could go on forever about the greatness of that week, but there is still another week to talk about, and this post has gone on for long enough already.

Week six I had another all-girls Challenge group, this time with a full eight girls in it. My co-counselor was Kim, a girl I've known since our CIT year. Our girls were Sé, Betsy, Lily, Sarah, Naomi, Emily, Kira, and Kaylie. This was my first and only full-size overnight group all summer. They were wonderful girls, even if they were rowdy, ridiculous, and crazy. Each and every one of them made me smile and laugh, and they were always up to something humorous.

In all, my summer was absolutely wonderful, and I could talk forever about it, but I think this summary is as much as I will talk about it for now. I can only imagine that there are very few people who have read this whole entry (shout out if you did!) and so I will stop rambling now and continue about my business. Barbara C. Harris Camp, thank you so much for all that you have done for me, and I hope to see you again next June.