As I experience what may be one of my last “summer vacations” for the foreseeable future, I can’t help but feel old.
The best summer of my life to date was when I was 17 years old. Fresh out of my junior year of high school, I was finally a junior counselor at my summer camp. Most people who have spent a summer or two working as a camp counselor will tell you about how amazing the experience is. Even when you’re just eating lunch with five kids, it is so cool to be surrounded by a group of little people who look up to you. What made the summer of 2012 so special was not just a typical counselor experience, though, but the fact that one of my superiors took a chance on me and allowed me to lead.
He put me in charge of creating a short skit for our very first family night of the summer. I was designated as the captain of an Olympic Week team, leading 10 campers and two assistant counselors to an end-of-the-week victory. He also believed that I had what it took to create a giant kite, and after a week of Home Depot trips and hard work with my team, my final kite design with an 18-foot wingspan flew high above our camp. On my final day of camp, he gave each camper a bottle of Diet Coke to explode with Mentos (and pour on me) as my send-off. That summer was nothing short of incredible.
It could have ended simply with all of the fun memories I took with me, but that summer inspired me in countless ways to continue my dedication to the camp. This particular staff member had been my counselor when I was growing up, and I hoped to one day make a difference and inspire a camper in the way that he had for me. So I ran with it. I realized that I was “good” at summer camp, and I was determined to make it even better than it had been when I was a camper.
It was these initial accomplishments from my very first summer as a counselor that sparked my passion and motivation for years to come, leading me to roles as a Program Director and, currently, a Director of one of our camp programs. I have been so fortunate to be constantly surrounded by adults who have believed in me, fostered my creativity and work ethic and given me these incredible opportunities. And I truly have become a different person because of it: more grateful, hardworking and determined to make a difference.
And yet, as I sit here writing this as a 21-year-old, spending my eleventh summer at a place I called home as a child, I can’t help but feel slightly out of place. In an environment that fosters endless childhood, I have still had to grow up. I now know the teachers and administrators better than the younger counselors, a group that I was always a part of. One of my very first campers, a quiet 10-year-old, is now a junior counselor gearing up for what I hope is also the best summer of his life. As I have phased out of leading Olympic teams and commanding small groups of campers, he is just beginning the adventure. And while it’s cool to experience the cycle of campers becoming counselors, I have also had to adjust to the loss of my best friends on staff who have now moved on to internships and future careers, no longer defining camp for me.
And so I feel old. It’s kind of peculiar returning to a place where you grew up when you’re older. So much has changed, yet so much is exactly the same. It’s almost like time hasn’t passed. And yet everything in my life feels so different as I prepare to wave goodbye to college next spring and enter the “real world,” also parting with my many experiences growing up.
But for now, you can catch me making the most of this final summer by exploding watermelons and getting made fun of by 8-year-olds. Here’s to seven more weeks of absolute bliss.
