Choosing to become a camp counselor wasn’t really so much a choice for me as much as it was a path that I had been following for most of my life. I started going to camp the summer after I went to fourth grade. I can only assume I went to camp pretty scared and intimidated, but all I remember is how much fun it was and how sad I was when my grandma picked me up at the end of the week. From that week on, every year following, I returned to camp for a part of my summer, for a week (or a month!) of what I was sure, every time, would include good friends, goofy memories, and lots of love.

I think what’s so striking to me about my time at camp is the fact that, when I think about it, camp has seen every part of me. Camp has seen me grow up. I met camp as a tiny, gap-toothed Omikse camper. Camp welcomed me when I was an awkward and boy crazy middle schooler (fully equipped with heavy black eyeliner and blue eye shadow – RIP). Camp even held onto me when I returned as an emotional train-wreck of a high school student. And after all that, camp called me back to be a counselor as a almost-college student.

No matter where I was in life, no matter who my friends were, or who I thought I was becoming or how I felt about myself, I knew I could always come back. I knew I would be accepted and cherished, even if I didn’t believe I deserved it.

I believe that camp played a huge role in making me who I am. I think that, although I’m still changing and will continue to do so, camp has taught me some lessons I hope I’ll never let go of and has gave me a second family, a home away from home, and the greatest adventure of my life. Camp is a huge part of who I am. Being a camper taught me that I could be whoever I want to be. Being a camp counselor taught me the responsibility I have to love whoever it is those around me choose to be.

I consider myself infinitely blessed and immeasurably grateful to have had the opportunity to love so much and so deeply.

Being a camp counselor comes (obviously) with a long list of responsibilities. First, I’d say not losing/killing anyone is a good start. But knowing how to love your campers, I’d say, is one of the most important skills a counselor can have. Camp is a haven, a safe place, a place apart. I always thought of camp as this magic land where I could do basically anything and still feel important, valued, loved. I depended on the safety of camp every year, and on the example camp would set for what is the best way to live, to be true to yourself, to be kind to others. As a camper, I knew all the time that I was precious and genuinely cared for.

Thank you Camp Toccoa for helping me find my spark and lighting a fire in my life.

My spark is working with kids. Working with kids has taught me that there is nothing neither more important nor truly beautiful than to love people.

Finding my spark got me going on a positive path and steered me away from going down the wrong path when I was going through a rough time in my life. Finding my spark helped me realize that my life has a purpose. One day I will become a school teacher and help find the spark of other children. To see what they love, what lights them up, what fires their bellies and what they are passionate about.

I just want to say, thank you to my counselors who I idolized growing up in hopes I would become half the person they were. Jordan, you especially, impacted my life more than you may ever realize. Thank you to my fellow staff, the past 2 summers, for keeping me sane and becoming life long friends. Thank you past and present leadership staff Mary, Kyle, Elaine, Natalie, Phillip and Ondi for believing in me and my abilities, even when I don't believe in myself. And last but not least, thank you to my campers. Thank you for being such a big part of some of my greatest summer memories. Believe it or not, you changed my life.

Hopefully I'll see you next year, Camp Toccoa. WoHeLo.