I could never have imagined that a role as simple as a camp counselor could lead me to understand how meaningful and fulfilling helping young children develop would be to me.

At age 7 I began going to Jeff Lake Day Camp, and to me, it was like Disney World - the most magical place on earth. As I grew older, I realized how important my counselors were to the quality of my summer experience. They were ALWAYS my favorite part of my summer.

There was nothing better than creating a special bond with a counselor. After 8th grade, I was able to become a "Counselor-in-Training," and in the following years, I advanced to the role of a Counselor’s AIDE and then a full counselor.

My experiences as a camp counselor for the past four years have not only allowed me to learn a crazy amount about my kids but also enabled me to learn a lot about myself. In my first year as a Counselor-in-Training I was very impatient, and when one of my campers wouldn't listen I would get frustrated.

During the following year, as an AIDE, I noticed that my campers starting to relate more to me and they began to show greater respect for me as I learned to have more respect for them. I learned to not only tell my campers “no” and “stop,” but also to encourage them with “yes” and “good job.”

I have also learned that at certain times, each camper may need special attention.

One of my campers, in her first year at Jeff Lake, wasn't seeming to fit in with the group, and her mother was about to take her out of Jeff Lake. I knew that my job as a counselor was to make her feel wanted and loved. I spent an entire day making her smile and laugh and I tried to give her the experience that I had as a camper. Her attitude about camp turned around very quickly and by the end of the summer she was the happiest camper in my group and Jeff Lake was now her Disney World.

I had another camper who was very quiet and hid in the background. One day while hiking, she tripped and fell on a rock and hurt her head very badly. She was bleeding from her head, eye, and nose. Covered with blood, I ran her all the way across camp to the nurse. If I hadn't gotten her there so fast, she could have potentially had brain damage. The incident made me realize how important it was that I pay attention to every one of my kids where they might need me at any time.

At the end of that summer, I received very positive feedback from my campers’ parents and began to realize how special I was making my children feel. I had discovered how good I was at working with kids. The next summer, I went to work every day trying harder and harder to make sure my girls always had an amazing day at camp.

Now that I have grown as a counselor for four years, I rarely get irritated. All my girls look up to me as a role model and when I teach them something new, I notice that they listen, learn, and eventually achieve. I have also learned to use my talents in taking care of kids beyond Jeff Lake camp. I have been asked to babysit almost every one of my 20 campers. I have also taken on a job with an online babysitting company called The Chaos Control.

Almost every Friday and Saturdays nights I spent my time looking after younger children. My experience with kids has not only taught me about them it's taught me more about myself than I ever thought it could.